Warmth

1 - Encounter

The abduction had been quick as it had been irrefutable. Fleur lived just within the bounds of the village, which made her an easy target to abscond with at dusk. On the way back from the outhouse, a quick, rough grasp had snatched her up from around her waist and clapped over her mouth. Her body had always been slender and today, even as well-fed as she'd been the past season, her strength was scarcely at odds with her assailants. With a harsh shake and a threat, she quieted and she and her kidnappers disappeared into the evening.

The first day of travel within a covered wagon had been without sleep. The electric fear that buzzed throughout her frame kept her watchful, but mercifully, the brutes ignored the slip of a girl amongst their other prizes. When Fleur finally closed her eyes in exhaustion, she prayed that the simple folk that'd let her settle in town remained safe in their wake. 

The next evening was deceptively mild, though any folk born to the area knew the friendly aura of the sky to hold a storm in a few hands time. A sweet summer breeze coaxed her fine strands of cornsilk blond hair to tickle across her cheek. Hands bound behind her back, Fleur shrugged a thin shoulder to alleviate the itch. The gesture scrubbed a mote of dirt from her skin to join the already-soiled cloth of her dress.

The blonde's throat shifted, but it was long since barren of moisture. Thinking better than to ask for a drink of water, she did her best to curl into herself, as though by doing so, she might eventually disappear altogether. As thirsty as she was, she thought she would have run out of tears, but the dark spots over her skirt marked otherwise.

Eyes wary through her fatigue, Fleur kept her attentions on how far the cart trundled on, but once they passed the Northern fork, she was lost. They may as well have driven straight off of the map, but on went the pitiful excuse for a road.

********

It was dark when the group halted. Where summers eve would have lit their path any other day, cloud cover smothered the waning guide. The sway of the carriage hardly stirred Fleur's attentions from her empty belly, but as she worked to keep her mind turned deep inside herself, she felt a nudge there. Something besides the cramping discomfort.

Fleur huddled into herself and tried to ignore the way her hands could no longer feel. What was it...? Some sort of pressure? But it felt...not of herself. Like a plume of...? She could not grasp the concept. The blond was so tired. She accepted that she was likely hallucinating. Her focus had wavered well enough in the last few hours. Certainly thirst and fright was swaying her mind.

Though her consciousness danced over the evening, her knowledge of that strange sensation only grew stronger. It was grim and hard within her, but amidst the consternation, the presence was steered by an unshakable curiosity. Exhausted and wanting nothing more than a friendly face, she reached out to the presence with a defeated exhale. She suspected she wasn't long for this world-or at the very least, this land-and Fleur craved any mote of hope of seeing home again. Someone please. Save me.

The sounds of hooves splashing through water failed to snare her attention amidst her lulling trance, but the sudden shouts from without did not. Turning her head over the carriage floor, she opened one baby blue eye and glanced over the inside of the carriage's cloth cover in search. The flickering of the bandit's torches without cast shadows that warped and danced as the men outside shifted.

Fleur opened her other eye warily. Something pressed to the outside of her senses more firmly than the ghostly wisp she'd been courting for the past few hours. It wasn't a sensation she could explain away by desperation. There had been plenty of that the past few days. This though. This was something angry. Pressing herself into the wall of the cart as closely as she could, Fleur renewed her efforts to become one with the surface and melt from view. Having no feeling in her hands or feet and no strength to right them, she prayed.

Her pleas were answered in screams. Calls to action and swearing quickly turned keen before a corner of the carriage's cover was violently ripped away. Flame too potent to have come from torch alone swept up in a wash of light. Fleur winced and flinched away from the expected heat. Though the burning press was enough to make the fine hairs of her cheek stand on end, she did not catch. A shudder wracked through her small frame as she processed the danger on a primal level. If she didn't escape the fire without the bandits help, this would be her last night.

A brief respite passed over her sight and Fleur chanced a squint up. A silhouette was crouched at the tear in the cover. They were wreathed in flame in such a way that kept her from revealing any definition.

Licking her dry lips, Fleur gathered herself for two breaths and uttered, "Please. Help me."