Insurrection (Completed) [editing]

4. Rescued

Chapter four - Rescued
The Maflakof placed Keira on the floor of the shed and prepared himself for his meal. The girl wasn't struggling so much anymore, which made it easier for his venom to move through her body, paralyzing her and giving him an instant feast.
As he was about to inject her with his fangs, he heard a loud roar from behind and the clattering of bones and tools.
Growling at the thought of a predator, the beast dragged the girl's body behind a haystack at the corner of the shed. He did not want guests at his dinner table. The Maflakof turned around, ready to fight, his fangs already filled to the tip with the deadly venom.
Using his scotopic vision, he searched the shed from top to bottom, making sure that there was nothing inside with him. When he was sure that it was clear, he went back to the limp body and placed the girl on top of a haystack, already imagining his canines tearing away at her succulent flesh.
Keira's eyes had already rolled back in to her head and she was twitching, the venom had almost fully paralysed her and was now contaminating her blood. Her head lolled to one side and the piece of glass she had tried to pick up when she was behind the haystack had fallen, leaving a deep scar on her right palm. The thick, crimson liquid made a steady stream down her arm and the blood dripped on the dusty floor.
Drip
Drip
Drip
The Maflakof waited for her to stop twitching, and when she did, he knelt down and brought his mouth closer to her arm, so he could tear it to shreds and then swallow, savouring the feel of her blood and the meaty flesh, settling in his stomach comfortably. The Maflakof eye's stared at the girl greedily, eager to follow his exact thoughts.
The Maflakof's mouth was watering and as he was about to take a bite when he felt a sharp pain on his shoulder. He turned his head around to see what it was from and was struck by something rough.
In retaliation, he wrapped his snake tail around the mysterious creature and uncurled, spinning the creature into the wall that was opposite them. The creature flew and hit the wall with a thud. The creature slumped against the wall, motionless. It had been an easy kill.
That's what you get for interfering with my dinner, a voice added snidely at the creature that had dared to interrupt his dinner. Simply rude, if you ask him.
The Maflakof licked his lips and opened his mouth to ravish her when he was struck a second time! This time it was his left shoulder and the beast hissed in pain and eyes narrowed in irritation. As he was about to wrap his tail around the creature that he had surely killed a minute ago, he felt another sharp pain in his back.
Confused and trying to look for the perpetrator, he whipped his tail around, hoping it would cause the unseen creature to black out. He was futile, now the pain was coming from everywhere; the creature was scratching and clawing at the Maflakof's face, back and neck.
The Maflakof kicked the creature in an effort to get it away from him. He kicked it again and again, to make sure that he injured it somehow. The creature groaned as it was kicked. The groaning turned into a roar and the smooth surface of hide the creature had (that the Maflakof had been kicking) turned into fur.
The Maflakof's leg was yanked to the side with the force and speed at which the creature was growing, causing the Maflakof to fall on his back. The creature that had now turned into some sort of furry animal and bored over the Maflakof, making it whine and cower in fear. It roared once more and struck the Maflakof sharply in the head, effectively knocking him out.
The Maflakof was thrown to a corner of the shed and left there to recover. The creature that had attacked walked towards Keira and lifted her into its arms. It morphed back into its original form with her in its arms and made its way toward the door and toward safety.
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Skydor opened the shed door and let out a sigh of relief as the warmth of the early morning sun shone on his face. He kneeled down and placed the human girl that lay in his arms on the soft green grass. She was still breathing, but she was pale and her veins had turned bright green with the contamination of the venom.
Skydor stared at her for a moment, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest. Even underneath the scars, dirt and the blood that were on her face she was beautiful. Too beautiful to be a peacemaker, her neck-length ginger hair and her clear fair skin made it obvious that she did not belong outside the boundaries. Her frame was tiny and she looked so fragile just lying there, her body trying to fight off the venom.
He rubbed the back of his neck and covered his face with his hands. What was he to do with her? He couldn't just leave her here alone to be eaten by the many Maflakof's that were roaming around the forest. He couldn't take her back to camp; his fellow peacemakers would question him and accuse her of being a spy.
Turning her in back to her people was the best thing to do, but not in her state. She would be dead by the time they got there. Skydor sat down next to her and moved a piece of hair that had escaped from her hairband and onto her face.
"Now what do you suppose I should do? I don't remember the recipe for the venom antidote," Skydor said talking to himself, expecting an answer when he scowled at himself. Of course there wasn't going to be an answer, he was speaking to himself.
He was hoping that the girl would wake up and just miraculously be okay. Skydor gave her a glance and sighed at her form. There was nothing he could do for her.
Just leave her, one less cruel human in this world, a thought urged Skydor.
Skydor nodded his head and the small voice in the back of his head and walked to the tree he had hidden his bow and arrows behind and slipped them onto his back.
Skydor looked back to the girl one more time and as he was about to turn around she groaned. He shook his head, turned around and started the journey back to camp.
"Don't turn around, don't turn around," Skydor repeated to himself.He had cleared quite a distance and was almost halfway there.
His pace slowed down from a jog to a brisk walk, until he was standing still. An image of the girl in a white dress flashed into his mind. He shook his head ignoring it until he heard the screech of a Vulturapter. He quickened his pace and tried to ignore the image of the girl.
The Vulturapter screeched again and was answered by another one. This changed his mind instantly, there was no way he would leave anything out there to be eaten, even if she was part of his enemies, he would save her. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Skydor shouted to let the Vulturapter's know that a protector was in the forest and he turned around. He started to sprint and was right in front of her before a Vulturapter could touch her. He lifted her into his arms and carried her to a Kjaniyoh tree.
