Sand clogged his throat, scratching against his skin. Yet he ran. The mud slowed him, the thick sludge drawing his boots in and refusing to yield without force. The rain was cold as it soaked him again. A stark contrast to the burning he felt.
The sand wasn't real.
Eyeri knew that. Just like the sensation of scalding water down his back hadn't been real. It was all a bad flashback. The many 'rituals' the slavers had forced on them to baptise them into their lives as slaves in the desert. A bath in the sand, held under the burning grains as the sun beat overhead until you were close to death. The grains scratched at his skin roughly.
It wasn't real but Eyeri could feel the sand in the wind hurt his face as the wind blew past. The storm was fading. Not that Eyeri had been paying attention to it for a while. His fear of the storm overcome by a more rational fear.
Red hot irons on his skin. Making him a slave again. Maybe he had never been free. Maybe it was just respite until his true masters found him. Inai had always preached that no man was meant to be a slave and that the gods would deliver those who had been stripped of their rights. Maybe Eyeri had deserved to be a slave. Punishment for some slight towards the gods he had never truly prayed too, despite living with their human representative.
Ryraso was trapped too firmly in the web. Eyeri couldn't depend on him to get him out. He had to do it himself. For once in his miserable life, he had to do something for himself. Eyeri stumbled, his arms covering in mud again as he landed on the ground. He breathed deeply and crawled to a tree, curling in the large roots and hiding while he trembled.
How was he going to do this?
He couldn't cross the river, could he? It was running too fast at the moment and any settlements nearby would surely be D'mar. Not that they would be looking for a Namya boy this far north. He could have left his crest behind. But then, making the Namya believe he wasn't a spy would be hard. If he could find the D'mar main force, one of Sakmi's spies might help him. Ravn and Larza owed him favours.
The only issue with that plan is that he had no idea where they would be and he would have to deal with D'mar soldiers in the meantime. The elite force had always been nice enough to be in the clinic when captured. That being said, any grunt regardless of level had always made it clear he couldn't survive long in their tent line.
Too small, too skinny, too big a target for bullies. It would be dangerous and he would be facing enemies who were far stronger than him all the way until the plains. Not to mention, there was no guarantee the k'nairi wouldn't pursue. But there had to be a way to get out of there. The plains were the closest place he had a chance of slipping back over the border but the reports had suggested the fighting would be increasing there. He could be running into a bloodbath there.
Eyeri shuddered and forced himself back to his feet and to keep going. The river. He needed to keep the river in his range of movement. It was the only landmark he had. Ryraso had said south. So he just had to stay near the river until he could work out a direction to move in and then grow increasingly more lost. Eyeri's feet hurt as he walked, his leg muscles almost feeling like they were thumping from the effort it was having to make to walk.
His breathing was shaky and Eyeri felt tears run down his face. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't go back after what he had done to Fl'ex. Walking into the hands of the D'mar didn't sound like a better option. If anything it seemed to be jumping out of the frying pan and straight into the flame.
Memories of encounters with grunts who had not been attached to the main force springing to mind. The phantom sand turning into the sensation of hands gripping his wrists and dark words threatening to kill him if he screamed and to give the prisoner the keys to the lock. The twins had been particularly inventive with the man who had tried that one on him. Loror hadn't cared about a nameless grunt who had tried to hurt a medic of either side.
A hand slapping his face. Spit dripping down off his brow. Whenever normal grunts were in Ryraso's med bay, the Twins had started guarding the place. Looming behind him in a way which Eyeri was sure had meant to be reassuring but had only made his nerves about the situation worse.
Water sprayed against his face and Eyeri suddenly realised he was at the river bank. The water was running so fast and the spray was ice cold. Any residue phantoms of the desert fading as he shivered, hot flashes turning to freezing droplets running down his skin.
South, he had to go south. Which was way south though? Eyeri looked around hopelessly, inwardly berating himself for the action. Just what was he hoping to find? A compass? A sign scratched into the bark of the tree. He breathed slowly and tried to remember what Oira had told him in the past about rivers. Tried to remember any of the survival tips he had been forced to learn and pick up. Which direction would be best to start? Which would lead him to a potentially more dangerous and painful human enemy and which would lead him to slavery?
Was a slavery with hugs and kisses really as bad as the pain of being tortured while trying to reach his freedom? The truth of the matter was, Eyeri wasn't sure he could live with the shame of not having even tried to escape it. No matter how flowery and, dare he say it, warm it seemed.
