As they reach the valley floor, Charlie starts to feel her feet ache from walking so much already. Not that she wasn't used to walking a lot, but it had at least been a few hours since they arrived, the sun had risen high in the sky and she couldn't say how much progress they'd made.
When they started to get close to the rise, she noticed the vegetation on the rise. There were trees, but they weren't like any she'd ever seen before. They were almost a cross between a willow and a pine tree. The needles on the trees were a light pink. She wasn't sure what to call it, but that it covered the rise. Although, part of her wanted to learn as much of them as she could, even if that meant staying here for a while.
As they neared, Charlie couldn't be sure, but she thought she heard something moving. Possibly running. Although, she tried convincing herself that it was, again, just her imagination.
Yet, as they started to climb the rise, she had just enough time to realize the smoke they had been approaching had become a massive column of black smoke that rose into the sky before they heard something crashing through the trees.
–Anyone see what's making the sound?– Tim asked with his magic.
–No, but let's spread out.– Ralph suggested. –We might be able to see more that way.–
–I think we should at least stay with one other person.– Amelia suggested. –So if one of us gets in trouble, we'll have someone nearby who can help.–
–I'm with Amelia.– Hannah declared.
–I got Tim.– Wes said.
–I guess I'll get Ralph and Charlie.– Beth said.
Charlie was annoyed to be stuck with Ralph, but only partially, since her focus was on something else.
She could hear the crashing, but somehow she could also hear the breathing of whoever or whatever was running through the trees. She was somehow able to tell that there were four creatures, two smaller that were running from the larger ones.
She also somehow knew exactly where they were. She walked three trees to her left, not caring if Beth or Ralph followed her, mostly because her focus was entirely on what she could sense with her magic, even though she had no idea how accurate it was. Part of it was almost like her magic had taken over her mind for a minute as she walked over.
As she reached the trees she knew the creatures would be passing, she felt someone grab her shoulder, snapping her mind fully back into reality.
"Charlie, didn't you hear us calling you with our magic?" Beth whispered harshly.
Charlie could only look at Beth confused. Almost like she didn't understand what Beth was talking about.
"What?" Charlie whispered, hoping Beth was just merely referring to when they were deciding who to essentially 'pair' with rather than trying to talk to her after that.
"When you started walking this way, we were asking you what you saw," Beth replied.
Charlie had to sigh. "Sorry about that, but I feel something coming this way," Charlie replied, unsure how else to put it.
"Yeah, we each are pretty sure something's coming this way. We just wish we knew where it would come out where we could see it," Beth remarked, clearly not understanding what Charlie was trying to communicate.
Charlie merely shook her head, looking towards the trees. "The first two will come in sight in a moment," Charlie murmured.
"Huh?" Beth said, looking at Charlie surprised. She hardly noticed.
"Did something happen?" Ralph asked quietly as he caught up to Beth and Charlie at a jog.
"Not sure," Beth replied. "Charlie's a little weird right now."
"Really? Maybe sometime you should explain to me how you can tell." Ralph remarked, a smirk apparent on his face.
"There they are," Charlie said, doing what she could to ignore both Beth's and Ralph's comments, as she saw the movement just barely visible against the trees.
At first there was only movement that could be seen, but soon they could make out heads of girls that had stumps of antlers growing out of their heads as well as elongated ears coming out of their heads. To Charlie the antlers looked like those she'd seen on American antelope, or as he dad called them, pronghorn. The way the girls ran, showed intimate familiarity of their surroundings as they cleanly avoided the branches of the trees as they sped past, occasionally looking over their shoulders.
The oldest of the two looked to be around eight, had light pink hair that was braided into six braids that were braided again and again to make one large braid of the smaller braids that extended down to her waist, dark rose colored eyes, and wore a plain dress that almost looked like a sheath for her body while the other looked about six, the same pink hair that was flowed down to her waist freely, had purple eyes, was missing one of her front teeth, and didn't have any clothing on. The antlers of the older girl were about maybe half an inch, Charlie estimated, sticking out of her head while the younger girl's antlers were almost pointed bumps on her head that were sticking out of her hair.
They were about ten feet from Charlie, Beth, and Ralph before they noticed the three and skidded to a stop. They stared at the three nervously for a brief moment before sounds of whatever they were running from came crashing down around them, making the girls sprint forward, willing to trust strangers more that what they had been running from.
While there were three of them there, Charlie had no idea why both girls decided to use her to hide behind. It clearly wasn't to stay out of sight, as the both weren't standing directly behind her. Although, they did have their hands on her sides, either to hold themselves steady or maybe to try and keep her there, Charlie couldn't really tell.
