Escape and capture
Ana awoke from her half cast dreams as the world around her erupted into one of noise and pain. A thunderous bellow sounded in the cave as a wild animal roared and shrieked. Ana ran for the crevice but he got to her first. Picking her up by the hair and throwing her against the opposite wall. She took the impact on her left side and knew her arm was injured. He ran at her, screaming profanities. She dived out the way landing on her left arm. This time she heard the bone crack. Wincing with the effort of moving and the agony it brought with it, Ana half crawled half dragged herself towards the crevice. Her arm hurt terribly. She knew that now was her time for death and she would rather die to her injuries than face the creature out side. Sadly, through all the pain they brought, they were not enough to end her life. Dimly, She remembered what the saiacs would do. The former leader Shrelvi said that when faced with death or death in pain, the latter was always the first option. For a saiac it is easy. They require neither tool nor poison. All it takes is a single blow to the mind to stop the brain. Painless, quick. Shrelvi himself resorted to such measures after he betrayed the saiacs to the authorities and her was chased down. After his hiding place turned into a trap, he resorted to suicide. When they pulled him out of the gutter he was dead. Ana wondered if now it would be her turn. After all she knew how too, it would be so easy… No. She couldn’t do it. At least she could try to reason with him. Reason with the devil. Ha!
Thiorah seeming not to notice her hiding place at first, for he tore up the cave. Cracking rocks, sending parts of the wall crashing down. What ever had happened to him, it had left him shaken. So strongly so that the deepest core of his being, the part of him he kept locked within himself, had broken free leaving him deranged.
What seemed to Ana like hours passed and his crazed attempt to destroy grew weaker and weaker until it subside all together. He pressed his back against the wall that a few moment before, he had been trying to crush, and he slid down it til he landed in a heap, hugging himself and howling. When even that faded to a low whimper, Ana spoke.
“What happened to you?” He remained silent. “Why are you…” When he did not answer, Ana knew she would need to change tact or he would slide back into the impassive oblivion he had been before she sung.
“Thiorah…” She whispered. The result was startling. He stood bolt upright before charging over to her crevice. She tried to go deeper but he just widened the gap so he could follow. His hand snaked towards her head. He grabbed a handful of hair then twisted. Ana desperately attempted to avaid him but he was to strong. He pulled her out and hurled her on to the floor. She landed on her front, all the wind knocked out of her. He turned his back on her for a second to fix the wall. When he had finished, there was not even a trace of the crevice being there at all. Still he would not face her. Even in the accumulated gloom of the dying night, Ana could see his fists clenched and shaking. One was dripping some dark liquid that Ana guessed was blood. She did not try to communicate with him again for she knew she would end up dead as the result. She just felt the throbbing of her battered limbs and listened to his breathing. Ragged, uneven, livid. And then he spoke.
“I tried to kill him truly I did… and then I didn’t. Why didn’t I? Isn’t it what I want? To see his blood gush from beneath my battering claws. But for his PITY! He would pity me! Me? Yes of course not! He is liar! Liar liar liar! Die Die die! Oh what has happened to me! Me! At the mercy of the bane of my life! All our lives and I wasn’t ready to fight him. How could that be? Rip out his tongue! Cut off his lips sew up his mouth so he can’t lie! Oh Dekk weeps! WEEPS at both of us! And I lent him tears! Dekk pities me! …Dekk pities NOONE! Gather you senses Thiorah! You WILL fight him and he will DIE! Blast him with the eternal flames of hell! He will die! But not yet. It is not yet the time to fight and you knew that, so why call him to you? The girl!” He spun round and stared, his gaze boring deep into her own. He stepped to wards her. Ana pushed her self away, shielding her face with her uninjured arm.
“You! Bitch! Wretch! Slier! Whore that prised into my mind and stole my name, YOU sent me to him!”
