"Great work!" Esther said from behind them. "I'll start untying you guys."

"How are you untied?" Sierra asked, trying to look at her. Her head started throbbing, and she winced, wishing she could rub the painful area.

"I'm very good with knots," Esther said, and with a thump, she dropped to the ground and started working on Sierra's ropes.

Five minutes later, they were all free, and Thresh was the one dangling by his feet, still unconscious.

"Apparently, it was Thresh's griffin that attacked Tia," Diana explained. "He trained him to attack people."

"Why?" Sierra asked as she picked up her bow. It had fallen when she had been knocked out, and it still lay in the clearing where they had faced the griffin. Her head throbbed, and headbutting Thresh probably didn't help.

"Tia had her money pouch on while she was sleeping," Esther said. "He probably has it." she poked Thresh.

He was still unconscious, so he obviously didn't respond. Esther grabbed her sister's pouch from his belt and handed it to Tia.

"We should get moving," Reed pointed at the sun, which was almost directly overhead.

"Yeah," she agreed. Diana narrowed her eyes at Reed, but he whether or not he noticed, Sierra couldn't tell. As they walked back through the trail, the sun beat down on her neck. It was uncomfortably hot- she couldn't wait to dive into the creek near their campsite.

The vegetation was parched and leaves cracked under their feet. It wasn't this dry in Helio, which was only about twenty miles from here. Why the sudden change?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud splash. She looked away from the plants to realize that they had reached the end of the trail and were back at the campsite. Diana had already dashed across the road and jumped in the creek, cleansing the dirt from her skin.

Splash! Splash!

Droplets of water sprayed Sierra's burned skin as Tia and Reed leapt in after her. She turned to Esther, but the girl was already halfway to the water. Shrugging, Sierra ran after her friends and jumped into the creek.

Immediately coolness washed over her, soothing her dry arms. She dipped her face in, letting the water work its magic. She took off her cloak, letting the water fully cleanse her.

Next to her, Reed grinned and sent a wave of water over her head. "Hey!" she sputtered, splashing him back. Esther joined in, using her arms to propel the water forward. Soon, they were all laughing, splashing each other and getting thouroughly drenched.

Sierra glanced up at the sun. It had moved further up in the sky, directly overhead. As more time passed, the wyvern would terrorize more cities. They had to find the Sun Sword. No time for playing around.

She got out of the creek, dripping wet. "Guys, we should change and then get to Corona."

Her friends glanced up at the sky and nodded. Reed climbed out and picked up his bag. "Um... I'll go into the forest to give you guys some privacy," he said awkwardly. He grabbed some dry clothes and dashed, dripping, into the woods.

She chose a chartreuse tunic, lighter- colored so she wouldn't get as hot, and changed out of her wet clothes. She pulled up her hair into a high ponytail, squeezing out the water and assuming that, with the heat and sun, it would dry quickly. Her cloak was by the tree, and she grabbed that too. Remembering how Reed had said that she had bled while she was unconscious, she reached up to tenderly massage the spot where something had hit her, probably the griffin's tail.

Diana noticed. "The blood washed out when you were in the water." she said. "Are you ok?"

Sierra shook her head. She felt a bit lightheaded. Two blows to the head... hopefully nothing bad would happen. "I'm fine." She glanced over at the droplets of blood where Tia had slept. "Is Tia injured badly?"

"She has shallow marks around her waist, but not deep," Diana confirmed. "She should be okay."

"Good," Sierra responded. She glanced around at her friends in turn. Esther looked shaken, but her skin was mostly unharmed, besides a few scrapes and cuts. She had changed into an aqua tunic, and draped her wet clothes in the grass to dry. Her dark blonde hair was down, and she was talking quietly to Tia.

Tia wore a sunset orange tunic, and she seemed to have recovered from her encounter with the griffin. Sierra was glad that she wasn't horribly injured. Her eyes showed confidence, but she also saw a hint of fear.

She cares a lot about her sister. I have to make sure that Esther stays safe. That everyone stays safe. Tia could have died, we were lucky.

"What kind of leader am I?" Sierra realized.

Diana glanced over at her, her green tunic swishing as she moved. "A good one."

"I almost let Tia die, I got all of us captured, and I- I-" Sierra stuttered.

"None of that was your fault," Tia said.

"I dragged you guys along on this quest," she protested.

"We chose to come, and you know it."

Sierra stared at her. "Thanks, but we should get going."

"Reed's back," Diana grumbled. Sierra turned to see him dashing back towards them, his eyes full of panic.

A thumping sound echoed in the distance. A loud, sharp caw like an eagle's shattered the air. She unsung her bow, eyes wide. They may have defeated Thresh, but his griffin was coming to kill them.