Glow

Chapter Sixteen

Basically I skipped over the last part of the interlude because it was boring and not necessary. I added the gist of it to the end of the second part, so yeah.

We have nine chapters left, more or less. I'm really excited to start my next project. I haven't decided on the name, but I really enjoying working on the concept, so stay tuned.

I hope you enjoy!

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Samara awoke to the dingy smell of damp stone walls. Her head and shoulders ached, and her back burned. She lifted her head from the hard floor and blinked rapidly, trying to clear her eyes so she could take a good look of her surroundings.

It was cold in the room. What little light that streamed through a small barred window in the corner was quickly waning. The room was made entirely of stone but for the floor, which was a splintered, rough wood.

She shivered.

She was tired and hurt but she pushed herself up into a sitting position. At least she was alive. Thank the gods she was alive. But her back burned, like she had been dragged across a hard stone floor, and her mouth was dry. She craved water but knew that until whomever had taken her gave her any, she would get nothing.

She curled up.

Everything was wrong.

                          *                          *                          *

"They have her!"

Kitsune stood in the doorway to the small room at the inn, her cloak dusty and her eyes wild underneath her cloak. "They've taken Samara!"

"Who?" Xef asked, rising from his stool.

"I don't know, that's the problem," She huffed, going over and flopping down on the lone straw mattress. "It was a man. He attacked us. We found the Dreamers and he attacked us. He knocked me out and when I awoke she was gone."

"What did he look like?"

"Uhm..." Kitsune put her head in her hands. "Younger. Solderish type. Kundarian, and a castle guard to boot."

"There's bound to be hundreds of those. Can you think of any other distinctive features?"

Kitsune thought for a moment, and then looked up. "Yes."

"What?"

"There was a large tattoo on his left hand. It was a phoenix, or maybe a peafowl. I always get the two mixed up. And there was a large scar on his neck."

"Wait," Xef contemplated for a moment. "The tattoo, the phoenix. Did you see a sort of half-moon shape under it, as if it was perched."

Kitsune shrugged. "It happened very quickly. But it's possible."

"And what of the scar, what did that look like?"

Kitsune's face lit up. "Yes! It was as if he had been burned with a poker. It was a strange oval-like shape."

Xef's eyes widened. He stopped where he was and his hand flew over his mouth. There he stood, one hand over his mouth, the other clenched in a fist at his side. One minute. Then two. Slowly he took his hand away and unclenched his fist.

"That was my brother."

"Your brother?!" Arvind exclaimed.

"Yes. His name is Callius. He left my mother and I when he was young."

"Why?"

"My mother needed money. She decided to make some by recruiting young men into the Kundarian army. She wasn't making her quota, so they came to her one day, and my brother decided in order to save both my mother and I that he would join the army. She was exempted from her debt after that, and then we went into hiding."

The room fell into a shocked silence. Arvind opened his mouth and closed it again. Xef looked at his shoes. Kitsune broke the silence.

"He has Samara. I don't know why. But we need to get her."

"Why?" Xef asked. "She's not important."

Kitsune bolted upright, looked Xefarias right in the eye, and threw off her hood.

Neither Arvind or Xefarias had seen her face before, so when they did, it was a shock.

The only Archers Xef and Arvind had seen that had revealed their faces were the older ones. Their eyes were grazed with the sight of suffering and their bodies had been forced to endure the hardships of war. Their hair was long gone, and their skin rarely saw the light of day. Kitsune was still young. Her curly red hair frizzed at her shoulders and dropped regularly in front of her face. Her eyes were green and blue like the ocean, and she was pale as a ghost. But her jaw was squared, and her eyes stormy. She looked at Xef with a fury.

"Now, let's start here for a moment. You are a cowardly, dastardly, awful, horrendous man. You should be tied to a stake and beaten with sticks. Someone should pull all of your teeth out, one by one. How dare you. How dare you say someone isn't important."

"But-" the knight tried to interject, but was cut down by her words.

"No excuses. No buts. Everyone is important. Everyone has a story to tell and a role to play. You say Samara isn't important. Not in your perfect little story. Not in your tiny little world. If she isn't, then who is? You don't understand, Lord Xefarias. Everyone is important. Their stories are important. All the people you may see on the streets, the ones you think trite, are the main players in their own stories. You think Samara is unimportant. But to me, she's everything. She's life. She's hope. She can save our story. All we have to do is save her."

Xefarias looked at his hands, his shoes, but not into her eyes.

"Look at me!" she shouted. "Look at me, Xefarias, if that's even your name. What is your first name?"

"It's Salden," he finally spoke. "But when I became a knight they changed it to Salamander. The name doesn't translate well, I suppose."

"Well, Salden-"

"Salamander."

"SALDEN. Tell me this. The day you lost your brother, the day everything was turned around, what did you think about? Who did you think about? Can you think of anyone but yourself, Salden? Of course you can't."

Kitsune turned to Arvind. "Help me."

"To do what?!"

"Save Samara. Will you?"

"I...I..." he stammered.

The look on her face turned to pure contempt. She spat at their feet, threw up her hood, and was out the door.

They stood in silence.

Arvind looked at Xefarias.

"We have to save Samara," he said.

And he ran.