The rain had stopped and there was a dim light on the horizon. The night had passed and the sun was rising. The storm clouds receding, the remaining clouds streaked with red. Eyeri could see his breath and he was shivering. "Sun in the east so south is right," Eyeri whispered, biting his lips and moving forward. Stumbling along the river bank, clinging to branches and plants. His hands scrambling to get purchase as he followed the river.
The mud gave way and for a brief moment, Eyeri felt that feeling before you drop. The loss of that feeling was instantly forgotten as ice surrounded him and water filled his mouth. He kicked, barely even really aware of what had happened. The water pulled him along.
Debris from the storm slamming into him and he felt his cloak and bag rip off. He couldn't breathe. Desperately trying to kick and get to the surface of the muddy water. Air filled his lungs for a moment before he was yanked back down, something catching on his trousers. Kicking again, Eyeri reached blindly, unable to see through the muddy river.
"Help!" he yelled, the words garbled under the water and letting in more water.
The taste was vile. Eyeri felt his legs and arms slow. The muscles overworked and his body exhausted from running in the woods. At the very least, he wouldn't have to worry about the D'mar, he thought dimly as the edges of his vision darkened. One last burst of energy sprouted from somewhere within him and he fought to the surface again. His arms breached the surface but he couldn't get his body up.
All he felt was numb as he began to drift back down. The water shifted and something solid wrapped around his waist. Something solid against his upper back and with a mighty thrust he was lifted from the water. The first beat only got his upper body above water again, but he sucked in the air desperately, coughing out some of the river water. Someone was holding him up.
Eyeri heard a loud groan of effort and then the sounds of wings beating wildly. It took a moment but he was lifted, his body leaving the water. Eyeri watched dazed as the river left his feet. A strange feeling in his stomach as he watched the current flow beneath his feet. One now bootless, and Eyeri couldn't remember just when he had lost his boot as well. There was a nasty cut on his foot from something though. Need to clean that, with how dirty the river was, it could get infected, Eyeri's mind provided almost idly.
He was moved back to shore. His body was useless as he was lowered to the ground. His saviour murmuring something in k'nairi and rubbing his back as he continued to cough up river water.
"That's it, get it up," Fl'ex murmured, Eyeri in many ways trying not to let his mind focus on the fact it was the man he had assaulted and drugged.
"Eyeri!" Dyn'ad called, appearing next to them. Eyeri didn't know how to react or who to look at. He just slumped like a limp doll as the two powerful men talked above his head. A thick blanket wrapping around him warmly and a warmth spreading in his chest. Physical warmth, not emotional. The world was spinning.
He didn't feel relieved or angry, happiness or fear. He just felt numb. Like his heart had been cut out of his chest. He hadn't escaped. He had failed and he had almost died in the attempt.
Dimly aware of someone talking in human tongue, he looked up almost unseeingly at the man who was now hugging him close.
It was Dyn'ad now. Fl'ex must have passed him along to his master, like any object, Eyeri thought almost bitterly. The other side of him murmuring that this was Dyn'ad. He didn't know the k'nairi well, or at all really, but Ryraso trusted him. What's more, Dyn'ad was going to be Ryraso's keeper. Of course, Fl'ex would pass him to Dyn'ad. These masters wouldn't separate him from his father.
"Eyeri! Focus on me Sweetheart," Dyn'ad cooed, rolling Eyeri back and forth. Eyeri felt his foot being picked up and cloth wrapped around it.
"Dyn'ad," Eyeri croaked, his throat screaming in pain as he tried to talk, letting his head rest on Dyn'ad's shoulder. "I am so tired of being scared." Tears didn't fall this time. He had cried far too often recently.
"Oh youngling," Dyn'ad murmured, pressing a rough kiss to Eyeri's cheek. "You don't have to be scared. I will protect you," he promised so earnestly. Eyeri could almost silence that voice inside of him which added 'I look after my toys'.
Eyeri closed his eyes and tried to hang onto Dyn'ad's shoulders, but his arms were too heavy to move. Now was not the moment to fight Dyn'ad over this. He needed to survive now. Survive and pray that his brothers would once again find him before the brand was pressed to his skin.
"I don't want to be a slave again," Eyeri murmured before letting himself surrender to the exhaustion. he wasn't going to die, just yet. The waters had tried to claim him and failed thanks to Fl'ex. There was still time to fight.
"You won't." Someone promised but Eyeri was already under.