Desert Wings

And Try To Hide

Hiding wasn't working very well so far, ten more people had found me, ten more people had died. I had managed to escape the meadow and each other subsequent location to avoid being caught. One night as the clouds began to break I thought I saw a figure following me. I put it down to my imagination and keep moving, eventually my path is blocked off by a rock slide, the specter fresh in my mind I climb one of the mountain ridges. I reach the top of the mountain by day break and sleep in a sheltered alcove, fatigue blocking everything else from my mind. I wake up as the sun is starting to set, a tall, bulky figure sat a few yards from my alcove. I stand up trying to be silent but betrayed by a handful of loose gravel shifting under my feet. I draw my sword and flare my wings, expecting a fight with who could only be a hunter. The figure makes no move, confused I walk towards them trying to use their shadow to keep the bright sun light from my face. The thing wasn't a hunter, it was a cobbled together doll, a backpack balanced on a tall rock with a rounded water holder balanced in that as a fake head. I glance around quickly, no one was there. What is going on? I wonder to myself as I wander the mountain ledge.
"Don't move girl, or your life shall end." A deep voice warns me, holding a knife to my throat, Is this it? Is this how everything will end? I comply to the command fearfully.
"Drop the sword." I decide the owner of the voice is male. To his most recent command I do not comply.
"Did you not hear me? Drop the sword." He growls, each word stated like a sentence.
"I will not." I somehow maneuver myself away from the knife and its man,"Not until you drop the knife." I reply assessing my opponent as best as I could. He wore black clothing and leather gloves, his face and hair mostly hidden by darkly colored paints, I would think to help him hide. All I could really see were the whites of his black eyes,"Did you not hear me? Drop the knife." I repeat.
He makes no move, only grins at me wickedly, playing with his weapon.
"Then tell me why you hunt me."
"Silly girl, the Queen of the White Desert doesn't even know there is a price upon her head. Placed there by our Lord Death." He grins again.
"Your Lord Death?"
"Yes, he has allowed someof us to return to the living to hunt you girl. Now will you die peacefully or will I be forced to maim you?"
"Fight me."
He once again reverts to a twisted grin,"As you wish." His eyes flash and he launches himself at me with more speed than I anticipated him possessing. I jump back and deflect a blow from his knife just before he lunges again and again and again. Then I notice, every blow if it landed would be fatal, this was truly a duel to the death, if he could die again.
As the sun sets lower in the sky and stars herald the coming of the night I finally fully adopt the tactics used in a duel to the death. My motions become faster, light fading, making it harder to see the wound I strike on his arm, giving me first blood. I quickly cut his other arm before slitting his throat, a dark pool of what must be blood stains the mountain rocks as I flee.
As the sun rises I am hidden away in a cave on the mountain side, as the sun set I took a branch from my fire and wandered deeper into the cave. The light flickers about the cave walls, illuminating the crevices carved there from years of elements wearing them away. I reach a fork in the cave a breeze plays with the fire of my torch, sending shadows across my path. I choose to go to the right, after walking for a short time I reach another crossroads, I choose the right once again, walking further and further, turn after turn I eventually adopt a pattern, three rights then a left. After it feels like I've been walking all night I hear water dripping ahead, I pick up my pace, soon enough I am flying (literally) through the hall way almost extinguishing the torch with the wind my wings generate. The tunnel opens into a massive cave, a pool in the middle reflecting the stars from the hole in the cave ceiling, soft looking moss clings to the walls near the lake as the water flows from one wall to the other. I fly to the other side of the lake and stick the torch between two rocks, No one will find me here. I think confidently, realizing that I had been looking for a place to hide for quite a while now. I settle down beside the lake and fall asleep looking at the stars as my torch blazes beside me.