Chapter Two ~ Strangers in the Woods

Ella took a shaky breath, looking down at the crater that held the small Cloud Maker. It was laying on its side; tail bent oddly as a couple of harpoons stuck out of its stomachs; a thick rope was tied tightly to the end of the large spears. Some of the cables were snapped and frayed at the end. While some were still whole; leading off in a direction towards the woods. But there was another wound on the small whale. Its body was riddled with holes far too large to be made by any spear or harpoon. Ella couldn't understand how something like this could happen, the sky whale hunts had long since ended, and Cloud Makers never came this close to the sea; if Ella remembered correctly, they stayed closer to the mountains. The human girl didn't realize she was moving till she felt her feet begin to slide down the dirt hill. "Why is it so small?" Ella thought sadly to herself, stopping for a moment once she reached the bottom before starting to take a few steps forward. The poor creature was struggling to breathe, and its chest could barely rise up and down. One thing Ella notice was the vivid hues of purples and blues of the sky whale's skin was started to become faded rather quickly as the blood stained the ground. Ella walked closer, she took a shaky hand, reaching out to touch the wounded whale, she hastened for a moment before resting her hand on the smooth skin.

"H-hi…" Ella whispers hoarsely. For a moment, Ella had a memory of when she was little and seeing the Cloud Makers for the first time. They were so beautiful and free looking, but seeing the state if this one...this was wrong. A creature like this should not be put through so much pain. The small sky whale began to thrash around, letting out a booming cry of agony, its tail struggling to lift only for it to thud onto the ground; causing the earth to rumble. The young girl yelped and stumbled back onto her butt. Ella pants a little trying to scoot away from the struggling creature. "Please calm down, please!" Ella begged, "I'm not here to hurt you!". To humans surprise, it seems that the small Cloud Maker listened to her. Ella took a few deep breaths, relieved that things finally went quiet. Ella slowly got to her feet, holding her hands to her chest as she slowly walked back over. The young girl took small steps towards the small cloud maker's head. Once she reached the head, Ella once more reached out to touch the whale, but this time she placed both hands and forehead. "I'm sorry" Ella sniffed softly before taking one hand and gently petting the creature. The Cloud Maker made a deep, rumble sound that made Ella's bones shake. The girl sighed a little before looking over at the nearby brush as a group of voices began to grow very close.

"The trail leads this way," a gruff voice yelled. Ella scrambled to her feet, unsure what to do; a part of her wanted to run, but the other half told her she couldn't leave the whale in the hands of who could be the very hunters who shot it down. Ella turned around then quickly bent down to pull a dagger from her boot, gripping the handle tightly. The silver bladed weapon was a gift for her twelfth birthday, and she promised her father that she would only use it for emergency; this seems to fit under that. Ella stood tall, taking a step forward and held her dagger close to her chest as the bushes were parted to the side. The first to come through was a tall, and stocky Pellie-man, he seemed just as confused as Ella was. A Pellie-women followed the Pellie-man: even at a glance, Ella could see that they were twins. The female blinked, before letting a soft smile crossed her lips.

"Hello there my young friend, are you alright?" She asked, gracefully walking over but quickly stopping when Ella moved. The young human let one hand touch the Cloud Maker, while the other raised the dagger. Even though the action seemed a little pointless -due to the fact Ella was far too small to guard the sky whale- it made sure to get across that Ella was prepared to fight. This motion sparked the Pellie-male to scowl and quickly walked over to the female, hand already reaching down to unsheathe his sword. However, the female lifted her arm, stopping the male as before he could bump into it. "Orage...you are scaring the poor thing," she said in a scolding manner. The man glanced at his twin, frowning for a moment then slowly moving his hand away from the swords handle.

"Who are you?" Ella asked as she lowered the blade a little. The Pellie-female gave a warm smile, bending down just a little bit so the two could meet, eye to eye.

