Bound By Blood (18 page)

             
Now trying to kick, h
er dagger
dropped to
the ground
in her
fear. Before she could scream
, struggling to drown out
the high pitched unholy sounds and pounding movements, a hand covered her face
,
and then
pulled her deeper into the shadows
until she imagined herself to be part of the bark itself
.
She could feel the hardness and warmth of something burrowed into her backside. She could feel the hot breath
of it
melt
against
the curve of her neck.
If she were prey, she was helpless to change it.

             
She tried to use her magic to free herself, to mist herself away, but it was useless. Whatever held her
,
bound her gifts so that they too were powerless. Before she could think of something else to do, the sounds which thundered towards them came sweeping up underneath the trees below. She nearly passed out as hundreds of Nosophoros appeared
from
all directions, scattering about on all fours. They leaped from g
round to air, bouncing off tree
and rock. They froze and smel
led
the atmosphere
. Their mouths were dripping with
black
poisonous pus while their throats vomited forth hellish scream
s
that ripped against her ears. Her body shook
,
even though they didn’t even notice her or whatever held her
captive
. They moved in blurr
ing
speed to somewhere else. They were moving
in
the direction that the horse had run.
The
blood
, the essence,
was calling to their unquenchable hunger.
Whoever or whatever held her in the trees had used its blood to steer the creatures away.

             
Once they were gone,
whistling
silence filled the forest a
nd
the decaying smell
of the monsters
faded
at
the hands of the furious wind.
Samanthŕa
shivered
. She had never seen a
Nosophoros
up close
before
and even now, it
had
happened so fast that her mind was unable to grasp the details
. Only warriors had been cursed with
enduring
such company. She
’d
heard t
ales
and even tapped into the mind of a warrior or two to see what they saw.
Never
had she seen them first hand.

             
And before she could accept what little she did see, s
he was removed from the trees by the strange
hands, which
h
eld
her. A falling sensation embraced her
entire being
. Once more, her body and flesh struggled to adapt.
Before she touched the ground though,
her
ability to fight returned.
From
trepidation
and
fright,
she struggle
d to
tear lo
o
se from the mysterious hold
that had her bound
.
Her body fell
violently
to
the
flattened
ground which still h
el
d lingering smells of festering putref
action
from the creatures who had not long left.

             
The horse returned out of nowhere and stopped somewhere between her and
them
. They had power
and
conscious
ness of it
, she thought
,
if they had misted the horse back to them instead of letting the beast become the meal of the Nosophoros. One of
them
began to see to the blood on the animal, speaking some sort of incantation in an unfamiliar tongue to remove its scent and power.
Although she could not understand the words, she knew their intent because of the magic that lived inside her . . . or that was her only reasoning for such intuition.

             
What was this language
?
H
er
m
ind spun for an answer. She took pride in knowing such things
,
but why did
this
escape her? It sounded beautiful though, the words coiling off the foreigner
’
s tongue like a silhouette
of song.

             
She scolded herself in her mind
.
Do not fall prey to their magic. Stay on guard
,
Priestess!

             
Who were
they
?
Them…they…
dark figures covered in cloaks
whose blood made her inebriated and whose
prose mesmerize
d her.
Her
vision
w
as
still blurry
,
her mind a bit high from the same blood that obsessed the Nosophoros,
but her fear released her senses so that she could recognize their energy.

             
They
were the ones from the
tavern
. The very ones she was running from.

             
Was
I one of the ones
marked?
Her mind panicked.
Why else would they have followed me here?
They f
ollow
ed
me here and save
d
me from the Nosophoros so that they can kill me themselves.
It wasn’t unusual for Evil to be greedy and fight over a
prey
.
And she was more than worthy as prey. She may have been a Vii but she was High Priestess. She offered more power than most even if it seemed like nothing compared to theirs!

