by M. A. Roth
“How far back do you think Clive and the others are, sir?” Legis asks.
“They would still be looking, so if we make it to the first resting area in the next hour, we will be a day ahead of them.” Silence follows then, and I hate it. I hate my thoughts. I hate the questions. But most of all I hate that I can’t come up with a rational explanation for all this.
***
An hour later, night has fallen completely. This place is weird. There’s not as much as one star in the sky, even though it’s clear and the moon is red. It’s not creepy the way you would think. It’s breathtaking. He had said I was in a different world, I could see that it was different but my mind wouldn’t accept that I was in another world. Who’s mind could accept something like that.
We slow down until we come to a complete stop. My captor slides off the horse easily and helps me down. “We rest here.”
I don’t have the energy to argue. So a nod of my head is all the reply he gets. Not that he notices. He and Legis are pushing sand back with their hands and pulling out of the ground what looks like large rolls of leather. Legis rolls his out.
It is full of blankets, wood, a hammer and a few large pieces of paper wrapped around something the size of a large stone.
Green eyes holds similar things, but also glass bottles along with what looks like strings of leather.
They set to work. They have tents up within the hour. I give their tent building all my attention. I think right now it’s the only way I can stay sane. I’m impressed by their skills. I pull back the flap of the tent that Legis has erected. He doesn’t object as I do. There are blankets all over the ground, giving it a cosy feel, yet it’s spacious enough for all three of us to sleep in. I really hope that’s not the case or I’ll just sleep outside.
Green eyes starts setting up a small fire. I sit down beside him.
“Is this a different era?” I want to laugh at my stupid question but a part of me is starting to accept that I am somewhere that isn’t Earth.
He pauses what he is doing and considers my question. “In a way, yes. Saskia is very different from your world… I am not knowledgeable enough of your world, but Legis would gladly tell you.”
I look at Legis. “What do you want to know?” he asks while kneeling down on the opposite side of the fire, as green eyes continues setting it up. I feel like saying I want to know everything, but I think about the most basic question I want to ask.
“What is this place? Is it all sand?” I hope the answer to my question, is no.
“It is a world parallel to yours and in ways no different. The outskirts of Saskia is sand, but that is as far as it goes.”
Okay, next question. I’m watching green eyes from the corner of my eye as he lights the fire. He has no lighter or matches, yet the flames begin to build. I’m trying to calm myself. There is an element of awe and pure fear fighting its way through my system and I’m not sure which one will win. “How does he light the fire?”
Green eyes looks up at me. Legis speaks then. “In our world, we are born—”
“Legis, enough,” He says, as he rises. He lifts the brown paper parcels and opens them, handing each of us bread, cheese and one of the glass bottles. I look at mine. The bread is as thick as three slices of normal bread and the cheese is cut generously.
Is this our dinner?
“Eat,” Green eyes says while tearing his own bread in two.
“No butter?” I ask while rotating the bread in my hands.
Legis laughs. “Sorry, but this is it. One of the differences in our world. We eat to live, but in your world you live to eat.”
I don’t like the statement even if it is partially true.
Green eyes ignores us and eats his own. He seems to have no social skills.
I can’t eat anything. My stomach is still unsettled, and as much as this chat seems normal enough, these guys have just kidnapped me. I open the bottle. It’s a corkscrew on hinges as its seal. I take a sip first, testing it. It’s wine, white wine, tasty. I take a deep gulp and then reseal it.
“So do you have cities or towns like us?”
Legis looks at green eyes for approval. A nod of his head allows him to answer. “I would not say we have cities, because you will think of large metal structures. Ours are more like large villages. The central point is the castle.”
“A castle. So do you have, like, a king and queen?”
Once again, Legis looks to green eyes for approval and receives it. “Yes, we do.” I sit there and try to picture this village with its big stone castle in the center. Legis interrupts my thoughts. “We live very simple lives here compared to your world.”
