I stare into the angry eyes of the others.
"Why?" asks Cass with hurt in her voice. I immediately feel guilty.
"The forest..." I gesture around hopelessly.
"Wrive, you need to come here." Tarna says. There's hurt in her voice as well, but also anger and strictness to smother it. "You will be kept prisoner until proven innocent." I look at my friends- er, previously-friends, and then back at the stone building. I need to get there. I look back at my friends- er, whatever they are. They'll stop me for sure. Two thoughts enter my head. They are:
I need a plan. And:
Ah-ha! A plan! I nearly smile, but that would ruin the plan. I turn to my, uh, comrades.
"Okay." I say grimly. "I'll come peacefully." I raise my hands in surrender and walk forward. The others, who had seemed ready to blast me ( except for Rolly, who has a sword ), relax a bit. So they're completely unprepared when darkness throws them off their feet. I turn and run toward the building as the others recover. I hear Tarna yell in frustration.
"After him!" she yells. I'm covering ground quickly, but I haven't reached the base of the hill yet. It shouldn't matter, of course. They can't- Suddenly, I'm lifted a few feet into the air.
"Wive?" asks Shawn's voice. He doesn't sound hurt or betrayed. Just confused.
"Wive, you'we not bad. You just need to come down! We'll tell them that you'we good, and then we can visit your house." I make my hands into fists out of frustration. I'm losing my head start!
"Shawn," I begin. "Do you think I'm bad?"
"No." Shawn says without hesitation.
"Then let me go." Shawn looks torn between me and what he's been told. He opens his mouth and then closes it.
"Wive... just come back." he pleads. "We can pwoov that you'we not bad." I smile at him.
"Shawn..." I let a spike of darkness out of my hand. "I'm sorry." The darkness hits Shawn, and he gasps and falls backward. I hope he didn't get hurt. I fall to the ground, and with one more sorry look back at Shawn, I resume running. Rolly gets on his knees to make sure Shawn is okay. After making sure he's fine, Rolly looks at me.
"Wrive, if you're not evil, or a traitor, just come back. We won't do anything without a good reason. But if you go up there..." I stay silent, turn, and continue running.
By now, Tarna, Person and Cass are within 20 yards. We're running up the hill now, about halfway up. I should make it to the building, though, and from there, the voice in my head assures me that all will be okay, somehow. And by this point, I've given up on fighting that voice.
I'm snapped away from my thoughts and back into reality when a wall of earth shoots up in front of me. I try to stop, but my momentum carries me smashing into the wall.
Curse you, Tarna! I fume silently. I run around the barrier, but it's done its job. The others are close behind me, close enough to- A bolt of lightning flies past my shoulder, missing by inches.
Curse you too, Person! I once again think angrily. I know that I can't avoid Person's electric blasts forever, so I grit my teeth and turn my head, still running. I turn just in time to see another bolt coming, and I duck to avoid it.
"Careful!" Cass, who's about 10 yards away, yells at Person. "If you hit his heart-machine, he'll die!" I gulp. It's true! My machine will get fried, and then I'll be dead! Panic helps me throw a wall of shadow at Person. He's distracted by Cassie's yelling, so he never knows what hits him. The shadow wall sends Person rolling down the hill. Now my pursuers have been lowered to two, and only one of them has long-range attacks. I smile and continue running to the building, the all-important building.
Close, close, so close! The voice in my head encourages me, but also distracts me. Tarna uses the same trick as before, and a wall of earth grows in front of me. Unable to stop running in time, I once again crash into it. I stumble backward, rubbing my head, and in this time Cass and Tarna catch up to me. They split up, Cass on my left and Tarna on my right, and draw their weapons. Tarna uses a sword similar to Mareth, and Cass wields a dagger. All three of us are panting hard, and I have a headache from running into Tarna's barricades. None of us are in fighting condition, and we all know it. I draw Mareth anyways.
"Wrive, I will give you one last chance to surrender." Tarna growls, catching her breath.
