Young Writers Society

At first, Evaline simply teared up. They were bitter tears, reminding her of the resentment and hatred that she had kept a lid on these past several years.

But after James kindly and gently rested his hand on her shoulder and told her quite possibly the kindest words anyone had ever said to her, she started bawling.

Not bitter tears. No, they were... lively, spirited. Happy.

She had no idea what came over her; it was like her body was exhausted for being on the edge all these years, keeping her emotions stable and on check because she had to be. Other people depended on her.

But here was a man who had every right not to trust her or keep her around, and he was okay with having her travel with him... potentially forever?

How could he be so selfless? Why did he show her such kindness?

"I'm sorry," she said as she wiped away the tears, trying not to choke on her own words. "I'm not usually like this, I'm just..."

She looked at him between her hands, and for a moment, his kind expression reminded her of her long lost childhood friend, peering down at her, always there for her every time she cried over a fight with her parents. 'It'll be okay, Eve,' he often said, giving her a careful hug despite the consequences.

She hadn't ever hugged him back, but now, she felt like she had one last chance.

She suddenly reached forward, arms hugged around his chest, head on his shoulder. "Thank you," she whispered.

James let out a faint grunt in surprise as Evaline suddenly grabbed him, pulling him into a hug. He was stiff and still, just for a second, before he hesitantly lifted his arms and embraced her, and patted her on the back.

He was thankful that she was hugging gently.

It took him a few seconds to relax a little, but he let Evaline hug him as long as she needed, not really aware that he was rubbing her back gently with his thumb, back and forth.

"Of course," he said back, quietly. "You're going to be okay."

Evaline sniffed a few times, letting a comfortable silence sit between them as they hugged. She lingered a little longer than normal for a hug, but finally she pulled away, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Do you understand why magic brought me to you now?" she asked in an attempt to lighten the mood, only realizing too late how cheesy that must have sounded. She inwardly cringed.

James couldn’t help but laugh.

“Trust me, I don’t understand much about magic,” he said with a smile, shaking his head and finally, slowly turning to get them moving again. At a slow pace for now.

“But I can’t complain about it sending me good com—“

His sentence came to an abrupt stop when he heard a dog howl in the distance. A long, single note, held out like an ominous warning bell. James stared out into the forest with wide eyes, in the direction of the town, where it came from. Without delay, his heart was racing. His blood, already, pounding through his head. He gripped Elliot’s reins tightly.

Shit.

He looked to Evaline.

“Horse riding lesson number two starts now,” he said harshly. He mounted onto the saddle, pulling himself up and ignoring the pain. He then reached out a hand for Evaline to take.

“Put your foot in the stirrup,” he said, his words hurried, and tense. “Take my hand. I’ll pull you up. You’ll sit behind me.”

A howl was heard in the distance, and suddenly the mood shifted. It went from one of comfort and optimism, to one of dread and panic.

James was adamant of getting her to skip all the steps leading up to riding a horse, and although he didn't ask why, she already knew: someone was coming after him.

She had so many thoughts and questions, and she opened her mouth to speak, but decided against saying anything of importance. "Okay," she said, nodding. "I trust you."

Evaline put her foot on the stirrup like he instructed and grabbed his calloused hand, and immediately he pulled her up, giving her the momentum she needed to sit behind him.

James turned back to make sure Evaline was on, and he signaled to Elliot that it was time to go. Elliot started forward, slowly at first.

"Hold on to me," James ordered.

Elliot was starting to build up speed. James snapped the reins.

"Hyah!"

And they surged forward.

Evaline followed his order, lightly gripping his waist at first, but finding herself transition to what was essentially a tight hug from behind as Elliot started to run fast. She grimaced as she also tried her best to keep her legs grounded on Elliot

If it wasn't for James, she knew she'd be flying out of the horse right now.

Trees started flying by then quickly as James guided them through the forest, and James, for a moment, thought the dogs weren’t as close as he thought. But then he started to hear a distant barking, coming closer, and closer, and closer.

This was his fault. He should've rushed them more. They should've hurried. They should've been traveling faster.

James leaned forward, with his heels down in the stirrups, not letting himself close his eyes for a second.

"Come on, Elliot, let's give these guys a chase!"

James was glad Evaline was holding on tightly. Whatever pain came of it was numbed by fear and adrenaline coursing through him, pushing him and Elliot forward as their lives depended on it. Like Evaline's life depended on it.

They made some distance, veering deep into the forest, weaving around trees, but taking the flattest route, so Elliot could go his full speed. But as they were flying, the breaking of bushes and underbrush behind them made James glance behind them, seeing the three big, meaty dogs charging towards them, with their teeth snapping at branches and leaves that flew by them.

