The Key to Her Mind

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

            Jillian awoke to the sound of birds twittering in the tree above her. The sun was warm and as she looked into the sky she could tell that they had overslept because it was almost noon. She sat up and looked around at her sleeping friends. Ara was curled in a little ball against the trunk of the tree and Lezt was stretched out as far as he could across the grass. Rix however was nowhere in sight. Jillian stood up and tip toed quietly away from the tree.

            “Rix”, she called softly, “Rix”?

            There was no answer. She called out again, this time a little louder but Rix still did not reply. Jillian ran back to the tree.

            “Ara, Lezt, Rix is gone”, she cried!   

“What”, said Ara drowsily, “What are you talking about Jillian”?

“Where is Rix”, asked Lezt sleepily?

“I told you, Rix is gone”, said Jillian. “I don’t know where he is. I called to him but he didn’t answer”.

“This is really bad”, said Ara. “What could have happened to him”?

“Maybe he just went to explore or find water or something”, Lezt remarked, “or maybe he is just trying to scare us. That sounds like just the sort of thing he would do”.

“Look”, cried Ara kneeling down, “I’ve found something”.

Ara knelt down and picked up a crushed apple. Jillian looked out across the path that they had been following and saw the satchel that had been carrying the apples. She bent over, picked it up, and looked inside. All of the apples inside the satchel had been crushed just like the one that Ara found.

“How did that get so far from the tree”, asked Lezt? “It was right next to Rix when we went to sleep last night”.

“All of the apples are smashed”, said Jillian. “I don’t think that Rix just got up and walked away. It looks like there was a struggle”.

“Yes, look”, said Ara pointing, “The dirt on the path looks like someone was rolling around in it”.

“Why didn’t it wake us up”, asked Lezt?

“This spot is a ways away from the tree where we were sleeping”, said Jillian, “and we were awfully tired last night”.

“This is terrible”, cried Ara! “Where is he? What are we going to do? How will we get him back?

Arabesque collapsed on the ground in hysteria and Jillian knelt beside her to comfort her.

“I think that it is safe to assume that Loukraiza had something to do with this”, remarked Lezt. “He said himself that she has many reasons to hate him”.

“But what about us”, asked Jillian? “Rix also said that she would be after us too. Maybe she had something to do with it but I don’t think that it was her or her men who took Rix last night. There has to be someone else who would profit from Rix’s capture”.

“I can’t think of anyone”, said Lezt, “and he was my best friend”.

“We need to keep going”, sniffed Ara, whipping her tears. “Rix said that he had friends in the wood that would help him and I have no doubt that is someone took Rix, Loukraiza must have some idea of our position. We need to get far away from here and into the safety of the forest”.

“Agreed”, answered Jillian and Lezt.

“There is just one problem though”, said Lezt. “All of our food was crushed and it is still a long way to the western wood. What will we do about that”?