From Shadows to Starlight

Attacked

Chapter 8

Be assured those will be thy worst enemies, not to whom thou hast done evil, but who have done evil to thee. -- Tacitus

Attacked

For what felt like hours, Alana practiced her singing with Erik as they drove along the lonely road under the stars. He made her sing “Scarborough Fair” over and over, stopping her when she sang incorrectly and explaining what the problem was and how to correct it. Then he would sing the verse to her, in his soft yet powerful voice that sounded like something from a dream, and she would find herself singing back to him in the right key, with perfect pitch. In no time, she had mastered the song and could sing every line without making a single mistake. She had no idea she was able to learn so quickly. Erik confessed that he could not do as much at the time as he wished; he would have liked to have an instrument to accompany her, and he wanted to teach her to read music, but he had to drive the cart so that would have to wait. In the meantime, he taught her other songs and they practiced together.

He was so authoritative on the subject of music, Alana thought. From what little she had seen of him, he had seemed for the most part unsure and reluctant about many things. But when he was making music or even talking about it, he was home. His eyes got brighter and his speech grew less forced as he taught her some of the things he knew. Alana could tell he had an incredible wealth of knowledge and that he loved sharing it, maybe even delighted in it, and she wondered if he’d ever trained any others before. He couldn’t possibly have trained anyone in Détente. No one had even known he was there in that little house. She would have asked him about it, but she couldn’t get a word in as he was constantly telling her about the rules of music, or one of his favorite composers. In fact, it was hard to remember any thoughts she’d had while he was talking; it was as if his voice completely filled her mind, demanding her respect and attention, and the moment he opened his mouth to sing, he became the only person in the world. His voice had a strange but wonderful hypnotic effect to it, and soon Alana lost track of time or place.

Finally, they stopped at a stream so Raven could get a drink of water, and they could stretch their legs a little. Alana found herself feeling a little lightheaded and disoriented. She drank deeply from a canteen of water they had brought and tried not to stare at Erik, who incidentally was looking at her, slightly concerned, something of his old melancholy expression returning to his face.

“Is something wrong?” They both said at the same time.

“No.” They also said at the same time. Alana laughed, and Erik looked a little less gloomy. Her lightheadedness faded almost instantly.

Neither one of them spoke for a while, and Erik kept watching the landscape around them. They had just come out of the forest and now the road stretched on through a series of gently rolling hills covered with tall grass and lit by the brightness of the night’s full moon. He appeared to be listening, too, but for what Alana didn’t know. She couldn’t hear anything

Suddenly there was a rustle in the grass. Then, large, rough hands grabbing her around the waist. She screamed, and struggled to break free, but the hands seized her wrists and twisted her arms back painfully. She could feel hot breath on the back of her neck.

While she was struggling, four other men had come charging out of the tall grass. One went for Raven and the cart, but the black horse, panicked by the commotion and the perception that the man was her master’s enemy, galloped off at full speed, pulling the cart of supplies with her. The men started shouting and cursing in a language Alana didn’t understand. She saw all four of them surround Erik, brandishing clubs and knives.

Alana kept fighting the man who had hold of her, but with her arms twisted back behind her, wrists locked and being crushed by his iron grip, she couldn’t get away. He started dragging her back with him into the tall grass, moving back toward the forest.