CHAPTER NINETEEN
Martin let go of my hand and patted me on the shoulder. It was good to know that the two of us where at peace with one another. I had feared for the worst; that Martin had lost all respect for me, and that I had lost his friendship. I never really thought about that kind of stuff before, but now I realize Mankar was wrong when he spoke to me in Kvatch. People do care about me. Martin…Janus…they all care about me enough to claim that I am the only one who can take the evil Altmer down for good. I’m glad have realized all of this before it was too late.
“Ride swiftly, my friend, Bruma can only stand for a short amount of time before the walls fall down in front of us. I know you’ll do us proud,” Martin said. Then he looked over at Janus, who himself looked to becoming impatient of all the final goodbyes.
“Yes, Rayden, do be careful on this mission, as it is obviously very important. It is time for the talking to end and time for you to leave, but let me leave you with this one last message. I barely know anything about you since we’ve essentially just met, but during this short duration you have impressed me greatly. Sure, you have hot-head sometimes, but doesn’t everyone?” Hassildor smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. “I do not want you to leave here thinking that I loath you, because that would be far from the truth. You are a very special person, Rayden. The balance of power in Cyrodiil rests in yours and Jena’s hands. That alone speaks volumes for how much trust and praise we all have for you. I also realize that you are certainly confident in your abilities, and while that is a good thing do not let it cloud your mind. No one is invincible, Rayden, no one.”
And with that Jena said her goodbyes to Burd, who it seemed was a close friend of hers. Then Jena suggested that I use the Blades armor.
“Rayden, I would be honored if you were to bear the armor of a Blade. You may not be one yourself, but your actions have certainly qualified you for the use of this ancient piece.”
I was glad to hear those sincere words, but the fact of the matter is that I have never worn armor before during my hits as a thief. Armor is too heavy and noisy, causing me great difficulty in performing my duties. I wasn’t about to change my ways, especially when I would be sneaking around in the shadows in Anvil.
“Thank you for the kind gesture, Jena, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline the offer. Armor is too heavy and makes too much noise. We’ll be infiltrating a city full of people who want us dead. I need to be as sneaky as I can, and quite frankly armor would do nothing but hamper our mission.”
“Yes, you are right, Rayden. I should have thought about that as well, but, I think you should at least wear something a little warmer. We’ll be traveling through the Jerall Mountains on our way to Anvil you know.”
That sounded like a good idea and Jena said she would show me to a room where clothing was stored. Martin, Burd and Janus shook my hand and said their last goodbyes, and then left to return to Bruma. After all, they had their own problems to attend to.
“Come, Rayden, I’ll show you to the room, and then I’ll wait outside while you choose what you wish to wear during our trip.”
Jena seemed like a very nice person, and I was glad for that. I would have hated to have to travel with an arrogant fool. That would have been a dreadful experience indeed. But then again, that’s probably how I acted towards Martin and Janus, at least before I changed my ways that is. No more of that, I am a new person.
She took me through a door that was located near the exit to the outside. Then we walked down a hallway, and finally into a room filled with many wooden boxes, cabinets and drawers.
“This is where everyone had kept all of our clothes over the years. Some are older than others, but I’ll just let you decide on what you want yourself,” she said cheerfully.
Jena stepped back outside into the hallway and closed the door, leaving me by myself with literally hundreds of pieces of clothing. There are many types lying around everywhere: shirts, shorts, pants, hoods, robes, capes, boots, shoes, sandals…..everything you could think of. Although I was finding it a bit weird that they would keep shorts and sandals, given the fact that it was always bitter cold in this area.
I looked through the room for about ten minutes until I had chosen my attire for the trip. I wasn’t a picky person when it came to getting dressed. To tell you truth I’ve never cared how I look as long as I’m comfortable. What I ended up dressing into was a simple dark green shirt, long wool pants, and a dark green robe to go over everything. Then I put on a pair of cowhide boots and a dark green hood. The clothing was a little big, because I am a Bosmer, but all in all it fit pretty well. And most importantly I was warm.
Once I was done fitting into my new clothing I stepped outside to show Jena my attire. She sort of giggled at my appearance. Apparently my clothing was a bit bigger than I thought. But hey, at least I matched color wise.
“That will do, Rayden. Let’s go, I have a couple of horses stabled outside the temple. We can take those. It will take a while to arrive in Anvil, so time is definitely of the essence,” she said as we began to walk towards the exit.
