move unnaturally fast.
“Legis, what’s wrong?” Tristan asks from behind me.
“Sir, I need some light.” He looks back at Tristan as he
speaks.
“I shall lead and you stay behind her.” Tristan pauses as he
walks past me. “Don’t try to run. I am in no mood to chase
you.” He takes his position in front of me. Tristan does not
move straight away. Instead, he holds out his hand in front of
him and whispers, “Lux.” I can see a light radiate in front of
him. I jump back, slightly startled.
“Let’s move,” he commands. Legis nudges me on. We start
walking again. I’m trying to peer over Tristan’s shoulder to see
where the light is coming from, but he’s too tall, so I just stare
at his back.
After a few moments, Tristan makes a hand motion for us to
stop. Then the light goes out. He swings around and places his
hand over my mouth, startling me, while pulling me back into
his chest. Legis stands as still as stone, not even blinking. We
wait. I can’t hear or see anything, only Tristan’s heart beating
fast. I’m too close to him for comfort. I can feel his muscles
tense in his chest and stomach.
He makes a hand motion to Legis to get down. Then slowly
he lowers himself and me to the ground, never taking his hand
off my mouth. He lies down on his side right against me and
pulls my hands to his chest, holding them with his other hand.
The heat radiates off his body against mine, making my back
feel cold. I can now hear the shuffling in the distance. Maybe
it’s Josh.
I try to scream, but my sounds are muffled. Tristan whispers
in my ear. “Stop or we all die, you stupid girl.” I try to scream
again and pull my hands free, but I can’t get them out of his
iron grasp. So I bite his hand until I taste blood. He doesn’t even
flinch. I know it’s hopeless.
The movements pass us and I can now hear there’s more than
one person. Tears roll down my cheeks when I realise I will not
be heard or rescued.
Tristan looks at me, his jaw muscles tensing. It feels like
forever we lie like this; then Tristan speaks. “I am taking my
hand away.”
I look up into his eyes and know straight away I shouldn’t
have, as my stomach flutters. I drop my gaze and manage a
nod of my head. Tristan removes his hand slowly, but he still
holds my hands against his chest. He doesn’t say anything, just
watches my face. His green eyes have softened. A blush rises in
my cheeks. I can’t take much more of his closeness.
“What are you staring at?” I’m getting annoyed now. Well,
I’m uncomfortable with this gorgeous guy staring at me. He lets
go and stands up.
Legis moves up beside us. “Was it Clive?” he asks.
“I think so. It sounded like there were three of them. It must
have been Taurus and Felix, also.” Tristan looks down at me
still on the ground and grabs my wrists roughly. I’m about to
protest when he pulls me off the ground.
I look at his hands still on my wrists. There are no teeth
marks. “I bit you. I… I tasted your blood.”
He withdraws his hand. “We need to move now.”
“But I bit you.” Tristan ignores me and starts walking away.
We come to a clearing where two huge horses, black as coal,
are waiting. They don’t stir when we come closer, just stand
there obediently.
“I’m not getting on that horse until someone tells me where
I’m going. And why.”
They both ignore me. Instead, Legis retrieves a leather roll
from behind a tree and unravels it, revealing three black cloaks.
Legis and Tristan put theirs on and fasten them around their
necks. I start to panic. These guys are lunatics.
While their backs are turned, I slip off my high heels
and move quietly away. My heart is racing now. My mind
screams, Run! So I do. The minute my feet hit the woods’
floor, noise rises, alerting Tristan. I run and don’t look back.
I can hear Tristan calling my name as he takes chase after
me. The rocks and sticks dig into my feet, but I ignore the
me, his heavy boots breaking every twig under them. He
reaches out to grab me. I try to pull away but fall awkwardly,
taking him down also. I land beside the trunk of a large tree,
slamming my side into it before falling onto the ground. I let
out a whoosh of breath.
Tristan rolls off his back and comes over to me. “Move your
hands. I need to see if you’re hurt badly.”
I move away. “Don’t touch me.”
“Fine. Get up, then, and walk.” I stand using the tree for
support. My side is burning, but it doesn’t feel as if anything is
broken, just a lot of bruising.
“You’re an asshole.”
Legis comes rushing through the forest, a little out of breath.
“You got her.”
Tristan just nudges me on. “Move.” We make our way back
to the clearing.
Since they grabbed me from the ball, neither of them have
hurt me or threatened me, and Tristan only knocked out Josh.
Which meant, more than likely, they wouldn’t hurt me. But why
take me?
We reach the clearing again. Tristan comes towards me with
the black cloak and places it around my shoulders. As he ties it
at my neck loosely, I watch his hands. Definitely no teeth marks.
I don’t know why, but tears run down my face silently.
