The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (6 page)

Holy crap! Where the hell are we?
We lay in a circle on the ground in a clearing. Trees, bushes and low vegetation surrounded us but it didn’t look like any forest I knew. Swirls of panic spun in my stomach as I stared around us. I couldn’t recognize any of the trees or bushes, and I know New Zealand bush, it’s very unique. I’d been going to my family’s cabin in the bush since I was six weeks old, I'd know New Zealand forest anywhere.

Kassie couldn’t speak. She simply gaped at their surroundings. What part of the spell had said this?

'Sian,' she growled as her anger grew. 'Where the fuck are we?'

The others turned to stare at her in surprise, Loi arched an eyebrow.

'Don’t arch your eyebrow at me, Loi,' she snapped. 'There’s a time and place for strong language and this is it.'

This was one of those moments where Sian truly felt little. Her stomach had hit her feet when she’d sat up and looked around. No spell she’d cast before had ever done this and now she was supposed to explain it to her friends? Cat and Loi looked dumbfounded while Kassie was turning red with anger.

She gulped, 'I, I don’t know. This has never happened before.'

Loi could see Kassie was ready to explode. Opening her mouth to tell her to calm down, Loi froze when she noticed her clothes.

'Guys, where are our costumes?'

After an initial panicked thought of
‘WHAT! I’M NAKED?’
I realized I did have clothes on, but they weren’t mine.

There were sounds of astonishment as we stared at our "new" outfits.

It was somewhat similar to my costume.

Fitted tan pants with dark brown leather boots that pulled on to the knee and laced at the back of the thigh. Over the knee boots like what I had worn. But these had slight heels and they weren’t pointy. They looked like good walking boots. On the top I wore a dark red tunic with a scoop neck; it was fitted and laced down my side.

Weird. Why would our clothes change?

The others, I saw, wore the same as me, the only difference was the color of their tunics. Loi’s was green, Kassie’s yellow, and Sian’s blue. Hearing Audrey whine, I glanced up and forgot about the clothes in an instant.

She pushed a limp shape on the ground. I realized it was Lucky.

'Kassie,' I gasped alarmed. 'Look! Lucky’s here too. Is she okay?'

Kassie jerked around, staring, 'Where?'

I pointed, then hurriedly crawled after Kassie. She eased Lucky onto her lap and looked at me with concern. Kneeling beside her I slipped my hand between Lucky’s front paws, my palm against her chest.

After a moment I could feel her heart beat, slow but steady. I gave Kassie a reassuring smile.

'Her heart beat is strong, I think she’ll be okay.'

Sian watched and felt relieved when Cat said Lucky would be okay. Guilt swirled through her, even though she knew it wasn’t her fault.

At least, she thought it wasn’t. The rational voice in her mind reassured her that she hadn’t done anything wrong; the silly voice wasn’t so certain. The contradictory views made her feel nauseated and she stared at the ground in an attempt to stop the dizziness. A jumble of fabric near her foot caught her eye and she reached for it.

'Hey guys!' Sian sounded excited. 'Look around you, I just found a pack and a cloak.'

She held up the blue cloak.

I climbed to my feet, arms spread for balance at the change in altitude and walked back to where I woke.

On the ground, a bit scrunched from where I must have rolled on it, (or landed?) lay a deep red cloak. A pack like Sian’s was beside it, along with something long and shiny. I bent down.

'Wow. I have a sword and two daggers that look kind of like the ones from my costume,' I trailed off.

Actually, these looked far more lethal. Granted, mine had been costume pieces and these appeared to be the genuine article. I tugged one of the daggers from its scabbard; it slid out with barely a whisper. The blade was curved and reminded me of the swords I’d seen in fantasy shops. The scabbard and hilt were copper colored and beautifully engraved with what looked like flames. The sword was decorated in the same manner.

Kassie found a cloak and pack next to where she woke and swung the light tan cloak around her shoulders.

Well at least whatever brought us here made sure we had some supplies, she thought, no matter how basic.

She began to feel calmer and her practical self took over as she thought about things like shelter and where the nearest city might be.

When she leaned to grab the pack, a metallic sheen in the grass next to it caught her eye. Groping, she felt what she thought was a handle and lifted, then stared in astonishment at the short sword.

Why on Earth would we need real weapons?

The voice in the back of her mind, suggested that perhaps they weren’t on Earth anymore. Her rational voice dismissed that as ridiculous. Ignoring them both, she drew the sword out and stared at the beautiful engravings on the blade. In kenjutsu, they only used real swords for ceremonial performances. This sword out-shone any of those swords by miles, it was a beautiful weapon.

Kassie frowned, if someone went to the trouble to make sure they had each gotten weapons then there must be a reason for it. Troubled by these thoughts she took care to belt it to her side and thigh. It was a well designed scabbard; she’d be able to run without the sword flapping about.

