"I liked you better when you were unconscious."

"So I've heard that many people admired me-"

"Abeke, we're switching duties!"

-Shane-
-3 Years Ago-

Shane had bursted into his younger brother's room, finding him all the way on one side of the room. His spirit animal was laying bored on its side on the opposite side.

Reynald looked up sharply only to relax at the sight of his brother, "Oh. Hey."

"We need to get you out of here," Shane told him urgently, quickly closing the door and heading over to the window.

It was still dark. He and Drina had just came back from their trip to the library, the 'Great Beast' book in his hand. Looking out the window, he could see the horizon starting to get lighter. They'll have to move quickly.

"Wait, why?" Reynald's blue eyes furrowed in confusion.

"You're not safe here," Shane explained to him quickly, "Apparently you summoned an important animal, one that shouldn't have been summoned. A guy came here this morning, asking father for something. I think he's hunting down kids like you."

"Yeah but how would he know?" Reynald asked as Shane began to take out his backpack, "I summoned him inside the room." The spirit animal drowsily raised its head before slowly lowering it back on its paws.

"I don't know, Reynald," Shane gave the backpack to him, "I just have a feeling that you won't be safe here. I'm getting bad vibes about the guy. We have to get you out now so start packing."

Reynald hesitated before nodding as he began running around he room, packing up a few clothes and other things he would most likely need. Leaving him to it, Shane quickly crept out the roof before heading downstairs to the small kitchen. He grabbed some bread and some meat jerky, filled up a water bottle with water, then headed back up to his room where Reynald was just finishing up.

"You got everything you need?" Shane asked as he placed the food into the bag. Reynald nodded in response.

Shane glanced over to the spirit animal in the corner, "Hopefully he'll be able to cooperate."

"Wait, I have a better idea," Reynald said, walking up to his spirit animal. As he approached, the creature raised his head again. They made eye contact as Reynald pulled up his sleeve and stretched out his arm. In a flash, it appeared as a tattoo on his hand.

Shane watched with wide eyes as he pulled his sleeve back to cover the tattoo, "How'd you get him into passive that early? That was quick!"

Reynald was looking at the spot where the tattoo was, "I guess our bond was strong enough."

It seemed too quick to Shane since he'd summoned the animal at the same day but didn't dwell on it as he began heading towards the door, "Stay close to me."

Reynald following close behind him, Shane kept to the shadows of the walls, crouching low and stepping lightly as he led them down the stairs. Instead of heading out through the main entrance, they went through the back where it opened to their royal garden. They broke into a sprint before reaching the wall.

Having done this plenty of times, Shane run up to the wall, barely managing to grab onto the ledge. With much effort, he pulled himself up till he was sitting on it, glancing around to see if there was anyone in sight. He turned to Reynald who looked doubtfully at the wall.

"Grab onto my hand," Shane said, carefully laying on top of the wall on his stomach and reaching down his hand.

Reynald backed up before beginning to run, jumping up. Their fingers touched but it was too short.

"Run faster," Shane advice, "Use the wall to push yourself up."

Reynald tried again kicking up once on the wall before grabbing his hand. Shane strained as he pulled his brother up onto the wall, panting from the effort. They sat there for a while, their heavy breathing the only sound in the quiet night.

With a nod, they both jumped to the other side of the wall and Snane began leading the way through the quiet streets of Stetriol. It was a quiet night, a peaceful night for the citizens of Stetriol. No one could've predicted that Stetriol was about to be thrown into a war they did not want. Whoops, spoiler alert? Eh.

They finally reached the docks to find one ship ready to sail out into the sea. Dawn was breaking, Shane would have to get back to the kingdom soon.

He glanced at his brother who met his gaze, "You'll have to go on that ship."

"But what about you?" Reynald asked, worry clear in his eyes, "We can escape together. You might not be safe here either."

Shane hesitated before sighing, "I can't exactly do that.."

His eyes darkened, "Oh right. Stetriol needs their future king."

"You understand, do you?"

