Nazira
Nazira's bruised shoulder strained and her upper arm throbbed violently. Urgh! She croaked. Her body was heavy to lift. Chains heavier. Her eyes droopy. In the dim light, she could see nothing beyond the vague outline of the approaching men, and their shadows eerily extending. Where is the baby? Her mind beckoned her to rise and go search for him. She wiped her tears with the back of her good hand. From the gloom, from within one side of the bifurcated passageway, more men entered.
They came forward, four in front and four behind, slowly encircling her. The ground beneath her was damp with water and blood pooled around her. It felt like an eternity but she managed to lift herself without her feet slipping. She lacked the energy to stand but not to surge her powers.
The men charged. They soared towered her, shadows stretching out. At once the ground beneath them gave a jolt. Cracks surfaced. Then the men stopped at the spot. Nazira stood rooted to the ground, but she carefully watched the men in their sudden quest to balance themselves. The ground tore and vibrated, Nazira made sure they heard the thundering noise coming from beneath the ground. The men began to save themselves from tumbling down. They wobbled as if standing on balancing beams. A couple of them acted as if they were rolling down the cliffs of a hill when in reality they were finding their footing on the unmoved stony ground. The corners of Nazira's mouth twitched, watching them dance like crazy.
This was the moment, she thought. All the men were submerged in the illusion. It was the right time to slip away. Just run. Her legs betrayed her though, her knees buckled. She gasped against the horrifying cramping and whimpered to pick up the speed. Acting quicker may perhaps help her mind keep off the pain. She almost reached the farthest point, entered the left side of the passageway, and then...her head exploded with pain. She screamed and fell on her knees.
A man, still wobbling, had his hand pointed towards her. He's a mage! She spun around on her single knee. The man was one of the twins, she recognized.
Before she could fabricate, the man ran towards her. He bent low and held her up with his muscly arm around her neck. Nazira choked, feeling the man exerting pressure, pressing her neck in a tight chokehold, and used his other hand to cuff her bruised arm behind. A sharp stab of pain in her shoulder pulled her awareness into darkness. At that moment she thought she was indeed dead. Being a human Third-Eye did not matter. Then there was a dragging sensation. He was taking her towards the water, just like Shashi had. They know! She thought. They knew that she lacked the skill at swimming and they were taking advantage of it. The thought of dealing with the creature once again sent a shudder down her nimble spine.
She grunted, retrieving strength from the ground, and surged her powers with whatever energy she was left to muster. The man twitched, while she gave him the horrid sensation of falling into the abyss. Others were huddled in a dark corner, trying to be in a safe zone. But this very man turned out to be resilient. He wouldn't let go too easily. The hold around her neck felt slightly loosened, and Nazira, at once, burst his mind with the lethal fire. She snuck a look into his mind.
Her instincts raged. The man was a dark magic user and had defiled numerous women for his benefit. One of them was...Leena. She gasped seeing the man beating her badly, her insides soaring with anger.
The man released his grip. Taking a few steps away, and keeping her illusion intact, she spun around and reversed their positions. She encircled the chain around the man's neck and pushed him down to his knees. She pressed. Pressed harder. Pressed with intense force, until the sharp spikes dug into his throat. Her strength was fueled with rage. He writhed and twisted. Blood leaked from his neck. He held his hand up, in an attempt to call help from other men. Two of them tried, but dare they cross over the rocking, shaking, thundering ground.
A shadow emerged from the pathway. The woman, who had provided her with food, came rushing forward and stopped abruptly dead at the murderous sight. The basement must be ringing with this man's yelp. The woman had something tucked on her shoulder. Nazira recognized the towel. There was the baby in it. Nazira gasped but didn't let go of the determination to kill the man. She felt a crack. His neck muscles and his bones were crushing. When the woman frantically shook his head, realization struck her and she let the man go. She couldn't kill. She wouldn't. Only my King has the right to punish these people.
The man did not retaliate as she had expected. Instead, he slowly slumped completely down on the floor. Nazira began to shake, breathing heavily. She had to stop infiltrating into someone else's mind. That was one reason why she despised her magic.
She glared at the woman, held her dirty and bloody hands up, and gestured. Give me the baby. Now.
It took a moment, but the woman obliged. She nervously came forward, taking gentle small steps. Nazira was drenched in blood. She must've had a murderous look on her face, and the woman seemed heavily stunned as though a deer in headlights. She gently put the baby in Nazira's hand.
Nazira looked down, slowly pulling the towel off to check the baby's face. His face scrunched up. Eyes pressed shut. He was crying. Warmth filled in Nazira's heart. He is such a doll. It must be pretty cramped, living inside this towel, and so she slightly loosened its grip. She felt his soft breath...
The sudden movement jerked her back to reality. The illusion she had created to lock those men in one corner was broken. They were charging towards her. Nazira quickly secured the baby in her arms and tried to surge her powers once again to lock the men up. She gave a final goodbye look at the woman and ran into the pathway.
Her spine, her shoulder, her neck, her entire body pained. If it wasn't for the baby, she might have already dropped down unconscious. She pushed herself forward. There were two routes, the left and right. Subconsciously she took the left and ran into the darkness of the passageway. She entered the humongous area of the basement. She had been inside the basement before to save Tyrell, but she couldn't presume if it was the same location she had directed him towards the way out.
A long haul resumed.
The men chased her. She tried to surge her magic. It worked only for a few seconds. The men tumbled in their sprint but quickly rose back up.
There were countless staircases and corridors. Without thinking about the right direction, she burst into one of them, one hand around the baby's small waist and another on his head. The main perspective was to get rid of the men chasing her, and that was what she was failing at. The ground was hard enough to give her blisters. The pain was making her head whirl. She needed a place to hide and catch her breath. Her breathing became ragged, goosebumps prickling her skin. But she wouldn't stop. She remembered Hayden, and his six months of struggle to wipe out Almourah's race. She remembered Celina who went through hell with the procedure Almourah and yet did not let her spirits be dismantled. Nazira could do this too. She had to.
Her legs refused to propel her through. Her mind contemplated a convenient place to collapse. Once or twice she tried looking back over her shoulder but that slowed her down. She was unaware if the men were yet chasing her. She kept running.
The basement was an endless unruly labyrinth of passages, hallways, and corridors, with no sight of a clearing in the near. Gasping and grunting, she pushed through, her mind seemed in a haze, her shoulder pained as though brine biting into her wounds with every barge and shove.
All of a sudden the greyish-dull environment slowly began to lift off, filling up with sudden orange brightness. The more she ran, the more the brightness of the light increased. It seemed as though creating a way for her, leading her toward the exit. Constricting her heart, she followed the brilliance. There was another staircase ahead, with a gazillion threads down. A staircase to nowhere, but the brilliance of the light was sharp and inviting. She hustled down and the threads led her to another short corridor. The motion of the brightness was smooth and easy, letting her briskly crack the directions.
The illumination then turned brighter and the atmosphere warmer.
Far from the other side of the corridor, she noticed someone tall and mighty, valiant and combative, merciless and purposeful, running towards her swiftly, cutting through the brilliance of the light.
Her heart dropped. Tears came unbidden. Her speed increased with a sudden burst of hopefulness. The baby's safe now. The person's hands lit up with fire with the cadence she recognized very well, and the area engulfed in the ardent flames having spread throughout the corridor.
Hayden, thanks for not giving up on me.
-x-