Devil's Trap Island

Hi everyone. So since I can't afford a subscription to writing.com, I am writing as much of my story as I can on this one item. Look to the blue writing for updates on this item. Please leave reviews. I am looking for info on everything. If you liked it, the plot, my writing style, etc. and thanks in advance!
Well it looks like I have finally finished chapter one. Man that took forever. Try have someone read what took you two days to write in 10 min. In the future, I will try to update a whole chapter at a time, but for now I am just really trying to get my first work out there, so...enjoy!

Chapter One

“Who’s there?” shouted the girl standing in the middle of the lake. A boy crouching silently near the water’s edge froze, entirely unsure of what to do. To be sure it hadn’t been his intention to spy on this girl while she was bathing; he has simply wandered in the same direction as one of his strange new companions. Who would have thought he would come across such a lovely creature bathing? Of course, when he had discovered her, there was no way he could not have gazed at her. She was, in fact, the first woman he had ever seen devoid of her clothes. It had shocked him, but at the same time it had enthralled him. Still, he did not want to be mistaken for some uncouth man that would purposely watch a woman while she was bathing. Therefore, the boy considered his best option to simply turn around and vanish before the girl could actually confirm his presence.
Slowly the boy shifted his weight to his back leg and heard the undergrowth around him make a faint noise. Leaving silently may be harder than I imagined the boy thought. A mere two seconds later the boy heard the distinctive thud of metal hitting a tree not two paces from where he currently resided. The boy stopped dead in his tracks, now truly frightened. Never in his short life had the boy ever been in a situation like the one he faced now. Forget the fact that he had never found a woman completely undressed before, even more terrifying was the idea that the boy had a reason to fear for his life.
“I warn you, come out whoever you are. Next time I won’t miss,” shouted the girl. She missed? The boy wasn’t sure what the strangest part of her “miss” was. The fact that this young girl seemed to have heard the tiny noise he made, or that she had managed to throw a blade so close to him…missing, or that this girl who appeared to be stark naked suddenly had multiple blades on her. He looked in the direction the sound of the metal had come from and sure enough he saw a knife embedded in a nearby tree. He slowly tore his eyes away from the blade and again looked at the girl. The girl was still there and still naked, but now he could see the glint of moonlight reflecting from the metal in the girl’s hand.
“I’m coming out!” the boy shouted. After all, what other choice did he have? He was starting to think an adventure wasn’t nearly as fun as he had hoped it would be.

12 hours earlier
“Prince Dareios, please step away from there, you are much too close to the edge for comfort,” pleaded the young man behind the prince. The man could put everyone around him on edge with his continuous fidgeting. He was constantly either wringing his hands, pleading with them, pacing back and forth, or nervously inching closer to the prince as though to pull him away from the edge regardless of the prince’s wishes.
“Okay, okay Claus, you are such a killjoy,” Dareios complained and reluctantly stepped down from the bow of the ship. Dareios was fourteen years old and was ecstatic to be on his first solo voyage across the sea. Well, his first voyage without one of his parents accompanying him. Dareios was still given Claus to watch after him, but it was much easier to ignore Claus than it was his parents. Plus Claus wasn’t all that bad, even if he was sometimes a killjoy. Their age difference wasn’t all that great and if Claus did get a little fussy well Dareios knew it wasn’t easy to be given the responsibility to look after the crown prince.
Of course, it wasn’t like Dareios was in much real danger. Otherwise his parents would not have allowed him to come with merely a contingent of guards and the young Claus to watch over him. Besides getting tossed overboard, Dareios would be in no danger at all between getting on the ship at Edoras and getting off the ship at Laxia. At Edoras, his mother had been there to see him off, and when he got to Laxia his father would be there to greet him along with the king and crown prince of Laxia. All in all, neither the destination nor the trip were particularly exciting, but Dareios couldn’t help but relish in his limited freedom.
