Chapter 13 - Idea

When Arial woke up, she felt worse than before. She couldn’t move because she was so stiff from being curled up all night. She felt a soft wet nudge on her shoulder. It was Midnight.
“I know I can’t compare to a human, but I am here for you.” Midnight said gently.
“I’m sorry that I ignored you last night.” Arial looked down, ashamed at how she acted last night.
“It’s ok, don’t worry about it.”
“We have to try again. We can’t give up. I know this time, we can save them.”
“Arial, you do realize that…that there might not even be a chance that Rose, Georgiana, and Jason are alive.” Midnight looked away.
“I know. I think I might have a plan. If we can find Retagh, maybe he can help us.”
“That’s a good plan, but it could take forever to find him. This forest is so big. He could be anywhere.”
“Then let’s start now. We can look around here, and around Pemberley. We might even be able to get some help from the other animals. There’s no other way. The Yimarix are too strong for us, and now they will be guarding even more.”
“I will try to find some deer to help us. I saw a herd last night, so maybe they can help us.”
“Thanks. Midnight, I am going to need to ride you, so you will have to come with me.”

And so started a new journey that would lead Arial to unimaginable places. Little did she know that by starting this, she would discover more than what she ever dreamed of finding out.
After searching around Pemberley, Arial realized she would have to go deep into the woods: a place she had never been. The deeper into the woods you went, the more mysterious and dangerous it got. Few people had gone deep into the woods, and the few that did never went back.

“Midnight, we are going to have to go deep into the woods. Peppermint?"
“Yeah, I heard you. Do you think that I should stay here, in case Retagh shows up here?”
“That’s a good idea. But, make sure you try to keep in contact with us. We might end up needing you.”
“Ok, be careful.”

So there stood Peppermint, watching Arial and Midnight riding off, slowly getting smaller and smaller as they went farther. For some reason, Arial had a bad feeling about this.

After a few hours of riding, Arial and Midnight reached a place that they had never been. In this part of the forest, things seemed to be duller, and there was a strange sadness in the atmosphere, as if a great tragedy had occurred here. Arial knew the dangers of this part of the woods, but would stop at nothing to save her sister and friends.

“So, this is it…”
“Well, we better keep going.”
“Do you feel a strange sadness coming from this place?”
“Yes, as if something here is hiding a dark secret, or a lot of pain.”
“It gives me a weird feeling in my gut…but we can’t go back. We have no time to lose.”

As Arial ventured farther and farther in, she felt like someone was watching her.

“I haven’t seen Retagh, or any sign of him. Have you?”
“No, but I have been telling a lot of the animals that I have come across to help us look, and we have gotten a lot of helpers.”
“What’s that, over there?”
“It looks foreign, like it doesn't belong in the woods."
“It’s…it’s…it’s a Yimarix!”
“Don’t move or make a sound, it might not see us yet.”
After a few minutes of intense silence the Yimarix started to look over. It had obviously spotted Arial and Midnight, and was now going on a rampage. It was ripping trees and bushes out.

“It’s seen us, run!”
“Arial, it’s gaining on us, we either turn around and fight, or we will get caught."
“We are going to have to fight, but, it’s so strong. What are we going to use? I can’t possible fight it with my hands…” “There are some rocks over there, maybe you can lift them up and throw them at it.”
“I’ll try. Remember, if I get stuck, or it catches me, run, we can’t afford to loose us both. It would be completely up to you to save Georgiana and Rose.”

Midnight gave a firm nod, with a sad yet confident look.

The Yimarix was in throwing distance, so Arial picked up a rock, and threw it with all her might. It looked so heavy, but to Arial’s surprise, it barely took any of her strength. It hit the Yimarix, right between the eyes. The Yimarix stalled for a moment, but then kept moving.

Arial kept throwing rocks until she ran out of them, and the Yimarix was still coming at her. Although it was bleeding, and had deep cuts all over, it acted untainted.

What am I going to have to do to stop this thing?” Arial shouted in frustration.

She saw a heavy looking pointy stick, and tried to spear the Yimarix. It went right through his arm, blood slowly oozing out as the Yimarix tried to pull on it.

“It’s now or never.” Arial thought to herself.

Arial grabbed a dagger from her back pocket, and stabbed the Yimarix. It gave a look of confusion and crashed to the ground.

“I just…I just killed it. I’ve never killed anything before. How could I be so…so…” Arial stood there, stunned.
“It was trying to kill you, “ Midnight came up to Arial, “you only did what was necessary to protect yourself.”
“I guess so.”
“Now go clean off your dagger. Where did you get that from? I didn’t know you had that.”
“I found it once, in Pemberley. I kept it there, because I never thought that I would have a use for it. I hid it inside a loose brick that was in the building.”
“It’s a good thing you brought it, it saved your life.”
I never thought that I would have to use it, let alone kill something with it.”
“You know, you might have to use it again. You are only trying to save yourself and your friends…there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Yeah.” Arial looked at her feet, while kicking at sticks.
“It looks like it was made by a fine craftsman, someone who new what he was doing. I’ve never seen one like it.” “It’s probably really old. I wonder if someone who used to live their owned it. It looks so mystical.”

“Let’s keep going. I know that you must be exhausted, but you can ride on my back.”

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