Tristan’s hands pause and he tilts my chin up so our eyes meet.
His gaze is soft, concerned, and my stomach flutters. I feel so
angry with myself—that I can find him so attractive under the
circumstances. He lets my face go abruptly, the coldness seeping
back into him, and he jumps up on the horse and stretches out
his arm for me to take. I could run, but he would just catch me,
so I have no choice but to take his hand. Tristan pulls me up on
the horse as if I weigh nothing.
“Hold on tight,” he commands.
“Why?” I ask. He kicks the horse and we launch forward. I
grab his waist tightly.
“That is why,” he says.
I don’t reply. I’m just praying I don’t fall off. We dodge trees
so closely I can see the veins on the green-brownish leaves. My
heart is in my mouth. I close my eyes tight. My stomach isn’t
holding up well. Maybe not seeing every tree in such detail will
help. We come to an abrupt stop, and I open my eyes. We’re fifty
feet from the cliff.
Tristan speaks in a language I don’t understand. He says a
few sentences gently, but his body is tense.
Just then, the ground trembles under us.
I grab Tristan tighter. “What’s happening?”
Fire shoots up through a long crack that has opened just at
the cliff’s edge. It roars up into the air. Tristan kicks the horse
and charges for the wall of fire, Legis beside us. Just as we hit it,
they both say “Aeirus” in unison, while I scream and shut my
&
nbsp; eyes tightly. My ears pop as if I’m on a plane just at take-off.
Now I can’t hear anything at all. I feel the sensation of flying.
Have we gone over the edge? It doesn’t feel like falling, and I’m
still holding on to Tristan’s waist.
I open my eyes slowly and wish I hadn’t. We’re in a large
bubble, the two horses side by side. When I look down, their
hooves aren’t touching the bubble, but floating. Outside, the fire
rages all around us. It looks like we’re moving at an incredible
speed by the way the fire licks past us so quickly.
I start hyperventilating. Oh God, what’s keeping the fire
away? What if it breaks? My breathing becomes harder.
Tristan’s voice is strained as he calls to Legis. “Can you hold
it? She is panicking.”
“Yes, sir,” Legis replies. Their voices seem far away and
everything is turning dark. Tristan swings himself around and
grabs me before I fall off the horse. He places me in front of
him so I’m facing him. His lips are moving, but I can’t hear
anything, and then I black out.
In my dream, faces of tormented people race through the
fire, reaching out for me to save them. The smell of burnt flesh
makes me gag, and I recoil. As the hands come through the
bubble, reaching for me, all the flesh melts away, leaving only
bones. I scream and fall off the horse into the waiting hands of
the dead.
I wake with a thud. My eyes shoot open. I’m lying against
Tristan’s chest, his arm firmly around me. His other hand holds
the reins. I can feel the horse beneath me slow down. Tristan
relaxes his grip around my waist, and I look up at him.
“Let me off now.” He stops the horse immediately. I jump
down, clumsily landing on sand, white sand. I look around me.
There’s nothing but sand for miles. Oh God, I feel sick. Tristan
jumps down and walks towards me. “Stay away from me,” I
roar.
Tristan stops abruptly. “I know you’re upset.” But the way he
looks at me says he doesn’t care. He holds out his hands in front
of him, as if he’s trying to calm a wild animal.
“Upset? Upset? Not even close. Where the hell am I? And
what was that… fire?” I ask.
Tristan approaches me slowly with his hands still outstretched.
“We need to move now.” His voice is full of irritation.
I let out a roar. “Like hell I will. Answer me now. Where
am I?”
He looks at Legis who says nothing. “I will tell you where
you are, but then we have to move.” I don’t answer him. He
comes right up to me then, still taking caution not to get to
close. “You’re in Saskia and the wall of fire is the passage to
get here.”
I don’t even know how to respond. Maybe all this is one
big nightmare. I pinch myself hard on the arm and let out a
little squeal. I’m not dreaming. I take some deep breaths to calm
myself.
“Okay. Okay, so I’m in Saskia… And why am I here?” I can
hear the hysteria in my own voice.
“I can’t answer that.”
I let out a roar of frustration. Tristan uses this opportunity to
grab me and throws me over his shoulder caveman style.
“Let me down now.”
He climbs up on the horse and places me in front of him. I try
to wiggle out, but he restrains me with his arms. “I told you we
need to move. So calm down and soon all your questions will
be answered, princess.” He spits out the last word. He kicks the
horse and off we ride.
“How far back do you think Clive and the others are, sir?”
Legis asks. “They would still be looking, so if we make it to
the first resting area in the next hour, we will be a day ahead
of them.”