Claus heaved a sigh of relief as Dareios stepped away from the bow. Dareios could see Claus’s whole body relax as well. Dareios sighed to himself. He really didn’t mean to cause Claus so much distress. Yet he knew he could not entirely give up his small sense of adventure just for Claus’s peace of mind. So, Dareios tried put a limit on how far he pushed Claus each day and it seemed as though Dareios had just about reached his limit for today.
“I realize it may seem like I am ruining all your fun Prince Dareios, but I am only concerned about your safety.” Claus now fully at ease, Claus took a moment to remove the last traces of his previous nervous state, by addressing his unkempt appearance. Within a matter of seconds Claus had managed to readjust his belt and shirt sleeves and was now vainly attempting to address his hair. Of course, just like always, Claus quickly gave up his attempts as the wind coming from the sea made any effort to make his hair lay flat an impossibility.
“Of course, if you managed to find your fun in a safe venture, I would be more than happy to accommodate you my prince.” Dareios shrugged. He and Claus had been having this argument at least once a day for a week, ever since they first boarded the ship and nothing had changed yet. Dareios would continue to enjoy testing the limits of his small freedom and Claus would continue to worry about his safety. At least Claus was the only one he still argued with. The sailors on board the ship had not bothered to take any notice of him after the first day. They claimed he had great sea legs and that it would take worse weather than he would be out in to send him overboard. His guards, while slightly harder to convince had been mollified by the sailors’ words and had slowly tapered off. After all, they were there to protect the prince from enemies, not from falling over the edge of the ship. So, by the fourth day, Claus was the only one that continued to bother Dareios. He imagined that the argument would continue until he was finally with is father and his freedom once again curtailed.
Dareios sighed at that sad thought. Another week, and he would loose his new found freedom. He looked wistfully back to the bow of the ship and tentatively took a step towards it. To his surprise, Claus was oddly silent. He turned to look back at Claus to see him conversing with the captain of the ship. Dareios cocked his head to the side. The captain must have something terribly important to say if he was talking to Claus at any time other than the evening meal.
Dareios supposed that was also his fault. Claus had been appalled at how none of the sailors seemed to even bother after Dareios’ protection. Dareios has no idea what words had been said between them when Claus went to talk to the captain about the matter, but the only thing that changed was the relationship between the two. For the most part, they avoided one another as much as was possible while still being confined within a ship.
The words the two exchanged were not particularly low, but being a little distance away and downwind from Dareios, he heard not a word of the conversation between the two. So, Dareios was forced to either wait for the two to finish or awkwardly get closer to them like some like a nosey child. Dareios opted for the first option and stood as still as he possibly could pondering what the news could be. It was strange, for it is not like they had meet with any other ships that would pass along news. In general, nothing about their voyage should have changed since the last time the captain had talked to them. Dareios could not wait to find out what that something was, because that something would undoubtedly mean adventure.
The two finished up their conversation and, just like Dareios had hoped, Claus started walking toward him.
“Well Prince Dareios, I hoped you enjoyed your time at the bow just now, because you will unlikely get another chance to see the sea today.” Claus told him slightly smug.
“What?!” Dareios wailed. That was not at all what he had hoped Claus was going to tell him.
“Yes well, I just talked with the captain and we seem to be in for some rather rough weather. So, below deck for you.” Claus gestured for Dareios to proceed before him.
The weather? How terribly boring. No, Dareios could not see any adventure coming from that at all and now the stupid weather would force him to spend the entire day shut up below deck. All in all his excitement over an adventure had now been ruined by some clouds.
Clouds? Dareios looked up at the sky. Where are the clouds?
“But the weather is so nice right now, perhaps the finest we have had all trip. How could we possibly be in for bad weather?” Dareios complained without really expecting any particular answer to his question. After all, what did Claus know of the weather? Still he couldn’t help but complain at the thought of spending the rest of the day cooped up below deck.
