Pain laced from my wrists all the way up my arms. The stringy ridges of what felt like rope kept them bound together underneath me. Lying on my side, a gritty surface stung where it touched my face. I opened my eyes, greeted by darkness. A flash of panic before I recognized the feeling of something over my eyes; I wasn’t blind. My heart felt stone cold as I realized I had no clue where I was. Don’t panic, Provinia. Use your senses. Even though I couldn’t see, I could feel the bounce as the vehicle ran into invisible bumps and dips. I struggled to sit up, but fell right back over, landing on an object that gave resistance to my weight. What the hell was going on? Why was I tied up in the back of a wagon?
The last thing I could remember was Liana swaying on her feet.
“Liana?” I whispered, hoping she would respond. “Are you there?”
There was no answer. Maybe she wasn’t even there. Maybe she wasn’t responding because she was dead and the thing that had touched me was her body. I attempted to scoot away from the object, fearing my theory was correct. And if she was dead…
Don’t panic. Think about other things…
There had to be a way to escape. I could untie myself and just leave without anyone noticing. I could wait for us to stop and fight. If they stopped. If whomever had taken me cared enough to check on me.
I crossed my fingers that if that was a person, it wasn’t Liana. Whoever had put me in this situation could have a specific target in mind that wasn’t her. I could have just…gotten in the way. Liana could have woken up back in Winburg and thought I’d left for Chara without her. Unfortunately, she didn’t know me well enough to know I would never do that. Liana would be a valuable ally to have with her gift. I wanted her on my side. But if she didn’t know I was missing and thought I had left, she wouldn’t come looking for me.
I had to escape by my own merit. No one else would get me out of this situation considering my roommate was either dead or unconscious. If it was a person.
I struggled to find a loose end of rope and prayed that there was one. If Varvana got me through this I would be forever grateful. She owed me at least that much. There was an end. The bit I caught was smaller than an inch and the rope was tied in multiple knots, but at least there was an end, which meant I could get out. Starting to undo that knot that bound me, the wagon stopped and I pitched forward. The body hit me hard. They definitely needed to lose some weight. I grunted and lost my grip. I mentally cursed myself for losing my one way out of this situation.
We had stopped.
I was like a beetle stuck on my back. I couldn’t move out of the position without giving away that I was awake under the blindfold. Footsteps sounded. Whoever had tied me up was coming around the back. I was suddenly grateful I had managed to wake up with minimal damage. But I didn’t know how I woke up first. I stilled when a deep voice chuckled a few feet away. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place the dark timbre.
“What have you all gotten yourselves into?” I heard him say. At least I knew there were two of us now. Should I try to save myself or both of us?
Without warning, I was hauled up and over the broad shoulder of someone. One fat hand landed on my butt, squeezing it lightly. An urge to kill him slithered into my chest. How dare he touch me without my permission…
“Orders didn’t say anything ‘bout this one,” he mused to himself. I stifled a shiver and imagined him forcing himself on me.
“She’s here!” he called while walking into a space where his voice echoed high.
He tossed me to the ground. I laid awkwardly, resisting moving into a more comfortable position. His heavy footfalls grew farther away as I assumed he went to get the other person. A thud sounded across the way. There was a low groan from them. The other person was alive! I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. I would have to save us both. I tried to unknot the rope again, wishing I had a knife. The rope was tangled and I couldn’t feel the end that I had acquired minutes before the wagon had stopped. I gritted my teeth in frustration.
The man’s breathing quickened. He paced across the small space, each step a vibration I could feel through the floor. A lighter pair of feet went towards him and both stopped pacing. There was tense silence as I strained to listen to what was being said between the two or for another noise from the other person.
Disappointment rose. I would’ve put my chances against one person at about 50% but with the second, even though they were considerable lighter, the odds drastically decreased to about 0%. There was no way I would be able to fight both by myself.
A woman’s voice spoke into my ear, “Use your gift. You can make it out of this; I’ll make sure of it.” There was a pause. “I swear you mortals forget everything as soon as you’re frightened.” There was a note of frustration in her voice.
As she spoke, my cheeks grew hot. She was right though. In my haste and panic, I hadn’t even considered my gift an option. Outside a horse neighed.
“What are you waiting for?” she voiced urgently. Who was this woman?
I closed my eyes even though the world was already dark. It seemed to help my concentration. A bright light formed behind my minds’ eye, shaping into a small burning star. Delicious heat danced along my limbs. After a few moments, it concentrated in my hands. Flames leapt out of my palms, effectively burning the rope to ash. I silently thanked the woman for her help.
Pulling the blindfold off, my gaze flitted to the two men standing just inside the doorway of a wooden building. Neither seemed to notice the charred smell. A small frown formed on my lips. The man I immediately recognized was Markus. His lanky brown hair hung low over his brow, the same arrogant smile as always. Suddenly the lecherous move made sense. He was worse sober than he was drunk. Why had he taken me?
I listened closely to their conversation.
“Go get the captain,” Markus insisted. “We have his daughter.”
The other man hesitated. He was unrecognizable; but that didn’t mean he didn’t know me. His hair curled down around his ears. He had one booted foot out the door, hand on the doorframe, a conflicted look on his face.