I never would’ve guessed, but I don’t voice that. Instead, I go right back to the start. “So are you going to answer my first question? How did he light the fire?” I look sideways at the person in question; he’s looking directly at me, and heat rises in my face. It isn’t lost on me how good looking he is. My face burns more and I thank God it’s dark. I’m not sure how I can think about someone’s looks when they captured me. “How did you light the fire?” I ask him directly.
He gets up and comes over to me. My heart pounds and jumps around in my chest as he sits beside me. The smell of leather and something that was unique to him fills my senses. “Before we go any further, I need you to understand I am not your friend and I don’t have to answer your questions.” He looks me straight in the eye. “Understand?” His words are cold and harsh and send a heat rushing to the tops of my ears.
“Yes, I understand.” My voice comes out in a whisper.
“I am going to scout the area,” Legis says and leaves.
Green eyes rises, returning to the opposite side of the fire. “Get some rest. We have a lot of ground to travel tomorrow.” He throws me a leather roll. “Wear these tomorrow,” he says while looking me up and down. “They are far more suitable.”
Taking the roll, I walk to my tent. This guy really hates me and I don’t know why. I push him to the back of my mind. I have more important things to think about. Like why I’m here. But I know at this stage they will not tell me anything.
I lie down on all the blankets. It’s really comfortable. My mind wanders to Jessica, Dad and Josh, wondering if they’re looking for me. Poor Dad—first Mum, now me. My mother disappeared six months ago. She was out that day, walking Charlie, our dog. The Garda found Charlie dead, along with my mum’s blue rain mac. That is all we have left of her. It made no sense, her disappearance. There was no ransom.
We weren’t wealthy, just comfortable, so that was ruled out earlier on in the search. Also, my mother had no enemies. She was just a housewife. For the first time since I’ve been taken I wonder if they have my mum here in this world? But it makes no sense. Why? Everything returns to why.
I stay in the tent for a while, unwrapping the leather roll.It contains a white tunic, trousers, socks and boots. I start to change straight away, but keep my cloak on over the outfit. I can hear green eyes telling Legis he’s on guard and then silence follows.
I lie there biding my time. I don’t have many options. Only when they are asleep, I will escape. Going back the way we came is not an option, but at this moment, I just need to get away from them.
After waiting another two hours, I creep from my tent.
Legis is asleep by the fire. Carrying my boots in my hand, I pass green eye’s tent and hold my breath. As I tiptoe past, sweat gathers on my neck. If he wakes, what would he do? Kill me? Fear makes me move faster. Once I pass, my speed picks up. When I glance back, the glow of the fire is far away. Now I only hope that Legis told the truth about this place not being all sand, or I will die of dehydration. But I’ll take my chances. After my boots are on, I stand still to let my eyes adjust to the dark. The red moon casts only a small amount of light. The temperature drops the further I go into the desert, causing me to wrap my black cloak tightly around my body. West seems the best direction to go; it’s far away from them. I just hope it will not ta
ke too long to come across normal ground, and then I can figure out how I’m going to get out of this mess.
The first hour I gain a lot of ground and am feeling positive about the decision I made, but as the hours slip by and sand is all I see, my thoughts turn to fear of never seeing home again. This god-forsaken desert could take my life yet. My thighs burn; my throat is dry. How long have I been walking? Looking up at the sky tells me a few hours. It’s starting to get brighter, and the temperature has risen. When I turn away from the sky and try to focus on my feet again, dizziness washes over me, causing me to stumble and fall face first into the sand. The need to sleep pulls at me; my body feels exhausted. When was the last time I ate? Saliva flows into my mouth at the thought of food. I swallow it to try to tame the dryness in my throat, but it does little good. I once read that you can drink your own urine only once in a dire situation and it would not poison your system, and this definitely qualifies as a dire situation. The thought of that makes me get up onto my feet and walk, my steps are slow and clumsy. Movement in the distance makes me stop. I squint, but my eyes can’t focus properly. The dizziness settles as I stand still for a few moments. I refocus. Nothing, no movement. So I keep pushing further with the feeling of dread. Catching movement again, I stop. It’s closer now, but it doesn’t seem possible, unless whatever it is, is moving at an incredible speed. A horse? No, no dust or sound. My captors? I freeze. No, they’d be coming from behind me. At this thought, I turn around and laugh at the emptiness I’m faced with. God, I feel as if I might lose my mind out here. The cloak on my shoulders feels as if it weighs a ton. I strip it off with no energy to carry it and dump it on the sand, hoping a wind will rise and cover it over, hiding the path I have taken. Maybe being in the tent with water and food wasn’t so bad. Then I scold myself for such weakness.