“It’s the calm before the storm, aye frightful bad weather we are in for. Don’t like the looks of it at all, not one bit.” Dareios turned in the speaker’s direction a little shocked. More than not expecting an answer to his question, he certainly hadn’t expected it from this particular sailor. Everyone called the man Old Seabeard, what his real name was Dareios had never heard. In fact, Dareios never heard much about the man at all. Old Seabeard certainly didn’t talk about himself, in fact, other than the occasional mutterings, he didn’t talk much at all. Whenever any of the other crew members talked about him, it was all in hushed tones and awe. His whole life seemed to be wrapped in some sort of mysticism. The one thing Dareios did know about Old Seabeard was that people should listen when he talked.
So, slightly placated by Old Seabeard’s “ominous” storm Dareios shuffled his way slowly below deck.

Old Seabeard was right. Dareios thought. Dareios might have traveled this sea a couple of times before but never had he experienced anything close to this kind of weather. For the first time ever he was extremely grateful everything was bolted down. Before, it had been an annoyance. Being that he was only fourteen years old, trying to eat when the chair wouldn’t go any closer to the table, had been one of the many troubles bolted furniture had given him. Now, Dareios found himself wishing that he could also be bolted down. Over the last two and a half hours, Dareios had been pitched about his cabin room more times than he could count. The worst part had been when a particular wave had pitched Dareios right into Claus. Claus had yet to have the same problem. Claus had been tossed around a little, but so far Claus seemed able to avoid a similar embarrassing episode. Not that Dareios particularly wanted Claus crashing into him, but at least then he would feel like less of a child.
So much for great sea legs. Dareios briefly wondered how the sailors above deck were doing. After all, if he had great sea legs, did that mean that no one was fairing much better than him in this storm? The thought cheered up Dareios greatly and Dareios redoubled his efforts to keep from toppling on top of Claus again all but ignoring the book Claus was reading to him. Then suddenly, Dareios didn’t need to concentrate anymore. The ship had stopped pitching at all.
Thank goodness. To be sure, Dareios wanted out of this cabin as soon as possible. Dareios made a move towards the door, but Claus grabbed him by the arm.
“I’m sorry Prince Dareios, but I am afraid you will have to wait until the captain says it is alright to come out.” Dareios sighed but flopped down on the bed. He wondered if his father sighed quite so much. It somehow seemed to Dareios that growing up seemed to include constantly sighing. Of assuredly, Dareios had never sighed so much as he had during this sea voyage, but maybe it was just because Claus was with him.
While Dareios had settled himself down on his bed, he really didn’t anticipate having to wait long, which is why he had decided not to fight with Claus over the issue. Claus relaxed when he realized such was the case and returned to reading aloud from his book. The book held very little interest to Dareios. Combined with the fact that he hadn’t been paying attention earlier and he was restless to be out of the cabin now, Dareios found it utterly impossible to absorb what Claus was reading. Instead, Dareios found himself counting the passage of time.
By fifteen minutes Dareios found himself getting impatient again and at twenty-five he was furious with the captain. The man had now had plenty of time to get the deck of the crew in order and come and release Dareios from this prison. He didn’t even have to come in person. Dareios was sure Claus would believe any crew member if they told him it came from the captain. After all, what could they possibly gain by lying?
Eventually, Dareios started to pace the room. He could tell that initially this had caused Claus alarm because Claus had stopped his reading and narrowed his eyes. Still, after three minutes of Dareios making no attempt for the door, Claus had returned to the book.
I don’t know why he bothers with that book. It had to be clear even to Claus that Dareios was not paying any attention to his reading. At the very least he could just continue reading to himself.
Still, Claus being absorbed in his reading ended up working to his advantage. Dareios had reached the end of his patience and so he was glad the book distracted Claus long enough for him to make a break through the door. Of course Claus was furious and Dareios could hear him yelling through the still open door, but Dareios had already tuned him out as he rushed towards the ship deck. His mad dash had others yelling at him as well, but he tuned them out as effectively as he had Claus. It was a decision he would later come to regret.

