Zakara: Fire Within (An Allanon Fanfic)

Chapter Eleven - The Bandit Camp

Mekhi had one of his servants roll him up to my bedroom door in his new wheelchair, his hands full of beautiful purple flowers. He was really nervous about this, but he wanted to do it. "You may leave us now, Jakz," Mekhi told the servant. 

Jakz bowed and left quickly, for he had a lot more to do to prepare for the very thing Mekhi was to ask me.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted his arm and knocked on my door and pasted on a smile, but I never came. He tried knocking again, and again, and again. "Zakara?" He said, this time opening my door. He rolled himself into the room and looked around, finding that my stuff was still in there, but my cloak was missing. He didn't want to get worried yet. Maybe she's just practicing with Allanon again? He asked himself.

Just as he turned to leave, Allanon strolled into the room. At first he was going to be angry, but then he realized I wasn't there. "Where is Zakara?"

Mekhi shrugged quickly. "I don't know. I was looking for her to ask her an important question... but she seems to be missing. I thought she was with you."

Allanon's expression turned from suspicion to worry. He rushed to the dresser near the door and started digging through it, but he couldn't seem to find what he was looking for. He slowly looked up. "I know where she went."

Mekhi raised his eyebrows. "Where?"

Allanon turned to him and replied grimly, "She's gone to find the Siren."

~oOo~

I woke with a gasp and found I couldn't move. Well, I could, but not very much with these darn ropes tied around my wrists and ankles. Looking around, I saw that I was lying on the cold, hard dirt in some kind of small tent made of rough, red fabric. There were so many slits and holes in it that I didn't think it should be considered a tent, it wouldn't protect you from anything.

Just outside the tent, I could hear laughter and smell smoke from a campfire. The smoke rolling in through the partially opened flap made my mouth water, because it was mixed with the wonderful smell of freshly cooked meat.

I sat up, a sharp pain shooting through my head, and memories of what happened came with it. Why had I been so stupid as to think I could come out here by myself? I wished I could put myself on time out, but well... what I was getting now was close enough, plus, I just needed to calm down. I needed to figure out how to get away and get to Allanon so I could tell him what I did and what happened because of it. I just knew he would be mad at me.

Shifting to get a little more comfortable, if that was possible, I felt something stab into my hip and flinched. I checked the ground to see what it might have been, but there was nothing. That was when I remembered the piece of ice from the Siren.

I hurriedly reached my arms over so I could try to grab the piece of ice, but I couldn't quite get my hand in my tight pocket.

"We'd better check on the prisoner," a man said.

Crap! Glancing around, I tried to find any escape route, but there was none except for the door that the bandit was coming toward. Panicking, I flopped back over onto my side and closed my eyes just as the bandit entered.

"She's still out cold," he shouted to his fellow bandits, but I heard his footsteps come closer instead of go away. I then felt the toe of his shoe poke my arm, but I didn't flinch. He poked me one more time, then sighed with boredom when I still didn't respond. His loud, quick footsteps began to move away, although, I didn't move until I was sure he was back out with his buddies.

I peeked to double check, then moved onto my back and tried again to get the piece of ice out of my pocket. I was able to slide my left hand in, but the ropes were rubbing my wrists so much, I almost couldn't move them from so much pain, but I couldn't give up. Pushing through the agonizing pain, I pushed my hand in further until I felt the ice with the tips of my fingers. Quickly, I grabbed it and yanked it out, letting out a sigh of relief as I held it up to make sure it was still intact.

"I need to get out of here," I said quietly to myself as I sat back up and looked around for something I could use to escape, but then my eyes landed on a fairly large puddle of muddy water. I looked back down at the ice thoughtfully. Maybe I don't need to go back to that specific waterfall pond place, maybe all I need is some water?

What if it didn't end up working, but then also ruined the ice? Well, it wouldn't hurt to try, right? I had to get out of here, and I would need help to do it.

 Trying to be quiet, I started to scoot myself over to the puddle, glancing up at the door every once in a while to make sure no one was coming. So far so good.

Finally, I was right next to the water. I looked at the piece if ice once more, took a deep breath and closed my eyes, then let myself drop it into the water. I waited a moment before opening my eyes to see... nothing. Nothing was happening. 

"I need your help," I said with a whisper as the panic started to settle in again. "Please."

The muddy water stood still for a moment more, but then it started to spin. It all turned into beautiful, clear water, as if the mud was being thrown out with the spinning without getting anything else dirty, until the water woman was floating in front of me. "Zakara... I hoped you would summon me, but not in these circumstances."

"Can you help me?" I inquired, nervously glancing at the door. "I was kidnapped..."

She held up her hand. "I know what happened, my dear, and I can help, but Allanon will not be happy with what I must do."

"What must you do?" I wondered.

The Siren looked away for a moment. "There's no time to explain... you will just have to see for yourself. Now... let's see about those ropes."

~oOo~

"So, you think Zakara went all the way back to where you guys held us hostage?" Levi asked with a glare on his face.

"I'm sorry about that, but I had to do what I had to do to protect her," Allanon glared back as he mounted his horse, Artaq.

Levi scoffed and swung up into his horse's saddle. "Well, you didn't do a very good job of it now did you?"

They both shared angry glances for a moment before their attention was turned to Mekhi being pushed up into the stables with a serious expression on his face. "I'm coming too."

Allanon shook his head. "No. You are in no condition to travel so far."

"You're in no condition to travel," Levi retorted.

Mekhi glared with determination burning in his eyes, and to prove that he could handle it, he placed his hands on the armrests of his chair and pushed himself up to his feet. The servant tried to help him, but he pushed him away and limped over to his horse. "I'm coming, and that's final!"

Allanon knew he would just slow them down, but it seemed there was no arguing with the young prince. They would just have to put up with it and get moving as soon as possible, for he knew that I was in trouble. He could feel it.

Sorry this is late, but I was finally able to get it finished! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will make sure to post the next one sooner! Thanks for reading!

-Becketha Rowndy