Ana tried to speak but he ignored her words. Thiorah grasped her by the neck and forced her against the side of the wall. Her hair was slick with blood where her head and the rock collided, sending the world spinning and her pulse racing. Another blow was sent. His forearm slammed against her wind pipe, choking her. Tears of pain and fear trickled beneath her closed lids as she fought for air.
“You did this, did this to me!”
He raised his left arm. Ana flinched away from what she expected to be another blow but he just showed her his hand. Blood splattered her face from the stump where his index finger should have been.
“Now the only thing left is the question of what to do to you. What shall it be? How would you like to die?”
With his right hand, the one all five fingers, he turned her head so that she faced away. With his damaged finger, he painted a cross upon her neck, moving his face in close to lap up every essence of her perfect scent. He drew his tongue across his bloody painting, tracing the lines he had drawn, sealing her fate. Ana tried remain still but she was shaking too much for that. She attempted to stare straight ahead but her fear-drawn-wide eyes always ended up travelling down to the same place; his mouth. When he had finished, his face proceeded on its travels. Tracing her jaw line with his lips, basking in the softness of her cheeks, he reached her face. For a second he seemed to hesitate, to take the contours of her perfect features, but soon the allure was too strong. And he found his way to her mouth…
Ana didn’t resist, far from it. Her own tongue embarked its journey inside his mouth. Swimming among tide of emotions, none of which was hate. Her good hand wrapped around his waist, clinging on for dear life in case she fell to oblivion. His arms responded, encircling her body, pressing her close. They held this pose even though their own fires burned and raged to an inferno taking with it everything but the kiss. The rivers of tears they cried did nothing to douse their passion. Nothing to distract them, for a lasting eternity. Even as they fell to the floor their lips still held firm, soon to be welded in an eternal embrace. …Broken only as Ana forced his head back on to a rock, breaking their connection and leaving him unconscious.
She didn’t hesitate. She used the energy inside his body to heal the worst of her wounds, gasping as her bones fused back together. Then with brutal intention, she dragged him to the pool inside the cave, forcing his head under water.
With nothing to do but wait, Ana counted the seconds. 4,5,6…83,84,85 By the two hundred and twenty fifth count, he was gone. She held her poise for several uncounted minuets before making her move. She flung her self away from his corpse as she allowed herself thirty seconds to loose it. Yet more tears fell from her eyes as she wept. Her sobbing grew to a crescendo and she began shrieking, holding her battered head in her arms rocking back and forth. Damn it. Though it was her only option, she condoned her method, both in killing him and the kiss itself. For even now her pulse still rushed with adrenaline and she couldn’t deny that a part of herself, never mind how small it was desired him even at death. He wasn’t the first person she had killed (saiac training extended to her as well) but he was the first that she had cared about and in her eyes it felt like murder just as much as self defence. She shook herself, drawing back the bolts to the door of her composure.
Her half minuet up, she stopped screaming and wondered what to do next. If she was to escape then she would have to be quick. Though she had slain his body, his spirit would still be at large and it wouldn’t be long before he gained control and shifted his form and then their really would be nothing stopping him killing her.
When Ana had delved into his mind before, she had stolen more than just his name, she had taken with her a whole encyclopaedia of facts that only he knew; one of which was how to escape, and now that he was dead, his wards gone, she could do just that. It would be difficult, granted, but if there was any chance that she could escape then she would take it.
She got up then walked into the pool of water. She forced her self to place one hand on Thiorah’s brow and draw any last drop of energy that may be nestled inside his form. While there she decided to keep tabs on the development of his powers. Loathed to though she was, she pushed her mind against his. At first there was nothing and just when she began to think she had killed him, she was ambushed. A torrent of emotions flowed into her mind. They took her in their grasp and refused to let go. She sensed by his power that he could slay her where she stood if he chose it. She had underestimated him and that could well be her fatal mistake. Trying to graph the true scale of his anger was impossible. He was in the sort of rage for tearing mountains apart, burning villages. Ana decided there and then that if she was to die, she would rather it was quick. Enraging him would be dangerous especially now he was so inflamed… He sensed her intentions at once.
