It's not fun to be chased by a giant rhinoceros with two and chicken feet. Also, smoke was pouring from its nostrils, so I guessed it breathed fire. I honestly thought I had seen every weird thing in the world. This proved me very wrong.

I sprinted past my friends, pulling Gen's floating deathbed behind me. Remi grabbed Hazel's hand and dragged her out of her stunned daze.

We sprinted back the way we came as the monster charged at us. We just barely managed to stay ahead of it, probably because it's skinny legs could barely support It's body weight.

"How should we kill this clucking menace?!" Remi yelled over the bellowing of the monster.

"We don't have any weapons!" Hazel yelled breathlessly, "I wish we still had a dagger!"

I stumbled as a branch nearly wholloped me in the face.

"I have an idea! You guys keep running!" Remi yelled. She let go of Hazel and began to slow to a stop.

Hazel whipped back around, "What are you doing!" she yelled. As I turned around, the floating stretcher caught on a tree. I yanked on it, but my momentum had lodged it deep, and it was stuck fast.

Hazel sprinted toward Remi and grabbed her by the shoulders, trying to yank her back away from the charging chicken-rhino.

Remi leveled her stick at the monster and shook Hazel off of her, "Go!" She yelled, "Get the heck out of here! I'm going to distract it!"

"Never! I'm not leaving you!" Hazel shouted back. She yanked on Remi's shoulders again.

I growled under my breath and yanked at the stuck stretcher. It barely even budged. Why did it feel like the tree was mocking me?

I heaved at it again and it only wiggled slightly.

I gave up and turned.

The chicken-rhino was about to hit them. I started running, to do something, but there wasn't time. Even with chicken legs, the monster was still faster than us.

And then, right before the chicken-rhino stomped my friend's flat, an arrow came shooting out of nowhere and pierced the thing through the flank.

The monster howled in pain, flames shooting out of its nostrils, and veered to the side, its momentum carrying it away from my friends. I realized that it was crashing straight towards me.

I grabbed Gen's stretcher and heaved desperately with all my strength. It came out with a crack.

I tumbled backward several feet and fell onto my back. The stretcher floated quietly over my head.

I'm about to become a pancake. I thought. That would be funny, I ate pancakes that morning, and I was about to become one. I almost laughed.

I did not get flattened.

The chicken-rhino landed with a thump that shook the ground and made my teeth vibrate.

It landed right at my feet.

I closed my eyes, trying to cope with the fact that we were just attacked by a fire breathing two-headed rhino chicken. It was just too insane.

When I opened my eyes again, I realized that I was now covered in mud. It appeared that when the monster landed, it hit a mud puddle made by the rain from the day before and I got splashed.

I sat up and wiped mud off my face. I was completely covered in the stuff. Well, I thought as I wiped my hand on the grass, I didn't really like this shirt.

I got shakily to my feet and grabbed Gen's stretcher which was completely untouched by the mud. I found that sort of unfair.

I scanned the treetops as I pulled the stretcher around the monster. I had to find my friends.

I found them all right. They were yelling at each other right in the place I had last seen them.

Hazel just looked sad, Remi looked defensive and was making wide gestures with her hands. As I got closer, I could hear what they were saying, though the conversation wasn't hard to imagine.

"Well I'm sorry!" Remi yelled, "I'm sorry for trying to distract the thing so YOU could get away!"

"It was stupid," Hazel said, a little more calmly but with her arms crossed, "You might have died!"

"Yeah well-" Remi started, but stopped as Hazel tackled her in a hug.

"Never do that again," Hazel said.

Remi sighed and let herself be embraced, "Fine, but if one of you-"

"No!" Hazel said.

Remi sighed again and put her chin on the top of Hazel's head.

I cleared my throat. "Excuse me, I'm glad you are both alive too but we need to figure out what killed that thing, because it might decide to kill us as well."

Remi pulled away from Hazel and nodded at me, "Good motivational speech."

I rolled my eyes and squelched over to the carcass of the monster, Remi and Hazel followed me.

"I think it was an arrow," Hazel said.

"Yeah, it was. Here." Remi said and stepped up to the side of the beast. She reached out and grabbed something sticking out of its hide.

