themselves together. There was no break in them anywhere big enough for me to crawl through. I didn’t recognize the type of plant, but it was jagged and bare, with no leaves, just thousands of little thorns.
"Now we may talk." Red beard said, taking in large huffs of air. It sounded as though he was trying to regain his strength after what he had done. "Little girl, there are two possible reasons for you being here: either you don't know what sort of monster you are with, or you are a monster as well. Which is it?"
Aton rushed over to me and placed his hand over my mouth as he stood behind me. He whispered into my ear, "Don't answer him, he's trying to divide us so we’re easier to stop. He's weak right now. He has little energy or strength left after doing something like this. I’ll find us a way out."
"Monster, what sort of lies have you fed this girl? I know not why you seek the stones, but the Academy of Mages will not let you continue. This ends here!" As he shouted, the branches around us shook and moved closer. They crept towards us, the circle shrinking inward.
Aton kept his hand on my mouth as he looked around for a way out. He stopped for a moment and turned me around. He placed his finger over his lips as he released his other hand from my mouth, and he whispered in my ear. "I'll be right back, wait here for me."
“Where else would I go?” I thought to myself.
Aton pulled a blanket out of his bag a placed it over some of the brush, then took a running start and climbed over the brush onto the low hanging branch of a tree that was just outside the barrier. I tried to listen, but heard nothing other than red beard as he spoke again.
"Child, you have a great—" he was silenced by a loud thud, and then the brush disappeared back into the ground. Red beard was on the ground, with Aton standing over him with a big branch in his hand.
"Let's go, Jas. We need to get out of here. He has powerful friends, and they're not very kind. "
I rushed to catch up to Aton and we bolted down the mountain even faster than before. By the time we reached the forest, I was struggling to stay conscious. Even Aton was gasping for air. He gave us a couple minutes to recover. We walked in silence the rest of the day, making camp once we were deep into the forest. It didn’t take me much effort to get to sleep.
I awoke with much resistance when a few wayward beams of light made it through the thick forest and landed on my eyelids. My arms and legs were sore from all the hiking we had done the previous day.
Aton was already up, as usual, preparing a breakfast for us. "I feel like we’re deep enough into the forest now that we may take a little time to properly recover."
A warm feeling came to me with this news. The only thing I could think of right now was relaxing long enough to let my muscles stop throbbing in pain. The second most prominent thought in my mind was a series of questions regarding some of the statements Red Beard had made yesterday. "What’s the Academy of Mages?"
Aton looked over at me, staring in silence for some time before answering, "It's a collection of powerful mages that hoard their abilities and decide how everyone should use magic. They’re a hypocritical group of power hungry mages that seek nothing but power. They would probably love to get their hands on you."
"Why do we keep running into Red Beard?"
"Red Beard, huh? Well, I guess I can see why you would call him that. As soon as I took the first stone, the Academy sent a group of their tracking mages to find the others. One of the holders of the stones was a member. They'll stop at nothing to get all of these stones back so that they may keep them from everyone else."
I found the idea of a giant group of mages hunting us for our quests terrifying, but I was sure Aton had a plan for how we would make it. "Why don’t they want people to use the stones if they have the power to help people, like your brother?"
"Their greed. They like to
"Now we may talk." Red beard said, taking in large huffs of air. It sounded as though he was trying to regain his strength after what he had done. "Little girl, there are two possible reasons for you being here: either you don't know what sort of monster you are with, or you are a monster as well. Which is it?"
Aton rushed over to me and placed his hand over my mouth as he stood behind me. He whispered into my ear, "Don't answer him, he's trying to divide us so we’re easier to stop. He's weak right now. He has little energy or strength left after doing something like this. I’ll find us a way out."
"Monster, what sort of lies have you fed this girl? I know not why you seek the stones, but the Academy of Mages will not let you continue. This ends here!" As he shouted, the branches around us shook and moved closer. They crept towards us, the circle shrinking inward.
Aton kept his hand on my mouth as he looked around for a way out. He stopped for a moment and turned me around. He placed his finger over his lips as he released his other hand from my mouth, and he whispered in my ear. "I'll be right back, wait here for me."
“Where else would I go?” I thought to myself.
Aton pulled a blanket out of his bag a placed it over some of the brush, then took a running start and climbed over the brush onto the low hanging branch of a tree that was just outside the barrier. I tried to listen, but heard nothing other than red beard as he spoke again.
"Child, you have a great—" he was silenced by a loud thud, and then the brush disappeared back into the ground. Red beard was on the ground, with Aton standing over him with a big branch in his hand.
"Let's go, Jas. We need to get out of here. He has powerful friends, and they're not very kind. "
I rushed to catch up to Aton and we bolted down the mountain even faster than before. By the time we reached the forest, I was struggling to stay conscious. Even Aton was gasping for air. He gave us a couple minutes to recover. We walked in silence the rest of the day, making camp once we were deep into the forest. It didn’t take me much effort to get to sleep.
I awoke with much resistance when a few wayward beams of light made it through the thick forest and landed on my eyelids. My arms and legs were sore from all the hiking we had done the previous day.
Aton was already up, as usual, preparing a breakfast for us. "I feel like we’re deep enough into the forest now that we may take a little time to properly recover."
A warm feeling came to me with this news. The only thing I could think of right now was relaxing long enough to let my muscles stop throbbing in pain. The second most prominent thought in my mind was a series of questions regarding some of the statements Red Beard had made yesterday. "What’s the Academy of Mages?"
Aton looked over at me, staring in silence for some time before answering, "It's a collection of powerful mages that hoard their abilities and decide how everyone should use magic. They’re a hypocritical group of power hungry mages that seek nothing but power. They would probably love to get their hands on you."
"Why do we keep running into Red Beard?"
"Red Beard, huh? Well, I guess I can see why you would call him that. As soon as I took the first stone, the Academy sent a group of their tracking mages to find the others. One of the holders of the stones was a member. They'll stop at nothing to get all of these stones back so that they may keep them from everyone else."
I found the idea of a giant group of mages hunting us for our quests terrifying, but I was sure Aton had a plan for how we would make it. "Why don’t they want people to use the stones if they have the power to help people, like your brother?"
"Their greed. They like to
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