Riders In The Wind

Chapter 6: Mau

I didn't know much about what had happened before. In fact I didn't really know about anything at all. Our village was attacked. Everyone died. We managed to escape. That's how the story seems to be going right now for Sentrayah and I. As of now, we were lost in some forest outside of the village. Neither of us has ever seen maps of places outside of the Village walls, so navigating was out of the equation. Lovely...

At night the forest was to dark to see. We were constantly tripping over roots and rocks. Still Sentrayah pushed us to keep moving forward. For several days we walked almost nonstop; until finally I just collapsed from exhaustion. Though Sentrayah was weak, she still tried to encourage me to keep moving, but she eventually came to her senses and took a rest.

I think we slept for about a day because it was night again when we continued our little "journey". With each passing minute, my legs became more tired and I grew more hungry. My stomach felt like it was going to devour itself if I didn't eat something soon. I looked over at Sentrayah. She didn't seem to be doing any better than me. Her eyes red with tiredness, arms and legs bruised (I guessed from the explosions knocking her around), and her hand was still swollen and had turned a nasty shade of brown-green.

I shivered remembering the sight of her getting beaten by the guard. He had crushed her hand in battle. I lost all control of myself. My eyes filled with furry, my veins pulsed, my teeth clenched and snarling like a dog. I charged at him with tremendous speed and strength. It was as if I grew stronger from the anger. However, my power faded upon tackling him to the ground. I was surprised by my incredible force. Who knew I had so much strength?

I snapped back to reality when I nearly tripped over another root. The darkness of the night intimidated me as I walked; threatening to send me into the unknown dangers of the night at any moment. I could hear rats scattering all around us. The sound of their small feet made me uncomfortable. The cold bit at my fingers and feet. Oh how I miss my old home.

It was just then that I realized I had lost sight of Sentrayah. The sister that risked her life to save mine. The sister that was always like a family to me. The sister that I couldn't live without. I searched around everywhere, but I couldn't find her. I panicked. Where was she? Is she lost? Am I lost? Or worse; is she dead?

I kept searching all around. I did my best to see the ground in the dim light of the moon, but there was nothing to help me here. I eventually started crawling on the ground hoping to feel her. I started to cry, and soon my cries turned to sobs.

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" I screamed out into the emptiness that surrounded me. "SENTRAYAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I collapsed on the ground. My wails  so powerful they shook my jerked my body. My cries shook the trees. "SENTRA-" I started to scream out again, but was cut off by a sharp pain in the side of my neck. I bolted up. I frantically looked around to see what it was, straining my eyes. It was no good. The pain grew stronger. I reached up to the spot that was aching, and found something that almost made me faint on the spot. A dart. A liquid ooze draped off the end of it mixing with my blood. My whole body began shaking. I felt cold, but a different kind of cold than before. The kind of cold you feel when you are scarred; scarred for your life. My head started spinning, and before I knew it; I was toppling onto the ground. My conscience faded away. But, just before I was out; I felt another presence next to me. I reached out my arm and felt a hand bigger than mine. The touch was so familiar; it was something that I had felt many times before, or someone. Sentrayah! She was there! And, she was breathing. We were alive, but not for much longer. All around I saw people closing in on us. It was like a lion ambushing it's prey, and we were the target.

"Common, lets take them back to Saregami. Kysteria and her group can decide what to do with them." One of the attackers said, and they dragged us off into the darkness of the forest. We were finished.