Uncertainty

---Aaron---

"Indigo!" I caught her as she collapsed. I seized the sword from her hand and threw it far, far away from her. "Indigo? Indigo, can you hear me?"

I shook her gently. She was unresponsive. A smear of red on my shirt caught my eye. Almost afraid of what I would see, I looked closely at Indigo. An angry red line ran from her chin up diagonally to just below her left cheekbone, seeping blood. A thinner line ran from the right side of her neck to the front before sharply veering up and connecting with her chin. The wind that I summoned had caused that gash across her cheek. Even now, I knew that Indigo would have a light scar across her face forever. The only good news was that she was still alive. She hadn't pressed too hard on her sword; otherwise, the cut across her neck would be deeper and she wouldn't have lived.

"Oh, Indigo…" I said sadly as I sank to the wet forest floor, holding Indigo in my arms. She looked so fragile and so small. Her clothes were wet, clinging to her skin and sticking to mine. I brushed my hand across her forehead, tucking her wet strands of hair behind her ears. Her skin was burning.

How long was she out here in the cold and in the rain? She has a fever now. What if she caught pneumonia and actually died? The blood wasn't stopping either; the red was spreading over my wet shirt, diffusing across the fabric and forming a red flower over where my heart was. I need to get back. I need to get Indigo to Rachel.

I whistled for my horse. It trotted over obediently, with Indigo's horse in tow. I climbed to my feet, still carrying Indigo in my arms. Her skin was ice cold against mine, even though her forehead was burning hot. And to think, it was Katherine who was in my arms, with a ravaging fever, not so long ago…

Just before I climbed onto the horse, a glimmer across the clearing caught my eye. Indigo's sword! I gently placed Indigo on the ground and rushed over, pushing aside bushes and parting wet grass to find it lying in the mud. I wiped it clean on a patch of wet grass as I hurried back, sliding the sword into its scabbard that hung from Indigo's waist. With a single command, my stallion lied down so that I could get on, and then rose to its hooves.

"Hi-yah!" I urged the horse forward. We galloped from the clearing back the way I came. As I followed the markings I left behind, Indigo curled up against me like a baby. I felt so bad for her at that instant and urged my horse to go faster.

I barreled into the temporary campsite the others had set up right before I left. Jason had used his earth powers to weave a waterproof network of vines high up above us, forming a large dome. Ashley used a few more spells to finish the job, and Lucian had gotten a merry fire going. Four tents were set up in a semicircle near the roots of the vine, facing the entrance that magically closed after I entered.

Rachel was waiting for me as I galloped in. "What happened to Indigo?" she asked worriedly.

"She tried to kill herself and I managed to stop her, but not before this happened." I dismounted and showed Rachel the bleeding wound on Indigo's face. "She also hit her head on a tree in the process." I heard a sharp intake of breath.

"Oh dear. Poor Indigo," Rachel murmured. "Put her near the fire. You should go change into dry clothes before you catch a cold too."

I shook my head. "I'm fine. Let's get Indigo settled first."

Jason rolled out a sleeping bag on the floor close to the fire while Ashley stood close by with Rachel's bag of medicine and first aid materials in hand. I gently laid Indigo down on the sleeping bag, peeling my wet and bloodied shirt off of her face. Indigo stirred, and Rachel was immediately by her side.

"Don't move, Indigo," Rachel murmured as she pulled out various vials from her bag. "Everything will be okay."

I watched as Rachel placed three fingers on Indigo's wound and summoned her healing magic. Yellow sparks danced down her fingertips and swirled around Indigo's face and neck. Ashley returned with dry clothing for Indigo, so Lucian, Jason, and I stepped outside while they changed Indigo out of her wet clothes. The three of us huddled under a leafy tree whose canopy shielded us from the rain.

"Dude, you should really change." Lucian nodded towards my shirt. I looked down at the blood-stained fabric.

"Yeah, definitely. You'll catch a cold if you stay in those wet clothes any longer," Jason agreed. "Indigo's already sick, and Katherine's out of commission. We need you alive and well, Aaron."

"I'll change once we go in. Speaking of which, how's Katherine?" I asked. When I left in a hurry to chase after Indigo, the rest of the group was still trying to stop the bleeding. The two boys looked at each other.

"Rachel did what she could. The blood wouldn't stop. It took twenty something stitches to seal the wound, and even then blood still seeped through. Katherine lost a lot of blood, and at first, we…we didn't think she would make it." Jason said gravely.

I felt a chill run through my bones. Suddenly, the adrenaline had worn off and I could, for the first time, feel the cold from my wet clothes seeping into my skin. I wrapped my arms around myself for a bit of warmth. "What about now?"

"Well, Rachel and Ashley combined forces in order to summon enough magic to save Katherine. The internal damage is mostly fixed, but Katherine's been stabbed so many times and so often, this was kind of like the last straw," Lucian explained. "She's still unconscious from the extreme blood loss and pain. Rachel says that even when Katherine wakes up it'll be a while before she could properly move again."

I let out a small breath of relief. "At least she's still alive." Lucian and Jason nodded. We stood there listening to the rain, each immersed in our own thoughts.

"It's only been what—a few months? Yet we already almost lost two people," I murmured. "The most dangerous part of this quest is yet to come. How can we face Lord Victor like this?"

"Hey, we got to have hope." Jason placed a hand on my shoulder. "There's a reason why we were chosen. We are the only ones who have a chance. No matter how slim the odds are, we have to take a risk and believe that we can do this."

"Besides, we haven't lost anyone yet, have we? All these close calls and we always managed to survive them. That's got to be a sign that we are capable of defeating Lord Victor." Lucian chimed in. I looked at both of them gratefully.

"Thanks for the motivation guys. Together, we can do this."

We smiled at each other and did a secret handshake that we made up when we were at the Academy. It seemed like years ago that we were still young and innocent, with no knowledge of the dangers ahead.

Little did we know, the first tragedy was already tiptoeing closer.