“Do you know how long it will take exactly?” I asked.
“Hmm…I don’t really know; it all depends on how many stops we have to take. Right now it is about ten o’clock at night, so if we ride all the way until morning, then perhaps stop and rest for a bit before continuing again, we should perhaps arrive in Anvil sometime around midnight, maybe a little later. But that’s only if we make one stop to rest of course.”
I agreed that we should not stop for much, because we needed to get back to Bruma as quick as possible. Outside the horses were getting anxious to get going, so Jena and I saddled up and left the temple, but she closed the doors of course. It took us a while to get down the mountain, but once we did get all the way down we immediately picked up the pace. I followed Jena as she led me onto a trail that took us deep into the snowy cold mountains. We rode along the trail and suffered no setback such as wolves or anything like that, but there were several scary moments.
During the first part of the trip we had to ride over an old bridge, and my horse slipped halfway across. I almost fell off and down into the frozen pond that was hundreds of feet below us, but thankfully I had kept my balance and safely made it across without being unscathed.
But other than that things went fairly smooth. It was almost five o’clock in the morning, and we arrived at a small cave when Jena suggested we stop and rest for a couple of hours to get our strength back for the rest of the journey. I certainly wasn’t one to complain about getting out of the snowy cold, so we took our horses inside the cave, which fortunately wasn’t inhabited by any unwanted creatures. The place was almost perfect in terms of size, and I had plenty of room to stretch my tired legs.
“So, what exactly got you into this mess?” She asked me while chewing on some berries we found just outside of the cave. They were frozen when we found them, but soon the ice melted, and I must say, they were quite the treat. Thankfully Jena happened to be an expert alchemist so I knew I wasn’t eating anything poisonous.
I told Jena of my story, even all the way back when I was a thief in Kvatch. I felt a need to explain this to her so that she knew exactly where I came from, figuratively I mean. We would be with each other for the next three or four days, so I firmly believed a need to tell her everything. I even told of how I once before acted as a child, and now I am a totally new person. Of course, I might sound a bit hasty with that since it hasn’t even been a day since I last got an attitude with Janus, but I wanted her to know that I am a respectful person.
After my story, Jena began hers:
“Before the Emperor himself was assassinated, we were attacked back at Cloud Ruler Temple. Those of us who were not in the Imperial City had been sleeping that night, except for me. I couldn’t sleep knowing that the life of our Emperor was hanging by a thread, a thin one mind you. I heard noises coming from inside the temple, and when I walked inside I witnessed the murder of my brothers and sisters. Apparently the Mythic Dawn snuck inside and struck while my friends were asleep. Everything happened so fast it was all over in a matter of minutes. There was nothing I could for them, so I came back outside and hid in the stables, behind a bale of hay. I do not feel cowardly for my actions; I felt the need to uphold the Blades organization. When the cultists left I heard one of them say something about there being no more agents to disturb their mission. After that I sent letters out to the agents around Tamriel, and I have yet to receive any replies. At first I was optimistic, but now I know the truth; I am the only one left. And just to think, if I had been sleeping I would have suffered the same fate. It just chills me to the bone when I think about it, which is often I might add.”
And I thought my story was sorrowful. This woman had lost all of her friends to the Dawn threat. And what a terrible thing it must have been for her to hide while her friends died, so helpless from saving them. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how bad of a situation that must have been. She was definitely a strong person.
“I commend you for what you did. Not many people would have been able to live on and continue the work you have done. It makes me happy to be partners with someone such as yourself.”
I was trying to sound as courteous as possible, but I wanted it to come from the heart, because it was. I was determined to prove to everyone that I am indeed a good person, even if Jena was likely unaware of the turmoil that Janus and I once shared.
“Thanks, Rayden. I am totally focused on avenging my brothers’ and sisters’ death. Mankar will pay for what he has done.”
“Well, now that I think about it, I’m not actually sure what your role is,” I said laughing a bit. “What will you do while I infiltrate the city?”
“I will simply wait for you while you do your thing. To be honest with you, I am here to get my revenge. Once you figure out Mankar’s location, I will help you defeat him. That is my job. That, and Burd thought someone should come along with you anyway, in case you got into trouble or something. I promise I won’t be a bother to you.”