"My name is Marée, my brother and I are apart of a little traveling group" she began "We saw something huge fall from the sky and then that terrible earthquake happened," Marée said before standing up straight and walking past the human and up to the sky whale. Her expression changed from a happy one to sorrowful one very quickly. The Cloud Maker let out a whine, body trying to shift but going nowhere. "As a child, I heard stories of such creatures, I had always hoped I would see one with my own eyes," the Pellie-female sighed, "but not like this." Ella looked down for a moment, before putting her dagger back in her boots, she looked back at the small sky whale, rubbing her arm, she said:

"My name is Ella, I … I saw him fall too; I wish I could have done more," Elle sighed softly. Marée let out a thoughtful hum, then she turned around and patted the young girl on the shoulder.

"There, there my dear, there really isn't much you could have done for it, but there is something you can do for me; Is there a town nearby?" she asked, Ella nodded her head and Marée counties "Good, I want you to hurry back there, something awful is coming" the women said "a dead Cloud Maker is an ominous warning" she added. Marée then gently pushed Ella to get her moving. The young human furrowed her brows for a moment, looking back.

"What about-"

"Don't worry, my brother and I will stay with the sky whale?" Marée said with a short nod. Ella chewed her inner cheek before starting to walk away quickly. The quick walk became a run as she scurred up the mound of dirt and back into the forest. Marée watched until the girl was gone before turning her attention back to the fallen creature. She carefully walked over and rested a hand on the smooth but faded skin; she turned her head when Orage walked up from behind her. "Go back to the group, tell them what we found," she whispered hoarsely.

Ella's head with swimming; What could this mean? The Pellie-women was right when she said a dead Cloud Maker was a bad sign. Last time the sky whale hunts happened all of Asteryn was at war, and that didn't end well for anyone...even the victors. The human girl stopped for a moment, resting against a tree for a moment. Panting heavily, then forcing her legs to move again just as a strange sound echoed from above her. Ella looked up at the dark, approaching clouds before suddenly ramming into something in front of her and crashing to the forest floor with a hard thud.

"Ow! What the- Ella!!?" Lotus snapped, sitting up a little from here she was knocked to the ground. As for the human girl, she managed to get to her knees. She was wincing a little as she did so before blinking at the familiar voice. Ella turned her head around the see the Pellie-girl being helped up by one of her friends. Only two members of Lotus's group was with her this time; the other was the Pellie-boy who had smashed the box.

"Didn't know you were so eager for round two humans!" He snickered as he starts to crack his knuckles. Ella just huffed before saying.

"We can fight later, but right now we need to get back to town" she began, getting to her feet and looking right at Lotus with wide eyes "we need to tell your dad that something is going to happen, something bad." Lotus, however, just scoffed as her other friend handed her trident back.

"Uhm, I'm not quite sure if you noticed or not but something already happened...we saw something big fall into the forest from the bay" the Pellie-girl mused before adding "so don't worry that little head of yours, you run back to town while we go check it out" Lotus teased as she patted Ella's head. Ella huffed softly as she shook her head and took a few steps back, she pointed back from where she came from

"A Cloud Maker has been shot down, it's not safe, and we all need to get back to town!" Ella said before adding, "Now!". The three Pellies all looked at each other with skeptical looks before the Pellie-boy gave a snarky laugh.

"Yeah right, sky whales are just a stupid bedtime story mothers tell their kids."

"I'm telling the truth," Ella replied, looking over at Lotus and taking a step closer. The Pellie-girl rested a hand on her hip before shaking her head and turned around. Lotus was about to walk in the direction where Ella had come from, but Ella quickly grabbed Lotus's arm. The Pellie-girl promptly spun around, eyes narrowed, however before she could say anything Ella spoke; "Lotus...please" there was a pause, and Lotus's expression softened a little. At that moment, however, no one could have been prepared for what happened next. It sounded like a scream, but not any kind of cry a person can make. It echoed across the sky, Ella winced and covered her ears, bending over a little. Lotus and her friends did the same, all grunting in discomfort. Once the sound faded, Ella felt a breeze started to pick up; this was all too familiar to the young human. The breeze turned into the harsh wind. Ella yelped as she felt a few small branches hit her in the back as they were broken off from their tree. The wind was turning so violent that nearby there came a massive crash of a tree falling to the forest floor. From the sky, there came thunderous yell. Ella managed to glance up for a moment to see a large fish like tail fly overhead. By the time the winds died down, everyone could see the giant Cloud Maker above them; the massive creature was twisting around in the air as if searching for something.

