SCARRED; The Dark Tower

Chapter Ten: Shadows in the Forest

Derelda's atmosphere the next day was one of anxiety and grimness. Everyone that had not witnessed the happening of the previous night had received a descriptive detail of it, and every valteri now knew that Gladar knew their whereabouts. This fact seemed to frighten no one more than Elimere-- or at least so it seemed to her.

Nothing had ever frightened Elimere more than the previous night when she had followed Jerrick into the arena. When the flames had made a ring around her, trapping her away from the rest of the world, fear had torn and clawed ferociously at her heart. She had felt the ever familiar terror that she had felt that dreadful day so many years ago...

Elimere shivered as the memory shot through her mind and hurriedly shoved the thought away, refusing to think about it again.

As she headed toward the arena for practice, she noticed Jerrick sitting by himself, his back against the trunk of a maple tree, his eyes closed. Elimere studied his face or a minute, trying to read what he could possibly thinking. That morning, he had been very quiet and had seemed to be avoiding her. However much this hurt Elimere, she could not blame him. If he had spoken to Gladar, the same terrifying images must have been flashing though his mind all night and morning as those that had flashed through Elimere's from time to time since the day she had faced the dark figure of Gladar. Still, something seemed to really be bothering Jerrick...

Jerrick opened his eyes and Elimere quickly turned away and continued walking toward the arena. She wanted very badly to talk to Jerrick, to ask him more about what had happened last night. But she could not find the courage. Something about his quiet demeanor frightened her, and she was convinced that he would not be willing to talk to her about it.

The sounds of swords clanging and people grunting and yelling reached Elimere's ears as she reached the entrance to the arena. It was strange to enter the training area that had been lit with shadowy flames only the night before, and find it filled with sunlight.

Taking a seat, Elimere pulled her sack from her arm and pulled out her armor pads. When she was fully dressed, she grabbed her sword from her sheath and searched for her trainer.

Within a few minutes, her mind was overtaken with battle strategies, concentration on her foot movements, and focus on her opponent's sword movements. Her whole being tingled with life and energy as she dodged her opponent's swings, slashed at her opponent, and lept side to side to confuse her opponent.

Sword-fighting had always been the only thing that made Elimere feel that she fit in. It was the only thing that her fellow young valteri agreed to do with her. Although there was always that glimmer of fear and anxiety in her opponents' eyes when she dueled, she was still able to have the sense of companionship for a few moments. After the duels, however, her opponents would always hesitate and shy from a handshake for a second before reaching for Elimere's outstretched hand.

After hours of sword-fighting, Elimere began to grow weary and stopped to retire back to the benches. She wiped her sweaty forehead with a rag and took a few huge gulps from her water flask. Just as she was putting the flask back in her sack, a movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention. She whipped her head around just as whatever-or-whoever-it-was disappeared behind a large supportive beam at the perimeter of the arena. Curiosity won over Elimere's interest and she abandoned her bag and walk slowly toward the beam.

Elimere peered around the beam when she reached it, but found nothing. She wondered if she had imagined it. But something about the movement of whatever-it-was seemed very familiar to her.

An eerie feeling came over Elimere at the realization, and she spun around, scanning the arena.

She caught the familiar movement to the left, toward the arena entrance. She whipped around just in time to see a figure flash out of sight.