The Moon Goddess' Chosen

415 A Shocking Realisation

Lina watched her friend study the map, wondering a number of things like, ‘I wonder if we could make it to the Great Arena a day before my dorky brother? What if I offered to carry them some part of the way so we could really cut down on the time needed to get to the Great Arena...

Yeah, there is no way Crysta would accept that. Although, that would make this all easier. It’s not like I’m still the same weak wolf they’ve come to know. My wolf has gotten a lot stronger.’

The girl let her thoughts wander to the past months and everything she’d done to get where she was now. ‘You’re starting to look a lot like her. Perhaps you would like to take a break,’ Frank’s voice filled her mind from random memory.

The most significant memory she had of her training. It wasn’t just the beta alpha of the Sirius pack that had chosen to help her get stronger.

Surprisingly, the Mighty Warrior had also offered to help her in the name of sharpening his aim and staying young and fit. The training was brutal, but that’s what pushed Lina even more... and now she suffered an even greater obstacle in her development.

...Breaking the wall keeping her from the well of power she felt was unreachable when she ran...

Bringing her mind back to the present, she noticed her friend trailing her finger over the map to a stream that was further off course than she thought they would need to go, “Do we really need to go that far to get the water?” the princess whined.

“Without the water, we probably won’t be able to make it to the Great Arena in one piece. However, we cannot simply pick a water source that’s far off the path we are trying to follow. Not to mention, we have to look out for wild animals.

Merely wandering about the wild carelessly could get us in the worst situation imaginable,” Crysta explained.

.....

“Crysta’s right... and with the place we are headed to, we can’t use the Great Sirius river to our advantage. It flows in a totally different direction,” Wyatt called from his spot on the ground. The alpha still didn’t look like he would be getting up just yet.

He wasn’t staring at the map but tried to show that he at least understood Crysta’s point, “You’re right about that,” Crysta mumbled, staring at the map for a little longer.

“There is a stream that comes down from the mountains. It’s a little off our path, but it offers us a natural compass to getting to and... through the mountains. If we could get to it, we could easily find our way to the mountains,” Crysta frowned when as she looked observed the path she’d pointed out.

“Okay, spill it. What’s the downside?” Lina asked.

“We are still quite the distance from making it to the mountains. At the pace we’ve been running, we could make it there tomorrow evening with minimum breaks and stopping to hunt for at most one hour,” the delta explained, “And without diverting for the stream, we won’t have much water left to take us through the rest of the journey.”

Lina struggled with her friend’s words, trying to think of a solution to their problem, “I’m not the best at directions, so if I was separated from the two of you, I would need the pack link to help me guide you back.”

“What are you suggesting? No, that would be too dangerous. We have to stay together at all times,” Crysta argued.

“I know what, Crysta, but I would like it if we actually made it to the mountains by tomorrow evening. If all goes smoothly, I could restock on water and be back to you guys within the span of one hour,” the girl argued.

“No, Lina. I don’t know if you can make that time. Running at your fastest is not the same as jogging. You blow through a lot more energy in a short amount of time and need even more time to recover. The inconsistency could render you slower than someone who was jogging in the end,” Crysta countered.

“You’re not listening to me, Crysta. It’s not the same with me. I can make it,” Lina tried. Logic didn’t seem to agree with her, however.

“I find it hard to believe as well, Lina. I know you’re fast, but you must expend so much energy every time you...”

“Ugh, never mind. How about this then? We can change our course so that we are closer to the stream by tomorrow evening. I’ll zip to the stream and make it back before you know it. Plain and simple,” Lina quickly voiced with a smug smile.

“What’s the difference between that plan and the one you’d come up with earlier?” Wyatt chuckled. Finally having recovered, he took a seat next to Crysta and joined in the discussion as well.

“Ugh, the two of you are impossible. Trust me a little on this. I can make it. I’ve been training for this, you know,” Lina pleaded with Crysta. To her, Wyatt’s decision was a moot point.

“Perhaps we are going about this the wrong way,” Wyatt piped up, “We don’t really know how fast Lina can run or for how long when she goes all out. Perhaps if she can tell us how much she knows she’s capable of, we could work with those numbers and come up with a reasonable plan?”

Crysta narrowed her eyes at the alpha before turning to Lina, “He’s right. How about it, Lina? Can that work?”

“Huh, but I wasn’t planning to go all-out on my way to the stream,” Lina suddenly realised the misconception they were having about her.

“You’re not making any sense, Lina. How can you make the trip in one hour then...” Crysta replied, turning back to the map. The scale on the map suggested the princess would have to travel at an insanely high speed if she was to make both going and return trips in under the span of one hour. Was Lina just assuming numbers?

The royal facepalmed... It all made sense to her now, “I can’t believe you thought I was jogging this whole time.”

There was a period of silence as it took Crysta and Wyatt a moment to make this connection... and when they did, they were so shocked that they inched away from her, “What the...?”

“I’m not even sweating from the three-hour runs we’ve been running... Felt like speed-walking really,” the girl continued.

Crysta’s entire perspective began to change, “Perhaps we were underestimating you a little.”

“That’s an understatement. Although, I would like it if you didn’t overestimate me instead,” the princess chuckled. She took a look at the angle of the sun in the sky and deduced their next course of action, “We can’t spend the whole time talking like this. We can cover more ground, hunt and make camp for the night.”

Wyatt opened his mouth to speak, but Crysta beat him to it.

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s get going,” Crysta rolled the map and placed it back into the bag meant for Wyatt along with her bottle, “Look away, Wyatt.”

The man threw his hands in the air in disappointment before turning around with his hands on his hips, “We’re werewolves for crying out loud...” ‘And I thought we were stopping here for the night,’ a complaint he did not say out loud.

Ignoring him, the delta shed the robe she was wearing and shifted into her grey wolf. Lina stowed the robe in her bag and shifted as well. The trio was ready to resume the journey.

Without wasting any more time, Crysta led the party. Using the sun’s position as her compass, her knowledge of directions and her memory of the map she’d crammed into her mind, she had them dashing in the right direction at a pace that she dictated.

When they started their journey, the delta felt a pair of eyes on her, sending chills through her body. She could look around, but that didn’t get her any information. Instead, she felt like the faster they left this place, the better. So she wasted no time in leaving.

However, through her peripheral vision, right before she breached the treeline and dived back into the forest, she saw something.

Perhaps it was her imagination again or perhaps she’d started to grow paranoid, but the delta could have sworn she’d caught glimpse of a large eagle perching on a tree at the edge of the clearing, watching them with a keen eye.