Chapter 4: Chapter 4

No time

Elle's POV

His eyes turned bright yellow this time and had a panicked look on his face. We spent the whole night in that forest alone. What lived here that was so dangerous? Elijah kept running carelessly and some tree branches scratched my face along the way.

“ELIJAH!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as panic got the better of me. My heart started to race and my vision got blurry. As much as I tried to gain back my vision by squinting my eyes I fainted on his back, losing all my strength.

I woke up back at Elijah's bedroom, noticing that I was laid down on his bed with something wet over my forehead. As my eyesight was getting better I saw his sister leaning over me with a cold facecloth that she was about to place on my head.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Belle?” I whispered as I was still hazy.

“Relax, yes it’s just me. No, don’t try to stand just yet," she frowned at me as I tried to get up.

“what was chasing us?” I asked her turning my eyes at her.

Leaning towards the bucket of water to refresh the face cloth again for me, she exhaled and as she put back the cloth, this time on my chest, she explained it all to me.

“Gowdugers. They never come unless their land had no food left for them to survive. They travelled through the Zarogian trees and are trying to claim here. In doing so the trees are now in a deep sleep as they feel threatened. It's their way of surviving you see, so thanks to them we have a problem. There is no way in, now way out of Ragu."

I exhaled and looked away as wondered if I will ever go back home to let my parents know that I am ok.

“Look, we are gathering the strongest warriors that we have and get prepared for the battle. For now, rest as much as you can. You still need to get better," she took the cloth and dipped it back in the cold water, moving her hand back on me.

Trying to stand up, she pushed me back down, frowning as she continued to talk, "You panicked and fainted, you are fine, but you need to allow sometime to get your strength back. Elijah wants to train you as soon as you feel ready. You can never tell if you need to use self-defence.”

There was a shocked expression on my face at the mention of war and me training for self-defence. Gathering myself I managed to sit down on the bed, moving her arm away from my chest, glaring at her.

“I can defend myself, no need for training. I don’t want to take part in a war either. I never killed anyone and I never want to kill."

"You must train. What if an enemy approaches you? How would you defend yourself then?" Belle asked, standing up from her seated position, looking down at me, trying to be convincing.

As my face turned paler then it was, I felt like I was getting into panic mode again, not being used to living a war.

"Please, it will be a horrific thing to do. I will help with the wounded as I am training to become a doctor, so I can help out in that way. That is my offer and I will not do more,” I said in a rush, looking into her eyes.

“You are not chosen to be a warrior,” she said laughing at how panicked I was, “but you need to know how to protect yourself if you end up in danger. Since you are a doctor I will take your request to the Ragu council and discuss it further. I am sure they would like the idea of a trained doctor.”

"Training to be," I corrected, making sure she knew I was still green at it.

I told Elijah that I trained in martial arts and that I was a black belt but since they don’t train it in Ragu I needed to explain what it was. He requested me to join him outside the house during his training session which was now being protected by what they called it cell wall. It was like a big glass bubble surrounding the house and its territory, also part of the forest which was right behind the house.

"Is that part of the forest also part of your territory?" I asked Elijah, looking at it for a moment.

"Yeah, my family has one of the largest territories one can get," he grinned, looking at me.

"Wow. That's amazing," I said opening my eyes wide.

"So, show me what you’ve got," he grinned as he lowered himself to my level.

"Prepare yourself for a defeat. You have no idea what you got yourself into," I jokingly threatened, making it sound intense.

"Will see," he said shaking his head as he chuckled.

Surrounded by the trees I took a deep breath and exhaled and got myself ready for action. He tried throwing the first punch at me but I sidestepped swiftly, grabbed his left arm, lowered him grabbed him from the back of the neck and punched his stomach with my right knee. He fell to the ground with pain.

“I’m so sorry Elijah, I didn’t mean to hurt you," I pouted, feeling bad for hurting him.

I tried helping him up but he took it as an opportunity as he managed to grab my right foot and pushed me down with him. Feeling proud of himself he started laughing but me being experienced I quickly rolled over, stood up ready for another round of the fight.

He stood up in front of me and tried to get another go at punching, so I got inside at an angle, extended both arms and rotated to block the punch. Quickly I stroked his neck, lowered him down and punched him again with my knee to his face and hit him with an elbow strike again to his face. He fell back on the ground and groaned.

“You’ve got some good skills there missy," he admitted, grinning as he tried to regain his strength back.

"This technique is a great way to survive. Do you think you could teach it to others?” he asked, admitting he was defeated by someone as small in size as myself.

I smiled and nodded, feeling delighted that I proved myself and that I had a way of defending myself without the need to spill blood.

We trained for a while and when he was faced with a defeat he called it quits.

Taking a sip of water, I joined him as he settled himself down on the ground, trying to take his breath back. Suddenly as I stretched my arms to rest my butt on the soft grass, I heard Elijah's alarmed voice.

"There! I saw it retreating in the forest!"

I tried to search for what he saw but it must have already gone from our sight.

"We mustn't waste time. Let's go back in. I need to inform the council of a Gowduger sighting. At least we would have an idea where they are being spotted."

Walking back into the house we refreshed ourselves and retrieved our energy.

"I have to go alone Elle. You will be safe in here but if anything happens, you need to lock the doors. Belle will soon come back so don't worry," he explained as he leaned in to kids my forehead.