             
The largest one began to caress the horse while another spoke in
the
language she still could not understand. Instinct took her over. She pulled herself up like a cat ready to strike. Her one hand was secretly feeling the ground for her dagger. She heard them laugh
but she remained focused on what she was doing
.
She
was ready to
destroy
them,
because in her
mind,
they had followed her here to do the same
. Y
et here
they
were, so vain that they were laughing.

             
The largest one let go of the horse and took a step closer.
Samanthŕa
recoiled,
trying to call her powers back to her.
This
magic,
his
magic
,
h
el
d them useless. Who was he that he could trap her magic inside her
,
or was it because she was just a Vii? Still
,
being
High
Priestess
normally would have given her an edge. He would be on his bottom right
now,
if all this had been normal.

             
Face still hidden by cloak, w
ith a deep
,
strangely
familiar
voice
,
he said in
her
language, “What should we do with our little horse thief?”
And then she remembered what forced her to flee from the pub so quickly.
             
Her dreams.
His
was the
voice that
haunted her dreams.

             
Dear Goddess
, was Dĩas right? Was she the one who caused this storm?
Had
she
been
unleashing the curse in her sleep?
How was it possible? She had not stopped taking the herbs for that long!

             
“She doesn’t do well for a horse thief
,
does she?
Perhaps she needs a new trade.
”
Another voice replied
and laughed. “After all, she was
thrown,
was she not?”

             
Bloody
Hadãe
,
I would
have to
steal their wretched horse
,
wouldn’t I? The very ones I was running from? Only I could be so cursed.

             
Before
they
could
reply,
she threw a handful of rock and dirt towards
the huge one’s
face.
He
let go of the reins
and
ducked,
amused by her efforts,
chuckling,
while she jumped on the
four-legged
beast
again. Her boot swung around to kick him in the head. She grazed
his
cheek as
he
bent the opposite direction, laughing
even more
at her attempt. The horse began to rear, showing it was loyal to its owner. She hissed and cursed
but refused to be bucked
off
again
,
so she held on.

             
Then h
er eyes widened
. Her heel had scratched his cheek. The scent of his blood, although just a drop, splashed and spread across the air
. She froze a
nd
s
aw
each of them suddenly do t
he same. The laughter was gone.
Their
attention
was
turned
and even the horse took notice, halting in midair.
The scratch had healed, but the scent released.

             
Silence.

             
Perhaps such a small drop was not strong enough to call the creatures back. That's what she hoped even though her high had rippled itself anew. All hopes were lost though, when t
he slow hum of a noise, building up closer, closer, closer . . . .

             
The Nosophoros were returning.
The thundering pounding of their charge and the crashing of what was destroyed in their path filled the air around them
again
.
Even though the one had removed the blood from the horse,
somehow
they had caught the scent again.

             
The cloaked figures drew their swords
,
obviously deciding to fight this time
,
as the creatures began to
re
ar
from the darkness. The large one yelled something at the horse in an ancient tongue. Another of the cloaked figures slapped the animal on its rear.
Samanthŕa
tried to grasp what was happening but before she could
,
the horse took off like lightning through the forest once again.

             
Samanthŕa
never looked back or even questioned why the horse was running. She stayed low to its back, avoiding any more branches or falls. Repeatedly
,
she kept trying to summon her power
,
hoping it would return to her. When the horse leaped a huge log, her magic finally exploded. Before its hooves touched the
ground,
she turned them
both
into vapor and mist.
As if they were
both thrust into a huge mass of water, disappearing as the massive splash of it dissipated
,
l
ike water
evaporat
ing in a puddle of day
light
, they faded from the forest to her
desir
ed destination
, h
igh in the mountains
and
through the
Lycãon
Realm
’s portal
.

***

****

             
“
W
ho
goes there
?”
A
voice called out from the darkness.
Samanthŕa recognized
it
immediately as
she and the horse finished materializing. She tried to shake the dizziness she felt from
bring
ing the beast along with herself. It was a bit much for a Vii
,
even if she did have
a t
ouch
more power than most.
If she had a moment to think on it, she might have wondered just
how
she was able to pull it off. There were more pressing matters at hand though . . . .