Since Ondine had stripped Maddie of all her clothing except her sports bra, cami and panties, there wasn’t much she could use to bind her wounds. These were much deeper than the ones on her abdomen. She finally used her bone to slice a strip of cloth from the bottom of her cami and had enough to bind both legs. Hopefully, the stretchy fabric and the tightness of the binding would apply enough pressure to get the wounds to stop bleeding.
Once she finished, she knew she would have to move again to try to get away, so she gritted her teeth, braced herself, stood up and started running again. It was more like a hobbling jog since her legs didn’t seem to be paying attention to what her brain was telling them. This time she didn’t even get ten feet away when the tentacles got her around the ankles and the waist, lifting her high in the air. It slammed her down on the ground, knocking the breath out of her. She tried to shake it off, but she was too addled and in too much pain. Now, she was truly a bloody mess and incapable of going anywhere. Eventually, she blacked out.
Maddie awoke in the early morning and tried to rub her eyes, but she found she couldn’t lift her hands. She wondered what was going on. She opened her eyes and saw she was covered with all sorts of brush, leaves and other foliage.
What the heck is happening here? Why am I covered in this stuff? Where am I?
The memory or her predicament came crashing back to her. The creature must have dragged her here and covered her with the brush after she passed out. Why would it want to do that? If it wouldn’t let her escape, why did it want to save her life by keeping her sheltered from the freezing temperatures of the night?
Think, Maddie! Think!
When she figured it all out, she wished she had remained ignorant. The creature intended to use Maddie for her hatchlings’ first meal. Maddie had seen the eggs in the nest. That was the only logical explanation for what the beast had been doing to her. The beast knew it had to keep Maddie warm during the night in order for her to stay alive, so it had pushed her under the brush and covered her with leaves and foliage to prevent her from freezing. That’s why it also kept bringing her back to this clearing, and it would explain all the bone fragments here. This is where it kept its prey until it was needed.
Great! Just great! Exactly what I wanted to be… frickin’ baby food!
If Maddie had any strength, she would have chuckled at her pitiful attempt at humor.
She knew she had limited time. She hadn’t had any water in… well, she couldn’t remember, since she had lost track of time. She was delirious with thirst. Her lips were already cracked and bleeding, and she was too weak and injured to stand. Her thoughts went to Rayn. If he could see her now, he would kill her before the beast had a chance.
She wished she had written him a letter explaining things to him. He would blame this whole thing on his father and siblings. She knew him well enough to figure that out. He would be angry with her for a long time.
She was saddened by the fact that she wouldn’t have her chance to tell him why she had chosen this path. She had done it for him so that she could always be with him. He was so protective of her that if he saw and understood that she was absolutely capable of defending herself, he would allow her to go with him wherever his duties demanded. She didn’t want him to keep her in his protective cage. He said it was for her own good, and she knew why he felt as such. She had an uncanny habit of getting herself into predicaments that usually resulted in her suffering from great bodily harm. This was a perfect example.
Maddie decided she needed to give one more go at escape. She dragged herself to her knees and shakily stood. She wobbled toward the path, and then, the beast gave a low growl. She hated the smell of the thing, but she was too disoriented to give it much more thought than that. She knew it would get her, and she fully expected to feel another one of its clawed tentacles grab her. What she didn’t expect was for the beast to lunge at her and tear into her right shoulder with its hideous jaws.
It knocked Maddie down, its fanged canines gouging the flesh and muscles of her shoulder. Maddie was too weak to do anything but lay there in agony. Suddenly, a searing pain gripped her. It radiated down her right arm and began creeping down the right side of her body. Then, the convulsions struck.
At first, the hallucinations were pleasant. She saw Rayn and his family, and she had a general feeling of contentment. She was happy and laughing and up on her favorite place in the mountains of North Carolina. Suddenly, a horde of terrifying monsters began chasing her. She tried to run away, but her legs felt mired in quicksand. The harder she tried to pull them out, the more they sank into the mud. She looked down at her arms and legs and saw thousands of fire ants crawling on her. They began stinging her, and she frantically tried to swipe them off. The harder she swiped, the more they multiplied until she couldn’t see her skin anymore. She started screaming, and then she felt someone shaking her and calling her name.
