Hey everyone! As in my last parts, I really would aprecciate feedback. Please read my previous parts before reading this, it will save you a lot of confusion.
Chapter 3
Loren
A few hours later the men showed no sign of falling asleep, and Erik was getting impatient. The leader had force-fed the girl a drug that caused her to fall asleep. Then one of the men grew fidgety.
Finally, he exclaimed; “I’m starving! Why don’t we have some dinner?” The other men heartily agreed with him. The leader sent a man to fetch food and wine. A few moments later he came back with bags and wineskins. Over the next half an hour the men ate and drank. As time went on, they grew more and more drunk. Then one of them fell over. The other men laughed at him and continued drinking. After a while they were all on the ground snoring.
Erik knew that this was his chance. He put on his cloak and hurried out into the clearing. The girl was still asleep. He put his hand over her mouth. She woke with a start. He was glad that he had put his hand over her mouth, because he was sure she would have screamed. He cut her ropes, beckoned to her and took his hand off of her mouth. She nodded, and he turned and hurried into the woods. He heard her behind him. As soon as they were a few hundred feet into the woods he stopped.
The girl was still behind him. He turned and saw that she was looking at him quizzically.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I'm Erik,” he said. She seemed unsatisfied with that answer; but she didn’t ask for a better explanation.
“And who are you?” asked Erik. The girl looked at him.
“I'm Loren,” she said. Erik smiled, satisfied. “We had better keep moving, they’ll be waking up soon.” He said.
Loren nodded. Erik turned and began walking, Loren right behind him. That was too easy. He thought. Then Loren stopped, an expression of fear on her face. He stopped too.
“What?” he asked. She pointed. Erik turned and saw that back in the camp the slave drivers were waking up. Erik swore. “Come on!” he said. He grabbed her hand and began to run.
“WHERE IS SHE?” “’Dunno boss, she was righ’ there a while ago.”
“FIND HER! DON’T COME BACK UNTIL YOU DO!”
“But boss-“
“NO BUTS! FIND HER NOW!” “Yes sir.” Erik heard someone moving through the woods behind them.
Erik swore again. “Run faster!” he said to her. She tried to pick up her speed, but she seemed incapable. “The drug” she gasped. “It’s making me so-“
“THERE SHE IS! GET HER!” Erik turned; the leader must have followed the man he sent out.
He rushed forward faster than Erik thought possible and grabbed Loren’s arm. She screamed. “SHUT UP WRETCH!” roared the leader. Then he noticed Erik. “Well what have we here?” he said, moving closer. Erik backed away. He figured that now would be a good time to run, but he didn’t. The leader grabbed him and somehow tied him up without letting go of Loren. He had obviously had a lot of practice. “Now girl, you will learn some discipline.” He said. He tied her to a tree with her back out. Erik’s stomach flipped. He shut his eyes.
Crack!
He felt his body change shape.
Morcant and Lindsay had been walking for two days and they still hadn’t gotten to Golni. Morcant was getting rather impatient. If I had gone alone I would have been there already. He thought crossly. But no matter what he thought, Lindsay wasn’t about to go back. Every time he brought it up, Lindsay would just glare at him and say; ‘If I’m going back, then you’re coming with me.’ Secretly Morcant was impressed with his sister. (He didn’t tell her that of course) The first night they were gone they had been attacked by a pack of wolves because he had left the food out. She had killed the leader, plus several more without breaking a sweat. Lindsay shook Morcant from his memories. “Oh my.” She said. Morcant looked up. They were in sight of the city of Golni. He had seen it before when he had left on his journey, so he wasn’t as impressed as she was. When they got to the gate a guard stopped them. “Name?”
“Morcant and Lindsay.”
“Reason for visit?”
“We are looking for someone.” The guard nodded and let them pass.
As soon as he had transformed Erik bit through the ropes.
Crack!
The leader was so involved in whipping Loran that he hadn’t noticed the fact that one of his captives had turned into a panther and was getting ready to kill him. He crouched to the ground, concentrating all of his energy into the center of his body. Then he sprung into the air and landed on the leader. “What the-“ He didn’t get to say anything else, as Erik tore his throat out. Erik was horrified with himself the instant his teeth touched his neck. His animal instincts that he had aquired with his abilities took over. He felt his jaw close around the mans neck. The taste of blood swept through his mouth. It wasn’t pleasant and he spat immediately.