“I can handle two unconscious girls by myself,” Markus barked.
“Alright,” Curly hair relented and took off running down the lane.
I took the opportunity to look around. Liana was laying on her back, face innocent and certainly not awake. Her palms face the ceiling. We were in a wooden storage shed that was obviously away from a town of any kind. But if Curly had gone to get the captain, he couldn’t be far away. I had to hurry. With one man gone and my confidence restored, taking out Markus would not be a problem.
I pushed myself into a standing position. Markus’ hooded eyes widened. Adrenaline coursed through my bloodstream. “Only problem is one of them is conscious.”
He laughed. “I think I can handle you, Provinia.” He rolled his eyes. He didn’t seem to be aware of my abilities.
Smoke began to fill the air. He confusedly looked around for the source of the smoke when his gaze met me. It columned above my head to the top of the building, spreading, covering the ceiling in a fine layer of soot. He shook his head roughly.
I wanted him to feel the panic that I had felt when I’d woke up tied and blindfolded in a wagon. The blind terror that ate at your insides when you knew there was no way out. Markus was standing in the middle of the room, far away from the door. I imagined the fire in my mind becoming a ball in my hand. I threw the fireball towards him and it landed at his feet. He bellowed as the flames licked his lower legs, feet trying to stop it out. I threw three more at him, each landing near him. He backed away from me, eyes wide with panic. His breathing shallowed. I grinned at his reaction. For every step backwards he took, I took one towards him. His back hit the wall of the shelter.
I tossed more fireballs and hit the wall, which burst into flames. I was concentrating as hard as I could to keep control and not lose my temper. I tried to not think about what might have happened had I not woken up. But I could feel there were instants when the fire wouldn’t listen to my rational brain. It wanted to keep growing, higher and higher, until there was nothing left of the building and of the man. It flickered and sputtered in my choking grasp, calming mildly. My hands were on fire, but it didn’t hurt me. The fire consumed the space around Markus until he was trapped in a burning cage. His face was white, dripping in sweat.
I commanded the flames to lower. They didn’t listen; It stubbornly refused to listen to reason. The fire roared loudly; it snapped and crackled angrily. Despite my demand, it wouldn’t lower; if anything, it grew larger. It didn’t need any fuel, just kept growing, until it began to completely enclose Markus in a solid square of fire. I couldn’t see him between the flames. I didn’t even know if he was dead or alive in there. I hadn’t wanted to kill him.
I didn’t act, just stood there frozen, a look of disbelief on my face. Horror possessed my every thought. Panic at the thought of being a murderer dowsed the flames. Markus was standing in the middle, terrified, but alive. The flames simmered to a few feet tall, but still enough to keep him from moving away.
“What was the purpose of this?” I snapped, gesturing to myself and the still unconscious Liana.
“The goal was her.” He pointed to Liana shakily. “The captain told us to capture her and bring her back to Aspen Port. He doesn’t want her going to Chara.”
“And me?”
He waved a hand. “Collateral damage. Me and my friend thought we could have some fun with ya.” He looked me up and down and winked, despite the fact that fire surround him on all sides. Despite that his life was in danger. “We could still have some fun ya know.”
My mouth turned sour and stomach turned. My vision edged with red. Rage was like liquid fire covering my insides. The flames heightened in response to my fury.
“Put Liana in the wagon,” I commanded of him. He didn’t move. “NOW!”
“I don’t really feel like burning to death.” He looked at the fire pointedly.
I let him pass through a hole in the fire. He scooped Liana up and I followed while he placed her into the front seat. The horse strapped there stamped the ground nervously.
“Back in the shed.” He moved to the middle of the shed. “You will not move. You will not follow us.”
“No offense, doll, but you don’t really tell me what to do.” Once again, he chose to ignore the obvious lack of power he had in this situation.
“Do you really want to see if I could summon enough heat to melt the skin off your bones?” I threatened, a smile growing on my face. He shivered in the heat.
The fire climbed over the beams holding the shed up, spreading through the whole structure. The wood groaned. It would come down soon. Right on top of him.
“Wait,” he screamed as I walked away from him and the burning building. He was trapped. If I left him there, he would surely die, even if not directly by my hand. My goal was not murder; I just wanted to save Liana and myself. I hesitated before telling the fire it could have the rest of the wood, but to stay away from Markus.
I walked away from the building, deaf to his pleas. Markus still thought he was going to die by fire. He deserved that much. Maybe he would rethink his outlook on life.
“Well done, young one,” the mysterious woman said. I furiously looked all around me to place the voice, but there was nothing but air. Smoke rose from the shed. “Sometimes the hardest decisions end up being the best ones. One day he will pay his life debt to you in full.”
I spoke to the empty space. “Who are you?”
There was only silence in response and I sighed. I must be hallucinating. But beside that point, I needed to leave. I’m on a time schedule and Markus had put us off of it by kidnapping us.
I climbed into the front of the wagon beside Liana and gathered the reins of the horse. The black horse neighed. I pulled and directed the wagon east, towards Chara.
ns 15.158.61.37da2