Elliot took a sharp right turn, and two of the dogs skidded, while one sped up to meet Elliot at his ankles, and started snapping at the stirrups, teeth bared, aiming for his and Evaline's legs.

James sent a seething glare down at the dog, but the glare was mixed with a wide-eyed fear he couldn't hide. He cursed under his breath.

He tightened his hold on the reins with one arm, wishing he hadn't lost his gun to Butch three weeks ago.

The dog leaped up, teeth catching onto Evaline's boot for a second, but James freed his foot from the stirrup and kicked his heel into its face, which slowed the dog down only for a second. It took James a second to balance himself again.

Just as the three dogs started to converge at Elliot's heels, James saw two horses weaving through the trees in the corner of his eye.

One, massive steed - a large, muscular draft horse, carrying its tall, heavy owner with powerful strides, kicking up massive chunks of dirt flying behind them.

Butch.

Behind him, was a dark horse, and the greasy, wiry man Butch had as his partner; Reed.

James didn't know if they could escape this one. Elliot was still tired. He was spent. Evaline was thoroughly unprepared for something like this.

A dog jumped up and latched onto his leg, and James let out a cry of pain.

He couldn't get out words as he grabbed Evaline's hands and curled her fingers around the reins.

"Hold on!" he shouted, as he slipped his boots out of the stirrups, and ducked under the reins, sliding off the saddle and tumbling to the forest floor with the dog, whose jaws were still clasped on his calf.

Everything happened so fast.

Evaline was holding on to James tightly, and she knew applying pressure onto his wounds would hurt him, but after the dogs and men in horses came into view, this was likely the least of his concerns right now.

She barely had time to process anything until James grabbed her hands to take control of Elliot before slipping off. Her eyes widened in complete fear, only having a split second to look back at him wrestling off the dog biting his foot before Elliot flew past him.

"James!" was all she managed to get out before Elliot winded around the path and he become obscured from view.

Her heart was racing against her chest, her mind numb and slow, still not yet processing the gravity of the situation. Here she was, having never ridden or seen a horse before, taking control of the reins. James left her. He let her escape.

But she wasn't going to allow him to let her go like this.

Evaline still had the reins in her hand, but it was essentially useless as she had her arms tightly wrapped around Elliot's neck, holding on for dear life as he sprinted across the forest.

She needed to leave. She needed to help. She couldn't just leave him there!

Elliot seemed to start to slow down, as if sensing her thoughts, or perhaps he knew that Evaline was not an experienced rider who told him where to go and at what speed.

She peered down at the ground to determine if now was a good time to jump off, loosening her grip around Elliot. But it was no use thinking; Elliot took a sharper turn, and Evaline was not prepared.

She flung off the horse, tumbling on the ground a few times before coming to a stop. She let out a few painful grunts, head facing down as she got on her knees. Her hands shook on the ground as she dug her fingernails deep into the earth, clenching her teeth.

She looked back behind her. Elliot was still running, albeit slower. There was no chance she could control that horse.

Without wasting another second, she sprinted back in the direction James had let her go, not caring what leaves and branches she ran into.

The dog wouldn't let go, and James wasn't sure what hurt more - the teeth digging into his skin with its locked jaw, or everything else.

He kicked and wrestled with the dog as the two others started circling him, but it was no use. His mind felt like a fuzzy, screaming haze, and he didn't know how much longer he could push through the agony to fight, to flee, to run.

His vision was blurry as he looked out in the direction Elliot ran.

They were gone. They would be safe. He hoped neither of them came back for him. Please. Please just keep running.

He heard heavy hoof-steps slowing to a stop near him, and a sharp whistle rang through his ears, and all at once, the dogs stopped barking. Butch dismounted with a thump on the ground and the stirrups on his boots clinked as he came closer.

James looked up at Butch, who towered over him.

Butch was built like a tree. His arms were as wide as James's head was around, and his stocky frame only emphasized his height, making him seem three to four times larger than the average human.

It didn't help that James was on the ground, either.

Butch grinned down at him with his lips curling, and his lower lip protruding from his underbite. Thick sideburns on the sides of his face framed his sickly grin and his long hair, pulled back into a low ponytail, was hidden, mostly, under a wide-brimmed cowboy hat.

"You can let go now, girl," he said to the dog, who finally unlocked its jaws off of James's leg. James couldn't help but let out a shaky gasp.

"Boy, you sure got lucky, today, didn't you?" Butch laughed, kicking James in the ribs before bending over and grabbing James by the shirt, lifting him up in the air so his feet hovered over the ground.

"The doc's not around anymore, Hemming," Butch purred.

That was how James had gotten away last time. There had been a third in his party. A doctor, who made sure James stayed alive enough for Butch to get his reward, and so Reed could keep torturing him.