“No, not at all, Jena. I wouldn’t be surprised if I did get into trouble,” I said, again laughing.
“What do you mean by that?” she said a little cautiously.
“Well, let’s just say luck hasn’t been on my side lately. But that’s not to say I’m not capable for the job, I mean…there’s nothing to worry about, I swear…”
My palms were sweaty and face was drenched as well. I just then realized how stupid I was sounding to Jena. There I was, claiming basically of being an unlucky person, and if that were truthfully the case, how I am supposed to be the savior of Cyrodiil? Thankfully she was unfazed by my foolish comments.
“No worries, Rayden. We all have those kinds of days sometimes. It happens.”
After a while the horses started getting agitated again, so we rode off onto the snow once more, but at least it was starting to get light because morning was creeping up on us. We rode for a very long time, and finally after what seemed like days we at last made it out of the mountains.
“Whew. That took longer than I expected. It’s already noon!” Jena commented. “By this rate we might not even get to Anvil today. We’ll have to pick up the pace even more. We’re only about fifty miles or so, so I’d like to get there sometime tonight if that’s at all possible.”
We continued to ride for the rest of the day without stopping, and when nighttime came, we still rode. I was vastly impressed by Jena’s strong will and drive to succeed. Certainly there were those who could learn a thing or two from her. And I’m talking mainly about traitors such as Lex, and even Alfhedil despite the fact that he was never really on my side to begin with.
Throughout the day we traveled through many different types of environments. We passed through the last outskirts of the Jerall Mountains, where it was of course cold and snowy. Then we rode through the pleasant atmosphere of the Colovian Highlands, my personal favorite. Someday I wish to settle down and “retire” in Chorrol. And finally, as the day grew late, we neared Anvil and the air got cooler, since we were also getting close to the Abecian Sea as well.
After riding for a little bit more we could see the torches of Castle Anvil light up the night. By the brightness of the large torches I could tell we were no more than ten minutes away from our first destination.
“Alright, Rayden, we’re almost there. You ready?” She said as he neared closer and closer to the newest conquered city.
“Yeah, don’t worry about me, Jena. I’m always ready.”
As soon as I said those nine words objects began flying down from out of the sky. Most of whatever it was missed me, but one, which I learned the hard way was an arrow, struck me just above my right armpit, almost onto my chest and just below my shoulder. I yelled out in pain and fell off my horse. Then she galloped out of sight simply out of fear. I heard Jena yell for me to stay down as she jumped off of her horse and unsheathed her Blade katana and shield. I saw her carrying them before we left Cloud Ruler Temple. They definitely looked different.
I couldn’t see what was happening because it was so dark and there was no source of light, but I could hear the grunts and groans, the clanging of metal. And from time to time a spell would light up the area just a bit. And when that did happen, I realized Jena was fighting against three cultists.
Fearing for her life I struggled up from the ground and ran over to help. Upon reaching one of the cultists I stupidly tried to unsheathe my sword with my right hand, but the pain was the arrow wouldn’t let me do so. And when I screamed out in pain once more the cultist saw me and blasted me into the air, where I landed hard against a tree. If you remember earlier I had sustained a back injury when Alfhedil had betrayed me. When I hit the tree my back popped just as it did back then, and now I had two injuries.
Not able to get up this time, I watched powerlessly as Jena fought on alone. She took out two of them quickly, and then it was just she and the lone cultist left, but then I noticed he was no cultist…it was Lex himself!
Upon learning his identity Jena went into a fit of intense rage, possibly because she perhaps felt betrayed by him more than I because she was a Blade, a protector of the Emperor. And Lex was once an officer of the Legion, the Emperor’s army. Knowing that I knew she was feeling more betrayed than I.
She charged at him with all her speed and might but, being the skillful soldier he was, Lex defended himself successfully and threw Jena to the ground. Then he actually laughed, and that ended up being the ultimate mistake. Jena got up from the ground, sliced three times into the air with no prevails, and then at least connected her blade with Lex’s neck. His head flew from his body and landed some ten feet away. His lifeless body fell to the ground, along with his steel claymore. The battle was over.
Jena limped over to me and touched the arrow slightly, still causing great pain.
“Sorry, Rayden, but I’ll have to pull it out,” she said gently.
I was about to respond but then we heard a voice in the distance, “The light came from over there! Hurry!”
