Chapter Ten: Day One

"Good morning, Alaina!" Laurance chirped as his shoes clicked on the stairs. I was sitting out next to the wall, looking through the journal again. I had a piece of paper next to me, almost like a map I was creating to see where I was or where I was going to go to.

"Morning..." I said back, looking up from the journal.

He smiled lightly, "Find anything so far?" He asked, starting up a conversation as he stood beside me.

"Kind of... the writing flow is kind of changing in the second half of the entries... There's like this urgency to finish up or loose papers addressed to Garroth that I'm guessing never were sent and then more letters from him." I said, flipping between pages and showing him the letters in the groups I found them in.

He tilted his head, "That's a lot of letters..."

"For a two-month period? It's a lot, yeah..." I breathed out. I flipped to the next page before I frowned, "It stops midway through this one..." I started breezing through it.

April 23, 14XX

I don't have a lot of time. I found a few trails of footsteps near the campfire from last night and everyone is gone again... I keep hearing things rustling in the trees. Every time I go investigate; I turn up with nothing. Raine is extremely restless too. She starts pacing around me whenever we stop and when we get near some parts of the tree patches, she starts to rear up.

I saw what looked like lights a little further west. I'll try going that way soon. Maybe someone else can help me out.

"That was two months ago." Laurance said. His eyes widened before he looked at me, "I think that was a week before I found you."

My eyes focused on the paper before I turned the page. The date April 29, 14XX was on the top of the page, but the only thing written was Run.

"Run... It's written differently. But why?" I looked at Laurance as he didn't know why either.

"I don't know... but we could go out and look at the wreck and see if that does anything," He suggested.

I bit my lip, closing the book and sliding it and the map into my bag. I started getting up as a few other pairs of steps started to come from outside.

"Sure." I said softly before a couple of the guards walked in from their early morning shift.

Garroth was a part of the group, him not noticing us at first as he talked to Reed.

"How was that for your first walk?" Garroth asked, Reed looking at him with a respectful smile.

"It was simple for being a long first," Reed said, "A few more times and I'll be able to do it."

Garroth chuckled, "Good. It should be calmer since there is a wall rather than just a perimeter." He said lightly.

"Yeah. It helps with the memory as well-" Reed paused when he saw Laurance, "-I-I mean it's sophisticated for the style of your village's set up." He stuttered, looking back at Garroth as his posture straightened up more.

Garroth rose a brow in confusion before looking at Laurance, "Oh. Good morning, Laurance." He greeted, his eyes glancing at me for a moment, "And good morning, Alaina..." He said softly.

I looked up at him before softly tilting my head forward, "Good morning, Garroth," I quietly said, returning the greeting to him.

Reed stood a few yards from Laurance, "S-Sorry, I didn't let you know-"

Laurance chuckled, "Right now I'm not in command, no need to tell me your whereabouts." He looked at Garroth with a respectful nod to him, "Good morning, Sir," He said.

Garroth lightly flashed a smile to him before clearing his throat, "Are you two wanting to go to the wreck?" He asked, going straight to a new topic.

I nodded softly, "The entries in here stopped back in April," I said, "Maybe we can find something else there..."

He nodded before looking over at a few guards coming down the stairs, "Hey Travis? Would you mind walking with Reed today? At least for the morning?"

Travis straightened up and grinned, "No problem, Sir!" He said as he walked over to Reed, "Ready, walking buddy?" He asked, standing shoulder to shoulder to Reed.

Reed looked a little surprised before he nodded, "Y-Yes, sir?" He said, almost sounding confused to his own decision.

The two disappeared out the door before Garroth looked over at the others. I looked down at the ground, patiently waiting for him to finish. Just because we were here didn't mean that he could skimp on his duties.

Laurance and I walked outside, waiting for Garroth to come out.

"They all seem friendly," Laurance said with a slight smile, "At least they work as a somewhat team."

I nodded, "It's a little more of a lighthearted atmosphere too... not... as..." I trailed off, looking awkwardly away.

Laurance chuckled, "Tense as back in Meteli? I know. It was a heavy cloud over most of the guards there. But that happens when you have a bunch of senile men walking every day."

I laughed, covering my mouth to keep it from getting too loud, "Laurance..." I said, "That's rude to say!"

He shrugged with a small, lighthearted laugh in his throat, "Am I wrong? When only two of you are under twenty-five and the rest are over forty, it's easy to make fun of it."

