Hey, this is the fourth chapter of my story. please read the last chapters before you read this one. It will save you a lot of confusion. As usual, feedback is appreceated.
Chapter 4
Reunited
Erik woke Loran when the sun came up. He hated to do it, but they needed to keep moving. “Get up Loran, we need to get moving.” He said. Loran groaned and sat up. She winced. She reached over her shoulder and felt her back. She brought her hand back. Her fingers were covered in blood. “It scabbed over, but they broke when I sat up.” She said. Erik nodded. “We’d better get moving, those men have horses and we don’t.” he said. Loren nodded and stood up. “Can you run today or do you need me to carry you again?” he asked. “I think I can run; at least for a little while.” She replied. Erik nodded and began to run, Loren right behind him. After a while Loren stopped. “I…need a breather.” She gasped. Erik walked over to her. “Can you run a little more?” he asked. Loren shook her head. “I fear that... if I do... my feet would fall off... of my legs.” She gasped.
Erik laughed. “You have a sense of humor I see.”
Loren smiled. “If you can’t run anymore I will have to carry you again.” Said Erik. Loren didn’t complain so Erik walked over to her and helped her up.
“Which way is the road now?” he asked. Loren pointed.
“Do you know how far it is?” he asked. Loren shook her head.
“Well, We’ll find out then won’t we.” He said. Then he began to run. As he ran they talked. “Where do you come from Loren? And how did you come to be captive of those slave drivers?” he asked.
“I come from the city of Folte, next to the river Lonid.” She said. “My brother and I were the only children in the town. We were going to visit our aunt in Golni, but we were ambushed on the road. My brother ran and they took me. They left the road and began to follow a different route that wasn’t marked. They made me walk further than I had ever walked before without rest or food. Then there was a terrible storm and the drivers lost the path.” Erik nodded; he remembered that storm. “We wandered for a while and the storm stopped. You know the rest.” Erik nodded again. “I think I can walk now; let me down.” She said. Erik stopped, put her down and began to run again.
Morcant and Lindsay were eating lunch on the side of the road to Hindrei when they saw him. At first he was a small silhouette on the horizon, then it became more prominent. Morcant dropped his roll, his mouth hanging open. “I don’t believe it.” He said. Lindsay looked around. She stared. “ERIK!” she cried. She and Morcant stood and began running. “I KNEW IT!” cried Erik. A second later Lindsay was embracing him. “Don’t you ever do that again! You nearly gave mother a heart attack!” she said. Then she noticed the girl standing there looking at her feet. “And who is this?” she asked.
Erik broke free of Morcant, who was hugging him so hard that he was turning blue, and walked over to the girl. “This is Loren, she was captive of a group of slave drivers that I ran into on the road.” he said. Lindsay shuddered. “You poor girl.” She said.
Loren was looking at Erik and his siblings, envy written all over her face. I wish I had a family. She thought. Then the older boy, the one Erik had called Morcant, shot Erik a look. It was a questioning look, a does-this-person-know-more-than-she-should look. Erik shook his head and Morcant relaxed. She wondered what was going on. Then she swayed. He back had been bleeding the whole time they had been running. Morcant noticed. He came forward. "Are you-" Then the world swung around and the ground rushed up to meet her.
Morcant was looking at Loren when she swayed on her feet. He walked forward. "Are you-" She fell over. He caught her just before she hit the ground. He looked at her. Why did she do that? He thought. He laid her down on the ground. When he took his hand away from her back it was red. He stared at his hand and turned Loren over. The back of her tunic was wet with blood.
“Erik!”
Erik came over. “Yeah?” Morcant pointed at her back. “Did you know about this?” he asked. Erik nodded. “She told me she could run.” He said.
Morcant rolled his eyes. “Lindsay get over here!” he called. Lindsay hurried over. “Yes?” Morcant pointed. Lindsay looked at her back, then shooed the boys away. “I need to cut her tunic.” She said.
A few minutes later Lindsay came back. “I bandaged her back, but she’ll need to be careful for a few days.” She said. Erik nodded. Morcant looked at him. “Does she know?” he asked.
Erik turned. “No, she doesn’t.” he replied.
Morcant sighed. “Good.”
“Are you coming back Erik?” Asked Lindsay.
“No.” he replied.
At this Morcant stood. “You have to go back Erik.”
“No, I am not going back.” said Erik. “If I do I will never be able to leave again.”
Morcant sighed. “Then we’re coming with you.”
Erik didn’t expect this. “No, you can’t! It’s dangerous!” he said.
“And that is exactly why we’re coming with you.” Interrupted Morcant.
Erik glared at him. “You are not coming with me.” He repeated. Morcant sighed again. “I didn’t come all this way to find my little brother just to leave him again.” He said.
“You are not coming!” Erik said again.
“Well we’re not leaving either.” Replied Morcant fiercely. This argument went on for several more minutes. Then Lindsay interrupted. “Will you two quit it? It will be dark before we come to a decision!” Then she turned to Erik. “You’ll have to kill us to keep us from coming.” She said. Erik glared at her, but didn’t argue any more. Morcant smiled. “All right, now that that’s settled, where are we going?” Erik shrugged. “I was going to Hindrei, but now I think I’d be better off going to Folte.” Morcant was confused. “Why Folte?” he asked.
“It is where Loren lives, I think that I should take her back so that she can be with her family.” Erik replied. Morcant looked rather surprised. “Erik, Folte doesn’t exist anymore.” He said. Erik stared at him. “What?”
