Shards of darkness (watty awards 2012)

Escape and capture

Escape and capture

Ana awoke from her half cast dreams as the world around her erupted into one of noise and pain. A thunderous bellow sounded in the cave as a wild animal roared and shrieked. Ana ran for the crevice but he got to her first. Picking her up by the hair and throwing her against the opposite wall. She took the impact on her left side and knew her arm was injured. He ran at her, screaming profanities. She dived out the way landing on her left arm. This time she heard the bone crack. Wincing with the effort of moving and the agony it brought with it, Ana half crawled half dragged herself towards the crevice. Her arm hurt terribly. She knew that now was her time for death and she would rather die to her injuries than face the creature out side. Sadly, through all the pain they brought, they were not enough to end her life. Dimly, She remembered what the saiacs would do. The former leader Shrelvi said that when faced with death or death in pain, the latter was always the first option. For a saiac it is easy. They require neither tool nor poison. All it takes is a single blow to the mind to stop the brain. Painless, quick. Shrelvi himself resorted to such measures after he betrayed the saiacs to the authorities and her was chased down. After his hiding place turned into a trap, he resorted to suicide. When they pulled him out of the gutter he was dead. Ana wondered if now it would be her turn. After all she knew how too, it would be so easy… No. She couldn’t do it. At least she could try to reason with him. Reason with the devil. Ha!

Thiorah seeming not to notice her hiding place at first, for he tore up the cave. Cracking rocks, sending parts of the wall crashing down. What ever had happened to him, it had left him shaken. So strongly so that the deepest core of his being, the part of him he kept locked within himself, had broken free leaving him deranged.

What seemed to Ana like hours passed and his crazed attempt to destroy grew weaker and weaker until it subside all together. He pressed his back against the wall that a few moment before, he had been trying to crush, and he slid down it til he landed in a heap, hugging himself and howling. When even that faded to a low whimper, Ana spoke.

“What happened to you?” He remained silent. “Why are you…” When he did not answer, Ana knew she would need to change tact or he would slide back into the impassive oblivion he had been before she sung.

“Thiorah…” She whispered. The result was startling. He stood bolt upright before charging over to her crevice. She tried to go deeper but he just widened the gap so he could follow. His hand snaked towards her head. He grabbed a handful of hair then twisted. Ana desperately attempted to avaid him but he was to strong. He pulled her out and hurled her on to the floor. She landed on her front, all the wind knocked out of her. He turned his back on her for a second to fix the wall. When he had finished, there was not even a trace of the crevice being there at all. Still he would not face her. Even in the accumulated gloom of the dying night, Ana could see his fists clenched and shaking. One was dripping some dark liquid that Ana guessed was blood. She did not try to communicate with him again for she knew she would end up dead as the result. She just felt the throbbing of her battered limbs and listened to his breathing. Ragged, uneven, livid. And then he spoke.

“I tried to kill him truly I did… and then I didn’t. Why didn’t I? Isn’t it what I want? To see his blood gush from beneath my battering claws. But for his PITY! He would pity me! Me? Yes of course not! He is liar! Liar liar liar! Die Die die! Oh what has happened to me! Me! At the mercy of the bane of my life! All our lives and I wasn’t ready to fight him. How could that be? Rip out his tongue! Cut off his lips sew up his mouth so he can’t lie! Oh Dekk weeps! WEEPS at both of us! And I lent him tears! Dekk pities me! …Dekk pities NOONE! Gather you senses Thiorah! You WILL fight him and he will DIE! Blast him with the eternal flames of hell! He will die! But not yet. It is not yet the time to fight and you knew that, so why call him to you? The girl!” He spun round and stared, his gaze boring deep into her own. He stepped to wards her. Ana pushed her self away, shielding her face with her uninjured arm.