I giggled softly before looking back as Garroth walked out. He was shutting the door as he looked over at us.

"Ready?" He asked with a small solemn smile.

"I believe so," Laurance responded as I nodded.

"Alright." He said, "Let's head out."

The sound of the ocean drew closer as we walked. Laurance stuck behind Garroth and I, though he was the one who kept any conversation from dying off. I just listened to the two talk back and forth, but their words started to zone away from my ears.

I felt numb as I thought about the letters. They stopped back in April, meaning I was somewhere near Meteli or Phoenix Drop and ended up in a river. I had my horse in the second to last entry so that made some sense of why my necklace was found with it, but I wasn't sure where to go from there.

I took in a breath, smelling the dew from the grass and the wood of the trees mixing with the salty smell of the water.

I stopped as my shoe sunk into the sand at the edge of the grass.

Laurance and Garroth still walked forward, the two seeing the wreck. Laurance walked a little further than Garroth as he realized I had stopped.

I gripped onto the bag, my eyes staring at the wreck.

"What happened!?" A voice cried behind me.

I turned around, seeing no one there for a moment.

"Mom? Mom!" The voice shouted again as a girl appeared beside me. Her gold hair shined through the early morning sunlight, her blue eyes staring forward at the wreck.

I looked forward as her body moved towards the wreck. No one else saw her. Garroth looked at me.

"Alaina?"

His voice was distant as I started to walk forward, following the girl as she ran into the crumbled boat. I felt emotionless as I followed to the opposite side Laurance was on.

"Alaina?"

Laurance's voice fell more distant than Garroth's.

"MOM!" The girl yelled again as she dove into the middle of the wreckage.

I paused, right next to the boat before I took my bag off and set my bow down, jumping up into what was left of the hull.

The girl was crying as she laid next to a woman underneath a pale sail. I looked at it, the sail looking transparent against the waves.

I blinked, no longer seeing the sail there. I stopped, standing up and looking out into the sea.

"Mom, wake up!"

I closed my eyes, the yelling starting to go around me.

"Momma, please...!"

"No..." I whispered, my eyes opening before I looked under the planks where the sail I saw had been.

I gasped, jumping back.

"Alaina!" Garroth said, him grabbing the side and pulling himself over, walking over.

"Oh no..." He breathed as my knees hit the deck. There was a bag that looked identical to mine with the name Reyanne etched into the stitching.

"Reyanne..." Garroth breathed as he fell down beside me, "There's no... there's no way?" He breathed, looking over at me.

"It's Mom..." I said softly, not looking up from him before I shoved more boards over. The deck shifted but I didn't care. Something else had to be here.

"Whoa, Alaina! Be careful..." Garroth said, him standing up as he felt everything shift, "This part of the boat is in the water!"

"I don't care!" I shouted, my voice breaking, "There has to be something else!"

The boards slid into the water out of a hole in the bottom. I saw something floating underneath and instantly reached, my hand plunging in. The object felt almost slimy as I tried grabbing onto it. I breathed harder in frustration, leaning forward more. My hand was across the hole, holding my body up so I wouldn't fall. My hands started shaking as I tried grabbing it.

The object was sinking. I couldn't grab it.

"No!" I said, letting go of the edge for a moment to reach further down.

"Alaina!" Garroth said, two arms instantly grabbing my waist and stopping me as I still couldn't reach the object. The tips of my hair dangled in the water as I looked into the darkness under the deck.

Hissing came through from it as I saw an object floating in the crevice. I grabbed it before I was pulled upward, pulling it close to my chest as the hissing got louder. Something agitated the water and burst forward.

I yelped, my body suddenly lifted out of the hole as Garroth shouted, "Shore! Now!"

A huge animal burst through the hole, its scaly skin shining as it scrambled out.

"Crocodile!" I gasped, Garroth holding on and pulling me out as he jumped off the side of the boat and landed in the water.

It was a lot deeper than he must have thought it was, our bodies going underneath the water. I had breathed in, saltwater stinging my nose as we came back up, him catching the sand underwater and getting up onto the shore. The crocodile hissed at us again, coming up a few feet on the wet sand.

Laurance had his sword drawn as Garroth went passed him, setting me down on the bank of the grass. He turned around, looking over at the huge animal.

The crocodile stared at us before it quietly hissed again, turned, and walked back into the water, its tail slithering off under the boat again.

I tried catching my breath as I forced the water out of my nose. I coughed, trying to inhale through my mouth. The salt stung every time I breathed.

