Twin's Luck by Kelsey Hunsdon (best management books of all time .TXT) 📖

overtook us and I gaged before covering my noise with my hands. The horse stopped and stomped the ground impatiently. Ash got off and pulled me down.
" This is as far as he can take us." He patted the horses next and then took thing from the bags on the saddle. He handed me the dagger and then started walking away. I followed without question but the smell only seemed to intensify.
" What's that smell?" I finally asked. He stopped at the edge of a cliff and I walked up to stand beside him. It was infact not a cliff but the edge of a giant nest. In the center were rotten shelf emptied of their infants. Underneath was a layer of bones that were the prey.
" Dragons." Ash whispered. He walked away quickly and I nearly ran to keep up. Soon the scenery changed and the ground became soggy and sticky. I had to put effort behind pulling my feet from the soil. We had entered a marsh and Ash did his best to lead me around the largest bodies of murky water. I heard the sword of metal and then he had stopped and his sword was drawn. I held my dagger with a tight fist but I didn't see anything. I was about to ask when a hiss rang out and a giant spider dropped from above us. It had a million eyes dotting it's face and they were all pointed at us. It hissed again and opened it mouth. Teeth covered in slime stuck out jagged and then a ball of slime shot from it's mouth. Ash sidestepped it and I barely dodged it. It slammed into a tree behind me and began smoking. Ash jumped at the creature and it reared back swinging it's front four legs. He slashed at it with his sword and two legs on one side flew off into the brush. It screamed and he backed up to circle it again. It was limping now but I could see from it's eyes that it was furious. He dove at it again merely missing another ball of green poison. He slashed it's back and green puss oozed out. It spun towards him and dove but he was ready impaling it with his sword. It let out one last cry before falling limp. He clean his sword on a nearby trees bark which then burst into flames. He didn't bother waiting for me he just started walking again. I was in shock but I managed to make my legs move after him. Once we left the marsh and the ground became firm again I noticed another change in the scenery. The sky was now a strange shade of red, maroon like. A roar rang out and the ground shook beneath us. In a split second Ash was pressing me up against a tree his hand over my mouth. I held my breath and we both watched the skies. A dark shadow soon appeared nearly blocking out the sun and then slowly disappeared. When he removed his hand I gasped for air.
" What's going on?" I asked in between labored breaths.
" Were nearly there." He seemed anxious and he began walking quickly until I had to jog to keep up. We were full blown sprinting when we came into the clearing. I stopped dead and immediatly fought to keep my lunch down. I looked at Ash but his face was lit up and he seemed as if he had just won a gift.
" Amazing." I couldn't believe him right now. I let my eyes stare at the ground to try and ignore the carnage in front of me. In the clearing lay thousands of skulls, piled up.
" What the hell is this place?" I managed to choke out. I was not one to swear but I didn't think I had much control right now.
" This is the entrance, we found it." He started walking towards the mound. I followed sure to keep my eyes off of the skulls.
" Where did they all come from?" He didn't even stop walking just answer like a machine.
" I believe in your world it was called the holocaust." He stopped at the foot of it and gazed up adoringly. He was making me want to vomit my breakfast all over. I could feel the vile in my throat as he began to climb them.
" If the legends are true then..." He reached down and picked one up by it's empty eye sockets. Something shiny came from inside the skull. "The skull with the golden tooth." He murmured. He was beginning to worry me as he reached down into the pile. He pulled with both hands and a section of the mound came free swinging on hinges buried beneath. A door appeared sending a group of skulls flying. Ash jumped down into the mound.
" Wait!" A roar came from somewhere behind me and without thinking I scaled the mound and closed the door as I jumped down. I landed with a thump onto the dirt. I was underground and up ahead I could see Ash standing with a torch of some kind.
" Hurry." He said as he turned and jogged away. I raced and caught up with him as we ran through the tunnels.
" Are we...underground?"
