The Forsaken

his arm and fiddles with the other one. To my surprise, moments later I see a flash of light appear. I realize that somehow, impossibly, he has started a fire. He holds the lit torch in front of him and inspects it.
    “How did you do that?” I ask, startled by his acumen out here in the forest.
    He looks over at me and arches an eyebrow. “Magic.” It’s only then that I see he’s clutching a handful of matches. “I sewed these into my back pocket, just in case. Figured they might not find ’em.” He passes me the unlit torch and lights the end of it. “It won’t burn for long.”
    “Thanks.” I hold my torch out in front of me like a sword.
    “So, why do you think you got sent here?” David asks as we start hiking again. “You honestly believe it’s all just a big mistake?”
    “Of course,” I tell him. “Why, did you do something?”
    He shakes his head. “No, I told you.” He peers around. “We’re exiles now. It doesn’t matter if we’re innocent or not. The UNA doesn’t care about us.”
    “I hope you’re wrong.” We keep walking.
    I’m still amazed at how desolate this place seems. It feels like David and I are the only two people alive right now. Other than the robed figure and the creatures trying to kill us.
    David gestures up ahead. “Look.” For a moment, I think he has seen someone else, and I feel a surge of fear. But then I realize he’s pointing at a huge oak tree, at least sixty feet tall, with a stout trunk. “That’s the kind of place we could sleep in.”
    I don’t really like the idea of climbing a tree and sleeping in it, because I’m afraid I’ll fall out. I also don’t like the idea of falling asleep around David, although so far he has only done things to help me.
    He hobbles over to the tree. “You any good at climbing?” he asks.
    I shake my head.
    “Yeah, me neither.”
    I walk over and join him at the tree.
    “Hand me your torch,” he says. I give it to him, gazing up at the branches. “My foot’s busted. Can you test it for us?”
    “You mean try climbing it? Now? Are you serious?”
    “If we test it now, we can find out if it’s safe. If it is, then we’ll come back later today. Make this our base camp until we figure out what to do next, and where to go. We also need to find some fresh water. Maybe we can spot a river or lake from the tree.”
    “Fine, but I’m wearing a skirt, so don’t look.” I gingerly put my foot on a low branch and hoist myself up. The branch holds my weight easily. “This might actually work.” I grab hold of another branch above me and pull myself up faster.
    “Can you see anything from up there?”
    I gaze out into the endless green landscape. “Just more trees.” I pull myself up higher. Luckily, the branches remain sturdy.
    David is walking around the tree. “Looks good. I guess we know where we’ll be spending the night.” He sticks one torch into the earth, and then the other, so that they stand upright. “I better get up there too. See if it can hold both our weights. Can you help me?”
    I’m about to climb down and help him up, but right as David finishes speaking, what I’ve been dreading all along finally happens.
    A robed figure steps out from the trees, just twenty paces from us.
    It’s not the one who attacked the animal earlier today. This one is even larger, and he’s wearing a scowling metal mask daubed with orange war paint.
    There’s nowhere to go.
    David and I are trapped.
    “Keep the hell away!” David immediately calls out, grabbing both of our torches. I clamber down from the tree, and he stands protectively in front of me. With shaking hands, I take my torch back from him. “Don’t come near us! I mean it.”
    The figure doesn’t answer. He just keeps watching us from behind his implacable mask.
    I risk a glance behind me and flinch. Two boys with painted faces lean against other trees. Where did they come from? I hear more noises in the distance. Footsteps approaching. We’re being surrounded.
    I turn back to the masked figure, panicked. “Who are you?” I call out. “What do you want with us?” My voice is close to breaking. “I don’t even belong here!”
    I can hear the boys behind us moving closer. They could kill us right now. Everything starts becoming dreamlike and floaty as the blood rushes from my head.
    A muffled voice suddenly speaks from behind the metal mask. It’s deep. Ominous. But it definitely belongs to a teenage boy. “We own