Authors: L. Filloon
I shake the dizziness off and with a burst of angry energy
,
I drive the palm of my hand
toward
his jaw, but he easily evades it
.
He quickly takes control of my hands, trapping them in only one of his
.
From my kneeling position, I drop my butt to the ground bringing my legs up attempting to kick him in the stomach and face
. He wraps his free arm
around one of my
knees
and yanks me forward, so I’m
now
straddling him in an upright position
.
He tries to hold me still as I continue to struggle
.
With one smooth move he turns us over, slamming me to the ground,
knocking the wind out of me and putting
his full weight on
my chest.
I
attempt
to suck in more air when his large hand clasps hard over my mouth, his body going still
.
I try to shake free of
his grip when
mud slips past my lips causing me to gag
.
I glare at his profi
le as he stares off to the side, momentarily
distracted
. I continue to struggled, panicking now as I slowly suffocate under his weight and from his heavy hand over my mouth.
I freeze immediately when he turns and
angrily
glares me into stillness
.
He cast
s
his eyes out to where he was staring and then
shifts them back to catch mine. Together, w
e look to the side, each unmoving until the only thing breathing is t
he rain itself. At first there’
s nothing
,
and time seems to stand still as we lay frozen in the
pouring rain.
When I finally think I can’t take his weight or his hand over my mouth any longer, he throws his arm over me and lowers his head so that we’re cheek to cheek
.
I go still again, terror pounding at my chest
.
We continue to look through the thick foliage in silence
…a
nd then they
are
there
.
The first two large shadows appear as if out of thin air
, walking
only a few feet from where we lay
. T
hree
more
follow
the
last shadow that is smaller than the
others
. This one pauses
for a
moment
and
everything
around me seem
s
to come to a standstill, including the rain
.
The others come to a stop as well
.
I shut my eyes tight
,
afraid that
we would be found
if I focus on them too long
like I did with the Demlok.
After what seem
s
like an eternity,
I peek with one eye to see the smaller figure finally turn,
pulling
the others
along
.
No words
come
from them, only silent silhouettes that
send
a wave of fear though my already overwrought body.
Without moving his head my captor whispers, “If we’re found, we’re dead.”
Shifting
his eyes
to
me, “Do you understand?” His serious tone pins me in place, while my heart beats loudly in my ears
.
Moving slowly, I lift my hand to tap the back of his hand that’s still over my mouth
.
He turns his head slightly to look at me fully and finally realizes he’s suffocating me
.
He releases me slowly and we stare at each for a moment
.
He shifts slightly so his weight is off to the side of me, but he keeps me in place with one of his legs
.
I let out a long breath, taking in another and letting it fill me completely
while
trying not to gag
.
The freakishly large elf still had his hea
d over mine watching the area
where the figures had passed
.
Despite our situation, and although he covers me from the rain above, all I can think about is mud, dirt and whatever else the rain brought to the surface having a field day in my hair
.
Random thoughts
…
I can’t help it
. It’s like a defens
e mechanism that protects me from completely losing my mind and freaking out
.
After what seem like hours
,
my captor finally eases off me and slowly rises, but I remain motionless
–
too afraid to move
.
He kneels above me, listening to the jungle around us before standing
.
I
lay waiting, staring
up at him
.
From this position he looks imposing and dangerous, but not as dangerous as the shadowed
figures.
He then looks down at me and offers his hand
.
Without him hovering over me any longer
,
the rain
rat-tat-tat-tat
s
a symphony on my face
.
I take his hand slowly, looking
around
as he helps me up
.
Everything seems to be as it was, except for the grey wolf now standing beside my captor
.
Startled, my hand catches at my chest trying to stop my heart from leaping out of it
.
At this rate
,
my wet, muddied hair will be completely g
re
y by nightfall
.
The wolf stares up at me with its head cocked to one side, a bemused look on its face as if it read my thoughts
.
It looks like the wolf I saw back at
Crowfoot
Mountain
when Alorn was poisoned, but somehow I know it’s not the same wolf
.
I’m startled out of my thoughts when I feel the prick on the inside of
the
wrist my captor
still
holds
.
I turn to
see
a tiny drop of blood where it was pierced
before the rain washes it away.
I look at my kidnapper’s hand
and between
his large fingers he holds a small wooden thorn stripped of its casing
.
I glance up to catch his eye and he gives me something close to a look of apology
.
“I’m sorry, Princess
.
It’s the only way I can get you to safety without being discovered.”
As my legs suddenly go rubbery, the world around me seems to shift sideways
.
Before the darkness
takes me fully,
I hear myself say, “
You son-of-a-
biscui…”
~ * ~
Chapter Two
~ Tharin ~
Lily’s face flashes through my mind in a continuous loop. It ends with the look of terror when Ziri stole her from my side. When I think it’s finally over, the loop starts again.
Ziri. After the rage had subsided
,
thoughts of how the Lithi found us plagued me when they weren’t filled with Lily.
How did he find
a doorway to the mortal’s world
?
More importantly, he or someone with him knew how to perform the summoning to pass through the
doorway…
but he was alone. The Lithi are known for their tracking abilities, even more skilled than some of the best Sidhe trackers. However, there is no way that he could have known where to start at
Crowfoot
Mountain
without help. Only
a
Sidhe
Summoner of
royal bloodline can do a summoning
or a very well-trained Caller like Phoris
. More importantly, there are only a few in our circle who knew of our plans to return Lily back to Velesi.
Even through the drumming of the rain
I can hear
Julia’s
exhausted pleas to continue searching for Lily.
I glance over at the shelter that
Tolan
called forth from the jungle a few fe
et from me. Should anyone come by, he would miss the shelter al
together as it stands
camouflaged in the middle of the jungle
. The roof is made of giant palm leaves of the aolema trees growing unimpeded, strewn together by the thick, coarse maki vines.
Tolan had called upon the roots of the large kavi trees that stand tall with trunks the size
s
of
two
barn
s, some even bigger
. We would be sheltered within the kavi, but here in Velesi unless
someone does the summoning
with Phoris’ skills and talent, any who are not Sidhe are
not
welcomed within their shelter. So Tolan asked for whatever protection the jungle would allow us. The kavi tree may not house us because of Julia, but it would answer Tolan’s calling by providing its roots for our use. His efforts produce a small shelter, dry and warm thanks to the panswa available to us. When
we’re
ready to leave, the vines, leaves and roots
will untangle
from each other and return back to their natural state.
I glance over at Julia
as she continues to argue with
Tolan
. She has placed an invisible barrier distancing her from him with each second that passes between them
.
Once she was calmed, Tolan convinced her we would find Lily, but we had to use our heads. When she agreed she wanted to know how we would track them in this rain, but most importantly, she wanted to know who Ziri was and why he took Lily.