" It's the only way to get there." He said like it was the dumbest question ever. We kept walking the smell of dirt fillinf my nose. Finally I saw a small fragment of light and we came to door. Ash knocked on it and we waited a few moments. I heard footsteps and then it opened. A little woman was sitting there. Her eyes were hard and they were focuses right on me.
" Come in quickly." She ushered Ash and I inside. We sat down on a wooden bench in the small room. She came and stood in front of us looking at us. She laughed randonmly.
" It's so nice to finally see you child." She said to me. I was sure that this was Shujii but what happened to the mean old woman. "Now," she grabbed a stood and slowly sat down in front of it. "What's the question?" I glanced at Ash and then back to her.
" I want to know my Destiny." The woman looked at me sternly and then a bitter laugh came from her.
" I can't tell you that, not all of it anyway." I looked at Ash but he seemed confused as well. She sighed impatiently. "I can only tell you things when there are about to happen, if I tell you the whole thing it will change your choices." I was a bit confused and I felt alittle angry that I had traveled all this way to hear part of what was rightfully mine.
" Wait a minute I think that I deserve to know all of it." I said to her. I saw a fire light in her eyes and the witch that was told stories of made an appearance.
" You should listen before you get your toungue cut out for being disrespectful." She snapped it out loudly. Then she took a deep breath. "The first part...The eldest will not be that way forever." Her eyes glazed over for a moment and then her head snapped back. " That's that I can say." She stood up and seemed suddenly frantic. "Leave, you must leave!" She pulled the door open and looked around crazily. Without another word we were thrown out of the room and the door was deadbolted behind us. We looked at eachother and then we sprinted back down the tunnel. Ash pushed the door open and reached down to help me up. I had just closed the door when a giant figure appeared overhead. The shadown covered the entire clearing and Ash and I darted for the trees. We just made it under cover when the gigantic drgon landed on the mound. It was screeching and then it spoke our launguage.
" My babies!" I realized that Shujii must have taken them. We held out breath and soundlessly backed farther into the trees. The dragon blazed the pile with her fire but it did little but slightly char the mound. We turned and ran hearing no pursuit. The horse was waiting for us and I swung up behind Ash easily. We took off away from the marsh and when we were safe the horse slowed slightly and we stopped for the night.
" What does it mean?" I asked as I got down. I could tell that I looked alittle crazy but the message scared me, it had to do with Oliver and I.
" I don't know, but it didn't sound good." He shook his head and splashed water on his face. I sank down againt a tree trunk but my head was running wild with the diffrent meanings and possibilities.
" Am I going to die?" He came over and knelt before me. He gripped my upper arms aggresively and made me look at him.
" Don't we can't accept that, nothing can happen to you." He looked at me sternly under I nodded, swallowing dryly. He went back to the stream and removed his shirt.
" What now?" I asked quietly. I felt as if all of the life had gone out of me. She was supposed to solve everything, explain it all. It had only caused chaos.
" I have to take you back to the Winter Court." I had already known the answer but it still stung alittle. I couldn't break my promise and he had already held up his end. I watched him put back on his damp shirt and he walked past me as he buttoned it up.
" Get some rest, we leave at first light." He was all buisness and his expression was hard, almost like there was something he was hiding. I watched as he dissapeared into the woods again. I curled up againt the tree root and laid my head down. It was throbbing with information. Oliver's face filled my head and I felt alittle happier. I would be seeing my brother tomorrow, no matter what happened to me he had to be ok. I couldn't live myself if anything had happened to him. I kept telling myself that everything was ok, that we would be fine. It kept the break down inside and I eventually found sleep on the damp ground.
Oliver

I was shaken awake. Ash was kneeling there but as soon as I opened my eyes he was gone again. The horse was grazing sattled and ready, my dagger had disappeared. I felt that our friendship was over. I went to the stream and washed my face. I combed through my hair and then when I was done he was mounted on the horse. He didn't offer me his hand and I climbed up behind him wordlessly. When I put my arms lightly around his ribs he stiffened and I tried to touch him as little