“No, he took you from your home.”
My newfound anger pushes me on. The movements are all around me now, but it must be my imagination, as they seem to move when I move. Noise comes from my left, no, my right. I strain to listen. The noise comes again. It’s like the hiss of a snake, only louder. Then it’s all around me. I turn in a full circle but can’t see anything. My head spins, causing me to fall onto the sand again. Closing my eyes, I try to let the dizziness pass. I roll over on my back, keeping my eyes closed. Keep it together, Sarajane, I tell myself, but the prospect of dying makes laughter bubble in my throat. I let it out. My laughter soon turns hysterical and I feel like crying. I open my eyes and every part of my emotions turns to fear.
A white grotesque face looks down at me. It shimmers as I try to focus. I question what I’m seeing, if it’s real or not. The creature hisses at me, showing off a long black tongue that slides between black pointed teeth. Eyes that are hollow and empty stare at me. Fear runs through me as more faces appear around me. I shut my eyes and pray for this to stop and repeat to myself, This is not real, over and over again. But when I look up, they’re still there, staring at me with hungry black eyes. Digging my elbows into the sand, I push my body up. The creature closest to me rises off his haunches and places his foot on my chest, pushing me back down. His body is human-like, only hunched and twisted. The others start to look impatient. Growls rise deep in their throats. I hold my breath, afraid to breathe. What are they? Frozen with fear, I don’t move as much as a muscle. The creature’s inhuman growls start to rise. One of the creatures moves closer to me very slowly. As he moves, he keeps glancing over at the one who pushed me down, so I assume he’s the leader. It licks its lips. A whimper of fear rises in my throat as it reaches me. My noise attracts the attention of the leader. He grabs the creature just before it touches me and throws him on the sand. The creature slams its fists into the sand while looking at his leader. It points at me.
“Eat.”
My mind goes frantic. Eat, as in eat me? Get up!! Get up!!!
I scream in my head.
Rising on shaky limbs, I get to my knees. Sweat gathers on my forehead from exhaustion. When the creature sees me trying to get up, a high-pitch squeal leaves his throat and he charges. The others are pounding the ground with their feet and fists while screeching. He is an inch from me, his eyes wild with hunger, but that’s as far as he gets. An arrow is embedded in his neck. Blood splatters across my face as he crumbles to the ground.
There’s an eerie silence amongst the creatures as they focus behind me. I look around just as my captors move forward. The leader of the creatures digs his feet into the sand like a bull, causing dust to rise, and throws his head back, letting out a deafening screech. They charge.
CHAPTER THREE
SARAJANE
Green eyes has his bow loaded and like some action hero from a medieval movie he fires it and takes three of them out within a matter of seconds. I’m transfixed. I should be moving but I’m watching Legis fight on the ground with two swords, he rotates them under his arms before decapitating anything that moves. I stay on my knees, too shocked to move. The sand grows red with blood, and no matter how many creatures there seems to be, they die under the vicious assault from my captors. The whole thing is over in minutes. Only one lives—the leader—a long gash down his torso leaks and green eyes places his foot on the creature’s chest. Legis slides his swords into a strap on his back before taking light and quick steps to me. He removes a container from his hip strap. I take it and unscrew the lid; I don’t smell it to see what it is, all I know is that it’s liquid. I gulp it down as Legis stares at me with disappointment. “You could have died,” he says. I ignore him and pour water all over my face, feeling a little more alert. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. Legis reaches out his arm to me and I take it as he helps me to rise on shaky legs. My attention returns to the creature under green eyes’s boot. He now has his sword pointed at the creatures chest.
