“Estienne! Get up. We have visitors.” I was awoken suddenly by Althea. The sun was creeping in through the tent, but it still barely looked past five in the morning. 

     “Visitors? Tell them to wait, I need sleep,” I muttered drowsily, still not fully awake. 

     “Thou must wake up! This is serious. I think we found the hunters,” Althea exclaimed, shaking me awake.
    “The hunters? But…” I scrambled up, brushing my hair furiously and rushing to put my clothes on. “Shouldn’t the hunters be really far away from here?” 

     “They should, but they’re not. Hurry!” Althea grabbed my arm and dragged me outside. She drew a shiny silver hunting knife from a belt and brandished it. She did not trust the hunters. That fifteen inch knife made it very clear. 

     We snuck over behind a ginormous tree, it’s trunk at least twelve feet wide. As I peaked around the corner, I could see three people- two boys and a girl- who all looked around my age. They were chattering amongst themselves while cooking what seemed to be their last hunt over a very impressive fire, flames crackling and sparks sputtering. They were overrun with weapons. Those were not people I wanted to mess with. I counted four guns, six spears, two of which had broken tips, eight blow dart guns, at least five piles of ammo and arrows, two swords, and what seemed like a bajillion little switchblades in one pile. Why did they need all those weapons? 

     “Interesting…” Althea muttered to herself. Her eyes seemed to be calculating again, taking in every detail about them. It was kind of creepy when she did that.
    “How did we get so far off from the group? Artemas, this was your fault! You were in charge of the maps,” The girl seemed to be saying. Wait. Artemas? Was Artemas here, alive? It couldn’t be! It had to be another Artemas. I mean, Artemas is a fairly common name, at least where I had lived.

     “Harper, you know I’m horrible with mapping! So in a way, this is your fault, giving me the one job you know I can’t do,” The boy retorted. That was definitely Artemas’s voice, from what I remembered.
    “Oh, don’t blame this on me! You always throw me under the bus. You know, I’m starting to think that you aren’t actually a real hunter, what with you mysteriously appearing four years ago saying you were abandoned at birth and just so happened to make your way over to us. Really?” Harper shot back. Four years ago? That was around the time Artemas ran away! But it couldn’t be!

     “Oh, come on! You’ve seen me hunt, anyone who wasn’t born with specialized hunter abilities could hunt like I could. Back me up, Hearne! Right?” Artemas turned to the other boy for support.
    “Uh, yeah, right Artemas.” The boy, Hearne, didn’t seem eager to participate in their little dispute.

     “Fine then, why don’t you shoot that little squirrel right there, show me how good you really are?” Harper challenged.
    “Okay.” I heard him loading a gun, and- *BANG!*
    “Aah!” Even though I knew it was coming, it still surprised me. Especially since the shot was fired right above my head. Great. I’d given us away. I heard a little plop, and sure enough, a squirrel had fallen from out of the trees. But the hunters weren’t interested in the squirrel, they were interested in the scream I had made.
    “Who's there?” I could hear Harper picking up some of the little switchblades, Hearne picking up the swords and Artemas reloading his gun.
    “Come out with your hands up! I’m not afraid to shoot!” Artemas shouted.

     “Estienne! How could you?” Althea whispered furiously.
    “Sorry, I couldn’t help it,” I muttered back, looking down in defeat. Althea raised her knife and got into a position of attack, ready to stab anyone who came past the tree.
    “I said come out with your hands up!” NOW!” Artemas shouted a little louder. I could tell he was getting closer. Althea looked like a cat about ready to leap, muscles tensed, crouched low with a loathing expression on her face, ready to strike. My palms were sweaty, my throat dry and heart racing. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but in this situation it looked like someone might if I didn’t do anything.

     “Artemas! It’s just me, Estienne! Don’t shoot,” I said cautiously, walking out from behind the tree slowly.

     “E-Estienne?” As I walked out, I saw the color draining from his face. He lowered his gun, as if in a trance. “Y-you’re here. But- how did you- why did you?” He ran up to me and gave me a big hug, then pulled away awkwardly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harper, Hearne and Althea all giving each other weird looks, as if saying, ‘What the heck is this? They know each other?’  
    “Four years. Why on earth did you run away?” I slapped Artemas hard, which is something I had wanted to do for a long time.
    “Ow! Estienne! What the heck?” Artemas complained, rubbing his now red cheek. I raised an eyebrow, looking at him quizzically, hands on my hips. “I guess I kind of deserved that,” He mumbled.
    “Estienne, explain thyself. How doest thou know this boy?” Althea demanded.
    “Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. These girls are clearly not hunters. Although they do seem to have some spunk… but, Artemas, what have you not been telling us?” Harper exclaimed, looking very uneasy.
    “Well…” Artemas and I said at the same time. “You want to explain?” Artemas asked me.
    “Not really. How do we just tell them that there’s the other… you know? I mean, your friends don’t seem friendly to strangers.” I motioned to the switchblades about ready to be thrown and the swords ready to slice.

     “Okay then, I’ll explain.” Artemas cleared his throat. “Everyone, just put down your weapons and we can chat.” The hunters and Althea hesitantly put down their weapons, still not sure what to make of this. Suddenly, Althea seemed to remember our conversation from last night.
    “Estienne, is this thy friend’s brother thou told me about?” Althea questioned.
    “Sadly, yes.” I said.       

     “Sadly? Okay, so… Harper, Hearne, this is Estienne, my old… friend?” Artemas looked at me for support.
    “Not really friends, more like frenemies, but in a nice way. Kind of. I just knew you because I knew your brother. Oh! Speaking of which-” I slapped Artemas again, even harder this time.
    “Ow! Come on! You already slapped me Estienne! What was that one for?” Artemas grumbled. 

     “That was for Jarvis. You left him behind with hardly an explanation. Anyway, you may continue the story,” I said formally. 

     “Fine. So, I’m kinda not really a hunter?” Artemas said cautiously.

     “Ha! I knew it! But then, how did you get hunting powers?” Harper asked, seemingly very confused.

     “I’m actually a sorcerer. I use my magic to help with my aim, plus I’ve just always had a natural talent for hunting,” Artemas boasted.

     “Get back to the story,” I whispered angrily. Artemas always brags about his ‘great’ accomplishments.

     “Okay, okay. So when I was twelve, I ran away from home, trying to find the other nations and blah blah blah. But I mostly wanted to find the hunters, and I did, so I joined you.”

     “Wait- there are actually other civilizations? Like for real?” Hearne suddenly seemed a lot more interested in the conversation. 

     “Yup,” I cut in. “And when I turned seventeen, I also ran away, in search of the lost civilizations, and Artemas, but mostly the civilizations. And I ended up here.” 

     “Wow.  Really?” Harper asked.

     “Yeah, and-”

     “Aah!” I whirled around to see Althea collapsing, clutching her head in pain. Everyone rushed forward to her at once, wondering what was happening. She held her head for a few seconds longer, then slowly got up, pointing a finger at me, a petrified look on her face.

     “What is it?” I asked. She mumbled something that I couldn’t hear. “What is it, Althea?”    

    “Thou- thou art the hero.”