The Drifting

The
Drifting

A Novel

By

L. Filloon

Chapter One

~ Lily ~

I can no longer hear their voices.
The drumming of
the heavy rain is all around me,
keeping rhythm with the quick tempo of my heart.
 
The large elf before me grips my shoulders tightly, but it’s
the
fear that keeps me in place.
 
He raises his head listening for any sound other than that of the rhythmic downpou
r.
 
Terrified, I watch his eyes – e
yes like Tharin's
.  And for
a
brief
moment
,
I desperately want to believe
it is
Tharin
who’s holding me close against him.   As
 
I continue to stare in silence
, h
e takes his time scanning the area under the cover of the dense jungle where I now find myself scared and alone…with a mad elf
.

I glance down at the black stone embedded into the back of my wrist, black ink-like markings slowly seeping from it
.
Thoughts of calling Cessa are tempting, but
I witnessed first
hand how fast my captor
can move
when he took me from Tharin’s side
.
He pulled us through the doorway into Velesi, leaving Tharin stunned with a look of shock and bewilderment on his face
.
I just can’t risk Cessa being cut down in front of me
.
Tharin loves that cat
,
and she’s all I have of him now
.
Not only that, but I’ve grown to care very much
for
her since our first meeting three nights ago
.

The stranger
suddenly
turns to me, making me jump
.
His eyes, like those of the elf I am doomed to love, stare back at me filled with arrogance and triumph
.
I take in
this elf’s
size and the sharp
ly
pointed ears, reminding me I’m not safe, not by a long shot.

Without thinking,
I swat his hand away
when he reaches toward my face.  H
olding my breath, I freeze, waiting for the first strike to come
.
He gives me a raise
d
brow instead and actually smiles
. 
Somehow that scares me more than if he had struck me
.
He reaches out again, this time it takes everything I have not to flinch
.
Instead of touching my cheek, however, he reaches for my hair
.
With a quick movement, he flicks it back and takes hold of my ear, slowly tracing its outline
.
His hands are large and rough, but his touch is gentle
.
I start to shiver, not so much from the rain and cold, but from fear.

Removing his hand, he stares down at me, “Don’t worry, Princess
. I promise not to hurt you
as long as you do as I say.”
 

I try
hard not
to look scared
, and
I swallow the fear I can’t shake despite his promise
.
He lets go of me and steps away
. 
I stand shivering as he
takes his time looking me over. 
His silent assessment becomes uncomfortable
and w
ithout thinking, “Ple...please don’t call me that
.
My name is Lily.”

Another raised brow is his response followed by a crooked grin
.
I wrap my arms around myself to hide my fear
, looking
anywhere but
at
him
.
I continue to shiver
,
although
the
coat Tharin gave me is warm
.
After a moment, he reaches for the clasp at his neck and takes off his cape
.
Stepping forward, he wraps it around me, taking his time
. T
he cape falls above his knees
, but
it
falls to
my ankles and hangs like a tent
.
He reaches behind me and pulls the hood over my head, covering it completely
. I look up at him and see he’s wearing a longer cape that I didn’t notice before. Now hidden,
I feel his eyes on me again as he remains close
,
and the urge to step away becomes overwhelming
.
Before I can make a move
, however,
he grabs me by my wrist, turns and drags me after him
.

I try to look
beyond
the large hood at the
jungle
that seems to reach out at me, like hands trying to pull me into their shadows
.
Finally, keeping my head down, I do my best to keep up with my captor’s long strides
.
We stay within the dark cover, making our way quietly from where we came through the doorway
.

I think back on when I gave
the stranger
my name
.
It didn’t escape me that he purposely ignored
giving
me his
.
Somehow not knowing his name makes him seem even more dangerous, which is probably his intent
.
Perhaps I can find a stone, hit him on the back of his head, and then when he’s down I can hit him again to make sure he
won’t
get up
– and
then run like hell back the way I came
.
I peer up
past
his massive shoulders
.
That’s a pretty thick neck and an even bigger head
.
Hitting him probably wouldn’t knock him out, just piss him off
.
Besides, I don’t think I can reach up that high.

I think hard of another way to escape, but I find myself lost in my thoughts of Tharin
. I’m
so confused about how I’m feeling that I have to shake my head
hard to try to clear it.
I take a deep breath and release it slowly
.
I have to get
a
hold of myself
.
Of course I had to leave him
.
It was only a matter of time
.
I had to get away from Tharin or he would have gone through with the wedding, and
would have
been miserable for the rest of his life
.
A sob catches at my throat as the full impact of how deeply I feel for him hits me again
.
I love him
…and
I wish this truth had remained hidden
.
I want to go back to being ignorant of it because knowing it has left a piece of me with him
.
No matter where I am, I will always feel as if something inside me is missing.

I didn’t realize that my captor had stopped
,
and I bump into him hard
.
He catches me before I lose my footing on
the
wet, muddy ground
.
Without warning,
he
pulls me to a nearby tree
and pins
me against
it.
The hood of the cape is
huge on me
and it covers half my face from his view
.
Still, he’s close enough that it doesn’t matter.

“I haven’t touched you, why are you crying?” he asks quietly.

I blink at him for a moment, trying to understand what he’s asking
.
It takes me another second to realize what has just happened
.
So, he sensed I was crying,
but I didn’t even realize I was.  And with that thought, s
omething inside me snaps
.
The
idea
of being kidnapped by him
and being
humiliated like this pisses me off
.
Just because I’m short and small doesn’t give him or anyone else the right to treat me like a rag doll
. Furious
, and without thought, I grab him and drive my knee upward catching him between the legs
.
With a surprised and painful look on his face, he
immediately
drops me as he grabs himself and sinks to the ground
.
I take two steps, but fall flat on my face thanks to the slippery terrain
.
I try to get
up on
my knees
to make a run for it
as I struggle against the rain, the mud and the oversized cape
.
I almost make it, too
.
He catches me by my ankle
causing me to hit the ground hard
, this time hitting my head as my hands slip from under me
.

I become light
headed and my vision wavers as the rain starts to pour harder, cutting through the leafy canopy above us
.
I feel myself being dragged back
ward
by my ankle until large hands grab my shoulders
. 
I find myself
face to face
with him
as he shakes me. “Stop it, Lily.  You’re going to get us killed,” he says through clenched teeth. 
The hit to
the
head along with exhaustion causes everything around me to become blurry and unfocused
. I have to get away…get back to the others.