He perched her head up on a rock covered in moss and proceeded to pick the orange leaves off the great tree. He searched around his brain, trying to remember what else he needed. All he remembered was that it was the green leaves that could kill humans.
Or was it the orange leaves?
Skydor sighed, trying to concentrate and think of different ways to remove the poison. The smell of the tree wasn't helping him in any way. It smelt foul and sweet like something he'd tasted as a child. He covered his nose with his shirt and continued to pick the orange leaves.
The smell still penetrated his shirt and then it struck him that the smell was the antidote. It was right there in front of him! A memory of waves rushed into his mind, there was always a spare bottle of antidote in every Kjaniyoh tree just in case a peacemaker had been poisoned. He let out a shout in relief and put the bottle in his pocket.
When he had climbed down from the tree, he cracked the seal open and sat next to the girl, placing her head in his lap. He opened her mouth with one hand and poured the orange liquid into it. It went down her throat easily.
The antidote started to work almost immediately and Skydor could see the parts that had been healed, her veins were turning back to their normal colour now and her heart was beating faster until it reached the normal rate.
The girl sat up suddenly, eyes wide open and she stood up to run. As soon as she put her left foot on the ground, she screamed and fell back to the ground. Skydor, in shock and confusion took a few steps back in case she suddenly pulled out a sword or a weapon. He had seen something like that happen after a human screamed. He wasn't so sure anymore if she should have been saved by the look on her face.
Keira sat up, tears running down her face. She was clutching her leg and squeezing it to try and make the pain go away. She gritted her teeth and tried to bend her knees but all she could do was lift her leg up. It was limp and shards of pain were shooting through it. Keira sobbed and tried to get up again but her injured leg wouldn't let her.
"Stop, you're hurting yourself," Skydor said, "let me help you."
It came as a surprise to both of them. Keira hadn't noticed that he was there and Skydor hadn't expected himself to care so much.
"Wh-wh-who are you?" Keira stuttered in alarm.
She tried to turn around to look at him but the pain in her leg was too much to bear.
"I can't tell you that," he replied.
He couldn't let her know that there were other forms like her outside of the boundaries. He hid behind a bush and turned into a ferliobog before she could see his face.
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Keira screamed when the ferliobog walked up to her. It was huge; about the size of a man and it had pitch black hair that shone in the sunlight. It was all black, and had no blotches of colour like the ones she had seen during the taming session. The ferliobogs eyes were bright blue, almost too blue to be ferliobog eyes. Keira swore she could almost see some sort of emotion in them.
The ferliobog got up onto its hind leg and moved its arms to the side and behind. It looked like some sort of war dance. Keira tried to move away slowly and unnoticed, but the ferliobog kept looking at her and doing the weird dance.
Through gritted teeth she looked at the ferliobog and said, "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just lost and I need to get back home."
Keira tried to manoeuvre herself back while she said it, in case the creature didn't understand and lashed out at her.
Skydor nodded, hoping that she would understand that he knew what she was saying. He moved closer to her and nudged her. Keira's heart started to beat faster and she froze, afraid that the ferliobog would smell something on her. He nudged her the second time and she patted him on the neck. He growled softly and turned his head to his side, indicating that she must get onto his back.
Keira was confused; the ferliobog was still trying to show her something. He was moving his head from side to side. She couldn't understand what he was trying to say. He repeated the movement again until he got tired.
Skydor looked Keira in the eye and told her to get onto his back with his mind. He was afraid that if he talked, she would freak out and start screaming again. You never knew with humans, especially the girls.
She still looked confused, but he kept repeating it to her until she finally understood. He then lay down on the grass and waited for her to get on. Keira used her arms and uninjured leg to manoeuvre herself onto the ferliobogs back.
Skydor's heart ached as he heard her groan and moan in pain. He really wanted to help her but he didn't want her to be frightened by his human abilities. After falling onto her back twice, Keira finally managed to get onto his back and make herself comfortable.
When Skydor was sure that Keira was comfortable, he rose and the started their journey. He took the main path at first, but after hearing the roars of his fellow shape shifters, he hid himself behind the inoyih trees. He was afraid that if they found him, they would kill the human girl and strip him of his honorary position of ferliobog protector.
The inoyih trees stretched out all the way to the human training camp and were big and tall enough to hide his bulky form. Skydor was surprised at the weight of the girl on his back, he had expected her to be heavy like the man he had once carried back to camp to be prosecuted. He guessed that it was because she didn't weigh as much or didn't eat as much as the previous human.
Skydor's pace quickened and soon he was running. Keira wasn't groaning or making any noises anymore so he suspected that she had passed out. In no time he had reached the gate.
He hid behind a bush and searched the area for any guards. There seemed to be none so he morphed back to his human form and slowly removed Keira from his back. He kneeled down and put her in his lap. Skydor smiled softly at the beautiful creature in his arms.
She looked so peaceful and less fragile now that the venom had been completely removed from her body. He hated to have to wake her up and he wished he could take her back to camp but now was the time to return her to her people.
Skydor carried her to the gate and rang the warning bell. When he saw guards approaching he shook her until she was awake. Before she regained her consciousness he whispered his goodbye to her and ran off into the forest.
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Author's note: This chapter is dedicated to Jtaylor01 <3 for being such an awesome fan! I really wish Skydor had revealed his human form to Keira... But, that will ruin the surprise...I hope you enjoyed this chapter ;) tell me what you think below and don't forget to vote :p
Thank you for reading xx