The trap
There was an awkward silence then Emily said,"Sorry we didn't understand the sign. Can you give us our friend back so that we can leave?"
Bennett even laughed louder and said,"You shall pay the price with your lives! I will kill you all"
Zane and Emily both looked like they had peed in their pants but Laurel went towards Bennett which surprised all of them even more.
"You are going to let him go right now or you are the one dying", whispered Laurel in Bennett's ear. Bennett looked a lot handsome when he wasn't brooding
"OUTRAGEOUS!",shouted Bennett. "How dare you!"
"So you have chosen", said Laurel. "Get ready to die"
Bennett closed his eyes and whispered a spell. Black smoke rose up from the ground and formed branches which formed hands.
"GET THEM!" ,shouted the spirit who was inside Bennett.
And those big black hands came after Zane, Emily and Laurel. All the three of them ran in different directions.
"What do we do now?!",squeaked Emily, from behind a tree.
"You shouldn't have said that to him!",shouted Zane
Laurel laughed. "I just wanted to piss him off!"
"Hide now!"
A beautiful sword with a red hilt formed in her hands.
"What are you doing?",shouted Zane
"Trying to kill it",Laurel shouted back, trying to tackle the sword and avoiding being poked in the eye at the same time. The big black hands were nearing and Laurel stood in their way with her sword at a funny angle.
Zane knew Laurel had zero experience in sword fighting. She didn't even know how to hold it. Zane ran to her side and whispered in her ear,"RUN!"
He took the sword from her and remembered his mother's teachings.
When Bennett saw Zane holding the sword he said,"There is nothing you can do to defeat me! Not even the sword! But I will give you a fair competition don't worry! I am an honorable spirit!"
The black cloud took the form of a warrior with a sword.
"Lets see if you have any skills at all",said Bennett
The warrior attacked, he was fast but Zane was even faster. In about twenty seconds he disarmed the warrior.
Laurel and Emily watched in awe. The warrior knelt down infront of Zane and Bennett whispered,"You won, behead my spirit and claim your win"
Zane looked at the warrior kneeling infront of him and he said,"Ol komolot tro Ol Heneta La. Lo Hõnõr huevta ot yebol.
BELOT HUYE TA!!"
(Translation: I win and I spare you. My honor stands high. May the power bless you)
Bennett frowned and asked,"What tongue do you speak?"
"Does it matter?",asked Zane. "I spare your life and you say you are an honorable spirit, get out of my friend and tell us where to find water and food and then leave us alone"
Bennett bowed and said,"You defeated me this time and I accept it . To find water, you must follow the thick trees and it will lead you to a river. It has fish. The trees beside it contain mangoes and the other one apples. This time I leave you but I promise that the next time we meet and the next time I see you in my territory, we won't be friends"
"LIKE WE EVER WERE!",shouted Laurel.
Bennett gave an angry look before passing out. Emily, Laurel and Zane ran to his aid.
He opened his eyes and squinted,"What happened?!"
Zane smiled and said,"A lot"
"Bennett get up",said Emily."We need to get moving! The sun is setting, it's not safe here!"
"Okay but what the hell happened while I was out!",asked Bennett
Emily scowled and said,"We don't have time to explain, our friends are waiting for us! Lets go get the food and water because-"
"Why are you all not telling me?!",shouted Bennett. "My head feels so heavy!"
"So death boy listen, you were possessed by a spirit who tried to kill us all but Zane defeated it and it gave us directions to find provision. And he gave a death threat before leaving so the longer we wait, the longer our lives are at peril. So why don't you get up on your little legs and we can get moving?",said Laurel in one breath
All of them gaped at her.
"WHAT?!",shouted Laurel.
"Umm.. nothing",said Zane, "Let's get moving"
They followed the trial the mischievous spirit had given them and it turned out to be true.
Bennett put his hand on a bark and cut himself and he winced.
"What happened?!",asked Emily, panicking
"Nothing ...I think I cut myself",said Bennett trying to wipe it on his clothes but he winced even more.
"Let me",said Laurel
"Oh no I'll help him",said Zane nearing Bennett to get a closer look at his wound
"Hey, what was that?",asked Laurel
"What was what?",asked Zane
"I could have helped him too",said Laurel
"Yeah I know but.... you know....it's blood",said Zane plucking some leaves and crushing them.
"Excuse me",said Laurel annoyingly.
"I mean girls are kind of....always freaking out at the sight of cuts, wounds and blood",said Zane
Laurel crossed her arms and said,"I promise you I am not one of those girls and for your information....girls see way more blood than boys can imagine"
Zane wanted to retaliate but it occurred to him that it would be way better if he just shut it.
Soon Zane had covered Bennett's wounds with the leaves and it seemed to give him relief.
They found water and the trees bearing the fruits as the spirit had described.
They all had the plastic bags Natalie had given them and they filled it up with as much fruits as they could bear to carry. Emily knelt down and touched the water.
"It's drinkable"
"Fine....where do we carry water?",asked Laurel
"We haven't brought Something to carry water!",said Emily
"Well...we could always send Zane back to fetch some bottles", said Laurel
"Hey",protested Zane, "Can't you conjure up some bottles like you did with the sword?"
"No I can't",said Laurel. "I can only create projections of what's not real. See, the sword has disappeared, it was an illusion. I am an illusionist Zane, not a creater of some kind"
"Oh", whispered Zane, noticing the sword had actually disappeared. "Silly me"
"Yeah .... silly you"
"So, are we gonna take the water or not?",asked Zane
"Ofcourse not...we have nothing to carry it in",said Laurel. "We can come back later anyways"
"I don't think it's a good idea",said Emily, glancing at Bennett. "The spirit warned us"
"We defeated it once, we can defeat it twice",said Laurel, in a tone that completely made Zane, Emily and Bennett nod and not say anything.
All of them carried their bags of fruits out of the forest.
Somehow they took just the right turns and the emerged out of the forest as if the forest guided them out.
"Well, that was easy",said Laurel, carrying her own bag of fruits.
"Where is everyone?",asked Emily suddenly dropping her bag.
The tents were put up but none of the other kids were there.
"Ummm...they must be inside the tents",said Laurel, with uncertainty in her voice. "Let's go check"
They went near their tents and Bennett walked inside first then Zane,Emily and Laurel.
To their horror, all of their friends were tied up with pieces of cloth gagging them.
The four of them immediately went to rescue their friends and Bennett removed the cloth gagging Natalie.
She gasped and said,"Run,it's a trap!"
"What is a trap Natalie?!",asked Zane
"This! Run away",said Natalie breathing heavily. "They have caught up to us! Those hunters! They are here"
Just as Zane's eyes widened , the room filled up with a green gas and the four of them went down coughing. The last Zane saw before passing out was one masked man staring at him . Then he blacked out.