"I didn't realize how deep it was right there... I'm sorry, Alaina..." Garroth said, kneeling beside me.

"How the heck was there a-a crocodile!?" I sputtered, "and why didn't it snap faster!?"

"Probably because it was waiting," Laurance said as he slid his sword back into the sheath, "Saltwater crocs are used to water prey that swims faster. Waiting until a main part of the body is visible is a hunting tactic..."

I coughed again, wiping at my mouth before looking at the wreck again. My eyes watered, "Mom was in that before..." I whispered, trying to stand up.

Garroth instantly put his arm in front of me, holding me in place, "She isn't there anymore..." He said softly.

"But I saw-"

"We never saw anyone, Alaina... any of the times we've come here... including now." He said again, stopping me before he looked at Laurance.

Laurance had walked to the side before pointing near the trees.

"That river mouth leads into the forest. If you had fallen into the water nearby it could have swept you downstream." He said as he looked at us.

Garroth nodded softly, "Most likely..." He said. "That river is the river I followed up when I found you two..."

I looked at them before looking at my hand. I held onto the object before I realized what it was: a bracelet.

It was tarnished from the exposure to sea water and being underwater for a time, but the engraved name Corona still was visible in a green rusted color.

Garroth looked at me before he noticed the bracelet, "Is that what you were reaching for...?" He asked before I looked back up at him.

"Not originally... I saw it right before that thing started hissing... What I was reaching for fell under the boat."

He nodded softly. He looked over at Laurance before back at me, "Do you want to go over to the river to see if we can find anything?" He asked.

I instantly nodded before I went over to the wreck again. My stuff was still sitting there.

"Alaina." Garroth said, him walking over with me.

"I'm not jumping in... my bag is right here." I said, picking it up and picking up the bow.

"See?" I said, turning to him.

He paused before he pulled his hand to his sheath.

"Start moving to me... slowly. Got it?" He said, staring behind me.

I frowned, "Why not normal?" I took a step forward as he held his hand up.

"Slower..." He said.

My eyes narrowed at him as I took another step, before stepping again.

"Move." Garroth said, his arm stretched out to me.

I glanced over my shoulder to see the crocodile back on the deck, its head poking over the bow and its scale-covered eye staring directly at me. I instantly jumped towards Garroth, my arm grabbing his as he pulled me forward, us going back into the tree line.

"That thing is not happy," I muttered as we started walking towards the river.

"We probably woke it up," Laurance chuckled, "Those things normally hunt around dusk or dawn since it's cooler."

"Still," I said quietly, my bow lightly tapping against my leg.

"It was scary, I'll admit." Garroth said, "I haven't seen one of those in months. Probably just from the warm weather but they don't hang around Phoenix Drop much." He said as he pushed some branches out of the way.

I rose a brow with a light smirk, "You're a guard and crocodiles make you nervous?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Those things in water are pretty terrifying," He glanced at me before raising his hands, "Imagine seeing something as tall as you slither towards you with mouth agape, dozens of teeth, and some horrid morning breath."

He suddenly hissed at me as his arms open like a mouth. I screamed, the hiss throwing me off.

"Hey!" I hissed, punching him in the side.

"Ow!" He laughed, grabbing onto the impact sight.

"That's what you get." I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms as I looked back in front of us at Laurance.

Laurance was chuckling, listening to the entire conversation. "He isn't wrong, Alaina." He commented.

"I know he isn't wrong!" I said, glancing at Garroth and saw his grin, "But he didn't need to prove it!"

"You questioned his masculinity. I would've done the same."

"Yeah, yeah." I muttered, looking away from the two. "Jerk."

"Punk." Garroth said softly back, him looking in front of us as he stopped walking next to Laurance.

"Here's the river," Laurance said. I looked up, seeing him stop. The blue sea water that entered the river's mouth slowly started to turn green as it began picking up the tree reflections and dirt that settled on the bottom.

"Are we going to follow it all the way?" I asked, looking over at Laurance.

"Until we get to where we found you, I guess." Laurance said, "Maybe we'll find more objects like the journal..." He said softly.

"As long as I don't have to go wading in the water, I don't care..." I softly said.

"Then it looks like we're going downriver today." Garroth said as he looked over to me.

"Then what are we waiting for." I said before we started down the riverbank.

The nickering of a horse sounded like it was beside me as my skin went cold.

A heavy breathing rose from inside my chest as I could hear sticks crack.

"Run."