Queen of Summer's Ice (Book 2)

Chapter 33

     I heard the crunch of snow behind me, probably Zinnia trying to stop the end of her brother, yet I still raised my arm ready to throw my weapon right into Ray's chest. And he just stood there, accepting it like an idiot.

     The spear had just escaped my fingers, the coolness of the ice sliding with ease haltered as I felt the crunch of my ribs and a twisting pain right beneath my heart. The spear landed with a soft thud closer to me than it did to Ray. But that didn't matter, not when the tables were turned and I had a weapon going threw my chest.

     It was Alagan who had drove the axe into my body, and before the blood from that wound even fell onto the ground, before I even had a chance to retaliate - let alone look anywhere else but Ray - I felt Alagan's warm hands around my neck and twist it around until enough cracks were heard to knock me unconscious. The last thing I heard besides my bones popping was the kids high pitched screams.

     I felt the dirt around me first before I even opened my eyes. And even then, it was taking to much of my strength to open them at all, so for a while I kept them closed and felt around my surroundings. The dirt was cold - I was still in winter. Yet I couldn't hear anything else except the buzzing silence and my rugged breathing. Next was trying to move, and even though my body -mostly my neck and chest- hurt all around I couldn't move much except for slight shifting. That's when I opened my eyes and the darkness greeted me.

     I was buried under ground.

     "I'm going to kill him," I mumbled to myself. Only Alagan would have been able to do this to me, and the memory of him cracking my neck came hurling into me as I went into a coughing fit. Warm sprinkles of blood went into my hands that were crossed in front of me as if I was in prayer. But then I felt a similar wetness on my face. Gently I touched my cheek and followed the trail up to my eyes. There - that's were it was coming from. Blood, I was crying blood.

     Before I could panic and dig my way out of here, the rumble of my surroundings and the bright light from the winters afternoon had me closing my eyes once again. Instinctively I tried to cover the light with my hands, and when I did I felt a mans strong hand snatch me from the ground the same time the land lifted me to the surface. 

     With to much force I was being held down on the floor, my vision was blurring into white dots, but I could make out the people, just barely. Ray was sitting on top of me grabbing each of my arms to the ground while Alagan was kneeling behind me with one hand squeezing my mouth open, and the other - fully attached and healed arm - with a vile of yellow liquid. I could vaguely see small flecks of grass still swishing around in there.

     At this point I was thrashing my body around and yelling for them to let go of me. Yelling empty threats that I would skin them alive. Neither one of them listened. Not even my powers as I tried to summon them, they flared and made little sparks on my fingertips and vanished just as fast.

     "Hurry up!" Ray yelled, not to me, at Alagan. 

     "I'm trying!" he replied. Alagan's hand around my jaw tightened, making my bones ache which left me no use but to open my mouth wider. And that is when Alagan dropped the liquid into my mouth. Before I could cough or spit it out he let go of his hold and instead covered my mouth with his hands that smelled of the dirt I was just trapped in. The liquid tasted off, it had a sour taste that made it feel as if it was burning my tongue the more I refused to swallow it.

     "Drink it Evie!" Ray pleaded. He was so desperate that he even let go of one of my hands and covered my nose. Now I was completely without air. Finally I couldn't withstand the feel of the liquid in my mouth anymore that I caved in and drank it.