Skylar opened and shut her eyes slowly. She could hear voices, but her ears were ringing so she couldn’t tell what they were saying. It was night, and she could smell campfire smoke. Her head throbbed and her hands were tied.
Her hands were tied?
The panic hit Skylar for a moment. Was she back at the Dueglesteiners’ camp? Was Boromir going to stab her?
Then her vision cleared and the ringing in her ears stopped. She closed her eyes as she remembered her situation, and she didn’t want her captors to know she was awake.
“...we can’t just hand her over to them like that, father! She’s just a girl, not much younger than me!” said a younger voice, presumably the one who had talked to Skylar before she was knocked out by his companion.
“This is our only way off this rock,” said an older voice, gruff with experience. “I don’t care who she is or what she’s done, she’s wanted by the Dueglesteiners.”
“But father, why do we have to? We could find another way off this island, I’m sure of it!”
“You heard that general, he said if we don’t bring them one of the six children they’re after, we’ll never get away from here and never be welcomed back to Dueglestein.”
Skylar’s heart was pounding. What did they plan to do to her? If she was taken back to the Dueglesteiners, she was dead. And then she couldn’t help whoever she needed to help or get back to her friends.
“But, father-”
“Sebastian, it’s final. When the Dueglesteiners drop off our food next week, we’ll hand her over to them. And that’s that.” The older man walked away, leaving Skylar alone with the boy named Sebastian.
He sighed, stoking the fire. Skylar figured it was safe to open her eyes, so she looked over at where he was sitting. Next to him lay a pile of wanted posters, each with a detailed drawing of them. Skylar saw how they captured Luke’s beautiful face, although in the drawing they made him seem menacing, almost evil.
That’s when it clicked. The Dueglesteiners were portraying the six as criminals so the people they’d encounter would report them to the Dueglesteiners.
That was one way they’d known where the children were. That’s why One-Eyed-Oliver tried to sell Peter and Alice to Boromir after they’d come to his village.
Skylar decided to try to reason with the boy. He had, in fact, tried to defend Skylar in his argument with his father.
“Please, don’t turn me over to them,” she said, looking at the boy named Sebastian, trying her best to seem pleading.
The boy jumped, then put his hand over his heart and said, “Oh my God, you scared me. Forgive me, I didn’t know you were awake.” Then he asked, “How…how much of that conversation did you hear?”
Since the boy seemed incapable of answering a single question, Skylar dropped the pleading in her voice and went back to being her normal, tough self. “Enough,” she said coldly, turning away from Sebastian.
“Look, I’m sorry about what’s going to happen, but it’s not my fault!” Sebastian protested, and Skylar turned back to him, raising an eyebrow.
“Really?” she asked, “How so?”
Sebastian sighed and began to explain his story. “My father was a governor in Dueglestein. We had a good life, one filled with enough money and friends.
“But then things started to change. The government continued to tax us, almost impossible for some people to get by. They said the money was for a good cause, that something was coming soon.
“My father became suspicious of our government, and he eventually started to speak out. Our government didn’t like that, so one day we were forced from our home, and they took my mother to prison, then banished my father and me. That was a year ago.
“But the government had one problem; my father was a well-liked person, and when they banished my father and me, there started to be riots in the streets, they even got to the capital and started destroying a few buildings.
“It got so bad that the government said they’d regularly send us food and supplies, enough to survive for a month at a time until they’d have to come back and give us some more.”
Sebastian sighed again, running his hand through his hair. Skylar noticed the dark lines under his eyes and the tired look on his expression.
“My father thinks that if we hand you over, it will buy us our freedom. We can go back to Dueglestein in peace, and maybe we can figure something out with the government.” Sebastian shook his head, kicking the sand with his boot.
“I’m not so sure, though, the wanted posters said you were dangerous, that you had killed people. But when we found you…you looked like you were half-starved to death. I knew that the government lied about things, but why would they want you and those other five kids so badly to lie about you being a killer?”
Skylar decided it was best to explain since it might buy her freedom. “Have you ever heard of the Prophecy of the Six?”
Sebastian nodded. “I heard about my father talking to a few soldiers before we were banished about that prophecy. I didn’t hear much, but from what the soldier was saying it sounded like it would end the world.”
“No!” Skylar argued, “No, we have to save the world. Dueglestein is the one trying to end it!”
Sebastian creased his brow, scowling slightly at Skylar. “Dueglestein isn’t evil, you know. It’s our government that’s trying to end things. Just because a government is corrupt, doesn’t mean that the innocents should get caught up in the government’s conflicts. Unfortunately, though, that happens. I myself am from Dueglestein, don’t forget, so don’t point the finger at me.”