Dareios burst through the hatch onto the deck and could immediately sense the change in atmosphere. The scene above deck couldn’t have been more different from the scene below deck. The running and shouting of below deck had no place above deck. The entire deck was completely still. Not a person moved. However, instead of a sense of calm, Dareios could only feel tension. As if the whole ship was a tightened string about to snap. Considering the atmosphere, Dareios was surprised the entire crew had not been alerted to his presence, since bursting through the hatch was by no means a quiet process, but not a single man turned to look at him. Instead, every sailor he saw had their entire attention focused on the sky.
It was hard to say if curiosity or the shouts still coming from below deck were the greater influence in Dareios choosing to step out from the hatch and close it behind him. He definitely did not want to be sent back below deck again, but also he was very interesting in why the entire crew seemed to be completely absorbed in watching the sky. From the hatch, all Dareios had been able to see was clear sky. Dareios wasn’t sure if he heard or saw it first. Once he was clearly out from the hatch it was impossible not to see why all the sailors watched the sky. The sky around them lit up as flashes of lightning surrounded them and Dareios was surprised he had not heard any of the thunder from below deck.
Dareios also found his attention completely captured by the thunderstorms. It was beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. He found himself inching closer to the edge, hoping to get just a little bit closer to the magnificent scene. He wanted to say something, ask why exactly there were thunderstorms all around them, but all words seemed to escape him. He was completely in awe. He found himself hoping it would last forever. He would gladly accept whatever punishment for disobeying Claus he had to in return for getting such beauty.
Unfortunately, the moment seemed to last only seconds before Claus emerged from below deck as well. It was too much to hope that both Dareios’ and Claus’ presence would go unnoticed by the rest of the crew. Not that it really mattered, Claus would drag Dareios below deck again even if the crew did not get involved. Dareios ducked out of Claus’ line of vision, hoping to extend even for a few moments the amount of time he was able to stay above deck.
It might have worked. After all, Claus could not tell where he was and the sky was very likely to have distracted Claus as much as it had everyone else on deck. However, it was too much to hope that neither Dareios’ nor Claus’ assent would have gone unnoticed by the crew. Of course, it didn’t help that Claus immediately yelled, “Prince Dareios!”
All at once the crew looked at Claus. Then, one of the crew members rushed over towards Claus. Dareios was unable to see clearly which crewmember it was for Clement was descending on top of him. In odds with his name, Clement was anything but gentle. In both appearance and manor, the sailor was rough. He was not exactly the person anyone wanted to be caught by for getting into trouble. Dareios promised himself that next time he decided to hide behind around someone, he would check who that person was first.
Clement grabbed Dareios by his collar and pulled him to his feet.
“What you playing at boy, you trying to get yourself killed?” he growled.
Well, I never thought you would choke me to death. Dareios shifted trying to ease the pressure on his neck.
“This dangerous weather could sweep you overboard at any minute. See how all us crew members are tied to the ship. We can’t have a young ‘un like you playing here now. Get you below deck.” With that Clement began to drag Dareios back towards the hatch, farther increasing the pressure around Dareios’s neck. Unable to take it anymore, Dareios used all his strength to pull his collar out of Clement’s grip.
“Let go!” Dareios jerked back, breaking Clement’s grip. He coughed from the effort of trying to speak while releasing his collar.
“Now see here boy…” Clement had moved to grab him again. However, at that precise moment, the ship pitched. It appeared the ship was once again entering the thunderstorms that had surrounded it. Dareios, whose footing had been none too stable to begin with, found himself as easily pitched as the ship was. The waves continued in their fury and Dareios found himself unable to keep from being jostled from one side of the ship to the other, despite everyone crewman he came in contact with trying to grab him. Eventually Dareios managed to grab a hold of part of the ship. He clung so tightly to the wood that his knuckles were white from the effort. Briefly Dareios looked around the ship. He was quite a distance from where the hatch was located and he could see no safe way to reach it. Claus stood there staring at him and also seemed to be calculating how to get Dareios below deck safely. Dareios looked around for help, but found every sailor occupied by the storm they were sailing into. Dareios could feel his grip getting weaker and weaker. Terrified of what would happen when he lost his grip, Dareios decided to make a run for it. He waited for a lull between the waves and darted towards the hatch.