“
Maddie, can you hear me? Maddie, it is Xarrid. Please, open your eyes for me!”
Maddie opened her eyes and saw Ondine trying to stab her. Her hallucinations were terrifying her and taking her to the brink of madness.
Xarrid tried to calm her and bring her to her senses with no luck. Rowan had called him and Therron after the Commander of the training center had notified him of Maddie’s disappearance. Xarrid and Therron were shocked about Maddie’s decision to become a Guardian, but they knew if they didn’t find her, Rayn would blame them and forever hold them responsible. He never kept his head where it concerned Maddie.
Saylan had gone to her trainer when she hadn’t seen Maddie for most of the day. She wasn’t in her quarters, and she nowhere to be found in the training facility. The Commander was notified, and that’s when he contacted Rowan. In turn, Rowan quickly called in Therron and Xarrid, since they were closest to Vesturon. The two men had begun tracking her as soon as they arrived. Saylan had filled them in, and eventually, they had “convinced” Ondine to tell them where she had taken Maddie.
They were shocked at how much Ondine hated Maddie and at what lengths she had gone to ensure Maddie would disappear. They were also shocked at Ondine’s cruelty.
Therron and Xarrid arrived at the Unforgiving Forest, and they began their search, quadrant by quadrant. If Maddie hadn’t been screaming, Xarrid never would have found her. She was in an area hidden in dense brush. He heard her screams and smelled the
heptamorg
, the seven tentacled beast, well before he saw it. He vaporized it with his
shadar
before approaching Maddie.
Great Deity, he thought.
Xarrid could barely recognize Maddie, and if she hadn’t been screaming, he would have thought she was dead.
“Therron, I found her. She is in terrible condition. She has been mauled by a bloody
heptamorg
, and she is convulsing and hallucinating.”
“What is your location? I can get a robomedic to you.”
“No time for that. I am going to take her to the fringe of the forest on my speedster. Then, I will teleport to the medical facility. Inform them to prepare for her arrival. She has been bitten by that nasty creature and will need antivenin. She also is severely dehydrated, convulsing, and has multiple deep lacerations on her abdomen and thighs.”
“Affirmative. See you there.”
Xarrid gathered Maddie in his arms and held her across his lap. Midway out of the forest, he had to stop and reposition her because her convulsions had become so severe that he feared he would drop her. She struggled with him briefly, and then, she opened her eyes for a moment of lucidity.
“Xarrid, is it you? Am I still alive?”
“Yes and yes. Hold tight for a moment, Maddie. I will have you out of here in no time.”
He arranged her facing him on the speedster and held her tightly to him as he took off. Moments later, he was outside of the forest and able to use his teleporting device. He quickly transported them to the medical facility where Rowan, Therron, the Commander, and healer were waiting.
Maddie was hallucinating again, and she was trying to swat the ants off her arms, flailing and screaming. They injected her with a sedative, and quickly began treating her injuries.
Rowan and the men paced outside of the treatment area.
“Father, are you going to inform Rayn of this?” Therron asked.
“When Maddie awakens, I will ask her what she would like for me to do. I believe this should be her decision,” he replied. He was frazzled from this ordeal; it was evident he cared a great deal for Maddie.
“How did she end up in the Academy for Guardians in the first place?” Xarrid wanted to know.
Rowan explained Maddie’s decision and how she had begged him to go.
Therron exploded, “I cannot believe this! How could you let this happen? You know what trainees must endure at the Academy!” Therron was beyond upset with Rowan.
Rowan patiently explained, “Therron, I made her plainly aware of all of that. She clearly understood what she would face, and she knew they would not make it easy on her. I explained to her they would most likely be harder on her than the other students. She had a complete understanding of this. Taruk also spent a great deal of time with her, telling her of the difficulties she would face. She insisted on becoming a Guardian so that she could be with Rayn, wherever his duties would take him. She is a strong minded female, and there was no dissuading her.”