Ella watched as it -almost gracefully- disappeared beneath the tree line. The girl's brown eyes squinted for a moment, trying to understand what had happened before a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist and began to drag her away. The human girl managed to turn her head to see the Lotus was pulling her along towards the beach the border the forest

"Okay everyone gets back to boats! We are heading back now!" Lotus yelled out as they neared the rest of her group. However, the sight of the deep blue water began to make Ella feel nervous; she chewed her inner cheek, then managed to wiggle her arm out of the young Pellie's grasp. Lotus stopped, glaring at the human and confused manner. "What are you doing?" she asked. Ella sheepishly rubbed her arm for a moment, feeling her face becoming red from embarrassment

"Wou-wouldn't it be faster to go through the forest then the water?" Ella asked Lotus looked back at her friends, already pushing their small fishing boats off the sandy shore, then she turned to look at Ella with a slight frown.

"No, it would not be faster, just get in the boat human" Lotus sneered, once more grabbing Ella's wrist before she could even offer a protest. Ella was pretty much tossed into the small wooden vessel that had only one other occupant inside, holding an ore and looking at the blond with a perplexed look. Lotus gave the fishing boat and good shove into the ocean waters before hopping in herself just as another ear-splitting cry boomed overhead.

"What is that!?" the Pellie asked Lotus, but she only shook her head, telling him not to worry about it while taking the ore and using it to push them further out the sea. The boats were trying to cut across the small bay so that they could reach Sullan's ship docks, and they were making some good progress. The two Pellies rowed as fast as they could, while a petrified Elle sat in the boat, knees close to her chest, trying her best to avoid looking over the side at the deep waters. So instead the young human trained her sight on the shrinking shoreline. While Lotus and her friend backs were turned to the shore, Ella watches with wide eyes as the large Cloud Maker rose from the forest.

"Lotus" was the only word Ella could muster out, the young Pellie looked at Ella before turning her head just in time the witness the Cloud Maker fly overhead, causing the once calm waves to become rocky. The sky whale rose far above, almost disappearing into the clouds, but to everyone's horror, the whale nose-dived into the ocean with an erupting splash. The impact began to push the water, creating large replies that become towering waves. Noises of the water crashing about began to drown out the groups panic cry; even Ella couldn't hear her voice. The small boats started to shift back and forth violently, Ella hit the sides of the wooden vessel multiple times while Lotus and her friend tried their best to keep it from capsizing. But without anyone steering the fishing boat, it was caught up in the curtain and the rocky waves, Elle was starting to feel sick. She looked up for a moment to see a few of the fishing boats turn over, the Pellies inside all dumping into the water. The young human turned her head just into to see a massive wave crashing down only a few feet away from them, the impact caused the fishing boat to tip a little too much on one side, casting all three into the dark waters below.

Ella's head went below the water, with only a split second for her to take a breath. The girl began to panic, she flailed her arms wildly, trying so hard to push her body back towards the surface; "I need to get out, I need to get out!!" she thought frantically but no matter how hard she tried though the water made them feel as if rocks had been tied to them. Ella didn't know if she was upside down or right side up, she couldn't see anything in the blurry green surroundings, and her long curly hair covering her eyes was not helping either. She thought she saw figuring swimming; it was hard to keep an eye on them with the current tossing her around like a doll. After a while, though, the saltwater started to sting her eyes, forcing Ella to close them tightly. The girl winced inward, holding her chest...her lungs were beginning to hurt. Suddenly, Ella's back hit something hard and sharp, the sudden collision on what could only have been a rock caused Ella to throw her head back and gasp out. Bubbles were escaping from her lips, and she could taste the large gulp of saltwater in her mouth. Ella felt herself sinking; she was too stunned, too tired to struggle anymore. For a second, just before things went black, Ella opened her eyes for just a moment, seeing that something was glowing near her ankle. Soon though, Ella's head got dimmer and dimmer, until things finally went dark.