An hour later, night has fallen completely. This world is
weird. There’s not as much as one star in the sky, even though
it’s clear and the moon is red. It’s not creepy the way you would
think. It’s breath taking.
We slow down. Tristan helps me off the horse. “We rest
here.”
I don’t have the energy to argue. So a nod of my head is
all the reply he gets. Not that he notices. Tristan and Legis
are pushing sand back with their hands and pulling out of the
ground what looks like large rolls of leather. Legis rolls his out.
It is full of blankets, wood, a hammer and a few large pieces
of paper wrapped around something the size of a large stone.
Tristan’s holds similar things, but also glass bottles along with
what looks like strings of leather.
They set to work. They have tents up within the hour. I have
to say I’m impressed by their skills. I pull back the flap of the tent
that Legis has erected. There are blankets all over the ground,
giving it a cosy feel, yet it’s spacious enough for all three of us to
sleep in. I really hope that’s not the case or I’ll just sleep outside.
Tristan starts setting up a small fire. I sit down beside him.
“Is this a different era?”
He pauses what he is doing and considers my question. “In
a way, yes. Saskia is very different from your world… I am not
knowledgeable enough of your world, but Legis would gladly
tell you.”
I look at Legis. “What do you want to know?” he asks
while kneeling down on the opposite side of the fire, as Tristan
continues setting it up. I feel like saying I want to know
everything, but I think about the most basic question I want to
ask.
“What is this place? Is it all sand?” I hope the answer to my
last question, is no.
“It is a world parallel to yours and in ways no different. The
outskirts of Saskia is sand, but that is as far as it goes.”
Okay, next question. I’m watching Tristan from the corner of
my eye as he lights the fire. He has no lighter or matches, yet the
flames begin to build. “How does he light the fire?”
Tristan looks up at me. Legis speaks then. “In our world, we
are born—”
“Legis, enough,” Tristan says, then rises. He lifts the brown
paper parcels and opens them, handing each of us bread, cheese
and one of the glass bottles. I look at mine. The bread is as thick
as three slices of normal bread and the cheese is cut generously.
Is this our dinner?
“Eat,” Tristan says while tearing his own bread. A perfect
gentleman.
“No butter. A bit of coleslaw maybe?”
Legis laughs. “Sorry, but this is it. One of the differences in
our world. We eat to live, but in your world you live to eat.” I
don’t like the statement even if it is partially true.
Tristan ignores us and eats his own. He seems to have no
social skills.
I can’t eat anything. My stomach is still unsettled, and as
much as this chat seems normal enough, these guys have just
kidnapped me. I open the bottle. It has a corkscrew on hinges as
its seal. I take a sip first, testing it. It’s wine, white wine, tasty. I
take a deep gulp and then reseal it.
“So do
you have cities or towns like us?”
Legis looks at Tristan for approval. A nod of his head allows
him to answer. “I would not say we have cities, because you
will think of large metal structures. Ours are more like large
villages. The central point is the castle.”
“A castle. So do you have, like, a king and queen?”
Once again, Legis looks to Tristan for approval and receives
it. “Yes, we do.” I sit there and try to picture this village with its
big stone castle in the centre. Legis interrupts my thoughts. “We
live very simple lives here compared to your world.”
I never would’ve guessed, but I don’t voice that. Instead, I
go right back to the start. “So are you going to answer my first
question? How did he light the fire?” I look sideways at Tristan;
he’s looking directly at me. I blush. Thank God it’s dark. “How
did you light the fire?” I ask him directly.
Tristan comes over and sits beside me. “Before we go any
further, I need you to understand I am not your friend and I
don’t have to answer your questions.” He looks me straight in
the eye. “Understand?” His words are cold and harsh.
“Yes, I understand.” My voice comes out in a whisper.
“I am going to scout the area,” Legis says and leaves.
Tristan rises, returning to the opposite side of the fire. “Get
some rest. We have a lot of ground to travel tomorrow.” He
throws me a leather roll. “Wear these tomorrow,” he says while
looking me up and down. “They are far more suitable.”
Taking the roll, I walk to my tent. This guy really hates me
and I don’t know why. I push Tristan to the back of my mind. I
have more important things to think about. Like why I’m here.
But I know at this stage they will not tell me anything.
I lie down on all the blankets. It’s really comfortable. My
mind wanders to Jessica, Dad and Josh, wondering if they’re
looking for me. Poor Dad—first Mum, now me. What if they
have my mum here in this world? But it makes no sense.
I stay in the tent for a while, unwrapping the leather roll.
It contains a white tunic, trousers, socks and boots. I start to
change straight away, but keep my cloak on over the outfit. I
can hear Tristan telling Legis he’s on guard and then Tristan
goes to the other tent.
I lie there biding my time. I don’t have many options. Only