Undestined: Fight your Fate

Chapter Four: Trust and Betrayal, Part 1

Silay had been walking for two hours, and was starting to wish she had thought to ask Jarlen for some of whatever it was he had put on her blisters. It seemed her shoes, which had always been comfortable for day-to-day wear back home, were not meant for long periods of walking. Already she could feel them rubbing against the same places she had gotten blisters before, and without Riya's conversation to distract her, they felt worse than ever. She set a goal for herself. Up, then down the hill she could see ahead of her, then she could stop for a quick snack and let her feet rest for a moment.

She had just reached the bottom of the hill when a person passed her on the road. He gave her a quick, sidelong glance as he walked by, then came to an abrupt stop.

"Silay! Is that you? What are you doing this far from Dagrosa?"

Silay stopped and stared for a moment. He did look familiar. Like someone she had seen around town, but hadn't known well because he was a few years older than her. A name popped into her head.

"Talis?"

He grinned. "I knew you'd remember!" Talis kept walking and Silay fell into step beside him. He repeated his question. "So, why are you out here? Not many people from back home go traveling." His eyes flicked towards her. "Unless it has something to do with your destiny?"

Silay shrugged, fighting back a sudden surge of anger. The last thing she needed right now was another Dagrosian reminding her of her lack of destiny. But it wasn't Talis' fault. He clearly didn't know. "Something like that."

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"What is it? Your destiny, I mean. I left before your group's Fortune Day."

Silay stopped and turned so she was facing Talis, trying to remember what his destiny had been. It wasn't to be a Hero, but she seemed to remember it had been something considered hero-like, something she had been hoping hers would have been. "My destiny is none of your business." It was an unconscious echo of her words to Riya.

"Come on, Silay. It's not like they're secrets."

"Well, mine is." She pivoted on her foot and continued to walk down the road.

Talis watched her walk away for a moment, then jogged a few paces to catch up with her. He grabbed her arm to stop her. "It's just a question. Come on, tell me."

"Let go!" Silay pulled her arm out of his grasp and turned to keep walking. "I told you, it's none of your business."

Talis grabbed her arm again, harder this time, turning her to look at him. "Tell me about the plague."

Silay tried to push down her growing feeling of panic. "What plague?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Silay. I heard about the plague, and I know you have information about it." His grip on her arm tightened.

"Talis! Let go! You're hurting me!" She tried to break away, but couldn't. Now she was truly panicking. What did Talis want?

"Tell me about the plague, and I will. Where does it start?"

Silay took a deep breath and stopped struggling, desperately trying to get command of her thoughts. Be confident. That's what Jarlen had told her. "Let me go, and I'll tell you. Please, you're hurting me!"

"Do I have your word?"

"I promise. Please, just let me go."

Talis released her arm, and Silay jerked away. She paused for a moment and breathed in as if she was about to say something. Talis nodded, encouraging her to speak. Instead, Silay turned and ran.

She made it a few feet before Talis' hand grabbed the back of her tunic, dragging her backwards. Silay started to move her hand towards her dagger. She wasn't sure what she could do with it, but she wanted to be armed.

"None of that, now." With one hand, Talis grabbed her hand at the wrist, and jerked her arm behind her back. With his other hand, he pulled Silay's dagger out of its sheath and shoved it through his own belt. He yanked on her arm, turning her so she faced the side of the road. "Come on. You and I are going to talk." Still holding Silay's arm behind her back, Talis pushed her off the road and towards the trees that ran along it.

***

There was a knob pressing into Silay's back on the tree she was tied to. She had struggled at first, but that had just made the ropes cut into her arms and wrists. Besides tying her to the tree, Talis had cut off a piece of her tunic and gagged her with it. Now he was digging through her bag.

Talis held up a jar and studied it. "Pre-activated wards? Can't you make your own?"

He looked at her, and Silay glared back the best she could, her eyes filled with frustrated tears.

"Are you crying?" Talis demanded. "Not much of a Hero, are you? That is what you're supposed to be, isn't it? Trying to stop the plague and all?" Silay looked away, but Talis continued. "There hasn't been a true Hero for years. I'm the closest in generations. If anyone is going to stop the plague, it'll be me. I've been waiting my whole life for something like this to happen."

While he talked, he continued to dig through the bag. He pulled out the map and grinned. "Ah, here we go." Unrolling it, he looked at the town the Seer had circled for Silay. "Dilest, eh? Never even heard of it. Can't be very big." He set the map on the ground, and placed another one next to it, copying the markings on Silay's map onto his own. Then he put everything back into Silay's bag and set it on the ground next to her. He saw her eyes flick towards it. "I'm not a thief," he said defensively. "I'm just trying to get information. I'm trying to help."

Silay pulled against the ropes holding her. People who wanted to help others, she thought bitterly, did not tie people to trees.

Talis watched her struggle and, to Silay's surprise, he actually looked concerned. "You're going to hurt yourself if you keep fighting the ropes like that." He sighed. "I could untie you. But I think you'll either try to attack me or run. And I don't want you to do either. At least not until I've gotten a head start on you." He stood, running his hand through his light-brown hair as he considered the problem. Finally, he sat back down and opened his bag, pulling out a small satchel of something. He poured the contents of the satchel into his water-skin and swirled it around, watching the water dissolve the mixture.

Silay was staring at him intently. "See? I'm not the bad guy here." He gave the water-skin another shake. "I'm leaving your water untouched, so you'll have something to drink when you wake up." Silay's eyes widened at his words, and Talis noticed.

"Look, I didn't want to do this, all right?" Talis stood and stepped towards her. "But it's my destiny to be great, and this plague is the first thing I've heard of that could help me do that. I've spent my whole life training for this. If you had just talked to me instead of trying to run off, we wouldn't be here." He glared at Silay. "I'm leaving you with all your things, even your dagger. You'll be able to get free after I leave. If you're smart, you'll go back home. Or something. Just don't follow me."

Suddenly, he yanked the gag off of her. Before Silay could yell, he covered her nose and mouth with his hand. She panicked, and pulled against the ropes desperately, trying to get Talis' hand off her face, trying to get air. Her lungs were screaming when Talis jerked her head back and uncovered her mouth. She gasped for air, but got water instead, as Talis dumped the contents of his water-skin down her throat. She choked, then swallowed when Talis covered her mouth again. Breathing desperately through her nose, Silay continued to struggle against the ropes. Talis' hand on her mouth began to feel fuzzy, which, Silay vaguely thought, made sense, since Talis himself was also starting to look fuzzy. The outline of his body began to blur into that of the surrounding trees. Then everything went black.

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Dedicated to @Monrosey, for being incredibly helpful and welcoming to a new Wattpad member. She is the author of the ongoing stories The Secret and Strawberry Wine. Her completed story, Chasing Neverland, is a beautiful and compelling re-telling of the Peter Pan story, and I highly recommend it.

You can also follow Monrosey on tumblr at http://monrosey.tumblr.com/
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