“Says the one who’s about to sell an innocent child to a corrupt government.” Skylar muttered under her breath.
Sebastian rolled his eyes and began to stand up. “Look, I didn’t ask for this,” Sebastian said, “I didn’t ask to be taken away from my home and banished to this rock. I didn’t ask to have to choose between the logical choice or what my heart is telling me is right.”
Sebastian began to walk back over to the fire and said one last thing though. “You shouldn’t assume the worst in people you just met. You don’t know what they’ve been through, what they have to choose between. Just keep that in mind when you meet people.”
Skylar muttered under her breath, “The only people I’ll be meeting now will be greedy soldiers and corrupt leaders.”
…
Skylar waited until she was sure Sebastian was asleep before she started to execute her escape plan.
She had searched while Sebastian was turned away from her for her weapons. She had had her hunting knife on her when they captured her, so she was sure it was around her somewhere.
On a nearby crate, Skylar found her bow and quiver of arrows along with her hunting knife. Perfect.
When Sebastian was asleep, Skylar slowly got up and reached for her hunting knife. Her hands were tied in front of her, so she easily grabbed her knife and began to saw at the rope around her wrists.
It took a few minutes, but eventually, she was free. Skylar grabbed her bow and arrows, then sprinted for the woods on the island.
…
She searched for some stray logs or sticks, anything to build a raft with. She had to get out of there. Now. And if she failed they’d be sure to keep an extra eye on her, since obviously the ropes were nothing.
A whining noise was what caught her attention. Skylar looked over in one of the bushes, the moonlight being the only thing illuminating the ground.
Skylar slowly walked over to the bush and pushed a few of the leaves back. Laying on the ground, growling at her, was a little wolf.
Skylar gasped. She had only seen wolves a few times since they were a quite rare in Hilgaria. This one was growling at her, but why didn’t it attack?
Skylar looked at one of its paws, which had a huge thorn in it.
“Oh, you poor thing,” she whispered to it, reaching for its paw. It nipped at her, and she took her hand away right before it would’ve bitten her.
“It’s alright,” she soothed the wolf, “I just want to help.”
Skylar tried gently petting its fur, something she’d seen the Protectors do with the wolves they kept as pets. The wolf’s tail began to wag a little, and it started to calm down around Skylar.
Skylar started to touch its paw, and it licked her hand as if telling her how much it hurt and how it needed her help.
Skylar gently held on to the thorn, told the wolf it needed to stay still, and quickly pulled it out.
The wolf let out a small yipe but licked Skylar’s face as a sign of gratitude.
“You’re welcome,” she said, scratching it behind its ears. She didn’t know what a wolf was doing on an island like this, but she decided she’d help this wolf.
Skylar looked up at the crescent moon, sighed, and said, “I guess I should name you Luna. It only seems fair.” Skylar could tell Luna was a female wolf, and her yellow eyes looked like Skylar's. Wolves were considered sacred to the Protectors, since the wolves worshiped the moon as well and were the first offspring of Luna, before humans.
Skylar began to smile, something she hadn’t done in days.
“Where is she?” Skylar heard the older man yell, and she motioned for Luna to follow her behind a tree.
“I can’t believe you lost her,” muttered Sebastian’s father as they entered the small forest. Skylar held her breath, knowing that if it came to a fight she was outnumbered. But maybe a wolf would help. Then she remembered that Luna’s paw was still probably sore.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think she’d escape,” Sebastian apologized, and they began to search.
Skylar risked peeking around the tree she was hiding behind, seeing that Sebastian and his father had gone away from her position.
Skylar took a deep breath and began to quietly walk back to the camp. If she stayed in one spot, she was bound to be found.
A twig snapped. And Skylar stopped. Had she been heard? Based on the slowly fading voices behind her, she guessed not.
Once she was clear of the woods, Skylar began to make a run for it, not even caring where she’d go. She almost made it to the camp before she fell forward, being tackled by someone.
Trying to roll away, Skylar realized it was Sebastian.
“Stop! Please, stop!” he said to her, pleading, “Don’t make this harder than it already is!”
Skylar squirmed, but he had her pinned, and she knew that escape was impossible.
Skylar let her body relax, and Sebastian sighed in relief.
Sebastian’s father came running over, saying. “Well, I didn’t think she’d escape that fast.”
Sebastian started to get Skylar on her feet, but they heard a growling, followed by some sort of bark. Luna.
Luna growled at Sebastian and his father, making them back away.
Then, without warning, Luna attacked Sebastian…
ns 18.68.41.179da2
