The Nightscape

To Hayden's Once More

Lyra thrashed, a muffled scream echoing from behind the hand clasped over her mouth. She writhed, trying to get her hands free so she could flicker, but whoever had her was strong. Even her kicks didn't seem to affect them, and before she had made any progress in escaping, three people dressed in black closed in around her, one of them bearing a full syringe. 

"If you don't come with us quietly, I'll use this on you." The woman threatened, and slowly Lyra went still. If she was drugged, she wouldn't get any chances to escape, or to help get Ettie out, so she decided to play along and bide her time for now. She let them tie her hands behind her back and wrap a gag around her head, not fighting as they began to prod her back towards the entrance to the library. When she rounded the corner, her eyes widened with shock. 

Ettie had been thrown to the ground, her crossbow broken in the doorway, blood covering one side of her face. She wasn't moving, and for a heart stopping moment, Lyra thought she was dead. 

"What do we do with the purple's guard? Kill her?" One of the men asked, prodding at the girl with his foot. 

"She's just a kid." One of them protested, Lyra silently willing for the others to listen to him. If Ettie died protecting her, she wouldn't be able to live with herself. 

"We can take her to Hayden, and then he can decide. She is one of Guy's people, after all." The man holding her decided, and that seemed to settle the matter. Someone half rolled her over and bound her hands, and then she was picked up and slung over someone's shoulder. Lyra was marched through the Dayscape for about half a mile until they came upon a landscape with a lot of small, rolling hills. Hidden in the dip of two of them was a military style truck, which surprised Lyra. She wondered how they had gotten it to the Dayscape. 

"Hayden's got a lot more resources than the blood traitor you aligned yourself with." The leader told me, shoving Ettie into the back and bundling me in after her, with a couple of guards. Lyra frowned. Blood traitor? Maybe because they were both metallic? She decided that it couldn't be anything more, Guy or Anya would have told her. 

The truck started up, and Lyra had to dig her toes into the truck bed so she could keep herself pushed onto the narrow bench, her balance not helped by her hands bound behind her. Ettie had been put on the floor and mostly ignored, and Lyra became more and more worried the longer she stayed unconscious. Eventually, Lyra started to mumble through her gag until she caught the attention of her guards and one of them yanked the cloth away. 

"What?" He asked grumpily. 

"Can I please check on my friend? I won't flicker, I just don't know if she's breathing or not." The man sighed. 

"I ain't gonna buy that. If you're so worried, I'll check on her." He told her, kneeling by Ettie and rolling her over, pressing his fingers against her neck and hovering his other hand over her mouth and nose. 

"Pulse is strong, she's breathing just fine, and her blood is clotting. She'll be fine. She's a red, they're resilient, I'll bet that she wakes up before we arrive." 

"Thank you." Lyra said quietly, and sure enough, before the truck stopped, Ettie had begun to stir. Before long, her eyes peeled open, blinking away half dried blood as a fierce scowl contorted her features. She struggled to sit up, eyes focusing in and out as she propped herself up against the canvas side of the truck, slumped and a little out of it. 

"Ettie, are you alright?" Lyra asked her, not surprised when she gave her a frustrated glare. When Lyra said her name, though, the woman sat near her looked sharply at Ettie, frowning. 

"Ettie? Short for Etalia?" She asked the bloody girl. "Well?" She prompted. 

"She's a mute." Lyra explained. She thought about telling the woman she was right, but Ettie caught her eye and shook her head ever so slightly, so she remained quiet.