Two Worlds, One Girl (on hold)

{C h a p t e r 8}

Edited by Caroline Cutting

My heart started beating faster as my limbs trembled uncontrollably. The extreme reaction I was experiencing was not because of the cold, but because of the situation I had gotten myself into. Suddenly I was in fight or flight mode. Not knowing which way to turn, I attempted to calm myself so I could finally think clearly.

The two men opposite me were staring; huge smirks on their mocking faces. I so desperately wanted to wipe those stupid expressions from their idiotic faces and maybe, just maybe, they would stop gawking at me. There was no sound, nothing - except for the sound of my pulse beating in my ears like drums. It blocked out every noise around me. I felt like I had to stay as still as possible and not make any noise Despite the fact that my legs felt like jelly, I could not move. I felt as if I was a troll that had been caught outside in sunlight. An aura of dread climbed from the pit of my stomach as I calmed myself enough to examine the two men in more detail.

The first man who caught my eye was quite clearly as tall as me. He was wearing a dark hood that entirely covered his whole forehead. A black t-shirt was hidden within a swathe of a jet blackcape, lined with silver. His eyes were dark brown, framed by his barely visible eyebrows, which seemed to hang from his hood. His features were chiseled-- prominent cheekbones with a well-defined chin and nose. He smiled, but it was an unpleasant smile. It did not connect with his eyes - which looked at me with such a strong dislike that I had the feeling he hated my guts.

The second man was older and he was moving around with an ungainly restlessness. However much I tried to guess, his age was indeterminable. I could probably pick any reasonable age and he would be a little older than that, but he moved in the same agile manner as if he was only in his thirties. This man seemed to be the boss, the one who ordered the other guy around. His posture was straighter and he held his chin very high. He emitted an aura of power and evil. It radiated from him, sending a shiver down my spine.

The older man kept on fidgeting, as if he was thinking deeply about something. Not a single word was uttered. Abruptly, he froze and glanced at his partner. Quietly he mumbled, "Avia, wetei lais ua. Aihd eet wertel asi Mia dgs."

Except that was not what I heard. I had understood every word of their bizarre dialogue. He had told his younger associate, whose name I now knew to be Avia, to tie Fawaz up to a tree. But what will happen to me? Avia walked up to Fawaz, who was still out cold, and fetched a silver-tinted rope out of his pocket. He hauled Fawaz up and leaned him against a tree and tied him to it rather roughly.

After this deed was done, the old man addressed me for the first time in my own language. "Greetings. Avia and I, Elzica, we were sent from the king in our kingdom who is known for being evil. We were sent on a mission to find a person by the name of 'Fawaz'. Here is a picture of him we were given"

He signalled to Avia, who came running up to me with a small scrap of paper. On it, was a perfect portrait of Fawaz, moving freely across the paper . It was as if it were a movie, but in picture form... No, not like that. It was like a picture that was like a movie. It was difficult to contemplate this. I couldn't think of one reason why the figure wriggling around on the page wasn't Fawaz, because it definitely was him, no doubt about it.

But, what I knew for sure was that I was in deep, deep trouble.

I raised my head to take a fleeting look at the old man. He took my discomfort as his sign to continue. "Fawaz was not of great importance to us... it was the girl he was rumored to have been sent to acquire, whom is of the greatest importance to us. There was a prophecy a long, long time ago, that a girl by the name of Mia, would be picked up by the grandson of a lousy wimp, who happens to be the Keeper of The Forest. This girl, Mia, would play a crucial part in destroying the bad kingdom, although she would not realize it at the time."