Shadows in the Trees: Book 1

Chapter 17

"It looks like it did," Jaida said, gesturing weakly with her bound hands. Freya sobered and tried stretching at her bonds again. "Don't bother. I've been working at my bonds since I woke up, and all I've got to show for it is --"

"Shh! Someone is coming!" Freya said. Jaida stilled. 

Warm yellow light began to leak into the room. Freya could just barely make out three sets of footsteps, but what really alerted her to their presence was their conversation. They spoke in a strange language Freya didn't recognize, which was surprising; Freya knew at least a few words in most languages, and she was fluent in Jentsi and the common tongue. She could hardly make out individual words. Their speech sounded like wind blowing through the leaves, or water rushing over stones. Freya relaxed her muscles and concentrated on making her breath slow and even, but she kept her eyes slanted open, hoping to catch a glimpse of her abductors.

Julian stirred beside her. "What --"

"Shh!" Freya said fiercely. Julian looked to the light, which was now flooding the room, and quieted. Then, three . . . things -- Freya didn't know what else to call them -- walked through the gauzy curtain that hung over the entrance.

One was dressed in a woven skirt and shawl, with beads, ribbons, and braids adorning its hair. It was talking excitedly, waving its hands as it spoke. The other two were in some sort of armor made from woven bark, one with long, pitch-dark hair and the other with closely cropped hair the color of mud. The short-haired one had black marks on its forearm, as though its skin had been scorched. All three were tall and thin, with long limbs and brown and green skin. Freya stifled a scream. So I wasn't mistaken, she thought. At that moment, she really, really wished she had been.

Julian, however, could not stifle his screams. He flailed wildly, trying to stand. When his bonds prevented him from doing so, he squirmed like a crazed animal, tripping on the overlapping rugs. He dragged himself as far away from them as he could, using Malik and Rhiannon as holds and waking them in the process. He cowered against the far wall, wheezing or sobbing, Freya couldn't tell.

"What are you?" Julian wailed, his hands shaking. The three creatures stared at him in apparent shock, and the one in the skirts began to laugh.

"You have nothing to fear, Julian, is it?" The one in the skirts said. Julian stopped, looking at it in horror. "You are safe here. You are all safe here."

"I am Cerridwen," it continued, her full lips pulled back into a smile. Though Freya was sure she meant to look friendly, the teeth made her look as though she was planning to feast on their bones. "Behind you are my friends, Vessamachtia and . . . well, I suppose we will have you call him Jubil. I am not sure why they tied you up," she said, glaring at the one called Vessamachtia. Malik and Freya locked eyes. Is this some kind of sick game? A good guard/bad guard act?

"They are prisoners, Cerridwen. You know this."

Cerridwen sighed. "Allies, Vess, allies. Now, please, tell me your names, where you're from?" They remained silent, exchanging nervous glances. "You, on the end there. What is your name?"

Rhiannon tensed. "Sylvie, from Greze."

"You lie," Cerridwen claimed. She didn't accuse; she said it plainly, as though it were fact. 

Rhiannon swallowed. Freya wasn't sure how the creature knew she was lying; Rhiannon had told the lie smoothly, with just the right inflection of fear. And with her brown hair and hazel eyes, she was a believable Grezian. The warriors began to shift to her, evidently believing Cerridwen's proclamation.

"I'm sorry," Rhiannon sputtered, lowering her head. "My true name is Calliope, and I was born in Fachal, but I don't know who my parents were or where they were from."