Enslaved

Chapter 19

Kaida sat on the couch waiting in clean clothes with damp hair where she had first seen Kajeel sleeping when she had walked into Ryuu's cabin earlier. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten the threat to Valik and her heart filled with dread she hadn't known since those nights in the mines as she thought about it. Kajeel leaned against the couch's armrest along the far wall, looking around the room and at her every other second, his expression unreadable.

Finally, the floorboards on the front porch creaked and Kajeel jumped to his feet, striding quickly to the door and throwing it open to reveal Ryuu helping a bloody Valik into the house. Kaida had stood up and turned to watch as they entered and Ryuu lead Valik over to the other couch and laid him on it, both of them covered in vibrant green blood. Valik's wings hung limp like large black sails as Ryuu carefully laid him on the couch, positioning his wings so the right one stretched over him and the left one dropped against the floor so he could lay without crushing the joints. Kaida covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes filling with tears at the sight of their bloodied clothes and injured bodies. Ryuu straightened and turned to Kajeel, eyes flashing in the light of the room.

"Pack up." The fury in Ryuu's voice had Kaida wincing backward into the couch. "We are leaving at dawn. I don't know how they found us but I refuse to put these hybrids in danger. Start packing up camp, Kajeel."

Kajeel's face was paler than before but he nodded briskly and walked out of the room, his footsteps pounding along the floorboards. Kaida very slowly walked over to where Valik lay on the couch and sat down on the coffee table, angling her wings so they near encircled around her in a wall of black, cutting off her view of Ryuu. Her heart lurched for a moment with worry for him before she focused on Valik.

"Valik?" She whispered, her voice shaking. "Valik, what happened?"

His eyes slid to her, full of pain and exhausted.

"I'm okay, Kaida, I promise." He replied softly. "Just need to rest. I'm glad you're okay."

Kaida swallowed her apology at how tired he sounded and nodded, her hair tumbling over her shoulders and in front of her left eye. She jumped when a hand dropped onto her right shoulder and she stood quickly, looking over her shoulder as she turned to see who it was. Ryuu stood in front of her, his eyes emotionless. The scales twining along his cheekbones were coated in blood, a droplet rolling down his face underneath his eye as Kaida watched, sending a shiver through her.

"I need you to come with me." He said, nodding his head towards the stairs. "I need to ask you a few questions but I wish to change into fresh clothes first so you do not get any blood on you."

She nodded but turned back to Valik to tell him that she would be back but noticed he had fallen unconscious in the few seconds it had taken Ryuu to get her attention. She turned back to Ryuu and gave him a small nod, trying to avoid looking at the blood that coated him. He turned and walked for the stairs, her being close enough to his back to see each individual scale on his wings and where the blood crusted in between them, making them look green. They ascended the stairs and took a left at the top, heading to the doorway at the end of the hallway that Kaida hadn't noticed when Kajeel had brought her upstairs to clean up earlier. The new clothes she was in were dark-colored and way too large on her, the dark brown shirt reaching her thighs and the soft black pants rolled up five times at her ankles. She didn't know where Kajeel had gotten them but they were fur-lined and smelled like pine trees and rain, easing her tense muscles and reminding her of a different time, a happier time.

Ryuu opened the door and Kaida followed him inside, closing the door behind them with a click and flinching away from the darkness. Not a second later, however, a light flared on from an oil lamp in the corner and covered the room with soft light, exposing the large bed with a black quilt, a dresser adorned with only a book and a dagger, and another door on the other end of the room. Ryuu headed to the dresser first and pulled out what looked like a pair of tight shorts, black pants, and a gray t-shirt. Ryuu shot her a glance before gesturing to the bed and turning towards the other door.

"Sit." His voice traveled over her skin, causing goosebumps to erupt along her arms. "I'll be right back."

He ducked through the door and shut it immediately, the sound of water soon following as Kaida examined the bed. She walked over to it slowly and sat down, surprise registering through her thoughts as her hands felt the luxurious softness of the quilt. She scooted up the bed and sat against the headboard, her toes feeling the material at the same time her hands did while she waited for Ryuu to shower. After some time, she pushed herself down the bed and laid down, her wings on either side of her as she rested her head on the pillow. Her thoughts moved to where Valik was downstairs, bleeding through the bandages she had barely even registered were wrapped around him when she had first seen him. What had happened? How did it happen? Her head whirled. If she had remembered the threat, would Valik have been injured?

She whimpered and a tear slipped out of her left eye and rolled sideways down her face before dropping onto the quilt. Everything was always her fault, she should've remembered that. She took her weight off her wings and flipped her left one under her so she could lay comfortably and faced her back to the bathroom door, nestling into the soft quilt as her wings stretched out on the rest of the bed. Her thoughts wandered as she lay in the gentle light of the lamp, going from her new freedom to her only friend to Ryuu and Kajeel, to those tunnels she had been raised in, and finally ending on her mother. The mesmerizing warmth of the room and the exuberant texture of the quilt muddled her thoughts and she felt herself drifting off to sleep, despite her efforts to stay awake. Just before she gave into unconsciousness, she realized that this bed also smelled like pine and rain.

The same scent that was on her clothes.