On to the next chapter
Martin let go of my hand and patted me on the shoulder. It was good to know that the two of us where at peace with one another. I had feared for the worst; that Martin had lost all respect for me, and that I had lost his friendship. I never really thought about that kind of stuff before, but now I realize Mankar was wrong when he spoke to me in Kvatch. People do care about me. Martin…Janus…they all care about me enough to claim that I am the only one who can take the evil Altmer down for good. I’m glad have realized all of this before it was too late.
“Ride swiftly, my friend, Bruma can only stand for a short amount of time before the walls fall down in front of us. I know you’ll do us proud,” Martin said. Then he looked over at Janus, who himself looked to becoming impatient of all the final goodbyes.
“Yes, Rayden, do be careful on this mission, as it is obviously very important. It is time for the talking to end and time for you to leave, but let me leave you with this one last message. I barely know anything about you since we’ve essentially just met, but during this short duration you have impressed me greatly. Sure, you have hot-head sometimes, but doesn’t everyone?” Hassildor smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. “I do not want you to leave here thinking that I loath you, because that would be far from the truth. You are a very special person, Rayden. The balance of power in Cyrodiil rests in yours and Jena’s hands. That alone speaks volumes for how much trust and praise we all have for you. I also realize that you are certainly confident in your abilities, and while that is a good thing do not let it cloud your mind. No one is invincible, Rayden, no one.”
And with that Jena said her goodbyes to Burd, who it seemed was a close friend of hers. Then Jena suggested that I use the Blades armor.
“Rayden, I would be honored if you were to bear the armor of a Blade. You may not be one yourself, but your actions have certainly qualified you for the use of this ancient piece.”
I was glad to hear those sincere words, but the fact of the matter is that I have never worn armor before during my hits as a thief. Armor is too heavy and noisy, causing me great difficulty in performing my duties. I wasn’t about to change my ways, especially when I would be sneaking around in the shadows in Anvil.
“Thank you for the kind gesture, Jena, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline the offer. Armor is too heavy and makes too much noise. We’ll be infiltrating a city full of people who want us dead. I need to be as sneaky as I can, and quite frankly armor would do nothing but hamper our mission.”
“Yes, you are right, Rayden. I should have thought about that as well, but, I think you should at least wear something a little warmer. We’ll be traveling through the Jerall Mountains on our way to Anvil you know.”
That sounded like a good idea and Jena said she would show me to a room where clothing was stored. Martin, Burd and Janus shook my hand and said their last goodbyes, and then left to return to Bruma. After all, they had their own problems to attend to.
“Come, Rayden, I’ll show you to the room, and then I’ll wait outside while you choose what you wish to wear during our trip.”
Jena seemed like a very nice person, and I was glad for that. I would have hated to have to travel with an arrogant fool. That would have been a dreadful experience indeed. But then again, that’s probably how I acted towards Martin and Janus, at least before I changed my ways that is. No more of that, I am a new person.
She took me through a door that was located near the exit to the outside. Then we walked down a hallway, and finally into a room filled with many wooden boxes, cabinets and drawers.
“This is where everyone had kept all of our clothes over the years. Some are older than others, but I’ll just let you decide on what you want yourself,” she said cheerfully.
Jena stepped back outside into the hallway and closed the door, leaving me by myself with literally hundreds of pieces of clothing. There are many types lying around everywhere: shirts, shorts, pants, hoods, robes, capes, boots, shoes, sandals…..everything you could think of. Although I was finding it a bit weird that they would keep shorts and sandals, given the fact that it was always bitter cold in this area.
I looked through the room for about ten minutes until I had chosen my attire for the trip. I wasn’t a picky person when it came to getting dressed. To tell you truth I’ve never cared how I look as long as I’m comfortable. What I ended up dressing into was a simple dark green shirt, long wool pants, and a dark green robe to go over everything. Then I put on a pair of cowhide boots and a dark green hood. The clothing was a little big, because I am a Bosmer, but all in all it fit pretty well. And most importantly I was warm.
Once I was done fitting into my new clothing I stepped outside to show Jena my attire. She sort of giggled at my appearance. Apparently my clothing was a bit bigger than I thought. But hey, at least I matched color wise.
“That will do, Rayden. Let’s go, I have a couple of horses stabled outside the temple. We can take those. It will take a while to arrive in Anvil, so time is definitely of the essence,” she said as we began to walk towards the exit.
