Blood of the Abyss

Blood of the Abyss Part 8

Chapter 8

Complications

Caspian

The man kept Lysandra pressed against him and the dagger had a small stain of her blood. The other men had tied the rest of us together with our backs to each other. I had never felt so much anger, especially over someone that I barely knew or just started to remember, but something about the way the man had gripped Lysandra made all reason flee from me. Initially, they had emptied our packs and tried to find anything valuable. They picked up the Concordance of Magyks and quickly tossed it aside. They then moved to the saddlebags.

"Well, I guess we know why there weren't many travellers on the road now." Illine sighed.

"We have to help, Lys. And then we need to get out of here." I tried twisting my hands, but the rope was tightly knotted around my wrists.

"Any of you got any small weapons tucked away somewhere?" Alwine whispered.

Thelran nodded at his boot. "Got a dagger in there. I can grab it if one of you can untie my hands."

"Hand them to me." I said quickly as I scooted closer and felt his hands drop into mine. I maneuvered myself until I felt the knot and worked with it until it came loose. Thelran watched for the men to turn away before he grabbed the dagger from his shoe. He first passed it into my hands and I worked it in between the rope until it started to cut it. I kept my eyes trained on Lysandra. Her eyes met mine and I nodded once at her. A couple of the men eyed us and we held still for a moment. They snorted and one spit on the ground before moving to the next horse. I passed the dagger to Alwine and then he passed it to Illine. Once we were free, we worked on a strategy to get out of here. We talked quietly as the thieves walked back and forth between us discussing different items they had found in the saddlebags.

"That dagger at her throat is our biggest concern." Alwine said. "We've got to distract him."

"You have an idea?" I asked. I was beginning to feel desperate.

"Well if we cause a big enough ruckus with the other fools, it might be enough to distract him so you can grab her." I nodded in agreement and we waited for the thieves to turn their backs. Alwine, Thelran, and Illine crouched and made their way along one of the horses. Alwine grabbed a couple of weapons and handed one to Illine. He glanced back at me and nodded at me before ducking out of view.

"ARGH!" I heard a grunt and one of the thieves had fallen.

"What was that?" The man that held Lys captive asked. He turned, yanking her after him. "Don't just stand there! Go check it out!" He snarled at some of the men. I started my way toward them as more of the men started to fall. As he started lowering the dagger, I sprang forward. I crashed into him and he lost his balance. Lysandra scrambled away and ran toward our horse. I wrestled with the man who had managed to get away, grab his dagger, and lunge on top of me. He pressed down on me with all his might, forcing the dagger down until the tip of it almost pierced my chest.

"Get. OFF!" Lysandra yelled as she kicked the man off of me. She had her bow with an arrow notched, ready to release. She aimed right between his eyes.

"H-hey now." The thief trembled. Alwine and the others joined us as we stared down the man. I reached a hand to touch Lysandra's shoulder.

"Don't." She shuddered under my grip.

"Lys." I whispered. She suddenly relaxed and turned away from the man. I could see the gleam of tears streaming down her face. I looked at the thief, angrily. "Get out of here before I kill you myself." The man scrambled, called to the remaining men to leave our things alone and they disappeared into the dense wood. I turned back to Lysandra and opened my arms invitingly. She ran into my embrace.