She yanked on it and it came loose with a sickening ripping noise.

Remi held the arrow out and up to the weakening sunlight for us to see. The fletching was made out of leaves. The tip was covered in the creature's blood but most of the shaft was clean.

I reached out and brushed the fletching with my fingers. Definitely leaves, not feathers like most of the arrows I was used to.

Remi lowered the arrow back to her side and squinted around.

"Who's there?" She called into the trees.

She got no answer except for the rustling of branches.

"I said who are you!" Remi yelled, "Are you just going to be a coward or are you-" she was cut off by my sharp kick to her shin.

"Ow, why-" Remi started to say, lowering the arrow, but a dark figure suddenly dropped down right in front of us. Then another behind us, then two more to my left and right.

We were surrounded.

"Who are you?" The one who dropped in front of us said. The voice was silky and twinkly with an unrecognizable accent. Twinkly was the only way to describe it.

"We're just kids," Hazel said gently, "We mean no harm."

"Get out," the figure said. All six of the people? Creatures? Were wearing what seemed to be forest green cloaks, so we couldn't see their faces.

"Wait," I protested, "Why-"

"Out," they said again, and the creatures behind us moved aside, an obvious gesture for us to go back the way we came.

"The way is clear," our silky voiced friend said, "Humans aren't supposed to be here, it violates our treaty with the Zorg."

"Our treaty." the words rang in my ears.

"Wait," I said again, "You're Elves!"

Silky-voice reached up, and for a moment, I was afraid they would grab the bow on their back, but they just pulled their hood away from their face.

The elf standing in front of us had long, blonde hair and chlorophyll-green eyes. The tips of his pointed ears poked through his hair and he had a long, pointed nose. Pretty much your stereotypical elf.

"I said out," the elf said, pointing a long, thin finger at us.

"Yeah, we heard the first couple of times," Remi snarked, "We need your help."

Hazel nudged her as if to remind her that last time she was rude to enemies, she got clubbed into a tree.

"We have helped you enough by killing the Rhiniken, now, you must leave," the elf said.

"We have a hurt friend." Hazel said desperately and pushed Gen toward him, "We were hoping you might have the thing to heal her."

The elf gave her a suspicious look, but gracefully stepped forward to examine Gen.

He took off the bandage and looked at the wound for a long time, almost long enough for me to lose hope that the Elves would have the Anora root. Would Gen die after all? Did we make the wrong choice, going here instead of Zorg territory? Was this mission all for nothing?

Finally, he sighed and straightened.

"What wounded the girl?" He asked. The tone of his voice suggested that he already knew the answer.

I glanced at Remi, "A..." I hesitated.

The elf's expression contorted and he pointed at us again.

"Seize them," he ordered and the others surged forward.

Remi swiped her stick from the ground and brandished the arrow that killed the Rhiniken.

"Please!" Hazel yelled, backing away from the Elves advancing on her.

All of the sudden, the Elves coming at Hazel pounced with insane grace and agility and shoved something under her nose.

Hazel's eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed. Her captors picked her up with ease.

Remi roared Hazel's name and swung her stick. It hit the elf nearest her on the head with a crack, dropping them to the ground instantly.

Two more Elves advanced on her. She swung the stick and stabbed the arrow wildly, but the Elves were too graceful and she was outnumbered. The Elves leapt on her like tigers and held her down while she got the same treatment as Hazel.

She choked and gasped and clawed at her throat, but her eyes went blank and she crumpled to the ground in a lifeless heap.

I turned back to face the first elf and bare my teeth, fury threatening to consume all sense. "What do you want from us?" I growled. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FRIENDS?!"

An arm came around my shoulder and put me in a headlock. I yelled and tried to bite the arm, but before I knew it, something smelly was pressed under my nose and the world got hazy. The elf's face swam before me. His expression wasn't remorseless, but not guilty either.

I gritted my teeth, Must. Stay. awake! I yelled at myself. It was no good. The ground tilted and spun and was all the sudden pressing against my cheek. I must have fallen.

All my worries got up and danced out of my head as the world faded to black.

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Written by justasnarky_sandwing on WATTPAD