The Swords of Memory: Second Chances

Chapter 14

Zara appeared in the training room. The torches had burned low and it was difficult to see anything in detail. She started walking towards the door to start searching for Eli when she ran into something. There were bars blocking the path. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she realized that she was in a cage. It wasn't more than six feet by six feet in size. She was trapped. She had never thought about how her disappearing could be taken advantage of. She had reappeared right into a trap. She searched around for a door or latch but found none. The cage had literally been built around her. Without any other choice she decided to call out for help. She was in the castle so Aaron or Garrett might hear her. She could only hope that the castle servants didn't. She clearly remembered seeing them in the crowd that had attacked them. To play it safe she started off quiet. "Hello? Is anyone there?" There was no response. She raised her voice and repeated the same message. When that failed, she screamed.

She paused to listen for a response and for a few seconds she just heard the lingering echoes of her own scream. When that faded she heard a faint groaning. It was coming from the other side of the room. She squinted towards where she thought the noise had come from but the light was only getting worse. She couldn't make out anything. "Who's there?" Again she heard the groan. "Whoever you are you better not try anything funny. I have a knife." It was a lie but the darkness would help to hide it. Realizing that at the very least she was safe in the cage, she turned her attention away from the source of the groan and towards thoughts of escape.

She was suddenly mad at her power. It was just her luck to get a super power that didn't have any type of applicability in this situation. Her power would be nearly useless in anything involving force, especially a fight. It might keep her alive, but it wouldn't be winning any fights. If she had gotten something like Eli's power she could have broken right out of the cage. He could make anything he could imagine appear. He couldn't do his key trick on the cage, since it didn't even have a door, but he could break it open with a car or melt the bars with a flame thrower. But he could only do those kinds of things when he could concentrate. He was surrounded by so many people trying to capture him earlier that he wouldn't have been able to make anything appear. Who knew where he was now. An entire day had passed. She heard the groaning again. It wasn't a worry anymore but it was starting to get annoying.

"I already told you I'm armed. I'm in a cage so you couldn't even get at me if you wanted to. If you could stop all the groaning that would be great." When it continued she started yelling at it. "I'm seriously not in the mood! Shut the hell up before I make you."

"Zara..." The groan had developed into a voice, a voice she recognized.

"Eli? Is that you?" All she got in response was a groan. "Did they hurt you or are you just waking up? If you make it over here I can heal you."

"Cage..." was the only thing he was able to get out. It was obvious by the sound of the pain in his voice that he was severely injured. His one-word answer was clear enough though. He was trapped just like she was. He wouldn't be able to get close enough for her to heal him. She needed to touch him if she was going to heal him. She entertained the idea of having him use his power but dismissed the idea. He could barely speak. He wouldn't be able to muster enough concentration to use his power. Defeated, she angrily threw herself against the bars. They moved slightly under her weight. The entire cage had moved. Zara investigated the cage again and realized that it was not attached the floor. It was too heavy to lift but she could slowly slide it across the room. Then she could heal Eli.

It took an hour of work but she finally got close enough to touch Eli. She healed him but it was one of the hardest healings she had ever done, excluding her attempts to heal Daniel. He was even more beat up than he had been when she had first found him in the sick bay. He was fully healed, but he was still exhausted. He hadn't been able to get much sleep with all the pain. He had been awake for over twenty-four hours. Zara was feeling drained from healing him too.