Attack

A loud crack ripped me from my pleasant dreams, as I lay shocked into stillness, my heart hammering in my chest. Darkness blanketed everything so I could see no further than the end of my nose. At some point in the night the fire must have gone out, leaving the night to press it’s darkness around us.

My body was alert, my ears straining to hear the slightest of sounds and my eyes working furiously to adjust to the darkness.

A moment later I was jerked up as a hand was curled around my mouth and I was pulled roughly from my bed.

Shocked, I tried to scream but the hand gripped tighter over my face, blocking my nose and mouth. I squirmed in the strong grip that held my hands at the back of my body, frantically hoping my eyes would adjust quicker to the darkness. Escape was all my mind could comprehend at this time. A shiver ran through my muscles, paralysing them. This was all too familiar. 

But something felt wrong. My mind was sluggish almost, as if my thoughts couldn’t quite link together. I blinked furiously, hoping the clear the fog that circled my brain.

In a sudden eruption of noise all around me, I could hear shouting and the horses panicked whinnies as they were grabbed and pulled around. The fire roared to life, and I blinked furiously in the suddenly light. Blake was being held by two burly men, whose faces were each covered by a hood, their muscles bulging in the effort to hold him still. My chest began to ache and a burning was making its way up my throat only making me panic more. The two men holding Blake looked familiar but my mind could not pick where I knew them.

“Hold the girl still you idiot. Let me see her face,” a smooth voice said behind me.

My heart began to race as I watched Blake’s eyes focus on me, his stare intense.

“Is she the one boss?” the man holding me asked another, his voice slow and gravelly.

A cold hand grabbed my chin, sending strange shivers down along my skin and dragged it around into the light so Blake disappeared from view and a shadowed figure stood before me. I closed my eyes, hoping that this was all a dream I would soon wake up from. 

“She definitely is,” the first man answered with a small chuckle. I felt his hand caress the side of my cheek gently. A shock of electricity ran along my skin and I shivered against the warmth of his touch, my eyes opening to meet his gaze. “Such a beautiful face.”

The man lowered his eyes to mine and I saw the deep blue colour of his irises. I was immediately drawn in by the captivating colour and the way they sparkled. And in the back of my mind, they seemed somewhat familiar; even more so than the men holding Blake. 

Something was going on. Why couldn’t I think straight? This damn brain fog! I knew I recognised him, but the memory seemed just out of my grasp.

“Hello beautiful, what’s your name?”

Before I could answer there was a muffled yell of pain and the man was gone, the power affecting me dissipating and leaving me feeling cold and empty.

My brain seemed to kick start as I took a gasping breath. The fog lifted from my mind as I shook my head.

Realisation slammed into me. The man from the abandoned village! The one that with the rogues. My eyes flitted to the men that surrounded us. I could feel their amusement seeping into me, their humour at our struggle. My stomach turned uncomfortably. This wasn’t going to end well.

I watched the blue-eyed man stalk over to where Blake lay on the ground, doubled over in pain. Without touching him, the man lifted Blake into the air so his face was level with his own. Blake’s feet dangled an inch of the ground, his feet grasping to find it.

“Didn’t think we would catch you, did you?”

Fear speared along my spine. Blake’s eyes crinkled in surprise, before the blank mask returned. It was a moment of lack of concentration, but the other man saw it.

“And you are?”

The man seemed bored, his attention limited when it came to Blake.

Blake’s eyes watched me, his gaze so intense I felt like it was burning me. There was some kind of meaning and emotion that he was trying to portray to me, but all I could see was the blank mask he always wore. In the back of my mind, the panic was beginning to take over. What did he want me to do?

“Aidyn.”

“Don’t lie to me,” the man spoke lowly, an agitated edge to his voice.

“Well then…It seems that you already know who I am,” Blake spat back, his eyes burning in anger.