He managed to make it almost all the way there before the wave which had cause the long lull hit the deck of the ship and washed Dareios overboard.

It was easily the worst experience Dareios had faced in his young life. Thunder and lighting crashed overhead and all around him the waves surged up and pulled him under again and again. He had swallowed so much sea water he was convinced that even if he lived through this ordeal, he would never get the taste of salt out of his mouth. That he somehow managed to surface each time was a mystery to him, for the sea had long since sapped Dareios of all his strength. Actually, he was probably surfacing faster now that he had given up trying to fight his way to the surface each time. It was very hard to distinguish which way lead to the surface when he was surrounded by water on all sides and the underwater current continuously tossed and turned him about.
That was not the only good thing about the water sapping all his energy. He was now entirely too tired to think and because of that, the dread that had threatened to overwhelm him earlier had now been mostly suppressed. When Dareios had first been thrown from the ship, he had held on to the slim hope that he would be rescued. After all he was prince of Edoras. The truth was he was aware of exactly how slim that hope was. When the sailors had tied themselves to the deck to keep from being thrown, there was little chance they could spare a thought for Dareios. Of course, it also didn’t help that he was his parent’s second son and therefore not the crown prince. Still, in the face of such ghastly circumstances, that hope was all Dareios had to cling to. Unfortunately that hope shattered fairly quickly as he almost immediately lost sight of the ship.
That was when the dread set in. He was in a horrific storm in the middle of the ocean with no land or even sea vessel in sight, nor could he truly hope to expect any to appear before him. It didn’t take him long to realize that if he didn’t die from drowning, he would most likely die slowly from starvation. For Dareios to explain how he had felt at that moment would be quite impossible. To be sure, he did not want to die. And yet, he found himself wondering if he should let himself drown. It would be, if not less painful at least much quicker. He wanted to keep living so very much, but he was faced with the reality that if he did not drown during this storm, he was going to have to face weeks of starvation before he died. Dareios dreaded such a miserable existence, but to actively seek to end his life was something he was not truly prepared to do.
Now, he had no energy and it really didn’t matter if he thought it was better to just let himself drown. He had struggled as hard as he could and now fate would decide how, when, and if he lived or died. There was a certain amount of comfort in knowing he had done all he could and leaving everything to fate. Even the fear of death had receded because of his exhaustion. Perhaps when he had rested and some of his stamina returned he would remember the fear and worry about all the things he had never accomplished. For the moment however, Dareios resigned himself to being tossed about by the sea.
It was impossible to track the passage of time in the storm, because the sun was completely hidden by dark clouds. Dareios could have been in the sea for minutes or hours for all he knew. Eventually and completely improbably, considering how he was being tossed about, Dareios fell asleep. It wasn’t a peaceful sleep, which wasn’t surprising given his situation. However, Dareios simply reached the point where he didn’t even have the energy to stay awake any longer. At least the worst of the storm had passed. The waves were still fierce, but he was no longer pulled under by the tide. And so, Dareios drifted at sea too tired to wake even when the waves changed to gentle crests.

The first sensation Dareios felt was wet. Not all wet, just the lower half of his body was constantly getting wet. Dareios shifted uncomfortably. He was loath to move as the upper half of his body was enjoying the heat radiating down on it. However, from his current position his lower body would not be able to also bask in the heat. Dareios moved slowly his whole body sluggish and sore; as though he had spent all day training swords with Master Rowan. But Dareios had never spent all day training with Master Rowan. Anyways he couldn’t possibly train with Mater Rowan now, he was on his way to Laxia and Master Rowan was still in Edoras.