Butch didn't have to say anything else for James to know what Butch had done to him.

The doctor was dead. Because James had escaped on his watch.

Butch dumped James back on the ground and flipped him over, lifting up the back of his shirt.

"Let's see how that brand is healing."

James heard another horse ride up beside them, and another pair of feet land on the ground. Reed.

Butch ripped away the bandages with no hesitation. James hissed through his teeth, and attempted to spin around and face Butch, but was met with a kick to the head.

He started seeing stars.

"Looks like the doc did a decent job," a voice said.

"Hopefully it'll be healed by the time we make it to the outpost."

The voices were blending together in his head, sounding distant.

"Okay, let's get going before his puppy gets back."

"Wasn't there a girl too?"

"Well, lucky her. She's getting rid of dead weight."

James was turned over again, with his vacant gaze facing up at the sky.

He had just enough cognizance to speak.

"I was wondering," he strained. "What was taking so long."

He heard feet shift in the dirt. Reed's face came into view. Tired-looking eyes with a pointed gaze. Reed knelt down.

"What, you miss us?"

James spat in Reed's face, and then Reed reached around his side, digging his fingers into an old wound.

James screamed.

Evaline ran through the forest, panic and dread starting to creep in at the back of her throat. She felt her anxiety bubbling inside of her, only held together with the thin string of hope that James was okay, he wasn't actually in trouble, he was waiting for her to return back to him.

She told him she fought in a war. But it wasn't like this. She wasn't the combative type.

She was lost.

The panic made it out of her throat and into her eyes, blurring her vision and causing her to fumble, tripping over a tree root.

Evaline fell forward, barely catching herself with her hands. "Where are you?" she said in a rough voice out loud through gritted teeth, biting back desperate tears.

And then she heard him scream. It was, undeniably, his voice.

At that moment, Evaline dropped all the dread and panic, laser-focused on trying to find him. She got back up on her feet and followed the direction of his voice, carelessly making lots of noise around her as a trade-off to speed.

She had no plan. She had no tactic. At this moment, she was like James, only thinking in the present.

She had to find him.

Everything was fuzzy, and nothing was coming into focus. Low laughter echoed in his ears, slowly dying out, and he stopped listening to what they were saying. He could hear the dogs, settling down, panting. He could hear their feet, crunching against the earth. And then he heart someone breaking branches, with frantic footsteps, rushing their direction.

Evaline.

James groaned, and reached for the blurry head above him, pulling down with force. Reed’s nose met his forehead, and James felt something crack, and something wet. He watched as Reed cursed and pulled away.

“Oh, that’s it!”

It was Butch’s voice.

A big boot came pounding against his chest, and then dug into his throat.

“Stop fighting!”

No. He couldn’t. Evaline was coming. She would be in trouble.

James felt tears pricking at his eyes as he lost air. He gasped, but nothing came.

Without the doctor, Butch was already forgetting his limits.

James was wanted alive, but Butch didn’t know what alive was. He only knew the pleasure of inflicting pain.

His vision started going dark.

She had found him. Despite all odds, she had found him.

As Evaline clearly began to hear voices, she slowed her steps and minimized the amount of noise she made. She silently moved from tree to tree, edging closer and closer.

She tried not to listen to the taunting conversation, the sound of flesh being ripped, the noise of blunt force trauma.

Evaline peeked out behind the tree, finally close enough to see them.

To see James. Choking.

Rage flowed through her veins, and she had to stop herself from doing anything impulsive or stupid. She found herself biting down her tongue so much she could taste the metallic blood in her mouth, and her fingers were lightly shaking, gripping the tree trunks.

She had to stop them. She had to create a distraction.

Impulsivity started to creep into her actions, and she frantically eyed the ground to find rocks or anything she could use to throw and use as a distraction. But as she stepped to the side, her foot snagged on an thin branch, causing it to snap in half with a soft crack.

Evaline's heart skipped a beat as she stood perfectly still back behind the tree, hoping they were too distracted to notice.

Butch and Reed looked up.

“Y’ hear that?”

“Reed, go check it out.”

James felt the pressure on his neck relieve for a moment, and he gasped, choking on the air. He coughed and wheezed, before the foot landed on his chest again.

“Don’t even think about moving.”

James watched with unfocused vision as Reed pulled out his pistol, and treaded on light feet into the trees.

“We know you’re out there,” Reed taunted. “If you’re here to save him, tough luck. You better run off before you get hurt.”

Evaline felt a small bead of sweat fall off her face.

What was she doing? What was her plan? How was she supposed to save James?

She stood perfectly still without saying a word, knowing that revealing herself was not going to do her any use right now.

She closed her eyes and took a silent deep breath, mentally preparing for the man to approach her, if he found her.