Undestined: Fight your Fate

Chapter Seven: The Strange Magician, Pt. 2

Dimly aware of approaching footsteps, Silay forced herself into alertness. How long had she been asleep? What was happening now?

"Don't be frightened." It was Jarlen's voice! "It's just us."

Someone knelt by Silay's side, and gently removed the blindfold. Silay blinked. It was dim in the room, and it took her a moment to see Riya's face looking at her with concern. Riya removed the gag. "Are you all right?"

"I think so. My head hurts, though."

Riya nodded, and quickly untied the ropes around Silay's wrists and ankles. She paused, looking at the dried blood on her wrists. "I should have taught you not to struggle against ropes. I wish we had something to put on that."

"I'm fine." Silay pulled her wrists out of Riya's grasp.

Riya rocked back on her heels and settled on the ground. Jarlen joined them, slowly lowering himself to the floor. He looked at the two women.

"Well, this is quite the mess we've gotten ourselves into," he said.

"What happened?" Silay asked. "You were gone when I got to the road."

"Ambush." Riya rubbed her eyes. "And now we have no horses, and no supplies."

"And no magic." Jarlen looked pointedly at Riya. Silay followed his gaze.

"Riya! It's one of those collar things again, isn't it?"

Riya nodded.

"Can we cut it off? Remove it somehow?"

"They're spelled, Silay. Only someone with the counter-spell can remove it. Otherwise, what would be the point?"

"So, nothing?"

Jarlen and Riya both shook their heads no, and for the first time Silay noticed how worn they looked. Jarlen's left arm was wrapped up in a piece of his shirt, and Riya had a deep bruise spreading across her face. Silay dropped her head into her hands. "This is all my fault. I decided we should investigate the shouts."

Riya put her arm around Silay's shoulder. "You tried to do the right thing. And I don't think you could have kept me from trying to help anyways."

"But what do we do now?"

"We stay put." Jarlen stood up. "We have shelter for the night, and it's unlikely anyone will disturb us here.  Tomorrow we'll find food and water, and decided what to do from there."

Silay raised her head. "Well, at least we've learned something."

"What's that?"

"You were right, Riya. Someone is behind the plague."

***

Silay woke the next morning cold and stiff. Even worse, she was thirsty. More thirsty than she had ever been in her life. Carefully, she stood and slowly flexed her muscles. Jarlen was awake, sitting with his back against the wall. He nodded in greeting, dark circles under his eyes suggesting he hadn't slept at all. Riya was still asleep, curled up in a corner like a cat. Her face was pale.

Quietly, so she didn't wake Riya, Silay went through the stretches she had been taught. Once her muscles were warmed up, she did a few of Riya’s drills. Jarlen eventually stood up and joined her. After they had gone through two rounds of drills, he stopped. “We should wake her up.” He nodded towards the corner. “We need to find water, and food.”

Silay followed his gaze. “Is she all right?”

Jarlen shrugged. “The collar hurts her. And though she’s tried to hide it, I think she got injured in the fight.”