The Lost

31- Poison

Azure

Lucius was the one who did all of the physical work. It was him that slung the unconscious human over his back and limped to Wren's tribe, groaning and straining all the way. Mike was obviously not light.
After Wren had calmed down their incredibly bewildered workforce, including Robin and Silk, the tribe's storage was emptied of all the rope they had. Most if it was woven from the big reeds that grow around the lake. It was a good thing they had a lot, but most of the threads were far too thin to be put to the use we had in mind. So, with instruction from Rosin, it was again Lucius who had to do the work and braid the smaller strands of rope into one intimidating coil. He swore bloody murder each and every time he struggled to make his hands move over each other and the twines came undone.
All the time this was going on, Aspen watched Mike for a hint of movement. Lyn and I were absolutely not allowed to move from beside him for any reason until the human was restrained. As much as the human scared me, I wasn't really staying beside Aspen so he could 'protect' me, even though he probably thought I was. It was quite the opposite actually. Though he had been given a knife like me, Aspen had no real idea of how to use it, not to mention he was still very bruised and sore... if anything went wrong, it would be me looking after him, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

We used every last piece of material available, yet the final rope was still barely enough.
Lucius set Mike against a tree not too far from the tribe, then wove the rope around him, fastening him to the huge lump of wood. The boy finished by tying the most fearsome amalgamation of knots I had ever seen in my life. Lucius's hands were blistered by the time it was all finished.
Like I said; Lucius did all the physical work. I dreaded to think of what might have happened to Wren and their tribe had Mike somehow come across it before our arrival. No way could Wren have dealt with the situation like we were now, poison spears or not. There were some things only a human could do.

Whilst all this was going on, I was left with my lovely little predicament.
What to do about the human?

Now, Lyn's head was resting on my lap, little white curls cascading over my trousers. Aside from the odd word, Lyn hadn't said much since her encounter with Mike. She had become notably clingy too. The little girl had kept ahold of either mine or Aspen's hand while Lucius struggled with Mike, never once leaving our sight. Now, she was clutching the edge of my pocket in her small child's fist. My hand stroked gently through her hair, and at the same time I went over the choice yet again.

What was stopping me from just... doing it? Think, Azure. Be logical. I forced myself to imagine the most awful scenario I could think of; what had just happened. Mike grabbing Lyn. If I hadn't ran out and thrown myself in front of her, the human would have taken Lyn. Do you understand that? You understand what would have happened? He would have dropped her into his pocket and taken her to a tent, then locked the poor darling in a jar.
I knew exactly how that felt. Being alone, imprisoned, terrified out of your mind. Fear of the giant creature that had kidnapped you... and not knowing what was going to happen to you. What it would do to you if you dared try to escape.

What would he have done to her? Given her to Sam? That thought made me want to cry. This precious girl in my lap being handed over to that... monster...

I could have been walking the trail without Lyn had I left before she woke up. Then the human would have found me. Would I have been able to get away? I wasn't sure. And what about Robin, Silk? Wren? They no doubt patrolled that path at least once everyday. Mike probably would do the same to them... it hurt my heart to imagine the young Elder being stolen away. This tribe relied on Wren. They didn't just order people around like our Elders had, no— Wren was this tribe's leader. But they couldn't lead anyone or anything if they were taken and locked in a cage.
So if this human was capable of doing that to them, to any of us, how could I let him keep walking around?