Echoes

Chapter 25

"Why do I keep passing out?" I screamed into the darkness of the cave. My arms were roped together at the wrist and strung up above my head, attached to the rough wall behind me, with my feet being tied together as well. I struggled to pull my arms free, but the rope was too tight for me to slip out of, unlike the shackles in Alvion.

"Nisa, stop struggling!" Shae called from somewhere else in the cave. "It's not going to make this any better."

"I need to get out of here," I muttered. I wasn't going to look weak again.

The rest of the group was kept within the same chamber as us, occasionally waking up from their sedation and having to be filled in on why they were tied to a wall in a dark cave.

'How could we have all been so foolish?" Sanus asked after he first woke up. "I should have suspected an ambush."

"It's no one's fault, Sanus, none of us could have seen it coming," Shae reassured him.

I fidgeting against my restraints, but the only thing that changed was how much rope burn I was getting.

"So now what?" I asked. "My arms arm getting tired."

"Now we wait until someone comes for us," Shae said simply.

"What if they come to kill us?" I continued.

"Well then we try our hardest to not be killed and hope for the best," she replied.

That didn't make me feel better. The cave was so dark I couldn't even see if anybody was hurt or even if all of us were still together, I could only hope we still had everyone. Suddenly from the other end of the chamber, a metal door creaked open.

The cave was washed in firelight from a group of torches. I squinted in the light, then glanced around and counted. Everyone was there, and in one piece, but I could see we were all tied up, and terrified. I turned my attention to our captors.

A group of about four people approached us. The three in the back were carrying the torches, while the man in the front simply walked towards us with his hands behind his back. He wore nothing but black and leather armor, his dark hair slicked back, his face expressionless in the firelight.

"Well," he started, his large teeth a slightly smile under a bushy mustache. "Care to explain yourselves, trespassers?"

I turned to Shae, waiting for her answer, but I forgot she wanted me to do the talking.

"My name is Nisa," I began. "This is my company lead by Shae, leader of the Winoan Council and Sanus, general of the Winoan Guardsmen. We came looking for pure bloods."

The man raised his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes "Why in the world would you be looking for pure bloods?"

"It's kind of a long story," I said.

"Well you better tell it fast, before we kill you," he replied.

My eyes widened. "You see, we think I may be a pure blood, and I'm from Alvion, and I guess we were hoping to find some pure bloods to help us stop the Beasts."

The man pursed his lips and looked me over, clearly skeptical of my claims.

"If you'd just allow me to take the dagger out of my boot I can prove it to you," I said.

"Oh, that won't be necessary," he replied. "I've already taken the liberty of removing all your weapons for you." He slipped my dagger out of his sleeve and twirled it around.

"Give me my sword back!" I heard Pix scream from somewhere in the back of the chamber.

"Silence, ash-born!" The man spat.