Forbidden/Part I

Will

## Chapter 1

Will groaned.There was sand in his hair,on his clothes,in his face.Pushing himself to a sitting position,he looked around him.

He was sitting on a beach,just out of reach of the tide.Trying to remember where he was,Will's mind drew blank.He didn't know.

“You there!"Someone behind him snarled,“What are you doing in Wolf territory?"

Will unsteadily got to his feet and turned.Behind him was a boy,his hair a reddish brown.His eyes were narrowed.

“W-Wolf territory?"Will asked.

“What tribe are you?"

“Tribe?"

The boy glared at him.“Are you a fool or just stupid?"

Will stepped back.“I have no idea why I'm here."

The boy crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.“What's your name?"

“Will."

“Will *who*?"He said in annoyance.

Will swallowed hard.He didn't even know his last name,let alone where he was.Panic began to overwhelm him.The boy at the edge of the forest looked like he might attack him any second,and Will had no where else to go.

Still,maybe someone else could give him some answers.He took off down the beach.

Eventually the sandy beaches faded to rocky cliffs.What appeared to be a small trail wound inland.With a sigh,Will decided to follow it.

Huge grasslands stretched over the island - he assumed it was an island - and eventually the path ended in a grove of trees.Oaks and cedars,mostly,maybe a few chestnut trees as well.The place looked entirely empty.

“Hello,"A friendly voice said behind him,but it surprised him so much he jumped at least as high as one of the trees.

Behind him was a young girl,but she looked quite unusual.Her hair was brown with streaks of brownish-grey so that it almost appeared as wood.Her dress was red with yellow splotches,like the leaves of trees in fall.Most shocking of all was her skin - pale green,her eyes emerald.Around her neck was a necklace of green precious stone,possibly jade.

She smiled.“Hello,"she repeated,“My name is Lily.You are...?"

“Will,"he said,still staring at the oddly colored girl,“My name is Will."

Lily looked at him curiously.“Obviously you aren't from this tribe-"

“What tribe is this?"Will interupted.

“The Treefolk Tribe."Lily gave a laugh at his ignorance - which Will did not find funny - and walked over to one of the trees.Taking a seat in one of the low branches,she said,“I am a driad.But obviously this isn't your tribe."

“So where do I belong?"Will asked.He brushed some of the sand from his hair.He probably looked a mess.His orange shirt was so faded it didn't have any color left to it,and the leather boots he was wearing were practically falling apart.

Lily shrugged.“I don't know."Without another word,the young driad disappeared into the tree.Then she was gone.

Will sighed and began to head down the path again,in a different direction.

Will woke looking into the face of a tall girl.Her honey colored hair hung around her shoulders.

“He's awake!"She yelled over her shoulder.Will struggled backwards,away from her.Pain flared in his shoulder.

A boy with the same hair and the same grey eyes - probably her brother - came over.“How is he?"

The girl turned back to Will.“What's your name?"

“Will."

“Do you remember what happened?"Will thought for a moment.He had been walking away from the grove of trees where the driads lived...more cliffs like the ones on the way there.After that was a blank,as was everything before waking up on the beach.

He shook his head.

“We found you at the edge of Treefolk territory,"she explained.That sounded about right - the driad had called herself a member of the Treefolk Tribe.“You must've fallen near the edge of the pathway and cut your shoulder on a rock or something."

“Diana,ask him what tribe he's from!"The girl's brother whispered a bit too loudly.

The girl,who Will assumed was Diana,rolled her eyes.“What tribe *are* you from?"

“I don't know."

Diana and her brother glanced at each other,as if this had never happened before.“You...don't know your tribe?"Will shook his head.

“I'm gonna ask Alpha what to do with him,"Diana said to her brother as she walked out.

Will was in some sort of wooden hut.The structure was small and circular,with a table at one end and a sleeping space at the other,which was where Will was right now.Above where four support beam directly across the walls,with a thatched roof above that.

Diana's brother was messing with something on the table.“I'm hunter,by the way."He said over his shoulder.

He pretty much ignored Will.

Tbc