thefictionvixens Did you see Chapter 9?
Did you see Chapter 9?
His body traced an arc in the air, the feeling of weightlessness causing Lucas's heart to clench. Then, he crashed heavily into the dense foliage of the oak tree, countless branches of varying thickness tearing at his clothes and leaving stinging wounds on his skin.
He felt like a rag doll being thrown into an old-fashioned washing machine, falling with a thud, his body constantly colliding with tree branches. There was no time to think, and he couldn't feel any pain. Relying on instinct, Lucas finally managed to grab onto a thick tree trunk as his fall gradually slowed.
"Are you alright? Are you okay?" Ellie asked anxiously from inside the cloak behind her.
"I can still move." Lucas gasped for breath, as he and Ellie were strung between several branches, blood streaming down his arms. Only now did he realize the stinging pain all over his body, and he didn't know how many places he had been cut, but thankfully no branches had pierced his body directly.
"Let me out, let me climb down myself." Ellie poked her head out, but Lucas refused.
"No, if you fall, all our efforts will be in vain."
He took a few breaths, mustered his remaining strength, and carefully climbed down. When his feet finally touched the solid ground covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves, the sun was slowly setting.
Exhausted and in excruciating pain, Lucas collapsed to the ground. Ellie struggled out of her cloak, using the rough tree trunk for support to prop herself up. She looked at Lucas, stained with blood, and at his tattered shirt, now a rag mixed with mud and blood, and bit her lip.
Looking around, the forest was far from silent. Long, eerie cries of unknown creatures echoed from afar, and occasionally, a pair of yellow eyes would flash by in the shadowy depths, filled with malevolent probing. The air was damp and cold, thick with the stench of earth, decaying leaves, and wild animals. Not far away, a small stream flowed gently, its sound unusually clear in the stillness.
This is a world full of vitality, but also fraught with danger.
The two rested for a while, panting, and Ellie finally felt some strength returning. By then, the sky was already dim, and the setting sun was shining with its last rays.
She turned her head and found Lucas squatting on the ground, collecting dry branches and fallen leaves.
"That castle is still far away, and walking through the forest in the dark is not a good idea." Lucas didn't look up. "It looks like we'll have to spend the night here."
Ellie took a step forward and felt a chill on her feet. She then realized that she had been barefoot the whole time because her boots had been torn off by Lucas high in the air.
She needs a pair of shoes...
"You're not allowed to look!" Ellie suddenly shouted, then quickly took off her linen shirt.
"...What are you looking at?" Lucas looked up in surprise and saw a beautiful patch of honey-colored skin flash by in the last rays of sunlight.
He quickly lowered his head, while Ellie angrily bit down on the shirt she had taken off and tore it into several large strips with her left hand. Then she threw the strips on the ground and completely wrapped herself in the dragon skin cloak.
"You just saw it?"
"I didn't see anything!" Lucas said hastily. "It's already dark. Even if I wanted to look, I couldn't see anything."
"You still want to see it!"
"No, no, I don't want to see it."
Ellie glared at him resentfully, and finally said, "Fine, just help me wrap the strip of cloth around my foot. I only have one hand, I can't tie it myself."
Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. He bent down, picked up the burlap, and wrapped it tightly around Ellie's feet, again and again. As his fingers traced the instep, her calves tensed, revealing the slightly soft curves of her muscles.
"Hurry up," Ellie's voice sounded strange. "How long are you going to keep holding it?"
Lucas scoffed. "Is it that precious? You have no idea your feet have been stuck in those boots all day. I had to hold my breath the whole time, so of course I had to go slower—"
With a whoosh, Ellie kicked him hard, but cried out in pain and fell to the ground.
Lucas sighed and helped her up. "Give me your hand—you need to expose your dislocated right hand so I can bandage it up and stabilize it. Otherwise, you won't be able to maintain your balance at all."
He was about to lift Ellie's dragon-skin cloak when the girl abruptly took a large step back, blushing and glaring at him: "No need, I can do it myself! Turn around, don't look!"
Lucas had no choice but to turn around and gather the withered branches and leaves into a pile. He heard the sound of fabric rubbing together behind him, and Ellie's muffled groans of pain and struggle to endure.
At this moment, the last glimmer of light also faded away.
"Oh no!" Wiping the cold sweat from her forehead, Ellie, who had already braced her right arm to her side, tensed up. "I don't have a wand, and I can't start a fire with just one hand. Looks like we'll have to sleep in a tree tonight."
But as soon as she finished speaking, a crisp metallic click was heard.
A steady, bright orange-yellow flame lit up in Lucas's hand, instantly dispelling a small patch of darkness around him.
Ellie stared wide-eyed in astonishment, as if she were seeing some incredible creation: "What is this?"
Lucas was even more surprised than her: "You wizards don't know about lighters? Good heavens, without wands, do you only eat raw meat?"
He was holding a brass windproof lighter in his hand, its casing covered with tiny scratches.
"Of course not! It's just that I've never seen this on the island before." Ellie leaned closer, staring curiously at the dancing flame, her face illuminated by the firelight. "When we don't have wands, we use matches, or if that doesn't work, we have flint and steel."
Lucas remembered that he had heard Professor Sprout say that the McFastie family had always lived on a secluded island, so Ellie's reaction was not surprising.
Under Ellie's curious gaze, Lucas lit the dry moss at the bottom of the campfire with a lighter. The flames quickly licked the thin twigs, making a soft "crackling" sound, and soon a warm campfire was burning in front of the two of them.
Then he handed the lighter to Ellie, who was staring at him expectantly.
"Here, push the top cover open, then rub the wheel next to it hard, and the flint will ignite the kerosene inside."
Ellie took the small metal contraption and, imitating Lucas, pushed the lid open with a "clink" of her thumb, then rubbed it vigorously. With a "sizzle," a flame appeared. She exclaimed "Wow!" in surprise, then closed the lid to extinguish it, opened it again, and lit it once more.
"Clang—sizzle... Clang—sizzle..."
The sounds echoed through the quiet forest, and the flames in Ellie's hands were repeatedly lit and extinguished. Her bright purple eyes shone like magnificent stars in the firelight.
"Now, beautiful lady," Lucas said, sitting by the campfire and smiling at her, "if you don't mind, I'd like to take off these rags and clean my wounds."