"And I will give you one last chance to come with me peacefully or go away peacefully." I reply.
"This could be a trap." Tarna says, still not willing to believe me. "You might be working for our enemies."
"But Allen tried to kill me! Twice!" I protest.
"It could have been an act to get us to think you're on our side." Tarna argues. Cass doesn't say anything, just holds her dagger and looks betrayed.
"Tarna, you won't convince me to leave this." I gesture at the stone building only 30, maybe 40 yards away. "And I'll never convince you that I'm still on your team." Tarna nods solemnly. I lift Mareth into fighting position. Tarna shows no emotion as she lifts her sword. And then we charge.
Cass stays out of the fight, and that's probably a good idea. Tarna's sword and Mareth clash, and tiny sparks fly. I attack and defend with speed I didn't know I had, as does Tarna. I can't keep track of where either of our swords are, but I don't need to. In swordfighting, I seem to earn a sixth sense, one that requires no thought. I just do it.
Tarna's blade goes low, and I slice at it. Her sword flies up in a chopping attack, and I raise my sword to block it. Instead of changing attacks, Tarna pushes, nearly catching me off balance. I push too, and the swords stay about halfway between us. It's not a matter of swordfighting anymore. It's a battle of wills. And suddenly, an idea hits me. I slowly start moving to the left, and Tarna moves to the right.
"Please, just let me go in." I plead once again. "You can come with me, if you want. I just need to get in there." Our swords stay even.
"It's an obvious trap, Wrive." Tarna says. We continue slowly rotating in a circle.
"But it's not!" I protest.
"Wrive, no one is going in there." Tarna says, her mind made up. I nod solemnly.
"Tarna..." My back is now to the building, and Tarna's back is to the way we came. We've rotated in a complete circle.
"Goodbye." And with that, I kick her in the stomach, sending her tumbling down the hill. I feel bad, but I had to do it.
I turn to the building, now free of obstacles- wait. Where did Cass- A weight lands on my back, and I'm sent to the ground. Luckily, I manage to stop myself from rolling down. Something wet hits my hair.
A tear?
"I trusted you." Cass' voice says, full of hurt and betrayal. "You and that, that Evir, you nearly killed me! But I- I- I believed, I wanted to believe, that you were good, that we could still be friends. But then you had to go and... and do this. This!" I manage to turn my head to look at Cass' angry face.
"You- you- you! Well, Wrive, I'm telling you now, I'm finished. Finished with your tricks and lies, Wrive. You're going to be kept a prisoner, and after that, you'll get what you deserve." Cass is panting, probably more from anger than being tired.
"Cass." I say gently.
"That's Cassie to you." Cass snaps, driving an emotional blade through my heart.
"Cassie." I try again. "Let me go." Cass' eyes widen in surprise.
"Did you not just hear that entire speech?" she asks.
"Cass- um, Cassie. I know that you're angry. I understand." Cass' eyes narrow.
"But please, think about the good times. Remember when we first met?" I remember Cass, a younger Cass, bouncing off walls at the sight of us. Was that a smile flickering across Cass' face?
"And remember when we broke into Ultra Tech? Together?" Another image comes up in my head, this time of us saying our temporary goodbyes.
"What about the forest? Do you remember that?" Although we were running from U.T, being in the forest had strengthened bonds between all of us. Cass' eyes are starting to get teary.
"Wrive... promise that whatever is in that building, you won't be a traitor. Promise me you won't die." I look Cass in the eyes.
"I promise." Then, so fast that I wonder if it's real, Cass hugs me, tears hitting my back. A moment later, she's standing up wiping her eyes.
"I'll hold them off as well as I can." I, too, get to my feet.
"I know you will." We share a smile, and then I'm running. I gaze up, finally without any obstacles, at the stone building. One thought burns in my mind, followed by a thought by the calling voice.
All right. This building has caused them a lot of pain. This had better be worth it.
Do not worry. It will be.