“Don’t play games with me or I will get my men to hurt your pretty little… girlfriend over there,” the man said, his words like ice. As he spoke, the grip tightened around my arms and a hand circled around my throat, blocking off my air. I choked, trying to breathe, a burning sensation filling my lungs.

Blake’s eyes shot to me again, his face unreadable. He nonchalantly shrugged, and smirked at the man in front of him. Rage seethed along my skin as the hand around my throat tightened even further. Black spots blurred my vision as I struggled to suck in air.

“Kill her, she means nothing to me.”

I choked out in shock and rage, my chest and lungs now burning with a violent fire. Panic flared in my stomach. He was going to let me die. I tried to thrash free, but the grip around my arms was vice-like.

The man grabbed Blake’s hair, drew his face up so he couldn’t look at his feet, and whispered in his ear. Blake’s eyes widened ever so slightly, but the unconcerned look never left his face.

“Now that’s no way to treat a lady, Sloane.” The man flicked a hand into the air and the pressure around my throat released. I slumped forward and sucked in the precious air, coughing and spluttering. My throat burned with fire and pain.

“Not that you would ever be good enough for her,” the man continued with a sneer just loud enough for his words to drift over to me. There was an edge to the man’s voice, something that twisted my stomach and made my skin tingle. What was that supposed to mean? Surely I would never be good enough for him? He dropped Blake to the ground with a thud and all the men surrounding us laughed. “But you are right, I already know who you are – Fire Magician.”

There was a ripple through the men surrounding us, as if they all shivered in a cold breeze, but the night was still.

One of the hooded men moved toward Blake, forcing him upright. Blake tried to yell out to me but a magical force had covered his mouth as if an invisible hand held it.

The thug holding me tightly, whispered in my ear, his voice course and gravelly. His breath was hot on my face, the smell putrid. “We know who you are too … Kida.”

Just as he said my name, a flash of silver reflected through the night and Blake fell to the ground, his face turning white.

I tried to scream as they pulled me away from him and the blue-eyed man turned to look at me. I could now see past him to the rogue who held a bloody knife in his hand. I slumped against the hands that bound me but it only made my body seize up with pain.

I stared at Blake’s lifeless body, my own freezing in shock. I didn’t know what to think. Did I care that he was dying? After all, he hadn’t cared if they had killed me.

The entire front of Blake’s shirt was now stained with blood, which bloomed and spread across the ground.

“You are very lucky, Fire Magician,” the man with the blue eyes said a note of amusement in his voice. He spoke to Blake’s prone figure, as the rogue who had held onto Blake wiped the small knife clean. “If I had it my way, your suffering would be great. But luckily for you, my Master doesn’t care much for you, even though I am sure he would enjoy torturing you for information. Unlucky for me though… but… oh well.”

He shrugged his slender shoulders and turned away.

The man holding me back shoved me to the ground and my face hit the dirt hard. I bit down on my lip as pain racked through my body when he lifted me up.

“Behave,” the voice growled, low and dangerous. The man behind the voice grabbed the nearest horse and threw me on its back, tying me into place on the saddle.

I tried to turn and look at Blake watching the blood pool around his now still body. Warmth was spreading down my forehead and I blinked away the hot blood. It mingled with my tears and dripped dark red stains onto my clothes. A dull throb echoed in my head and I slumped on the horse in defeat. Were they going to kill me too? A shot of anger mixed with sadness flashed through me. I tried to calm my mind but felt an onslaught of emotions. Most of it had that dulled tone to it and my heart began to race when suddenly it clicked in my mind – they weren’t my emotions. 

Shock coursed through my body as I sat paralysed on the horse. What was happening to me?

Blue Eyes came up to the horse that I was mounted on. He reached toward me, hesitating only a moment before he grabbed my face gently between his delicate fingers, his touch sending warm tingles across my skin. He brushed his thumb across my forehead, wiping the blood away from my eyes. His face was hidden in the shadows of his cloak but I could feel the power of his thoughts telling me to calm down and relax. Warmth radiated from my fingers and a sickening heat rolled through my stomach.

