The Shadows of Erisdar (ON HOLD)

Chapter 14

"How could you?" Darcy yelled at Darryl with fury as she stormed into his study. When Percy finally explained she was furious and immediately stormed off to give Darryl hell and fetch her best friend. How dare he lock her up like a prisoner?

Darryl was sitting in his chair with his head resting in his hands, fingers threaded through his unruly hair. Darcy clenched her fists, itching to slap him when he stayed silent.. Instead, she slammed her hand hard down on the desk, earning a deathly glare from him, but she did not care. "Answer me! How could you lock her up here like a prisoner? She's not your darned property, she has feelings, and rights."

Darryl leapt up from his chair. "I saved her from those wolves and gave her a safe place to stay, but from the start, she has been resistant and trying to leave. What do you think might happen if she were to tell someone about this place?"

"Well, what were you expecting? That she was just going to accept being kidnapped and locked up, and then obey? If you lock a wild panther in a cage, it's going to lash out and try its best to be free again," she told him bitterly. "I have known her for years, and I know that if you had explained the situation to her the moment you got her out of the valley, she would have come here willingly. You've never done it this way before."

"I didn't know. My instincts were a mess. I wasn't thinking. I just acted."

Darcy shook her head in disbelief at Darryl. "Well, I'm taking her with me. Where is she?"

He turned away from her to gaze out the window. "She's gone."

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"I told her that if she wanted to leave so badly, then she should go, and she left," he retorted

Darcy gaped at his words. She could not believe it. "Which way did she go?"

"I don't know." He said, and Darcy felt Percy leave behind her. "She ran upstairs and shortly afterwards she ran out the front door. I didn't look where she went." Darryl answered, leaning back in his chair.

Percy popped back into the office, panting slightly. "Her tracks go east." He said, and Darcy was filled with horror at the realisation.

If Alex headed east, she would run straight into danger for the eastern edge of the territory, some kind of beast or entity and no one ventured there. "You have to go get her!" she pleaded. "She'll run straight into danger."

Darryl and Percy suddenly remembered the danger, and they both bolted out the door, unable to deny Darcy's request.

The two men followed her tracks for a good long while, but when the tracks disappeared, they split up to cover more ground.

Alex wasn't sure where she was heading; she hadn't explored much to this side, but something made her go this way. It was a strange force pulling her, and she decided to go with it. She left most of her weapons and her pack at the house. She only left wearing her leather clothes and her hood, and she stuck a few throwing knives into the compartments in her boots. She would ask Darcy to bring the rest to her once she reached a town.

She had jogged over an hour before she sensed something behind her. She flattened herself against a tree and steadied her breathing. Carefully, she peeked around the tree. About seventy metres behind her moved a figure moved through the trees. It was Darryl, she recognised, causing her to scowl.

Not this time, she decided and quietly turned and climbed the tree she was hiding behind.

Darryl had found her trail after a while and shifted into wolf form to better track her. He knew he was close now, but he neither saw nor heard anything. She must have figured out he was following her. He shifted back into human and crept forward, his eyes darting between the trees for a sign.