'Cat.' Loi bounded over.

I blinked in surprise. It appeared someone felt better.

'They’re real. Not that they weren’t before, but my sword was plastic and now,' she drew it out of its scabbard; the sound of metal on metal audible. 'It’s real.'

Her sword had the same copper color as mine but was covered in a gritty earth like pattern.

Sian came over to see what we had, then showed us the bow and quiver she’d found beside her cloak. The bow was gorgeous, a beautiful example of top workmanship. It was the sort of bow I’d love.

Sian voiced similar thoughts.

'Really this is more your style, Cat. Though it’s much more beautiful than your antique,' she winked at me.

'Obviously someone knows you’re the better shot.'

She flushed at the compliment. I was interested in Loi’s comment before.

'Loi, do you think they transformed? Along with our costumes?'

'Maybe,' Loi shrugged. 'The spell did say ‘our lives entwine’ surely that would cover this.'

Sian looked surprised, 'I guess you could interpret it like that.'

'Which would explain the packs.' Loi pointed out.

I wonder what's in mine?

I sat on the ground to rifle through it.

'Wow! Guys, look inside your packs.'

I started to pull items out of mine, a loaf of dense bread, some strips of dried meat, apples and a small sack of grain. A little pouch was at the bottom and it jingled when I picked it up. Loosening the drawstring, I tipped the contents into my hand. Strange coins poured out, bronze, silver and some gold.

Far out! Where would we use money like that? Is that real gold?

I heard the others discover the same in their packs.

'Wow,' breathed Loi.

'Do you think it’s real?' Kassie asked.

'Aren’t we meant to bite it?' Sian said with a smile and pantomimed biting a coin.

Chuckling at Sian’s suggestion, Kassie continued to look through her pack and tipped the contents on the ground to make it easier. She tossed the empty pack to the side and Lucky crept into it, peeking out. Kassie laughed at the sight. Loi turned to see what was funny and she held a finger to her lips, then pointed at Lucky.

They pretended not to see Lucky when she cautiously stuck her head out, then snatched it back in.

Audrey saw the twitching pack and stole away from Cat, still preoccupied with her pack’s contents. Creeping closer to Kassie’s bag, she dropped to her belly and carefully began her commando crawl toward it.

Sian looked up and spotted her, then tossed a pebble at Cat who looked up in surprise. Sian nodded at the dog. They both watched as she reached her target.

Audrey gave the pack a gentle poke with her nose and it jerked away from her. She froze in shock, even her tail stayed stiff and straight. The dog crept up to it again. This time she sat next to it, head cocked to one side, then lifted her paw and placed it on top of the pack. They heard an angry growl and Audrey’s tail started to wag. The pack lunged, grabbed her paw and apparently bit it as the dog yelped and shot back to where Cat was, hiding behind her legs and peered accusingly at it.

All the girls laughed and at that point Lucky burrowed out of the pack then sauntered about the clearing looking smug, her tail straight up in the air. Audrey rushed over to her friend and snuffled her all over, then did a big whoosh of air straight up her backside. Lucky yeooowed and ran back to Kassie.

Smiling at Audi and Lucky’s antics, I returned my attention to my pack and placed the items back inside. Then it hit me. Why would we need these at home?

'I have this idea that we aren’t on Earth anymore,' I bit my lip as I looked at the others, feeling butterflies in my stomach.

Kassie frowned, 'What makes you say that?'

'This doesn’t look like anything we’d need on Earth, not in our time anyway.'

Loi interrupted me.

'Ever seen anything like that on Earth?'

We turned and stared at where she pointed.

A bird about the size of a pigeon made its way down the vine on a tree. The bird was a deep fire engine red. I couldn’t ever remember seeing a bird that color before. When it turned to feed on an insect we gasped.

The bird’s tail was made up of long feathers that were tipped with jewel colored ‘eyes’ like a peacock. Citrine, ruby, emerald, and amethyst, this was one stunning bird. It flittered about the tree hunting more insects, unconcerned at our presence, then made a pretty trilling noise and launched off the tree, flying past us further into the forest until it was out of sight.

Well
.

'Probably not Earth,' I concluded.

The others just stared at me.

Kassie sank to the ground.

'What are we supposed to do? How do we get home? What about our families? Are we stuck?'

Her voice rose with each question.

'How did this happen? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING TO HAPPEN NOW?'

The three of us winced at the noise level and Audi cowered behind my legs. Loi looked at Sian.

'Why don’t I feel bothered by this?' she seemed perplexed. 'I should be terrified right?'

I nodded in agreement. I had just wondered that.

Not that I’m not upset, but I’m not having a mini melt-down like Kassie.

Sian walked over to Kassie and sat down, wrapping her arms around her.

'It’s likely you’re in shock,' she said, ever practical. 'Your body is designed to run on auto-pilot in a situation like this. Give it a few days before really considering it.'