“Do you know how long it will take exactly?” I asked.
“Hmm…I don’t really know; it all depends on how many stops we have to take. Right now it is about ten o’clock at night, so if we ride all the way until morning, then perhaps stop and rest for a bit before continuing again, we should perhaps arrive in Anvil sometime around midnight, maybe a little later. But that’s only if we make one stop to rest of course.”
I agreed that we should not stop for much, because we needed to get back to Bruma as quick as possible. Outside the horses were getting anxious to get going, so Jena and I saddled up and left the temple, but she closed the doors of course. It took us a while to get down the mountain, but once we did get all the way down we immediately picked up the pace. I followed Jena as she led me onto a trail that took us deep into the snowy cold mountains. We rode along the trail and suffered no setback such as wolves or anything like that, but there were several scary moments.
During the first part of the trip we had to ride over an old bridge, and my horse slipped halfway across. I almost fell off and down into the frozen pond that was hundreds of feet below us, but thankfully I had kept my balance and safely made it across without being unscathed.
But other than that things went fairly smooth. It was almost five o’clock in the morning, and we arrived at a small cave when Jena suggested we stop and rest for a couple of hours to get our strength back for the rest of the journey. I certainly wasn’t one to complain about getting out of the snowy cold, so we took our horses inside the cave, which fortunately wasn’t inhabited by any unwanted creatures. The place was almost perfect in terms of size, and I had plenty of room to stretch my tired legs.
“So, what exactly got you into this mess?” She asked me while chewing on some berries we found just outside of the cave. They were frozen when we found them, but soon the ice melted, and I must say, they were quite the treat. Thankfully Jena happened to be an expert alchemist so I knew I wasn’t eating anything poisonous.
I told Jena of my story, even all the way back when I was a thief in Kvatch. I felt a need to explain this to her so that she knew exactly where I came from, figuratively I mean. We would be with each other for the next three or four days, so I firmly believed a need to tell her everything. I even told of how I once before acted as a child, and now I am a totally new person. Of course, I might sound a bit hasty with that since it hasn’t even been a day since I last got an attitude with Janus, but I wanted her to know that I am a respectful person.
After my story, Jena began hers:
“Before the Emperor himself was assassinated, we were attacked back at Cloud Ruler Temple. Those of us who were not in the Imperial City had been sleeping that night, except for me. I couldn’t sleep knowing that the life of our Emperor was hanging by a thread, a thin one mind you. I heard noises coming from inside the temple, and when I walked inside I witnessed the murder of my brothers and sisters. Apparently the Mythic Dawn snuck inside and struck while my friends were asleep. Everything happened so fast it was all over in a matter of minutes. There was nothing I could for them, so I came back outside and hid in the stables, behind a bale of hay. I do not feel cowardly for my actions; I felt the need to uphold the Blades organization. When the cultists left I heard one of them say something about there being no more agents to disturb their mission. After that I sent letters out to the agents around Tamriel, and I have yet to receive any replies. At first I was optimistic, but now I know the truth; I am the only one left. And just to think, if I had been sleeping I would have suffered the same fate. It just chills me to the bone when I think about it, which is often I might add.”
And I thought my story was sorrowful. This woman had lost all of her friends to the Dawn threat. And what a terrible thing it must have been for her to hide while her friends died, so helpless from saving them. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how bad of a situation that must have been. She was definitely a strong person.
“I commend you for what you did. Not many people would have been able to live on and continue the work you have done. It makes me happy to be partners with someone such as yourself.”
I was trying to sound as courteous as possible, but I wanted it to come from the heart, because it was. I was determined to prove to everyone that I am indeed a good person, even if Jena was likely unaware of the turmoil that Janus and I once shared.
“Thanks, Rayden. I am totally focused on avenging my brothers’ and sisters’ death. Mankar will pay for what he has done.”
“Well, now that I think about it, I’m not actually sure what your role is,” I said laughing a bit. “What will you do while I infiltrate the city?”
“I will simply wait for you while you do your thing. To be honest with you, I am here to get my revenge. Once you figure out Mankar’s location, I will help you defeat him. That is my job. That, and Burd thought someone should come along with you anyway, in case you got into trouble or something. I promise I won’t be a bother to you.”
