Worlds of Ash

Part 5 (Chapters 25-29)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Ash was angry. She didn't know why or what was causing it, but the fury in her soul was quickly becoming the only thing she cared about.

She squeezed her eyes tight. In the dark, her rage was alive—a substantial form coming closer and closer with each passing second. She couldn't wait for it to arrive.

But then, so sudden, something cold and electric sparked past her lips. Ash couldn't describe the sensation of what she was drinking any other way. The horse she'd been on had been uncomfortable to an unimaginable degree, its bones rolling and rising with each step the animal took. Yet Ash had gotten used to that. The jarring beat of such hard hooves upon such wet ground had created a rhythm she may not have liked, but it had been a rhythm that, once listened to, had become ordinary. Ash had been able to push every bad sensation into the back of her mind, which was why it had been such a shock when something strange, and filled with a current of great power, had made its way down her throat.

Ash swallowed and choked. She got some of the liquid down yet lost a good portion of it too when she tried to sit up. She'd been taken off the Kawshun horse. When had that happened?

"Easy, easy," Amalin said. She cupped the back of Ash's head as she cradled her tight. "We are by the Pool, and I have had my sip before giving you my flask. Everything is fine."

Ash finally opened her eyes. She stared only at Amalin, losing herself inside twin currents of deepest blue that were all that Amalin had to look right back at her. It was scary.

She didn't want her eyes to be like that. She didn't want to be held by some wild woman either. Ash was angrier than she had ever been in her whole life—all her emotions also focused only onto Amalin. She wanted to hit and bite until Amalin screamed in the same amount of rage she was feeling.

"Get off me," Ash howled. She writhed in Amalin's grasp, Amalin clamping down and drawing her closer. "Let me go!"

Amalin only smiled. Ash was snapping and whipping around, and Amalin just let a wide grin play across her lips. It still looked odd.

They were near to a wide lake of glowing blue. It had to be the Pool, something easily reachable if Amalin were to simply turn with the smallest of efforts, but she ignored it and only let her smile drop when Ash finally paused to gather her strength.

"I have spent countless centuries in this world," Amalin sighed, "and I know well that the Kawshun and the Unkindness do love to play their games, speeding up everything you left behind, or slowing it down if they find that to be more fun. This place does it all so you're never quite sure how much time has passed in the life you abandoned, yet, most often, the Kawshun and the Unkindness torture you by moving at a pace you can't begin to imagine. Once they know you're here for good—and trust me they both can know that very well—they make it so everything moves far too quick.

"I have been here for a while, and maybe in the world I left things haven't aged that much but for me they have. Don't think me a fool, little girl, and don't you dare think I haven't seen it all. You're angry, the poison in you is making you fill with a rage you can't believe, and a part of you likes it, I know you like it, but I won't let you fall into it. You can struggle all you want, but I will keep you here and you will drink from my flask. Whether I force it on you or you take it willingly, you will drink from my flask."

Amalin scooted more comfortably onto the Kawshun. She'd been kneeling with her legs underneath her and Ash held securely at her waist, but she hefted Ash up so she could push her legs out. She sighed again, this time in contentment, her left arm all she needed to keep Ash on her lap.