Awakening

Chapter 8

"Adria! What are you doing?" Shouted Tom over the rolling thunder.

"I'm not doing anything! It's just the storm! It's... It's just the storm," I mumbled, dropping my hands to my sides.

As if the sky agreed with my statement, the lighting and thunder continued to toil around me despite the stillness of my hands and quietness of my voice. Part of me was disappointed I hadn't controlled the weather, but a bigger part of me did not care so long as Evelyn was saved.

I watched her copper head as she weaved through the crowd, her frightened eyes wide as she dodged frantic Ragamons left and right. Luckily for us the brutes were too occupied with the fires to pay us much mind, and even the silver haired man had taken off to help. Finally reaching us, Evelyn threw herself at the cage.

"I'm going to get you out! I... I need a key!" she clutched the lock in her bony fingers.

Suddenly a large Ragamon came up behind Evelyn and gave her a rough shove, sending her sprawling in the mud. He wore a black piece of cloth over his mouth and charcoal lined his eyes. His eyes- I gasped, I'd never seen a Ragamon with eyes so blue. His long black hair was tied back into a series of intricate braids laced with beads and charms that rattled as he moved. He pulled a knife out of his belt and tossed it to Evelyn- my knife.

"Get ready to cut your friends bonds. Once they see what I'm doing, they will chase us," he grunted. 

Quickly he pulled out a set of keys, flicking to the right one and putting it into the lock. Stepping into the cage he yanked Tom and I to our feet and roughly pulled us out. With shaking hands Evelyn cut Tom's bonds, but I couldn't take my eyes off the strange Ragamon.

He shoved my pack into my arms, and I scrambled to sling it over my shoulders and follow him into the forest. I could hear Tom and Evelyn following behind. I knew trusting this Ragamon could be dangerous, but it was slightly less deadly then stumbling through the forest blind with a hoard of furious barbarians on our tails. At least I hoped it was.

The man held out his hand to stop me, and I froze behind him. It looked like he was listening for something but I could not hear a thing over the rain and thunder. The forest around us was pitch dark for the moon was hidden behind angry clouds, and behind me Evelyn tripped over a tree root. I stood shaking next to the Ragamon, too full of a adrenaline until this moment to let fear creep back in.

"Do you hear that? Drums. They're organizing a hunting party," he whispered.

I craned my neck in the direction we'd came, and sure enough I could hear them. They were far away for now, but slowly they were growing louder. They matched my heartbeat, and I could feel the blood pounding in my skull in time.

"Oh you've certainly made them mad, Striga," the man chuckled.

"What did you call me?"

He blinked at me twice before turning around and continuing deeper into the woods. Fuming internally I stomped after him, wanting nothing more than to give him a firm wack with my bow and leave him unconscious for his savage friends to find. Nonetheless, I had a sneaking suspicion he didn't quite fit in here, his words were too crisp, his mannerisms too clean.

"Where are you leading us?" Tom asked.

"There's a cave north of here, we can wait out the storm. They won't follow us in, they think a monster lives in there," the man called back.

"Monster?" Evelyn whimpered, clutching Tom's arm.

"It's not real, I investigated myself. Now, we better hurry, because believe it or not, they're worse ways to die than on their stone table," the man said, picking up his pace.