Well, here you go. I'm not completely satisfied with that bit, but if I
don't get it out *now* I'll probably never, so... have fun or something.
As usual the complete backlock is available from me in a number of
formats, so don't hesitate to ask.
Go on now and tell me how lousy I am.
*****
Lava glimpsed a movement in the corner of her eye. Of course it might
have been anything; a squirrel or just a chunk of snow falling from a
tree, but she instantly knew that things were wrong. In a frantic she
threw her head around to face the source of distraction and met the
cold gaze of a single eye lining her up with a crossbow. With all her
might Laiva hurled herself at the ground, around her hell breaking
loose.
Her heart raced and she could feel the blood pulsing through
her veins; that had been close. Far too close. It had been close
enough for her too hear the bolt whizzing past, indeed she had almost
felt it go by her arm. There even was a stinging pain at the place.
And there was something warm and moist as well. It was quite a lot of
pain, actually...
'Wake up.'
The words reached Laiva from a distance, as if they had to
cross vast lands before getting to her. And vast the lands were. Sand
stretched as far as the eye could see, only the ridges of the dunes
casting the odd shadow and disrupting the uniform brownish yellow.
And where the horizon should have been the colour simply shifted into
blue, like paint being mixed.
Laiva watched her shadow; she couldn't remember it ever being
that small. It was as if the sun was standing almost above her. When
she looked up, however, all she could see was the blue of a cloudless
sky. So maybe she couldn't see the sun, but she could feel it. It
wasn't the burning heat to be expected in a desert, though; it was
gentle, warming her, relaxing her muscles, almost caressing her.
'Come on, wake up.'
There it was again. Laiva watched the words float past; she
were so close she could almost reach out and grab them. Something in
the back of her head kept telling her that this was a terribly
unnatural way for words to be, but she ignored it. Things weren't real
- she knew that; and she could do very well without someone to telling
her; especially when that someone was herself. Besides she enjoyed it.
It was comfortable, peaceful, warm instead of cold, danger, pain,
yelling...
'I told you to wake up!'
This time the words didn't float past, but crashed into her,
knocking Laiva off her feet and sending her flying. They tore the
dreamscape around her apart, leaving her in blackness. It wasn't the
blackness of a void, though; it was the unique blackness of closed
eyes.
All kinds of sounds reached her, but they didn't mean anything
to her. Laiva made an effort to open her eyes and a glimpse of light
penetrated the blackness, but then she suddenly felt the full weight
of her eye lids. She struggeled a bit, but eventually game in. Laiva
let herself sink back into the comfort of the warmth, into the
peacefulness of a desert, that could only exist where reality has no
power.
She sat down on top of a particularly high dune and let her
eyes wander, but there was nothing more to see than there was before.
This place was so desolate it would have put every real desert to
shame and yet it was simply right. At least as far as she was
concerned.
Laiva pulled her fingers through the warm sand as if wanting
to comb it. She wasn't surprised when she saw it flow around her hand
like water. Somehow she had expected it would. She took a hand full
and let it trickle to the ground, watching the large drops hit the
surface of the sand and form ripples. Just like they would have on
water. And why not? Laiva closed her eyes and splashed some on her
face. It was refreshing like water, it ran down her face like water
and it even tasted like water; in any way it mattered it was water.
Cold water. Freezing water even. It was as if her face had been
covered in icicles and it hurt.
Laiva lifted her hands to brush the ice off, but the instant
she moved her arms a wave of pain flooded through her body. She wanted
to scream, but something was pressing hard against her mouth; she
wanted to wriggle away, but that made the pain get even worse. Laiva
yanked her eyes open. This wasn't the desert; this was for real. And
it hurt.
The trail was as clear as fresh ice on a silent lake, and indeed the
red droplets accompanying it glittered in the sun like ice, but of
course there was no way they could have frozen in such a short amount
of time.
The ranger sped up. Losing blood at this rate the man wouldn't get
very far, and as tempting as the thought was, he couldn't let the man
bleed to death. Not until he had answered some questions, at least;
what happened after that was a different case.
Slowly the ranger lifted the hand from Laiva's mouth and she took a
deep breath. The cold air filled her lungs and for a few precious
moments the pain ebbed off, but only to return worse than ever. Laiva
was about to drift off into unconsciousness, when the ranger slapped
her. It was but a short burst of pain, it nevertheless managed to turn
her attention away from the aching body.
'Focus. You have to stay awake.'
Laiva took a deep breath. And another one. And yet another
one. It was probably too much to call it meditation, but it did help
her to pull herself together. How long that was going to work,
however, was anyone's best bet. Laiva felt completely exhausted, and
every breath she took seemed to make it worse.
'Do you hear me?' the voice of the ranger sounded. Laiva
lifted her head and looked the woman in the eyes. She hadn't before,
but now she was listening.
'Good. Drink that.' and saying so put a cup on Laiva's lips.
Greedily she drank the liquid, having only now realized how thirsty
she was - and nearly spit it out again. Whatever the liquid was, it
could as well have been gall. Laiva couldn't remember having ever
tasted something more bitter, but she kept drinking anyway; partly
because it was probably meant to help, but mostly because she had that
much of a thirst she would have drunk virtually anything.
Mynor threw his head back and stuck his nose into the air. Behind him,
faint but distinct, was the smell of blood. Promising, certainly, but
he made a point of not eating people. If he could help it. Anyway,
that wasn't what he was looking for. That other smell, in front of
him, was the interesting one. Black magic of the worst kind. Of course
magic didn't smell, but some ingredients did. And not in the pleasant
way.
Warmth filled Laiva's stomach and from there spread through the body,
washing the pain away on its path. And with the the clouds of pain
lifted from her mind, she couldn't help, but to be completely puzzled.
Out of some reason she had been rested against the trunk of a
large tree, her body up to the armpits wrapped tightly in blankets.
The sleeves on her right arm had been ripped open and bandages showed
below their blood crusted remains.
'It looks worse than it is. You have lost plenty of blood, but
you will make it. You better drink a lot, though.' the ranger rushed
to explain. She pushed a bottle into Laiva's left hand and she emptied
the whole bottle at once.
The ranger was kneeling to her right, but she wasn't the only
one around. Sitting to her left was Saya, somewhat shaken, but as far
as Laiva could tell unharmed. She couldn't see anyone else, though.
'What has happened? And where are the others?'
'We have been ambushed.' Saya said.
The ranger nodded, guilt clearly visible in her face. They were
rangers, elite troops. They were the ones to ambush, not the other way
around. It had been their duty to protect her and Saya. And they had
failed; failed her.
'He came out of nowhere and attacked; attacked you before we
could do anything. We...', the ranger started, then took a deep
breath, '...didn't notice him. We wounded him, but he managed to flee.
One of them is chasing him. The others are searching the area in case
there are more of them.' Then she added bitterly: 'For whatever that
is going to help.'
'And where is Mynor?'
--
emmel <the_emmel*you-know-what-that's-for*@gmx.net>
(Don't forget to remove the ** bit)
Official AGC feedback maniac
"God is playing creatures - and we're the norns."
"A hundred dead are a tragedy - a hundred thousand are statistics."
"I guess you can call yourself lucky." -
"I could, but Linda suits me a little better...
Things called lucky tend to get hit by trucks."
Hi, I'm a .sig virus. Just copy me to your .signature. And don't worry.
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