CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Phoenix stumbled, blinking in the clear morning sunlight. Marcus steadied him as Jade tucked the magic bag into her pack.
Boy, she was tired. The trip from the Faery realm took longer than expected. Lead by one of the younger dryads, she’d covered over two days walk in little over half a night. Sometime after midnight the dryad disappeared and Jade assumed she was on her own again.
After using minor magic to find a suitable, dry hollow log, she managed to sleep restlessly for a couple of hours before waking at dawn. Any hope of getting more rest before pulling the others out of the bag vanished after a quick peek at a nearby village. The hamlet was quite large and several people were already heading into the woods to hunt or forage. If she slept any longer unguarded, someone was certain to find her.
Reluctantly, Jade retreated further into the woods. Feeling rather like a Las Vegas illusionist, she hauled her companions out of the bag one at a time. Brynn popped out all chirpy and full of how interesting it had been to be stuck in the bag. She needed his help to pull Marcus out next. The Roman boy thanked them politely before giving Jade’s face a close inspection. He pursed his lips at the sight of her dark-circled eyes and pale complexion. Jade was grateful he hadn’t scolded her. It took all three of them to heave Phoenix out.
He looked tired as well but more than a little pleased to be out in the world again. Heaving a sigh of relief, he sucked in a deep breath of cool forest air and spread his arms wide.
“Man, am I glad to be out of there. I’m starving and thirsty and I really have to take a leak.” He shook his empty water bottle. Jade pointed silently at a nearby stream cascading over dark rocks.
While the others refreshed themselves in various ways, Jade kept watch, wondering if she’d make through the day without falling asleep on her feet. The thought of another day of hard walking made her want to just sit down and refuse to move. She was beyond tired.
It was all just too much to process; too much to cope with. She’d hardly slept for days; fought peasants and Romans, talked to trees and Dryads; Healed wounds and saved lives. Wasn’t that enough? Didn’t she deserve a break? Maybe if she just put her head down on this log for a few minutes….
“Jade, wake up.” It was Phoenix’s voice; his hand on her shoulder. “We can’t stay here. We’ve got to get to Stonehenge before the Romans, remember? C’mon, get up.”
Jade shoved his hand off, rolling away so he wouldn’t see the tears of exhaustion in her eyes. “Go away, Phoenix. Leave me alone. I’m tired. I can’t do this any more. I don’t care.”
“Come on,” he pushed, “you’ve just had a cruisey night with the Dryads when we’ve been stuck in a bag. How bad could it have been?”
She jolted upright, glaring at him. “Cruisey? I spent most the night walking. I’ve taken two days off our trip while you’ve been sleeping. You’re welcome, by the way.” Turning her face away, she clenched her fists hard, trying to keep back the salt tears that threatened to drown her eyes. She wouldn’t go all girly now. Why didn’t anyone ever just say ‘thanks, great job’? Why wasn’t anything she did ever good enough?
There was a long, awkward silence then Brynn cleared his throat.
“There’s a village just over the rise. If I can recognise it, I should be able to tell where we are and how far we still have to go. It might even be a place we can rest for awhile. Do you think you can make it that far, Jade?”
Jade sniffed and scrubbed her sleeve across her face. She stood up, leaning on her staff as the world spun a little. Marcus’ arm appeared and she borrowed his strength gratefully.
“I’ll be ok. I’m just tired, that’s all. I’ll make it. We don’t really have a choice. Let’s go.” She followed Brynn, not looking at Phoenix as she passed him. She felt a bit silly for lashing out at him. It wasn’t his fault she had agreed to push on through the night. How was he supposed to know she hadn’t been given the royal VIP treatment?
Aurfanon had been wonderful but had made it clear that they had a very limited time left to succeed in their first Quest. She had confirmed what the old lady in their limbo vision said: they had to get the Jewel from the Keepers before the Romans and before the Spring Equinox. She’d even revealed that the Keepers were, indeed, the Druids and that the Equinox was only two days away. If they failed to get the Jewel and keep it from the Romans, their Quest would be over. Zhudai would win. Their chance to finish and get home would be gone. In fact, the home they knew would be gone if Zhudai took control of this world. She still didn’t really understand how that worked but it seemed she had to take it on faith.
Time was running out and with it Jade’s confidence. It was too hard. She was too worn out. They’d never make in time and she’d be stuck here – her own life lost or destroyed.
Catching her breath on a sob, Jade scrubbed at her face with the coarse fabric of her sleeve.
“Hey!” Phoenix’s voice from behind drew Jade’s attention.
She slowed to let him catch up, glad of the distraction from her depression but wary after his previous ungrateful attitude. She really shouldn’t have taken her fears out on him, though.
“I’m sorry.” “Sorry.” They both spoke at once.
Jade caught his eye and joined in with his rueful laughter.
“I shouldn’t have snapped at you,” she sighed. “It’s been a tough couple of days. An ogre came and…ate…some of the Romans while I was in the tree.” She shuddered at the gruesome memory.
“Wow! Cool…and…er..gross, I guess.” Phoenix paused, obviously not sure what to say to that. “I should have seen how tired you are.” He gave her an apologetic grimace. “I guess, when I’m ready to get moving, I sort of expect everyone else should be, too. My mother’s always telling me to stop and think before I open my mouth but I suck at it.”
She cast him a quick smile. “And my dad always says, ‘it takes two to argue’.”
He grinned. “My dad said the same thing when I got into fights at school. Well,” he amended, “what he actually said was, ‘he who strikes first admits he has run out of ideas’, but it kind of meant the same thing…probably.”
Jade laughed, her ill humour almost gone. She resolutely pushed aside her lingering fears and raised her head to look forward again.
They walked on in silence for awhile. Marcus caught them up. Jade smiled at him. Phoenix sighed and scrubbed stiff fingers through greasy hair. He winced.
Jade caught his look. “You ok?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Just a bump on the head from whatever it was you threw in the bag with us last night. What was it, anyway?”
She stared at him, confused then remembered. “Oh, right. That was a gift from Aurfanon for me.”
The two warriors looked at her.
“A horn,” she added, when Phoenix gestured for her to continue. “I’m supposed to blow it if we get into real trouble and help will come.”
“Sweet!” Phoenix’s blue eyes lit with eager excitement. “That’s more like it. A really useful magic item. About time, too”.
Jade glanced at Marcus and saw that he, too looked impressed, if a bit uneasy.
“Yeah,” she agreed, “but we can only use it three times and only if we’re in truly dire peril and,” she raised a warning finger, “the help we get might not always be what we expect.”
Phoenix looked irritated by the limitations. “What does that mean?”
“No idea.” Jade shrugged, a yawn distorting her words. “I’m just repeating what Aurfanon said. Three times; dire emergency; unpredictable outcome.”
“Still,” Phoenix slapped a hand on her shoulder, “it’s an extra trick up our sleeves we didn’t have before. Better than nothing.”
She shrugged again, her whole body drooping with exhaustion.
“Listen,” he fr
owned at her. “Maybe Brynn’s right - we can rest up in this village. Give you a chance to get your energy levels up again before we tackle the final part of this level.”
“Thanks, Phoenix,” she sighed, “but we really don’t have time.”
“What do you mean? Surely if you’ve gained us so much ground we’re well ahead of the Romans now?”
She shook her head, repeating what the Dryad queen had told her about the Equinox and the Druids being the Keepers of the jewel.
Phoenix groaned, rubbing a dirty hand across his forehead. “Well, at least we know who has it. Now we just have to find them before this Equinox thing. Only two days? That’s it? Man, we don’t even know where we are yet. What’s so important about the Spring Equinox, anyway? What is an Equinox?”