Wait, I am on a boat. Why am I wet? Is there a leek? There must be a leek. Does the captain know about the leek? Is the ship sinking?
Such thoughts ran around in Dareios’ head until they overwhelmed his desire to fall back asleep. Dareios opened his eyes and was immediately forced into reality. He was definitely not on a ship. Where was he? Dareios concentrated, trying to remember how he had ended up here and the memories of the storm came flooding back. Yes, he had been on a ship but he had fallen overboard. Unfortunately, none of this gave Dareios an answer as to where he was. Dareios pulled himself out of the water, standing up so he could get a better perspective of his surroundings. Dareios turned around to look behind him and shuddered. Only a short way out Dareios could see jagged rocks doting the entire horizon. Dareios was immensely grateful he had slept through passing those rocks. He looked back in towards the shore. As far as the eye could see the beach melted into a forest. On the plus side, despite all odds, he had somehow managed to find land. The down side was, this forest showed no signs of human habitation.
For the first time in his life Dareios found his education lacking. Of all the information Claus and his other tutors had pounded into his head, not one of them had ever told him what to do when he found himself somewhere away from all human habitation. Of course, considering how well he was guarded, there shouldn’t have been a way for Dareios to end up in a situation where he would be both alone and away from human habitation. But, that was the situation he was in and, being a 14 year-old boy, he was completely clueless as to what he should do. It didn’t help that Dareios had yet to recover the energy he had lost from being in the sea for so long. Dareios could still feel the sun’s rays overhead and the waves lapping at his feet. He decided to move farther up the beach where the waves would no longer bother him. There, he fell backward onto the sand, bathing in the sun’s rays. And once again, he drifted off to sleep.

Is he dead?” A voice said. Dareios wondered if he was dreaming. It was a strange dream. He was obviously alive, but he couldn’t see. It was dark all around him. Still, why couldn’t this voice tell that he was alive? Was it because he had no body? This must be a dream, where is my body, I can’t feel it at all!
“Now how could I tell that from here?” another voice snapped
“Well aren’t you gonna check?” the first voice asked.
“And you can’t check because…?”
“You’re the leader,” a third voice said.
“Ha, since when have you guys ever treated me as the leader?” There was no response to that question, but Dareios could hear a shuffling sound coming closer to him.
“I hope he isn’t dead, I hate building funeral pyres,” the second voice whined.
“Yeah, but if he is dead then out duty ends once we set fire to the pyre. If he is alive, then we have an outsider to watch and take care of” the first voice lectured. Dareios was alarmed now. He wanted to scream at the voices that he was alive. He definitely did not want to burned alive because he was mistaken for dead. Dareios pushed against the darkness and felt it recede a little. He tried to cry out, but no sounds came from his mouth, but the shuffling sounds continued to get louder.
“Can’t we just leave him?” the first voice insisted. Yes, just leave me here. Truthfully, Dareios didn’t want the voices to leave, but he also did not want to die because they thought he was dead. The shuffling soulnds had stopped all together and now none of the voices said anything. Is the leader thinking it over? Say something! Dareios wished he could see. He wanted to know what was going on. After all, it was his life they were talking about. He should have a say in any action they chose to take. He pushed against the darkness again, but was still not able to break through to speak.
“Alright, alright, don’t give us that look Olly, Rufus didn’t mean it, did you Rufus?” the third voice sounded tense.
“No,” Rufus mumbled. He was either oblivious or was purposely trying to push this Olly person’s buttons because Rufus did not sound as if he meant it at all.
“Come on Rufus, let’s get out of Olly’s way before you get killed. You know how touchy Olly is about outsiders” At least the third voice wasn’t oblivious to the tension. Dareios could then hear shuffling sounds again. Some of them were moving farther away, but soon those were drowned out by the sounds shuffling closer. Then, right when the shuffling seemed to consume him, it stopped all together. Dareios was able to tell that something was happening behind the darkness, but as long as he remained an ethereal presence and couldn’t feel his body, he had no idea exactly what it was that was happening.