“No, not at all, Jena. I wouldn’t be surprised if I did get into trouble,” I said, again laughing.
“What do you mean by that?” she said a little cautiously.
“Well, let’s just say luck hasn’t been on my side lately. But that’s not to say I’m not capable for the job, I mean…there’s nothing to worry about, I swear…”
My palms were sweaty and face was drenched as well. I just then realized how stupid I was sounding to Jena. There I was, claiming basically of being an unlucky person, and if that were truthfully the case, how I am supposed to be the savior of Cyrodiil? Thankfully she was unfazed by my foolish comments.
“No worries, Rayden. We all have those kinds of days sometimes. It happens.”
After a while the horses started getting agitated again, so we rode off onto the snow once more, but at least it was starting to get light because morning was creeping up on us. We rode for a very long time, and finally after what seemed like days we at last made it out of the mountains.
“Whew. That took longer than I expected. It’s already noon!” Jena commented. “By this rate we might not even get to Anvil today. We’ll have to pick up the pace even more. We’re only about fifty miles or so, so I’d like to get there sometime tonight if that’s at all possible.”
We continued to ride for the rest of the day without stopping, and when nighttime came, we still rode. I was vastly impressed by Jena’s strong will and drive to succeed. Certainly there were those who could learn a thing or two from her. And I’m talking mainly about traitors such as Lex, and even Alfhedil despite the fact that he was never really on my side to begin with.
Throughout the day we traveled through many different types of environments. We passed through the last outskirts of the Jerall Mountains, where it was of course cold and snowy. Then we rode through the pleasant atmosphere of the Colovian Highlands, my personal favorite. Someday I wish to settle down and “retire” in Chorrol. And finally, as the day grew late, we neared Anvil and the air got cooler, since we were also getting close to the Abecian Sea as well.
After riding for a little bit more we could see the torches of Castle Anvil light up the night. By the brightness of the large torches I could tell we were no more than ten minutes away from our first destination.
“Alright, Rayden, we’re almost there. You ready?” She said as he neared closer and closer to the newest conquered city.
“Yeah, don’t worry about me, Jena. I’m always ready.”
As soon as I said those nine words objects began flying down from out of the sky. Most of whatever it was missed me, but one, which I learned the hard way was an arrow, struck me just above my right armpit, almost onto my chest and just below my shoulder. I yelled out in pain and fell off my horse. Then she galloped out of sight simply out of fear. I heard Jena yell for me to stay down as she jumped off of her horse and unsheathed her Blade katana and shield. I saw her carrying them before we left Cloud Ruler Temple. They definitely looked different.
I couldn’t see what was happening because it was so dark and there was no source of light, but I could hear the grunts and groans, the clanging of metal. And from time to time a spell would light up the area just a bit. And when that did happen, I realized Jena was fighting against three cultists.
Fearing for her life I struggled up from the ground and ran over to help. Upon reaching one of the cultists I stupidly tried to unsheathe my sword with my right hand, but the pain was the arrow wouldn’t let me do so. And when I screamed out in pain once more the cultist saw me and blasted me into the air, where I landed hard against a tree. If you remember earlier I had sustained a back injury when Alfhedil had betrayed me. When I hit the tree my back popped just as it did back then, and now I had two injuries.
Not able to get up this time, I watched powerlessly as Jena fought on alone. She took out two of them quickly, and then it was just she and the lone cultist left, but then I noticed he was no cultist…it was Lex himself!
Upon learning his identity Jena went into a fit of intense rage, possibly because she perhaps felt betrayed by him more than I because she was a Blade, a protector of the Emperor. And Lex was once an officer of the Legion, the Emperor’s army. Knowing that I knew she was feeling more betrayed than I.
She charged at him with all her speed and might but, being the skillful soldier he was, Lex defended himself successfully and threw Jena to the ground. Then he actually laughed, and that ended up being the ultimate mistake. Jena got up from the ground, sliced three times into the air with no prevails, and then at least connected her blade with Lex’s neck. His head flew from his body and landed some ten feet away. His lifeless body fell to the ground, along with his steel claymore. The battle was over.
Jena limped over to me and touched the arrow slightly, still causing great pain.
“Sorry, Rayden, but I’ll have to pull it out,” she said gently.
I was about to respond but then we heard a voice in the distance, “The light came from over there! Hurry!”
On to the next chapter