Fugitive of the Sky

Chapter Eleven: Pain Like Molten Water

Aqie bumped along, slung up on the darker-haired hunter's back. Her arms ached from being held around the trader's neck. Really, she should summon the strength to put her legs around the hunter's stomach to take some of her weight, but her head and stomach were sloshing so much she was afraid she'd vomit if she moved. Not that throwing up would do much anyway, but she didn't want to anger the hunter.

After arguing about how they would redistribute their packs, the lot to carry her had fallen on the darker-haired hunter. He'd protested, but as soon as the others weren't looking he'd given her a triumphant wink. When he'd slung her arms around his neck and stood, he'd grunted and whispered that he was still going to protect her.

She'd been right from the beginning; he was the hunter who'd found her in the night. Aqie still wasn't sure that she actually was going to trust him though. He hadn't done much to prevent them from threatening to kill her and he'd taken her kaprae.

On the other hand, the hunter had kept his promise so far. The Scrolls said a trustworthy person feared Adonai, or was it the other way around? What did it matter anyway, if she still wasn't safe?

A particularly jarring step made Aqie's head bump against the hunter's shoulder. She gasped a little, and another tear of pain made a wet streak down her cheek. The pain made her lose her train of thought. It was sometime in the afternoon now, Aqie thought, and with no wind in the trees it was almost hot. The sun was only coming down in patches as they pushed their way through the evergreens. Her skin tingled as they walked through another bright patch and the sunlight slid past her. She closed her eyes. Maybe if her head didn't hurt so much, she would actually feel hungry. Usually by now she would have at least spent an hour in the full sunlight.

They stepped out of the patch and started pushing through the leaves and needles again. Aqie held her breath as one traced a feather pen of agony down the back of her head. Why did they have to be walking through the evergreens? Why couldn't they walk through the deciduous trees instead, where the branches were still bare and high enough they wouldn't touch her head?

Focus. She should think about escaping or deciding whether to trust the hunter or not. But the pounding that was aggravated by each slow step wasn't helping things any. Aqie stifled a moan. Right now all she wanted to do was go to sleep and forget everything that had happened and stop hurting so much for a while.

Aqie tried to relax and start to fall asleep, but knowing the hunters were near kept tightening her chest and hitching her breaths. They were so loud, yet how had they snuck up on her and Mom in the river? Or was it just the sound of the darker-haired hunter's heavy breaths?

She so wished Mom or Dad would be coming to help her. Dad would know how to rescue her from the hunter's grasp and they could help her fly away until they got someplace safe. He'd even beat up the hunters if he had to. Mom would know what kind of plant would ease her headache. She could explain why Adonai would let something as bad as this happen. Mom and Dad were so much wiser and stronger and better than she was. They would know what to do.

Why couldn't Dad have never gotten angry and gone outside? Why couldn't Mom have not gone after him? Why couldn't the hunters have gone after some other Larkwing in some other valley, or even went and tried the Hunter's Strait?

Don't wish evil on someone else just because you don't want to deal with it. It might just come true, Mom's past voice admonished her.

"But it hurts too much," Aqie whined. "It's too much."

"What?" the darker-haired hunter murmured.

Aqie strangled a hiccup. "Not— not talking to you." She sniffed, trying to keep another tear from wetting the hunter's shoulder.