Charlie wanted to ask the girls what was going on, but before she even could think of what words to use, two men with stubs of newly growing antlers and ears reminiscent of mule deer came crashing out from the trees, their skin showing signs of having been scratched and scraped by several branches. They both had dark brown hair, though one had amber colored eyes and the other had blue-green eyes.
These two men stopped when they saw Charlie and her friends as well, though they didn't seem to be afraid of them. In fact, they looked like Charlie, Beth, and Ralph were merely part of the plant life around them, something to disregard completely.
"No point in running any further little ones," one of the men said. "We have the rest of your tribe. Soon your people will pay for their crimes."
"We didn't do anything wrong!" the older girl exclaimed. "We were living peacefully."
"Then you should have paid for the water your tribe found. Everyone knows that the beaver-kin have claimed all the water sources in this area. The fact that you think you can not pay them for what is rightfully theirs is what your crimes are," the other made said, chuckling as he spoke.
Charlie felt like she needed to take a shower just from hearing the two talk. "Which water source did they use?" Charlie asked, partly because she just wanted an excuse to hit these men.
"You can stay out of this, stranger," the first man said. "This has nothing to do with you."
"Actually, I'd say these two girls are too young to be held responsible for what adults do. Especially since they have no say in what even their parents might choose to do," Ralph added. "Therefore, because these girls have sought us for protection, that means we are involved whether you want us to be or not."
"Do you know who you're speaking to?" the first man asked, his voice incredulous.
"Not sure," Charlie said. "All I can say for sure is that you're a couple of weak men who have to go after little girls in order to feel strong."
The shade of red the men's faces turned told Charlie that she struck the nerve she was going for. She briefly looked at the girls to give them a reassuring smile before turning back to face the men who were starting to walk towards them, having pulled knives out from wherever they had held them. Charlie didn't even noticed the knives before.
"Are you sure you two want to do that?" Ralph asked, sounding rather bored.
The men laughed. "You won't be so cocky once we deal with you," the second man promised.
Ralph merely smirked and the men suddenly were lifted off the ground as if their knives had suddenly turned into balloons with enough buoyancy to hold them above the ground.
The men looked around frantically, clearly unsure what exactly happened. Only when they let go of their knives did they fall to the ground. Which, at the point they thought to do so was about five feet up.
As they landed, they fell to the ground. However, it was only for a moment and they quickly got back to their feet. They watched mystified as their knives floated over to Ralph who gently took them from the air.
"Give us those back," the first man ordered.
"Why should I?" Ralph asked. Then he turned to Beth. "Beth, would you be so kind as to give them the 'cold shoulder?'"
Beth smirked and suddenly their right shoulders frosted over. The men quickly started smacking their shoulders and rubbing it, clearly trying to get it warm again.
"Charlie, would you give them a hot foot?" Ralph asked.
"What's a hot foot?" Charlie asked, unsure what they were expecting her to do.
Ralph sighed. "Come on, short stuff!" Ralph complained as if having to explain this caused him pain. "Either light one of their feet on fire or heat it up so it starts to burn."
Charlie scowled at Ralph for speaking the nickname Shirley had given her but did what he asked her anyway. She could hear the others heading towards them and figured Beth or Ralph probably called them over.
"Do you even realize what you're doing?" the first man asked, trying to put out the fire on his foot.
"Saving these girls from some creeps?" Charlie asked, wondering if she should have used stronger language.
"Those two are our property," the man said replied.
"Really?" Ralph interrupted whatever else the man was going to say. "Do you have your proof of purchase?"
Charlie wasn't sure where he was going with this, but decided not to interrupt him. She certainly didn't care to deal with these men before the rest of her friends arrived.
"What are you talking about?" the first man demanded. "All those that stole the water they drank are our slaves."
"Well, how do I know you didn't steal them?" Ralph asked. "I mean, as far as I know, you made that whole story up and are just trying to steal someone else's property. So, why should I believe you and not assume you're either stealing these girls or you're just a couple of dirty minded, perverted creeps who enjoy kidnapping little girls?"
The men were stunned with how Ralph worded his question. Charlie felt a tug on her shirt and turned to look at the girls. "We didn't steal anything," the older girl informed Charlie, her eyes moist with tears.
Whether they were from being emotionally stressed because of being chased after whatever happened before that or because of what was being discussed currently, Charlie couldn't be sure.
Charlie gave the girls a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it. Ralph might be a jerk most of the time, but I'm sure he's going somewhere with this. You're both safe now," Charlie assured the girls.
"We don't have to show you anything," the second man told Ralph. "We'll be taking those two girls and there's nothing you can do dto stop us."