“Exile, you are a long way from the mountains.” His tone is harsh.
The exile looks at me. “Smell.”
This causes my captor to sneer cruelly. “You lie.” The sword easily slices through the creatures flesh and bone until it’s hand detaches itself from its arm. It goes berserk under green eye’s boot, but doesn’t get loose. “Why are you here, exile?”
The creature is squealing in pain, but he manages one word. “Smell,” he says again. Wrong answer. His other hand lands with a heavy thud on the sand. I cover my mouth feeling sick, but I can’t look away. The creature is screeching in pain. It sounds like a dying cat. Two pools of blood stream from its wrists where its hands once were. The pool of blood is growing and I blink my eyes rapidly.
“Stop it. This is cruel,” I whisper, my captor looks at me as he keeps his foot on the creature’s chest. It thrashes wildly under him.
“Be quiet. I will deal with you later.” His tone is deadly; his green eyes have darkened with anger. I take a step backwards. His attention is back on the creature again. “Last chance, exile.” He raises his sword.
The creatures eyes widen while it shakes its head wildly. Just before the sword reaches him, he speaks. “King Paulus.” The blade pauses at his throat.
“Where?” Green eyes asks.
The creature’s features take on a resigned look. I think he’s done talking. Green eyes pushes the blade harder. “Where, exile?” And then to my utter disbelief the creature throws his head forward, pushing the blade into his own neck. Blood gurgles in its throat for a moment before it falls still.
Bile rises in my throat, and I can’t seem to look away as green eyes pushes the creature off his blade using his foot and wipes it clean on his trousers. He slides the sword into the holder on his back. Then his intense gaze turns on me. My muscles tighten as he moves towards me, breathing heavily. I swallow as he grabs both my hands and pulls them together without speaking. From his belt he extracts rope that he uses to tie my hands together.
“I’m sorry,” I say as panic threatens to consume me, but my pleas fall on deaf ears as he continues tying knots in a complex way. I yank my hands to try to stop him. “I said sorry.
Please don’t.”
He pulls on the rope around my wrists to make sure it’s tight. Would he kill me? Panic is clawing at me, darkness moving in at the edge of my vision.
“Untie-” My words are silenced as he shoves cloth into my mouth, cutting off my protests, and ties a piece over it to keep the gag in place. I’m still protesting, but nothing I say is understandable. “If I have to tie you to me, I will.” He shakes me. “Do you understand?” I nod my head as I try to focus on just breathing through my nose. I can’t hold his gaze any longer so I look away from him. Moving towards the horses has me terrified of what’s going to happen to me now, but as I glance back at the dead creature on the ground, I know my fate here would be far worse.
I can’t do anything. As his hands touch my sides, my body freezes at the sensation as he lifts me up onto the horse, before climbing on behind me. Legis mounts his own and once he’s on we start a slow canter back to camp. I try to keep my body straight, but I’m too weak and I slump from exhaustion. I start to drift off but panic every time I see the creatures in my mind, keeping me awake.
“Sleep. You are safe now,” He whispers and wraps an arm around me. I stiffen at the contact and want to say that I’m not safe. But the warmth from his body and his heartbeat lulls me into a restless sleep.
Waking up some time later, I’m lying on my side. I smile with warmth and contentment. There’s a heavy blanket over me. My hair is loose, and a curl falls onto my face. I raise my hand to push it back and that’s when I feel the rope biting into my wrists. My hands are tied. Sitting up too quickly sends a rush of dizziness through me. I regret the action straight away as my head is spinning. It slowly resurfaces and last night's events come back to me—trying to escape, the creatures. Struggling to my feet is harder than expected without the use of my hands. It’s hard to balance, but I make it upright and steady myself. My captors are talking so I pause to try to hear what they are saying.
