Another World of Dreams-The Escape

Chapter 12 - Hunted

The first thing Liv remembered was how she jumped between moss-covered stones with one arm over Kaan's shoulders. The morning light was growing brighter, but it was still too early in the day for the sun to give off any warmth. Cold sweat soaked her clothes so she must have been hot before, but now she shivered despite moving at a pace which made her calves scream in protest.

She smelled of smoke and realized that her hair was as crispy as burned grass when she stroked it from her face. Her left arm had gone numb and felt detached, then tingling pain trickled up from her fingers the moment she thought about it. The fire had scrubbed away the skin from her elbow halfway to the wrist and exposed red muscles on the inside of her arm.

They stopped by a small stream to drink and rinse the wound. Then Kaan told her what had happened.

"The king of the forest came when I called for him. You lost consciousness in the fall, so I carried you up to the ravine where we hid under a fir tree until you woke up. The bear kept the villagers away, then men with crossbows walked up from the poor people's houses, and the king fled into the forest." He closed his eyes and held up his hand. "Someone's following us. They are not close but I sense their presence."

They ran on through the mountain pass for another hour before they left the path they had arrived by a few days earlier. Instead of heading south they followed the northern slope of Mount Domedus, where the forest was denser and fallen branches and roots hid the ground. They entered a narrow gorge that lay in constant shadow between the two highest summits of the mountain massif. Rocks the size of small cottages covered the path and forced them to zigzag their way forward. Rain began pouring from the sky and they had to take care not to slip on the stony trail.

They gained altitude, yet the sharp peaks remained distant. The ravine swung west in the same direction as Saint Rafael, but it was now too late to turn back and choose another path around the mountain. Clouds descended from the sky and embraced them like a winter morning's mist. The relentless rain increased in strength.

Around noon, the fog dispersed for a second and revealed a wooden building a hundred strides down the path. It was no cottage or shed, but a modern construction with a large railroad track leading into its cellar.

"Go back!" Liv shouted as she realized that it was the top station of a cable-railway and dragged Kaan in the opposite direction.

Something snapped around her ankles and she lunged forward with no time to raise her arms to protect herself as she struck the ground. The next second Kaan crashed onto the pebbles beside her and a large net landed on top of them. A dozen men materialized in the mist and encircled them. Each man held a long black lance in his hands, reminding her of the lances worn by the soldiers in old paintings. But these were not soldiers. She could say that for sure. Nor did they resemble the members of Pastor Brock's parish. They were thugs and bandits. Men who needed no religion as an excuse for violence.

Liv was well aware that the men surrounded them and had them trapped under a large net. Still, she could not prevent herself from threatening them.

"Go back, you idiots! We'll kill you if you come closer." She struggled with the net, but only entangled herself more. "Summon the king of the forest," she pleaded to Kaan.

"He's not nearby."

The men were now so close that they could poke them with their lances. She recognized one of them as the fence, but he did not let his fellows know they had met before.

"Be careful with the elf, he's dangerous. Nobody kills the girl. There'll be no reward if she's dead," he said. "Nothing stops us from having a little fun with her though," he added, and most of the thugs laughed. Next to him was the man who had guided them to the fence's door their first morning in Saint Rafael. He did not laugh and just stared at Liv, making her stomach twist.