Elemental

First thing Meredil knew, or rather felt, was coarse sand coating the inside of her mouth with a salted grit, metallically flavoured and slightly fishy. Meredil hawked and spat. Not very dignified, but the taste was foul. She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. The harsh sand scraped the natural dark indigo of her skin, exposed by several tears in the linen shirt that clung stiffly to her body as it dried.

     She winced, but even that small movement cost her. The left side of her face burned. With shaking hands, she explored the possible damaged... and nearly screamed her damn head off.

     Biting her lip, she managed to hold it in. Warm copper blood mixed with the sand as her teeth cut deeper than intended. Coughing, gagging, she nearly puked.

     Cautiously, Meredil rolled onto her side, fully expecting more agony to shoot through her body, but, there was only a slight twinge from bruised muscle.

     Her blurred vision focused on the length of metal lying beside her like she'd carelessly abandoned the object in favour of saving her own life, but in spite of that, the thing survived her rejection. 

     She frowned, something about the object was familiar...She shuddered, a strange revulsion clung to her like sweaty palms against bare skin. An aversion to remembering the truth.

     Reaching, Meredil's fingers curled about the leather bound hilt of the sword, damp bindings coarse against her palm, wet and dark from the sea, and something else, something darker, more sinister?

     A steely glow flared around her fist, coiling like rippling water about the hilt and part way down the blade, caressing the metal. Without warning, the bluish tinge darkened and then died...  

     The weight of the blade suddenly dragged her down with the terrible burden of knowing failure...A vision rushed her mind, slamming into her with such force...  

     Her stomach heaved, betraying her iron clad resolved not to puke, but the only thing she managed was to hack bloody spittle. The reddish smudge flecking the compacted beach blurred like a mirage.

     She blinked trying to clear her sight, but her mind was still fuzzy. The only thing she knew for sure was her desperate need to get away, to escape, and ultimately, not to die.

     Sinking fingernails into the thick wetness of black sand, Meredil dragged herself up onto her knees and tried to stand. She used the blade to steady herself, tip sinking into the sand along with her bare feet. She wobbled, but didn't fall on her face. Her head felt strange, like it was full of water, floating...

     Closing her eyes and putting a hand to her brow, Meredil tried to still the tempest raging within her thoughts and memories. Fleeting images swept before her mind's eye, darkness, screaming...

     She flinched. Blood spattered her face...No! Her eyes flared wide...Had...It had struck her face... When he...When the captain of the ship...Meredil trembled with remembered fear as her memories of that night burst free in an explosion of terror and unending death...The poor man had set alight as if a fire burned within him, eyes aflame with a strange glow, red like the blood that ruptured from his flesh right before...

     'No,' she moaned softly. 'I don't want...I don't want to remember...'

     'And you won't,' a voice snapped behind her. 'Not if you stand around here gawping like a tourist!'

     Meredil twisted on her heel, sweeping her sword in an elegant arc that should have connected with her stalker's throat...Only, it didn't...All it met was empty air.

     She was, for all intents and purposes, still very much alone, if she discounted the endless beach of ugly black sand, surrounded by jagged grey rock that hacked into the sky like giant saw blades.

     'And it could well be your grave if you don't get moving!'

     Meredil jumped as that same voice barked in her ear with no physical body. She couldn't even look them in the eye and know if they could be trusted, or eradicated, if they proved deceitful.

     'Your so-called talents won't save you, girl,' the voice hissed with a definite masculine tone. 'You're weak as a half-drowned kitten and just as useless. The predators here will strip you down to bone-'

     'Thanks for the sarcasm. Now...How do I put this politely? Oh, yeah! Piss off and leave me alone!'

     'You may think this place looks like some kind of resort where you can recuperate in peace, but the residents...' he snorted like he'd made a joke, but Meredil got the distinct impression only he found it funny, especially when he added the poignant words, 'Those who have survived this prison will hunt you down. You'll be entertainment for a while, then dinner when you're dead...'

     The dull tone of a horn halted any further insights into the potential horrors that awaited her...

     Twisting round, Meredil made out a few dots running along the ragged edge of some trees. There was a nervous energy to their movements that set Meredil's heart to racing and got her feet moving a heck of a lot faster than her mind, which was still trying to figure out where the Hel she was.

     Her feet sank in the sand with every stride, slowing her down. It was like running in mollasses. She was getting nowhere fast. While she was trying, and failing, to make her escape, a sudden realisation struck her like a body blow...There was no bloody way out! She was trapped. And they were coming! Whoever the Hel they were. Though, honestly, from the voice inside her head she didn't want to get the opportunity to find out how they preferred dinner, raw and screaming, or fully dead and charred?

     And where had that bastard disappeared off to now? When she needed a disembodied voice to tell her where to go, it damn well abandoned her...

     'No,' a calm tone replied.

     Meredil skidded to a halt so she didn't smack right into the man who'd appeared in front of her like some cheap magic trick at the fair.

     The man's thin mouth turned down slightly. 'I don't think that was entirely polite,' he commented. 'I work hard on my Skill. It's not been easy surviving on this heap of rock, whilst trying to deter the local wildlife, not to mention, other undesirables, from taking a bite of my...'

     Meredil flinched as a high-pitched scream cut through the man's droning speech.

     The man's pale features curdled like old milk. 'Errm, well, yes, we'd better be leaving.'

     'And how do I know you can be trusted not to just hand me over to your friends?'

     The man's cool blue eyes turned hard, his tone frosty. 'Trust me, Meredil, you're safer with me than if you decide to go down the very dangerous path your debating right now.

     'Besides.' His expression brightened, although his gaze remained fixed on the horizon and a long fingered hand gripped the silver capped obsidian wand sheathed at  the ornate leather belt holding up his elaborate velvet robes. 'I've got a nice adventure planned! Packed with games and excitement!'

     He made a gesture to the rock behind him as if it were merely the front door to his home, although, given his ability to speak without being seen, Meredil concluded anything was possible for this Mage.

     Meredil stepped up. 'Why do I get the feeling I'm jumping from the frying pan right into the fire.'

     'Just so you know,' the man replied, his eyes fixed to a point beyond her shoulder. 'Before we die, I'm Lyus.' He glanced back at her. 'And I'm so very sorry Meredil, I thought we'd have more time.'

     'Oh, what now-' Meredil turned.

     And just caught sight of a flash of scales and flat, dead eyes, right before the world literally went up in fire and smoke...Meredil fell back then, down and down, into darkness, and silence of no memory...