"You know, I really hoped it wouldn't come to this," Ralph said, sounding disappointed. "I mean, I've never killed anyone before, I mean, killing for no reason is just wrong, but I believe that that killing is justifiable when you're doing so to either save your own life from an unprovoked attack or if you're protecting someone who can't protect themselves." Ralph paused as he held out his hand, letting a green orb form in his hands, the energies swirling like a windstorm. "And these girls can't protect themselves, so if you insist on going through with this, I will not hesitate to kill either of you."
The men merely smirked as they walked towards Ralph, their eyes full of anger and hatred.
"Such a pity," Ralph said, "Whatever happens, you're the ones responsible for it."
The first man pulled out a second knife so fast that Charlie wasn't sure where he'd pulled the knife from before charging towards Ralph.
Ralph sighed and held his hand in front of himself, the green orb instantly disappearing and a flash of green light, almost like it was a a wave that suddenly appeared.
The man didn't slow down his charge and right before he reached Ralph, he stopped as if he ran right into a window.
"Hannah, would you do the honors?" Ralph called out.
"Sure thing," Hannah called out from behind a tree to Charlie's left.
The men turned in surprise, clearly thinking that the two girls they were chasing, Charlie, Beth, and Ralph were the only ones around.
However, Hannah clearly didn't give them any time to react before she unleashed her magic on them as she stepped from behind the tree.
Lighting erupted from her hands. It arched across the distance to the men and entered them, causing them to convulse as their nerves were unable to process what signals their brains were trying to send as opposed to the electricity being fed into them. Hannah didn't let it up as soon as they were down. Instead, she kept going until Charlie could see smoke starting to come out of their clothing.
At that moment, Hannah stopped sending electricity into them. Charlie could tell from the groans she was hearing from the men that they were still alive. Though, it didn't look like they'd be able to so much as stand up for at least a while.
"Charlie, see what you can find out about what this was about," Beth said to Charlie as she walked forward and took a length of some rope and tied up the men as securely as she could.
Charlie then turned and moved so she was at eye level with the girls. "What're your names?" Charlie asked, thinking it would be better to have a name to refer to them first rather than 'you' or 'that girl' and such.
"I'm Aina, and this is Bith," the older girl said, carefully.
"What made those men run after you?" Charlie asked, putting her hand on the sides of the girls' heads, stroking their cheeks, hoping that it would help calm them down.
"We really don't know," Aina replied, sounding rather scared or what Charlie's reaction would be.
"Would you be willing to show me and my friends the way to your home?" Charlie asked, not caring to push the first question.
Aina looked around as Charlie could hear her other friends arriving to where they were. "Uh, um…" Aina trailed off, looking unsure as she gazed at Charlie before she looked at Charlie's friends.
Bith tugged on Aina's hand, drawing the girl's attention, and a silent exchanged passed between the two girls. Eventually Aina sighed before turning back to Charlie.
"We can show you, but you need to save our families," Aina informed Charlie.
"Got it," Charlie said before turning to Amelia. "Amelia, can you take a look at these two? Just to make sure they're alright."
"Sure," Amelia said, walking over to Charlie.
As Amelia approached, Aina and Bith hid behind Charlie. "It's okay," Charlie assured the girls. She's just going to make sure you're not hurt anywhere."
Amelia reached out to touch both of the girl's heads, not trying to move around Charlie. As Amelia did that, Beth came over with a blanket.
"The younger girl should at least be covered," Beth said. "I think she'd probably appreciate it, even though she's maybe five."
Charlie nodded. "They agreed to show us the way to where their home is," Charlie commented. "I think they're worried about their families and I suspect we might have a fight on our hands here."
"If who we're going to fight is anything like these two, I think we should help," Ralph said, indicating the two they'd taken captive.
"Should we go in ready to kill, or should we try peaceful negotiations first, or maybe even non-lethal methods first?" Tim asked.
"Let me see what I can find in their minds," Charlie said, glad that she'd already told them about her ability to hear thoughts. Especially since they didn't seem bothered by it and how they'd come up with some ideas she could utilize the ability during their expedition. Information gathering was one such suggestion.
"We'll get ready over here," Beth said, handing Charlie the blanket. "Let us know what you find out. We'll have some ideas of what to do with each option just in case when you're done."
Charlie nodded and as Amelia finished and gave the girls a smile before heading over to the rest of the group to join in the discussion.
Charlie wrapped the blanket around Bith and the girl smiled as she held the blanket against herself.
"I'm going to do something that will let me know what I need to know, because it might take too long asking you questions to get me what information I'll need," Charlie replied. "You might feel something, just relax and it won't hurt, okay?"
The girls nodded and Charlie closed her eyes as she knelt in front of the girls, pulling on her magic as she focused on peering into their minds to see what happened to have them start running.