Sapphire Bones

Stars

Updated: April 25, 2019

L

The rogue leader shoved me through the woods. He kept a firm grip on my arm while his other hand hovered at the small of my back. No escape, no place to run. Cole and Roddy walked next to me surrounded by their own army of rogues. Like me, they were kept under guard with hands clasped on their arms. How I wished to still be in that little diner in the middle of an isolated town. Apologizing to that waitress for my remarks, telling her that my blindness was still a raw spot for me and the thought of altering the way I lived made my blood boil. Instead, I trudged through uncharted territory with a rogue's hands on parts of my body where Peter used to touch. He removed the blade a while ago, but it still haunted the flesh of my throat. I sucked in a short breath and caught the same whiff of wet dog and mold from the man next to me. He stunk of rotting roadkill splattered over the pavement in a pattern of blood and bits of fur. My eyes watered at the odor.

"Ey," Cole shrugged off one of the guards. "We can walk by ourselves." I turned my head to see Cole's large form struggling with the three or four men surrounding him.

"Not part of the deal, wolfy," one of the rogues pushed him hard with a fist into his side. Cole stumbled forward but caught his balance before he went tumbling into the brush. I bit my lip and continued further, refusing to waver my attention from the path ahead again. My toes caught on the stones scattered across the path, but the boots Cole bought me helped protect my toes and the worn calluses on the undersides of my feet.

"So what's your name, sweetheart?" The rogue leader pressed his lips into my ear. I winced away, craning my head away from him but his breath traveled the distance and splashed over my skin in a warm mist that lingered far too long. I shivered, hoping to shake some of it off but it stuck like sweat to my skin, in tiny balls that hovered like glistening crystals.

"You don't already know?" I hissed, teeth bared. "You seemed quite knowledgeable earlier."

"I wanted to hear it from those pretty little lips of yours," he snapped back. "Could do for some fillers, though, don'cha think boys?" He ruffled his fingers through my hair. I shrugged further away from him but I couldn't get too far as his other hand kept firm around my bicep. I took a quick step forward, jerking away from him a little harder. Caught off guard, the leader stumbled slightly, his grip wavering. Mid-trip, I took the chance. A part of Margette's confidence surged through me.

"I don't care what you think," I said and pulled my arm, this time ripping it from his grasp. He growled and reached out but I ducked out from underneath his hands just in time as his hands snatched at the air. My eyes widened at the absence of his grip. As soon as it happened, all eyes flipped to me. The procession of rogues froze in their places along with my two travel partners. Just as the woods surrounding us quieted, the thumping of my heart picked up. It beat nearly through my chest. I stood frozen for half a second before I skirted back away from the rogue leader.

"Go L, go!" Cole yelled at me. "Go, get Corvo!"

I stepped back, arching away from the rogue leader's arms. As soon as his hand flew by my torso I turned, sprinting off away from the group. I looked back, hands stretched out in front of me to keep from running into anything. Bright red figures chased after me but I moved faster than them. My small stature proved helpful as I dodged trees warmed by the late-spring heat. My otherwise black surroundings were filled with the faint outlines of trees and bushes, ones that I used to help guide my direction. Their scents were still strong in my nose; odors that hung around like wet blankets. My feet caught fallen branches and hiccups in the road but I recovered before any of them could bring me down.

"You won't get too far, little girl!" The rogue leader yelled, but his voice only pushed me to get further from them. My lungs cried with my short, quick breaths. My arms led me through the woods, the tips of my fingers grazing trees. The skin on the tips peeled as they passed over the trunks, and warm blood sprouted in little balls. Another look behind me showed the bright figures distancing away from me. They were dimmer now, surrounded by the near-hidden trees in my vision. The longer I looked, the harder the red was to see. As much as my legs begged me to stop, I refused to slow down even the slightest in case they split up to flank me. Cole and Roddy were so far behind that I lost their scents. Only crisp pine and the faint smell of wet, moldy dog hung in the air.

"Come on," I begged my tiring body. Muscles ached, legs dissolved into flimsy gelatin underneath me, but I persisted through the pain and continued down the path toward an unknown destination. I'd worry about the numbness in my limbs after I lost the rogues.

My luck, however, didn't last long. For as many trees as I so narrowly escaped, plenty others scraped and swiped at my bare arms. And as many I dodged head on, I was bound to miss a step, a root, and lose the head start I'd been given. One moment the wind rushed across my face, through my pores, and combed through every strand of hair on my head, and the next I hit a solid surface, head on. My forehead made a cracking sound, body limp as I slumped down into the dirt. Stars as white-hot as the sun above me floated around in my vision like they were submerged in water. The front of my head throbbed, but my arms lay motionless, numb, beside me, paralyzed by the impact. The breaths I took were shallow, my lungs desperate for air I couldn't give them. As hard as I tried to look around, to find a red signature, I couldn't take my eyes off the bright floating balls of white above me.

"I told ya you would'n get far," the rogue leader cackled, approaching from my right side. I moaned and tried to roll over, away from him, but my body betrayed every signal I sent. The nearer he got, the harsher his smell. It didn't burn as it did before but now that we were alone without anyone else it hit my nostrils with the force of a hundred blows to the head. His laughter continued even after he stopped walking and knelt beside me, elbows atop his knees.

"Silly gal," he tsked at me with his tongue. "Your friens' were hopin' you'd find a way out but I knew betta'," he said, spitting at my face. I clenched my eyes closed, pursing my lips as the soft droplets of rogue saliva hit my skin in several splashes. Just the thought made the bile in my stomach lurch into knots but I held it down the best I could.

As much as I wanted to talk, to tell him anything, I knew better. Peter used the same rhetoric during my stay. He called me names, let me escape and get just far enough to ease my mind before he showed back up, laughing. If I was going to survive inside the rogue pack, I needed to retreat again. Return to my old shell: a crippled exterior with nothing left inside. Bowed, silent, and patient.

The moment I gained enough strength back in my neck to crane my head, a quick blur of red followed by a new throb in my head erupted. His boot connected with the side of my skull with enough force to knock me onto my side but without the use of my limbs I simply rolled once over. The stars intensified, overcoming the blackness around me. Ringing erupted in my ears. A high-pitched whine that masked the sound of laughter as the leader lifted my body off the ground. What was once a hundred shades of raven and steel was now white, snow and bone. 

__________

 Hey, 

Short chapter, I know. But I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. These rogues really don't want to let their new friends go, do they? 

I'm trying to get a new chapter out every week for you guys, and if I'm not super busy maybe two. It's been crazy with me back at work and all of my family stuff but I promise I'm still making time to write! 

QOC: How do you think the trio's stay with the rogues will play out? Will they all make it out alive? 

Comment, like, and follow! 

Much love,

-Kate

Currently Reading: Communion by Whitley Strieber