Moon Angel

Chapter 46: Ambush

Chapter 46: Ambush

"You've been a hard woman to catch, Selene." He walked towards us. "The Zorkan will be very happy to have you back under his supervision." The man smiled, adjusting his grip on the weapon. It seemed to be a sort of gun. I looked around. There had to be a way out of this.

"Take them," he called to his people. They closed in, grabbing Em and reaching for me.

"No!" I screamed. I thrust my arms out, throwing whatever power I could at them. The wind came to my rescue, knocking over the Elvirans next to Em. I scrambled to my feet, adrenalin giving me the energy to stand.

"Run!" I yelled to Em. She didn't wait around, sprinting into the cover of the bush line.

I spun around, sending another burst of wind at the men still standing. The man who had been speaking ducked down, bracing himself against the wind. I sprinted after Em, not waiting to see what he'd do.

"Get after them!" I heard him shout at the other Elvirans.

I stretched my wings, trying to fly. In the last few weeks, I had found I could travel faster by flying than by running. My body was built to fly. I managed to boost myself further ahead, but couldn't gain much traction. My wings were weak, unsteady. Whatever I had been shot with had taken away my strength. I dropped to the ground again and continued running. I made it to the bush line, manoeuvring through the tall trees and shrubs. The bush here was hard to fly in and the Elvirans would have to run. I hoped that it would slow them down.

I could make out Em still running in front of me. I increased the speed of my run, hoping to catch up to her. I checked behind me to see the tell-tale flash of white in the trees behind me that meant the Elvirans were making chase. I turned quickly and threw blasts of wind in their direction. I didn't know if it would do much but anything to slow them down slightly was worth it. I couldn't allow myself to get caught.

I gave myself another boost and reached Em, running right behind her.

"Where are we going?" she called behind her.

"The shuttle should be in this direction," I called back.

"Shuttle?"

"I'll explain later."

"You lead," she said, dropping back so that we switched positions. I hoped we were running in the right direction, but if we could at least get out of the forest, I should be able to fly us both out of here.

I checked behind me again. The Elvirans were further behind than they had been before. There was a chance we'd actually make it.

People talk of famous last words, or at least thoughts, and those were mine, because almost as soon as I had thought them, an unseen blast came through the forest, slamming me into the ground, the breath knocked out of me.

I tried to get up, but I was disoriented. I struggled to my hands and knees, trying to catch my breath again. I turned my head, looking around. Em was sprawled on the ground behind me. I felt so weak, and my eyesight had blurred at the edges.

Shadows dropped from above, landing on the ground around us.

I closed my eyes and opened them again, trying to get my eyes to focus. When they did, I saw the white hair and white wings of the figures standing around us. Elvirans. They must have been tracking us from above and dropped down when we had been knocked over.

I tried to get to my feet again, but failed. My legs seeming to buckle beneath me. I heard footsteps crunching on the leaves of the forest floor and turned my head to see one of the Elvirans coming towards me. I tried one more time to regain my balance and draw the wind towards me but a blinding pain entered my head where the Elviran had hit me with something and my world spun into darkness.