Shadow Crusade

~ Chapter Three ~

Coldwater strikes my face and shocks me awake. Looking around I see that I’m in a poorly lit den, tied to a chair. I struggle against my restraints. The chair is more likely to give way before the knots.
Around me, my captors chuckle. The darkness they created around me does not scare me. I can see through it all. I count five men of varying ages. None of them the man I noticed before I passed out. If I were to venture a guess, he is the leader of these ill dress men. His clothes were not dirty and looked relatively new.
The man who splashed water on me drops the bucket and grabs my face. He squeezes my chin between his fat fingers.
“You’re a pretty one,” he says. Behind him, his friends giggle.
My ankle burns, my body is shaking. Everything inside of me is alert to the danger I’m in.
“Let me go,” I say.
They all begin laughing, “she’d fetch a good price on the market. Look at those eyes.”
“Look at her those breasts,” someone else says. “I say we use her for a while and then sell her.”
“They only pay top dollar for virgins,” the first one says. “But you don’t see exotic ones like her too often.”
My head is buzzing, and I feel tears roll down my cheeks. I curse my mother for leaving me at home and cures these bandits for stalking my town. With no shame, they talk about gang raping me or selling me to slavers. The air in the room is sinister, and I realize they are going to go with the former plan.
I need to escape, the air around me begins cracking, and I’m swallowed up. I shut my eyes, and when I open them, I see I’m in total darkness. I look around, around me shadows wrapping around itself and large snake-like tentacles devour small limbs. The shadows snuggle against me, and I swear it purrs. Something about this feels right. I shut my eyes and relax into the void, being massaged by hundreds of hands.
“Lilica!” someone calls.
I open my eyes, and I fall hard, the chair hits the ground first. It shatters under me, and I land. I hold still and breath. Nothing seems to have impaled me. Free from the chair the ropes are loose. I wiggle them down to my hips and free my arms. My hips are too wide for them to be pulled off and I know it is no use trying to pull them off the other way.
I stand and inventory my body and pockets. Besides my ankle, I don’t feel any pain. In my pockets, I find my dagger. They must have recently gotten me here and decided to have a little fun shortly after.
There is nothing notable around us: no trees, no building, just dirt, and sand. It is still night, but not for long so we couldn’t have gotten too far. Especially if they were engaging the town and whatever other village sent help.
I turn and limp away, and I hold my breath an focus on levitation. On my lousy ankle, I will not make it far if I fly I will be unreachable. After a few steps, I’m airborne. Raising slowly, try not to focusing on anything but flight.
I want to go home and see my mom again. I pray she didn’t have any run-ins with the dragon man. That is not something I can think about now; fear of him is what interrupted my connection to the spirits.
As I move forward through the sky, a shadow shots up and grabs me. A flash of ash blonde hair catches me, and I realize it is the man who stood over me when I passed out. He holds me in his arms as we fall. I cry out in pain, as shock vibrates throughout my body. My ankle cannot take much more stress.
He holds me in his arms and stares down at me. Touching this man feel like being struck by lightning twice. I feel aware of everything around me, from the small animals scurrying away as if a storm is brewing, to his henchman darting around in search of me.
I can also feel how dangerous this man is. I blink a few times as the spirits chant something to me. At first, I can’t make it out, and then it comes to me like waves crashing against the side of a ship.
“Kailuru,” I say. I’m sure that is this man’s name that is what the earth is telling me.
He looks around, and once he is sure that no one is around, he turns his attention back to me.
“How did you learn of my name,” he asks me.
“The spirits told it to me,” I say.
He frowns, “Lilica.”
Could he have been the one whispering warning to me? No that would make sense. He is clearly with the bandits. The pain in my ankle intensifies. I begin groaning.
He starts walking towards his camp, Kailuru’s is blank, and I’m unsure what his intentions for me are.