“Bloody hell, Rayn will have all our hides,” Xarrid added.
“Be that as it may, what is done is done. She is nearing the end, and she has been their number one trainee. Her chief trainer and the Commander have been in constant contact with me, without her knowledge of course. She has been exemplary in all of her missions, and she had to work much harder than most in her classroom studies. Still, she has managed to be at the top of her class. She has impressed all of her superiors, and they are recommending her for a leadership role.”
“I hope Rayn can understand the value of this. They could make a formidable couple.”
“That is exactly what Maddie and I thought, which was the one reason I agreed to this,” Rowan explained.
Maddie used sound judgment in all of her decisions regarding this. The three of them hoped Rayn would see it as such.
Eventually, the healers came to them and told them Maddie had been treated and would be fine in a few days. They had healed all of her wounds and treated her for the venomous bites she had received. They went to see her for a brief visit.
“Will I ever have to stop thanking you all for saving my life?” she mumbled sheepishly.
“It would seem that is our destiny,” Xarrid replied.
“I am glad you found me when you did. Thank you. I thought I wouldn’t live to tell about this.”
Maddie told them everything that had happened, and they told her how they found her. She shuddered when she remembered that nasty
heptamorg
. No one had ever told her of the creature’s existence. She was fairly sure that she wouldn’t have lasted much longer if Xarrid hadn’t arrived when he did. Gah, the fetid smell of that thing nearly made her vomit just thinking about it.
“You must stop, Maddie. It is over, and you are safe.”
“What about Ondine? She is the one responsible for this,” Maddie accused,
“Yes, and she has confessed.”
To Maddie’s raised brow, Therron added, “With a little persuasion from us, she told us everything. She has been expelled, is in jail, and is awaiting her trial. The Commander called Father, and he contacted us to assist in your search. Then, your friend Saylan was most helpful. She is the one that led us in the correct direction.”
“Please, you must not tell Rayn I am here. Please promise me you won’t!”
“We promise,” Xarrid said. “But you do understand that when Rayn discovers what you have been doing here, he will most certainly be livid and furious with all of us.
“Yes, I understand. I know I am asking a whole lot of you all, but please, I just want to complete my training before I tell him. In fact, my hopes were that I would get him here for my graduation as a kind of surprise.”
“Oh, Maddie, I am not so sure that would be a good idea. It might be better to warn him a bit,” Therron said.
“Well, my plans were to go to the Compound and bring him back here. I was hoping that when he sees how excited I am, he would become excited too.”
They all knew he would not take any of this lightly, but she did have a point. Where Maddie was concerned, Rayn was a bit more forgiving. They wished her luck and left her to get some rest.
Hours later, Saylan came to visit. Maddie hugged and thanked her for helping Therron and Xarrid figure out where Ondine had dumped her. Maddie was still in shock over the extent Ondine had gone to get her removed from the Academy.
“I just cannot believe she hated me that much. I knew she wanted to get rid of me, but I didn’t think she was capable of something so horrible.”
“I know, Maddie. I was so worried when I couldn’t find you. I knew something terrible had happened.”
“Well, I’m just glad you had the foresight to contact the Commander. Thanks, Saylan!”
“You are welcome. I do have a question for you. What can you tell me of Xarrid? Is he…attached to anyone?”
“Ahhha! You and Xarrid would be perfect together! And unless he has found someone since this crazy Xanthian conflict has begun, no he is completely unattached. He is handsome, isn’t he?” Maddie’s matchmaking ideas started blossoming.
“Yes, I am of the mind that he is very handsome, and I would very much like to become better acquainted with him.”
“Saylan, let’s plan a graduation party. We could invite both of our families, and we could even do it at my grandparent’s house. What do you think? Then maybe you could spend a little time with Xarrid and get to know him.”
“I think it is a perfect idea. We can have it immediately following the ceremony.”