Battle For Freedom

Pain consumed every part of his body. Rough hands grabbed his arms and he felt his body being dragged across the cold, stone floor. The hands lifted his body into the air and for a few seconds he felt like he was flying. This feeling quickly shattered as his body slammed into a rough stone wall. Pain flared through his side. Slowly, he forced his eyes open and saw nothing but darkness. A sudden flicker of light overhead caught his attention. In the torchlight he could see a group of men standing at the edge of the pit in which they had thrown him, laughing and jeering at him.

"A few days in the pit with no food or water will teach you to defy the Amaras!" a voice thundered into the pit. "We'll see how touch you are then, boy!" The laughing voices of the men quickly drifted away. He could hear their voices echo through the cave. For a few minutes he just sat there, enjoying the quiet drip of water falling to the floor. Drip. Drip. Drip. He sat there for a few more minutes before he realized what he was hearing.

WATER! The thought practically screamed in his head. Very slowly he lifted himself into a crawling position. He painfully started to crawl toward the dripping sound. Pain suddenly overwhelmed him and he crumbled to the floor. Something small and wet touched his nose. Then another drop landed on his nose. He slowly tilted his head back and stuck out his tongue to catch the next drop. After what seemed like an eternity, a wet tingling sensation touched his tongue. Then another. And another. Soon his mouth was no longer dry. Satisfied, he painfully pulled himself into a sitting position against the wall of the pit. He let his head hang back so that he could feel the wall's coldness on the back of his neck. He sighed and let out a deep breath.

"Well Adam, what did you do this time?" he heard his own voice echo against the cave walls. It comforted him, in a weird sort of way, to hear his own voice. The thoughts of the day ran through his mind.

"Well Adam," he replied to himself. "Today I tried to escape again, only to be caught by Tomore." He quickly spat in disgust on the floor as he said the Amara leader's name. "I almost made it, but Tomore just had to be visiting his mines today! I mean really, if he wants to find riches so badly, why doesn't he just grab a pickaxe and do the work himself!" He sighed and let his head droop forward. "But no, he just had to kidnap innocent people to do all the work for him!" Thinking about this, he started to recall the day that they took him.

He had been boar hunting that day, with his faithful companion, Tiger. He was a small beagle with white and caramel coloured fur and the courage of a mountain lion. They had been on the verge of catching a wild boar, when all of a sudden an arrow shot out of the forest around them and plunged itself into Tiger's side. He howled in pain as his body sank to the ground. He let one last whimper escape and then he was silent. Adam stood in shock, looking at his dead companion, seconds ago alive. Snapping out of his paralyzed state, he began to stumble towards his dog. He sank to his knees next to his friend and gently gathered the dog into his arms. Tiger's body was quickly becoming cold to the touch. Adam cradled Tiger in his arms as he buried his face in his fur and wept. Never again would he hear Tiger's happy howl as they chased after game. No longer would they spend endless hours splashing in the creek by his home. His best friend was gone.

Slowly, Adam gently set the cold body of his dog down. He then thrust his arms into the air, hands clenched into fists, and threw his head back as he bellowed a broken hearted and angry cry. He vowed then and there that he would not rest until he found the one whom had killed his dog and made him pay. He did not have to wait long.

A dozen men suddenly stepped out of the forest around Adam, arrows loaded on their bows, all pointed at him. At this point, Adam was so angered by the death of his friend that he cared not about death for himself. In the blink of an eye, he grabbed two large sticks from the ground beside him. He chucked one at one of the men as leapt to his feet, and with the other he charged at another man, whom had become briefly startled by Adam's sudden movements of attack.