Reynald paused for a moment before nodding, "Yeah. Yeah I get it."

Shane placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "You'll be fine. You're smart, you know how to act, how to fight. Once all of this is over, I promise i'll come find you again."

Reynald hesitated, "But where will know where to meet?"

"Eura. I'm pretty sure wolves are native in Eura."

Reynald still looked reluctant but he nodded, "Alright. I guess."

Shane gave him a comforting smile, though he was saddened that his brother had to go, "I'll see you later."

Reynald gave him a weak smile in return, "Yeah. See you later."

With one last glance, he began heading for he ship, sneaking inside. Shane watched him till he disappeared from sight. With a sigh, the prince began trudging back to the palace, not trying to be stealthy as his head was lowered. The sky was lighting up, people would be awake soon. He should be hurrying and so he began to run.

How should he explain Reynald's disappearance? Shane decided to keep silent, saying he hadn't seen Reynald, and just hope his parents would think he had disappeared.

He sneaked back through the garden, creeping silently back into the palace. As soon as he turned into the hallway headed for his room, he froze as he saw five soldiers blocking his way to his room. Footsteps approached from behind him and he turned to see five more soldiers, led by his uncle, General Gar.

"What's going on?" Shane demanded, keeping his expression calm.

"Prince Shane," General Gar spoke, his voice curt, "You have been found guilty for committing the murder of your parents. Your exile shall commence this morning."

-Rollan-

"Ugh, I think i'm going to be sick," Abeke mumbled as the ship swayed from side to side.

She was sitting with her back leaning on the wall. Conor sat nearby, looking equally sick as Meilin was laying on a bed. I was laying down on one of the beds, staring at the ceiling, and tried not to get dizzy from the movements. All of our spirit animals were in passive.

Thunder rumbled loudly from the outside, the wind howling, the waves bashing into the side of the ship. As you have probably guessed, we're stuck in a storm. Yey.

"I'm surprised that Tarik's managed to hold on to the steering wheel and prevent the whole ship from sinking," Meilin spoke up from her bed.

"That or he fell off the ship and we just didn't know," I added in unhelpfully, causing the three of them to glare at me, "What? It's possible."

Another huge boom and Conor spoke up, sounding concerned, "What if he needs help now?"

"If he does, we would never know since he insists that we stay here," Abeke sighed.

There were rapid footsteps coming from the hallway outside and a completely drenched Tarik came into view from the doorway.

"Oh hey, he's alive," I said, giving the others a grin, "Told you guys."

Meilin rolled her eyes as Conor started to protest, "What? You-"

The ship tilted once again as Abeke covered her mouth, looking ready to puke.

"As dangerous as this would be, i'll need some help," Tarik breathed out, looking tired.

I gasped in exaggeration, "One of Greencloaks finest warriors asks a few kids for help?"

Tarik rolled his eyes, "Look, I need a hand now or this whole ship is going to sink to the bottom."

"Here ya go," I reached out my hand.

"Stop fooling around," Meilin scowled at me as she got off her bed, barely keeping her balance as the ship tilted to the side once more.

Conor reluctantly started to stand, Abeke following suit. She really did not look well. This time, the ship tilted a little too much, sending all of us sliding to the right, Tarik barely holding on to the doorway. I tumbled off my bed, sliding into someone else as we both hit the wall. Hard.

"Ow! Get off me," that someone appeared to be Meilin.

"Oops," I mumbled as I stepped away from her once the ship had righted itself.

Tarik cursed before he quickly rushed back out. With a glance at us, Conor quickly followed with Abeke hesitantly running after him.

"This storm must be getting really strong," Meilin mumbled as the ship began to tilt once more.

"Really? I thought the ship just felt like dancing," I replied sarcastically, quickly looking for something to hold on.

But before I could hold on to something, the former 'Mistress Meilin' had pushed me out the room and into the hallways to follow after them. And of course, since the ship was once again tilting, we were soon stumbling through the hallways.