He turned towards Loren, who had her eyes shut as tight as she could shut them. He walked over to her and cut her ropes with his claws. Then he backed away and closed his eyes. He changed much faster this time, which surprised him; he did it in half the time it normally took him. I must be getting better. He thought.
He walked over to Loren, who was trembling like a leaf. He looked at her tunic. The back was stained red and was wet. He didn’t think that she would be able to go very far with that. He touched her shoulder and she jumped. “It’s ok, it’s only me.” He said. She relaxed and turned. “How did you-“
“No time, let’s go!” he said. Loren scowled at him.
“I’ll explain later, I promise.” Loren felt the back of her tunic and winced. “I don’t think I can run. And if we walk I will only slow us down.” she said. Erik looked around. He heard the rest of the group coming their way. He groaned. “Let’s go as far as we can.” Loren nodded. Erik turned and began walking, Loren right beside him. After a few minutes Erik decided that Loren was right, she did slow them down quite a bit.
After about ten more minutes of walking Loren slipped on a rock. Instead of falling forward, (Which was preferable due to the state of her back.) She fell backwards, landing on her back. She stuffed her fist into her mouth to keep from yelling. Erik helped her up. As soon as she was on her feet she swayed. Erik grabbed her arm. “I can’t go any farther.” She said. Erik heard the rest of the group coming closer. He swore angrily. “Come on, I’ll have to carry you.”
Loren stared at him. “You’re going to carry me?” she said flatly. Erik nodded.
“You can’t, I probably weigh the same as you do!” she said.
“Well I’ll carry you as far as I can.” He replied.
Loren looked at him like he was insane. Then she heard the men behind them. “All right, let’s go.” she said. Erik helped her to climb onto his back and took off running. He was glad that he and Morcant had run so much; Loran was right, she was rather heavy, but he was fast. They ran for a few minutes and came to the clearing that Erik had woken up in. He ran across it. “Do you know which way the road is?” he asked. “It’s that way.” Replied Loren, pointing. He turned in the direction that she pointed. If I’m right we may get out of this. He thought. After a few more minutes Erik realized that he couldn’t run any more. He stopped. “We need to stop, I need rest and you need help.” He said. Loren agreed with him and slid off of his back. As soon as she hit the ground her knees buckled.
Erik caught her arm before she hit the ground. “Thanks.” She said. Erik nodded. Then he took off his pack and unrolled his blankets. Luckily he had packed an extra. He offered it to Loren, who took it. She wrapped it around herself. Erik took the other one for himself. “Where do you come from?” Loren asked. Erik smiled. “I come from a cottage to the south of Golni, in the forest of Glynn.” He replied.
“Did you have a family?”
“Yes, my Mother and Father, and my brother Morcant and sister Lindsay.”
“Are you the oldest?”
Erik laughed. “No, that would be Morcant, I am the last child.”
Loren nodded. “The same here; I am the youngest of the two of us.”
Erik looked at her. “The two of us?”
Loren nodded. “My brother was the oldest. When the slave drivers took me he followed them. Before you came he tried to rescue me, and they-“ she stopped and began to cry. “Th-they killed him.” She whispered, and broke into an onslaught of tears.
Erik felt very sorry for her. If his brother had died he would be upset too. He hesitantly put his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him. “You’d better get some sleep, we have a long day tomorrow.” He said. She nodded and laid down. Erik sat there until dawn, watching for danger.
Morcant was getting very discouraged. They had discovered from a cloak vendor that Erik had left Golni from the east gate just a couple of days before. After they had found that out Morcant knew where Erik was going. “He’s headed for Hindrei.” He told Lindsay. Lindsay looked at him. “Why would he go there? It’s a five day march!” she exclaimed. “It’s the closest town from here.” He reminded her. “Oh, right.” She said. “We’d better go and find him.” Said Morcant. Lindsay nodded. They thanked the vendor and headed for the east gate.