Don’t He said with another part of his mind not burning with hatred. Instead it was fuelled with a grudging respect for what she had done, and something else…
I will not be able to hold myself back if you deliberately aggravate me..
And why would you want to do that?
He laughed in her head but his reply was without humour: Because I enjoy the hunt. He withdrew his hold on her mind but not before she heard his last words fading as their contact loosened. So run little girl, run like the wind…
Ana didn’t hesitate. She ran further into the pool. It wasn’t large nor was it very deep, coming only up to her knees in the most part but, in its furthest reaches, an under water chasm yawned. Though it was only just big enough for her to fit through, there would be no telling as to how deep it was until she was inside. She paused for a brief moment to gather her wits and turned, just for a second to look at Thiorah. To her surprise and horror, smoke began to flood from his open mouth. She took one last draft of air then pushed herself into the chasm and under water. The cave she entered was black as pitch and claustrophobically tight. There was no air here, and if she became stuck… well it didn’t bare thinking about. She had gone foot first down the cave, an option she now regretted for it made it twice as difficult to squeeze through. The passage she had entered had at first been leading down hill, now it twisted at the bottom then snaked upwards to where Ana could see was considerably lighter. Relief flooded through her and she began her ascent. She had not been worried about running out of air for she had drawn energy of Thiorah’s corpse that would sustain her for a few minuets. Now however, she was relying solely on her lung composite as she didn’t dare use up his energy just yet, there would be no telling if she would need it again.
Her chest was just beginning to burn before she surfaced, gulping mammoth gulps of sweet air. Air like this did not exist on Earth. That alone confirmed her suspicions that she had left her planet far behind her. She was on another world! Above her holes in the cave roof provided light from the stars. And so big they were! Obviously much closer to this planet than the ones back home were to Earth. She had little to wonder before the water she had just left, began to bubble and steam. Quickly, she surveyed her surroundings. The cave she was in now was almost a duplicate of the one she had left. He was a mere wall away. She shivered and this was NOT from the cold. Unlike her former prison however, this cave lead to others by a networking series of passages at the far end. Which should she choose? Suddenly out from the foaming maw a body rose to the surface of the water. Almost unrecognisable as the man only fifteen minuets before she had been kissing. Points of bone jutted out of his steaming carcase as his flesh rotted away, his mouth forced in to a grin. Booming laughter filled the cavern.
Ana screamed and took off. No longer caring where her feet took her as long as it was away from here. She ran through the tunnel on the furthest left. This cave wasn’t lit with star light so she held her arms outstretched in front of her to detect any walls in her way. Suddenly the ground ended beneath her feet and she fell, screaming. Water took her fall. Filling her mouth and ears. The water she had entered before had been though cold, bearable. This on the other hand was freezing. A current pulled her down before she had a chance to surface and take a breath. Leeching, though grudgingly so, off his energy, she supplied her self with air and ignited a tiny werelight that flooded the water with a soft blue glow. Now she could see at least where the waters were taking her. She twisted and turned through channels of currents, unable to end her motion. The minuets passed. And by and by she began to run out of air. She was forced to extinguish the werelight to preserve what little energy she had left.
Just when she thought she would never be free, she surfaced. Without hesitating she forced down great lungfuls of precious oxygen, then waited to be sucked below once more. To her surprise she remained where she was, floating on her back through calm waters. Suddenly she realised that there was light, not much granted but enough for her to see that she was outside. Guided by the stars above, she swum her way to the shore. As she kicked the water, one of her feet went deep. As soon as it did so, a violent current nearly pulled her down with it. After that Ana swam as close to the surface as possible, for fear that the deep would claim her. It seemed as though the currents started where the water deepened.