It tilted sharply to the left causing me to once again slide into Meilin, quickly stopped by the wall nearby as we accidentally bumped heads. It was unintentional, for me of course, but the position we were in had Meilin's back pressed on the wall while I had my hands on the wall of either side of her so it looked like I was caging her in. Unintentionally of course.

Our faces were only inches apart. Not sure how long we stayed in that position. I guess we were just slightly startled.

I broke the silence with a smirk, "Look who I caught?"

That seemed to have snapped her out whatever she was in as she scowled, "Whatever."

She attempted to push me off but the ship suddenly tilted to the left, causing both of us to go sliding once more, hitting the opposite wall. This time we switched positions only it looked like Meilin was hugging me.

"Wow Meilin, I never knew you felt this way about me," I was, of course, only joking but I caught a slight blush appearing on her cheek.

"Ridiculous," she huffed, pushing away from me.

With Meilin leading, we began stumbling through the hallways, trying to stay on our feet as the ship kept on tilting. We seriously looked like a couple of drunk people by the way we were walking.

We finally came out of the hallways and onto the deck, almost to be blown away from the sudden force of the cold strong wind. The rain poured down on us as we struggled to get to Abeke who didn't seem to be able to move from her spot close to the mast. A rope was tied to her waist which was connected to the mast, along with two other ropes. Probably connected to Conor and Tarik.

Abeke glanced over us as we finally reached her, before handing us a long piece of rope each, "Tie this around yourselves!"

"Got it," I yelled through the storm and we did as we were told, "Where's Tarik?"

"At the wheel," Abeke answered, quickly clutching tightly to the mast as the ship began to tilt once more, "Conor's somewhere trying to take down the sails at the back."

I glanced over to where Conor was who was basically hanging on to a rope for dear life, "Welp, doesn't seem like he's making any progress."

"That's why we're here in the first place," Meilin muttered quickly holding on to the mast as they began to approach a big wave.

I quickly squeezed in, grabbing tightly to the rope as the wave towered above us.

Someone yelled, "Brace yourselves!" before the ship's bow pierced through the waves. I felt the impact, almost losing my grip as the wave fell down on us. Miraculously, we somehow managed to survive that. Even Conor, who looked only dazed.

"The storm is too strong!" Meilin yelled through the wind.

"Are you suggesting that we're going to die here?!" I shouted back at her.

Meilin was about to reply until we both noticed Abeke's terrified face, gazing at something behind us. We slowly turned around it seemed as if my question was answered. There was a huge wave coming towards the side of the ship. We already knew what was going to happen right before it hit us.

The wave smashed into the side of the ship, pushing it to its side. I was swept away from my feet, failing to fight back from the strong currents. I didn't know where I was, I just knew water was all around me as I struggled to find the surface. I finally broke out the water, gulping large breaths of air. I was not on the ship anymore. The ship itself had been overturned and was slowly sinking. The first thought that came to my mind was, 'Where were the others?'

The waves were dangerously growing once more, the current was strong, the sinking ship seemed to be pulling me down either. With my remaining strength, I kicked, grabbing hold on top of a wooden broken piece from the ship that still floated, the rain blurring my vision. I braced myself as another wave slowly towered above me. I clutched the wood tightly, squeezing my eyes shut before the wave collapsed onto me.

- - -

Woah I finally got chapter twenty nine half finished! I've just got to write 1000 more words to go! Yeyyyyy (Note this sarcasm). I haven't read Wildcat's Claw so please be so kind and not spoil anything in the comments?

Now I've got a mini-announcement for you guys: ...I'm seriously gonna try my hardest to finish this book and Rise of the Wyrm.

BUT once I've finished book one of this series, I'm gonna have to pause the series cause there's another book that I'm seriously eager to start. It's called The Keeper's Revenge and NO it's not related to The Ten Keepers at all.

We've got one Keeper of Greenhaven for this one, slightly darker ish and it's not going to be another trilogy (which I seemed to always be doing). More shtuff about that later on.

Aaaanyways, cya guys later when I update again...which may take a while 😁.