“I said that Folte doesn’t exist anymore. It was attacked by demons and burned to ashes, apparently nobody survived.” Erik glanced at Loren, who was sleeping on the ground a little ways away, mumbling. “Poor Loren, somehow her parents must have seen it and sent them away before the demons attacked.” Erik was almost correct.
As Loren slept, she remembered things that she didn’t want to remember.
Her and her brother were eating breakfast on a stone patio, surrounded by rosebushes. “Hey Loren, after this do you want to go to the river?” Loren nodded. Her brother smiled. Loren ate as quickly as she could. When she had finished she went inside and out the front door where her brother was waiting for her. “We had better tell mother where we’re going.” He said.
Loren nodded and went back inside with her brother closely following. When they got inside their mother was sewing. “Mother, we’re going down to the river, we’ll be back by lunchtime.” Her brother told her.
Their mother looked up. “You can’t go today, I need your help around the house.” She said. Her brother glared at their mother. “We need to go down, the fishermen come back today, and we are going to see if we can find some extras or scraps before the birds get them.” He said.
Their Mother shook her head. “I’m sorry, but you need to stay.” She said.
Her brother turned on his heel and walked to the door. “We are going to the river, we’ll be back at lunchtime.” He repeated, and left, Loren right behind.
“We shouldn’t have done that.” She said.
Her brother nodded. “I know, but mother knows that those scraps are what we live off of in the winter, she’ll calm down, you’ll see.” he replied.
Loren wasn’t so sure. When they reached the river the fishermen hadn’t arrived yet, but there were quite a few people on the beach, looking hopefully downstream. “That’s odd, they normally would have arrived by now.” He said. Then they saw a canoe coming downstream. Her brother became rigid.
“What is it?” she asked.
“There is nobody in that canoe.” He replied. Loren looked closer and saw that it was true. It seemed like others had noticed too, as a lot of people became unsettled and started whispering. When the canoe reached them her brother stepped forwards and pulled it ashore. A crowd of people came to look. Loren came forward, but her brother stopped her with his hand. “You don’t want to see this Loren.” He said. Loren pushed past him and looked into the canoe. There was a skeleton lying there. It was frightening, because it still had flesh hanging off of the bones. She would have screamed, but her brother put a hand over her mouth. “I told you that you didn’t want to see it.” He said. People stared and they all left except for them. He lifted his hand off of her mouth. As she stared, she noticed a flicker of movement from inside the ribcage. She stared in fascination and horror. A creature with red skin was crawling around the bones, nibbling on the flesh. It was about a foot tall, with long black curling horns coming out of its head and a long snaky tail. It hopped around like a rabbit, using its tail for balance.
“What is that?” she asked, pointing. Her brother looked and the color drained from his face.
“We need to get out of here.” He said.
“Why?”
“Don’t ask questions, we need to leave.” He replied. Then the creature saw her, and she saw its face. It had large black eyes like insect eyes that stuck out of its head slightly. It also had black needle-like teeth that looked serrated. As it stared at her she heard a scraping noise, and saw long black claws come out of its fingers.
She found that she couldn’t move.
That, with a shrieking noise that nearly split her eardrum, it leapt at her. She screamed and it landed on her head.
Her brother turned around. When he saw the creature he yelled and grabbed at it. It laughed. It was a squeaky sound. It clawed at her scalp, causing her to scream more. Her brother grabbed it by the back of the neck and pulled it off of her.
“Run Loren, wait for me at the fork in the road.” he said. Loren ran without a second glance. She heard it squealing as she ran, then she heard a thump and it stopped.
She shook. Then she reached the road. She turned left and continued running. When she reached the fork she stopped, panting.
After a moment her brother caught up with her. “Come on, we’re going to our fort.” Loren stared at him. A few years ago they had built a fort in the tallest tree within a mile of their home, but it turned out to not be safe, as they had built it without any supports. While they were building it one part of the floor fell to the ground, with Loren on top of it. She had only been saved because her brother had been only a few feet away and caught her.
He began walking and she followed. “What’s going on?” she asked. Her brother didn’t answer. She stopped. “I am not moving until you tell me what’s going on.” She said.
Her brother sighed. “I promise I’ll explain later, right now we need to move.” Loren sat down on the ground. “Explain now.” She said.
“I can’t explain now, we need to get going.” Loren didn’t move. “Loren, if we don’t move we will probably get killed, please wait until we reach the fort.” He said. Loren got up and began walking. Her brother seemed relieved, and he started walking again as well. After about five minutes of walking they reached their old fort. It was rotting and had moss growing on it, but it was stable enough for them to climb up and sit. Then the sky began to darken. “What’s wrong with the sky? It’s hardly noon!” she said. Her brother became pale. Then the screaming started. Fires began springing up in the city. Loren buried her face in her brother’s shirt. He patted her back. “It’s all right Loren, we’ll be fine.” Loren wasn’t so sure.
Loren woke. She looked around. She was on Morcant’s back. “Did it twice as fast as I did when we were at home.” Erik said. Then he noticed that she was awake. He stopped talking immediately. “Hello Loren, good to see that you’re awake.” He said.
They’re hiding something from me. She thought.
Won't annoy you with yak about paragraphing. You've probably got the gist. Someone else speaks, new line. Yar? That's your main problem, sort that out and you're awesome. 