“Hey you! You alive?”
Dareios felt a sharp jab come at him somewhere in the darkness. His mood changed from upset to furious. This voice had addressed him in such an uncouth way and now it was jabbing at him! Dareios pushed against the darkness once again. This time the darkness faded away completely. He could now feel his body and so fully felt the second jab directed at his ribs.
“Ouch, stop poking me,” Dareios complained. Dareios was now fully awake. He opened his eyes and sat up to get a better look at the person attacking him. Dareios came face to face with a boy even younger than he was. The boy was Dareios’ very definition of poor. The boy was quite small and the clothes he was wearing looked about three sizes too big for him. Something must have been around his waist kept his trousers from falling, but from his current position, Dareios could not see what it was. As if clothes that were too big for the boy wasn’t enough, Dareios could not see an edge of the clothing that was not frayed. The clothing also contained several holes, as well as patches of all different colors. The boy’s hair was particularly bad. It was all uneven and looked as if he had taken a knife to it rather than scissors. Dareios couldn’t even distinguish what the boy’s shoes were made of. It was just some sort of brown braided material.
Startled by Dareios’ sitting up so quickly, the boy retreated a couple of steps; then crouched down to remain on eye level with him.
“Sorry ‘bout that. Not the best place for you to be taking a nap though.” Dareios looked around and confirmed that his washing up on a beach had in fact not been a dream. The boy looked at him curiously, but stayed silent.
“Who are you?” Dareios finally asked a little irritated by the boy’s silent stare.
“Guests first.” Dareios couldn’t believe it. Getting any information out of this boy seemed harder than getting Claus to agree to postpone lessons on nice days. Not to mention how rude the boy was being. It was common courtesy to say your name when asking for someone else’s. The fact that he was the one who had asked first had completely slipped his mind. Plus he had at least six years on the boy. The boy was lucky he was sitting out of reach otherwise Dareios probably would have throttled him, or Dareios would like to think he would have. Frustrated and still tired, Darieos snapped.
“My name is Dare…um.” It just occurred to Dareios that he had no idea who this person was and it might not best to give this stranger the name of the second prince of Edoras. Of course, the idea that there could be anybody that didn’t know the name of the second prince of Edoras was entirely foreign to him. Dareios was thinking about how to recover when he found it quite unnecessary.
“Darem huh. I’m Olly and those two guys over there are Rufus and Wynne.” The boy, Olly, gestured over his shoulder and Dareios realized for the first time that there were other people around.
Of course there would be other people around, didn’t you just hear them! He silently berated himself for letting these people get the better of him. First, they had almost gotten his real name and then they has surprised him with their numbers. If he had been in Edoras both his parents and his teachers would have been all over him for acting the way he had.
Olly had gone back to silently staring at him.
What does he want? This almost entirely one way conversation was getting nowhere.
“Is there something you are waiting for me to say?” he finally asked. This time Olly looked a little bit confused. However, whatever confused him didn’t seem to last very long, because he shrugged and stepped out of his crouch.
“It’s just most outsiders tend to talk a lot.” Olly said as if that explained away all his odd behavior. Olly strolled over to where he was still sitting and offered Dareios his hand. Since there didn’t seem to be anything else to do, Dareios took his hand and allowed Olly to help him up.
“Outsiders?” Dareios asked aloud. What exactly is an outsider?
“Ah yeah, sorry that’s what we call people that wash up here.”
“And where exactly is here?” Olly looked as though he was thinking about it. What was there exactly to think about?
“Well…we don’t exactly know what this island is called on maps. Honestly, we don’t even think there is a map that has this island on it. So, we call it Devil’s Trap Island. Anyways, you’re gonna wanna come with us. At least there is some safety in numbers,”
Devil’s trap? Safety in numbers? Just what kind of place have I come to?