“Behave and you won’t get hurt,” he whispered seductively, the power of his voice drawing me in to him again.

I heard a sob escape my lips and I clamped them down, biting my tongue to stop myself. The warm, iron taste filled my senses and I spat my blood in his face. He stepped back, the hold he had on me, broken the moment his fingers left my cheek. 

He wiped his face clean, unperturbed by my actions.

The burly man who had held me before hopped on the horse behind me. I could feel his body rubbing up against mine in ways I did not want to imagine. A churning sickness punched me in the gut.

Blue Eyes tilted his head slightly to the side, his face still hidden. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking but I could sense what he was feeling. I fought against the emotions that raged within me long enough to calm myself and focus on him. I was hit with a jumble of emotions that tangled and intertwined but all I could clearly gather from him was confusion and uncertainty. He then smiled in a way that turned my blood to ice, his words having a similar effect. 

“Have your way with her, Sloane. But she better be there within the week.”

A cold fear ran through me as I felt the rogue behind me, push himself closer, his body intimately close to mine. Through his thin pants I could feel his warm skin rubbing against me, and panic made my heart race, almost drowning me in memories from my past.

His legs tightened around the horse, kicking it into action and we took off towards the now breaking dawn.

The sun was beginning to lighten the sky. Streaks of orange, pink and red hues lit up the world with fascinating colours. Had I not been stuck in this particular predicament, I would have had the time to notice it and take more care to drink in the beautiful sight of the sunrise.

But at that moment, my brain seemed to have stopped all rationale thought as the panic set in.

The man behind me wrapped his arm around my waist and I felt like screaming. My whole body was tensed, and I knew he could feel it. He was probably enjoying my fear.

“Relax,” he said to me over the gallop of the horses’ hooves on the ground, his gravelly voice sending chills down my spine.

His hand moved down to my leg to the base of my nightdress, his clammy, rough skin scraping along my leg. Trying hard to stay on the speeding horse, I slapped his hand away and moved further forward on the saddle to escape his body that pressed too close to mine. I hated how close he was and the way that it felt hard and toned against my back.

“I said relax,” he growled in my ear grabbing onto my leg with a strong unyielding grip. I could feel his claws cutting into my skin as he struggled to control his beast.

I almost whimpered out loud, unaware of what was going to happen next.

The horse ride seems to stretch out for hours as the man behind me held on to me, caressing or touching my skin lightly wherever he could. Every now and then I would quiver, unable to hold back the revulsion that was pulsing through me. The sick feeling in my stomach only grew, weighing me down and making my whole body tremble.

At times where my strength failed me, I would think about Blake and his lifeless body lying on the ground. I wondered what had happened to him. Was he dead? Or had someone found him?

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I pondered my own existence. We had not even been able to complete the task set to us. But at least I was keeping Nyssa safe. Bile rose in my throat. I was going to die for her. I wasn’t ready for that.

I felt weak; Like a child unable to feed or take care of itself. I felt like the little, scrawny girl I used to be before I had been forced to live on the streets. I no longer wanted to be that girl, but right now, on that horse, at that moment, with the rogue, I felt like that child again. So helpless and unable to muster the strength to even fight back.

I tried hard not to sleep. I could feel weariness pull at me like the strings of a puppet; dragging me and coercing me into it. But I knew if I slept, he could, and probably would, do whatever he wanted with me.

I experimented with my sudden realisation of power. During the times when he was focussed on riding more so than touching, I went over the details of the last weeks, picking up the subtle hints of this sudden epiphany. I should have noticed it sooner. But I had – and I still hadn’t known what it was. And what good would it have done?

I tried to sense his feelings with my mind, clearing my thoughts and trying to touch his without him realising it. All I felt was the hot lust and overpowering sense of sexual need of his beast which was driving his actions. That feared me more than anything that had happened prior to this moment. I didn’t touch his mind again.