There were no beaches. The sides of the expanse of water were sheer. It was like climbing out of a swimming pool. Ana pulled herself up and on to land, using cracks in the rock as footholds. It was sharp and gruelling work for the rock was sharp and cut her feet. Eventually, she was out. For several moments, she lay gasping on the bank. It was then that she realised how very cold she truly was. Using the last of his energy, she dried herself off. Then, using magic, she channelled the air around her so it let only the warmest air through. His power spent, she was on her own once more. Exhausted, lulled by warmth, she fell into a fit full sleep…
She was running before she truly knew she was awake. His roars shook the ground beneath her bleeding feet. The rocks cut in, at first she was grateful; they forced her to her senses but as her pace grow, she found that the pain was slowly debilitating her. She cursed herself for falling asleep. Though she had slept only briefly, for the sun was yet to rise, she had kissed goodbye to freedom and signed her way to death… Unless there was a miracle. Ana didn’t believe in miracles…
She considered hiding but he would only sniff her out. She considered swimming, but she had left the sea behind her and to reach it, she would have to backtrack and that would mean death. So running was truly the only option.
Time passed slowly. She had no idea how long she had been running. To her injured feet, it had seemed like a lifetime. And still she ran… Even when her lungs were bursting and every step was agony, she ran on, through it all. She ran ‘til she heard his roar. It was coming from in front of her!
Her Steps trailed to a halt. What should she do? There was no telling if he really was in front of her or if this was some illusion he had made. Either way she was dead, for he would have to be so close to able to perform such magic… In desperation, she gazed around her, looking frantically for some means of escape. She had entered some kind of hollow with high looping sides and a deep centre. She had entered a crater! To her surprise, to her right the crater walls dipped and became flat so that she could pass through it. She ran, clinging on to hope…
For a second her heart stopped and she took a little shriek of despair as he lunged into the very place she had been aiming to make her escape. Every fragment of hope gone, she collapsed to the ground, writhing upon the jagged rock.
With every passing second, his body seemed to change. Humanity was lost in an instant. His eyes bulged within his sockets. Ten thousand ruby facets, red hexagons, stared out from within his gaze. It was close to the form he had taken to seek out Kaa, but not quite. The spindle thin limbs had thickened, his chest widened, leaving his whole body thick and muscular. The needle sharp fangs were replaced with tusk-like mandibles. This beast wasn’t made to piece, he was made to crush. He rose to his full height; a good 10 feet, towering above her. His first steps were upon two legs, but, his patience spent, his forelegs crashed to the ground and he began to run.
He was elegant in a way, strangely enough. Large though his body was, he moved as though it weighed no more than wind. Without warning he went from tearing across the ground to flying through the air towards her. Even as she watched, Ana knew that when he landed, she would be crushed. The world seemed to slow. She imagined then that time was in God’s mixing bowl and he had been stirring his gloop. He turned his spoon with ease, until he decided to stiffen the mixture with a little cornflower. ‘Til his solution was harder and took longer to swill round the bowl. And so time thickened.
Even in her incapacitated state, Ana could taste the metallic tang to the air and hear the fizz of an electric current some where above her. Thiorah only saw the portal when it was too late. Ana heard his scream deaden as he passed through the void and in to some other poor unsuspecting universe. The portal that had been her shield and saviour closed in an instant. Leaving the Ana in silence and total darkness, alone, or so she thought.
The first rays of golden sunlight penetrated the gloom, sending shadows retreating back to whence they came. Some one shone a torch on her face. Ana didn’t notice. She was dead to the world. Unconsciousness had taken her long ago, taken her a’riding her dreams ‘pon silver birds with crested wings…
They bound her limbs to a stretcher and hoisted her upon their shoulders as they took her to their boat. The gradual drip and splash of the oars lulled the world to a subtle peace. In time she would wake, but for now they let the girl sleep. Sleep cast calm upon her lovely face, calm never born once throughout her shallow life. At peace. Not dead. No! The time for that had not yet passed. It would come for her eventually, more soon than should be due… But not now. In the meantime let her sleep on, face the demons of nightmare ‘til she woke up amidst another… as she was carried far across the appeaseable waters of an ocean deep in slumber…