Dorothy

Chapter 7

Auden whipped around and practically slapped Dorothy trying to cover her mouth- he was learning. Dorothy had indeed been about to scream. The trio seemed paralyzed as the man walked toward them, until Rosie grabbed each of them by the arms and started to pull them. Auden and Dorothy needed no more prompting. They turned and started to run.

Dorothy's glances back revealed that the man had not run after them, but was indeed walking quickly behind them. Auden urged her forward and she hurried as quickly as she could. She had to get away. She was their greatest liability.

Yet for all their running, they couldn't escape the man. He followed them tirelessly, and Dorothy observed Auden panting beside her. His underused body had been pushed too far. That was when Dorothy felt it. The gentle caress to her mind. The probing of invading fingers. They willed her to stop, just to rest, for Auden's sake, for her own.

Dorothy fought for a few moments, but he overcame to quickly. Switching speedily from her mind to her limbs, the man caused her legs to stop and Dorothy stumbled.

Auden was by her side in an instant, grabbing her arm, urging her along, dragging her down the street. Rosie tried to help, but she couldn't grab much more than Dorothy's arm in her haste, besides, she wasn't made to carry loads. Auden tried to pull her into his arms again, but his strength had failed. He stumbled once, and Dorothy was kneeling over him, pinning him to the ground.

Dorothy could feel tears running down her face as her arms betrayed her. Rosie pulled at her arms, moved to her hair. Rosie's prong raked a bloody scratch across her scalp. Auden writhed and struggled beneath her, but his feeble muscles were no match for the strength that now possessed her. The man strolled closer.

Auden went limp for a second. Looked to the man, looked up at her. "Sorry," he whispered. Tensing his minimal muscles, Auden made one last lunge and dug his nails into her bleeding head Dorothy screamed in pain, but the confusion was enough to snap the man's control over her. Even as she yelled, and the sound echoed across the dome, Auden and Rosie grabbed her arms and hauled her along.

The man was walking faster now. Auden and Rosie pulled her faster, though now it was more like Rosie dragging both of them along. They were limping past an abandoned garbage can when Dorothy wrenched out of the grasp of her friends and dove for a piece of scrap metal by the garbage.

In one fluid motion, Dorothy spun on her feet, wrapped her arm around Auden's chest, pulled him to her, and pressed the razor-like blade to his neck. He cried out and Rosie sped toward them. Dorothy cried. The man walked toward them.

"Dorothy! Listen to me! You have to stop this. At least move your legs. Come on!" Auden cried. His eyes were wild with panic and he watched the man come closer and closer. Finally he came to them.

He appeared to be a middle-aged man, though he walked like someone much younger. He seemed to completely ignore Rosie, simply pushing her out of the way. She tilted and fell to her side, treads spinning uselessly. Auden struggled as the man approached them. He pulled himself into as protective a position as he could in front of Dorothy. Auden gasped as a thin line of blood ran down his neck. The man gave a smug smile.

Dorothy tried to shoot daggers at the man with her eyes, but it was incredibly hard to look angry and defiant when she couldn't stop crying. Her only friends. Her only friends and she was going to get them all killed. She tried to speak, but that was another privilege taken from her. The man seemed determined to be the first to speak.

The man walked until he was perhaps six inches from Auden and Dorothy. Paused. Looked them up and down. Dorothy couldn't help being proud of having a friend like Auden in that moment. His legs shook from their recent exertion coupled with the awkward way she was forcing him to stand, but still he looked ready to lunge at the man if he laid a finger on them.

The man chuckled, seeming to have caught the look in the Auden's eye, and finding something amusing about it. "Don't worry," he said in a good-natured way. He seemed to find the tears pouring down Dorothy's face, and Auden's defiance amusing. Dorothy loathed this man. Not if he possessed all the charisma in the world did she think that she could like him. As brave as Auden was trying to act, she could see the fear in his eyes and could almost feel the pain he must be in. He was almost a dead weight as she held him up.

"No really, I'm not here to harm you. I want to help you. You yourselves have forced me to go to such extreme measures."

"Well forgive us if we don't believe you," Auden's voice sounded strangled, but Dorothy was proud of him for speaking up. When she glanced at Rosie to see how she responded, the android appeared to have gone into shut-down mode. Dorothy could only hope that it wasn't any more serious than that.

"Oh! I don't expect you to trust me, though I can perhaps provide you with a little information that would help?"

"Unlikely," came Auden's casual reply.

"We'll see," he moved his head so that he was looking at Dorothy. "I'm not sure I like this one. Why do you let him stay? Oh that's right you can't talk. Never mind then. I have one other thing to say first. I know Thaumaturge Elwyn, and she sent me here to help you. I'm sorry I was pushed to these means, but I really do feel that you brought them upon yourselves."

Understanding appeared on their faces. At that moment, the man's control on Dorothy was released, and as her arm fell Auden crumpled to the ground. Dorothy hurriedly bent to help him into a seated position, and Auden stared up at the man defiantly, seeming embarrassed about appearing so weak in front of him.

"What if we still don't trust you? What if we don't want you with us?" Dorothy said, speaking for the first time.

"Well my dear, I'm afraid that you don't have much choice. See, my orders from Elwyn are that I accompany you on the rest of your journey, and you three are not exactly in a position to refuse."

Auden looked like he wanted to tear the man's limbs off. "You seem so determine to help," Auden's tone ran with sarcasm now, "yet you have not revealed your name. Doubtless you know ours, so how are we to trust you?"

"Oh! Excuse my manners!" the man said, sounding genuinely apologetic. He gave a small bow as he proclaimed, "My name is Ronan, at your service."