Chosen (18 page)

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Authors: Lisa Mears

Tags: #fantasy, #magic, #gods, #portal

BOOK: Chosen
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Haven turned back to Tallon,
clenching his fists, ‘I was going to say, take her and it will be
the last thing you ever do,’ he said through clenched teeth.
Tallon stood, exposing Max’s
cloak which had been on the sofa behind his back. He picked it up
and headed for the door, smiling at Haven as he passed.
As Max came running back out of
the tent, she almost collided with Elkeira. The young woman was
smiling, ‘is everything all right?’ she asked.
‘Yes, yes no problem,’ said Max
attempting to rein in her anger.
‘My father sent me to find you
and the others to show you where your tents are in case you wanted
to leave the celebration.’
‘Thank you,’ said a relieved
Max, ‘I would like to go to bed now, if that’s all right.’
‘Certainly, follow me,’ said
Elkeira already walking away. They headed for the outer rim of the
camp; Max slightly unsteady on her feet. ‘They’re just back here.’
She showed Max a number of small tents away from all the noise and
smoke. ‘We thought you might like it better back here,’ said
Elkeira, ‘it is much quieter.’
‘Thank you,’ said Max in
appreciation. She put her hand on the young woman’s shoulder. ‘And
I hope you had a wonderful birthday.’
Elkeira smiled. ‘I did,’ she
said, ‘and I still am.’ She laughed as she ran back to rejoin the
celebrations.
As Max bent her head to enter
the tent she heard someone softly calling her name, she turned
quickly, thinking it was Haven come to apologise, it wasn’t. Tallon
came striding out of the dark. ‘Here,’ he said holding up her
cloak, ‘I heard you wanted this.’
‘Yes, thank you for bringing
it,’ she said. He put the cloak around her, his hands resting on
her shoulders.
‘You are a beautiful woman,’ he
whispered. Max didn’t know what to say. He put a finger under her
chin, lifting it gently until their eyes met; slowly he bent his
head to hers and kissed her softly on the lips. ‘I will see you
tomorrow little one,’ he said as he turned and walked off into the
night.
Max couldn’t believe what had
just happened; she felt hot and shivery at the same time, her lips
were still tingling from his kiss. Things were moving a bit too
fast for her liking. ‘It’s just the drink talking,’ she thought,
‘he’ll probably have forgotten all about it by tomorrow.’ Tiredness
was overcoming her. ‘I won’t mention anything about it,’ she
thought, as she entered her tent.
After removing her clothes she
lay down to sleep, she was exhausted. As her eyes closed she could
still feel the touch of Tallon’s lips on her own. Much later she
awoke to a noise outside her tent. It was still dark.
‘Max, Max it’s me, can I come
in?’ It was Haven. She was annoyed at being woken from a deep sleep
and still angry with him for what he had said.
‘No, go away, I don’t want to
see you.’ The words came out more harshly than she had
intended.
‘Please,’ pleaded Haven, she
could hear the pain in his voice, ‘let me explain.’
‘No,’ said Max again, ‘and it’s
a good thing you can’t read my thoughts right now, I don’t think
you’d be very happy with what you’d hear. Go find Gilsters tent,
I’m sure there’s a spare bed in there.’
‘I can’t,’ said Haven, ‘he has
a woman with him.’
‘Well go find one for yourself
then, just leave me alone.’ She heard Haven slowly walk away. As
she lay down again to sleep she suddenly thought, ‘did he think I
told him to go find himself a woman? No, surely he knew I meant go
and find another tent.’ Max slept fitfully for the rest of the
night.
Max could hear sounds of
activity outside her tent. Wrapping herself in her cloak, she
ducked outside to find most of the camp gone and the remaining
tents being pulled down and packed up. Gilster was nearby pulling
down his own tent.
‘Come on sleepy head,’ he said
smiling, ‘get dressed, we’re on the move.’
She walked over, shivering
slightly in the cool morning air, ‘where is the rest of the camp?’
she asked.
‘Packed and gone,’ was Gilsters
reply, ‘and we have to follow soon.’
‘Did you enjoy your evening?’
she asked, remembering what Haven had told her.
‘Yes I did, immensely,’ said
Gilster with a glint in his eye. ‘You?’
‘Let’s just say it was
interesting and leave it at that.’
‘You can tell me all about it
later,’ said Gilster.
‘Have you seen Haven?’ Max
asked, looking around at what was left of the camp.
‘No,’ said Gilster, ‘but he
can’t be far away, I expect he’s eating breakfast.’ They both
laughed.
Max turned to walk back to her
tent and noticed Tallon heading in her direction carrying something
under his arm, she waited for him to arrive.
‘Good morning little one, I
hope you slept well,’ he said smiling down at her. Before she could
answer, he continued. ‘I have come to help you pull down your tent
so we can be on the move.’
Max remembered something Roki
had said about meeting up with the other clans.
‘Where are the others?’ asked
Max looking around at the ever emptying camp.
‘Gone,’ was the reply. ‘I
stayed behind to help you.’
‘And Haven?’ she asked, ‘where
is he?’
‘Gone,’ he replied. That was
not the answer she had been expecting. ‘He went on ahead with my
father, Elkeira and the main part of the camp.’
‘Oh did he,’ said Max feeling
unexplainably angry, ‘and he didn’t have the courtesy to say
good-bye before he left.’
Tallon looked down at her angry
face. ‘I told him I would look after you,’ he said.
‘And he was ok with that?’
‘He has gone has he not?’
Tallon continued, ignoring her anger. ‘I have a present for you,’
he said handing her the package he had been carrying, ‘I think you
will find it easier to travel if you wear these.’
Max opened the package; it was
a set of clothes, she ran her hand over the soft deerskin. ‘Thank
you,’ she said.
‘Now quickly, get dressed so we
can leave, that is unless you would like to travel as you are, I
would have no complaints,’ he smiled mischieviously.
Max couldn’t help herself;
laughing at his brazenness. ‘I think I’ll get dressed first, it’s a
little chilly,’ she said as she entered her tent.
‘Need a hand?’ she heard as she
disappeared inside.
When she re-emerged wearing her
new clothes, Tallon nodded appreciatively, ‘they look good on you,’
he said. She now looked like a clan member: she was wearing suede
pants, a suede jerkin laced in the front and long boots with
leather thongs tied around. She also chose to wear her cloak.
‘They’re a little snug,’ said
Max self-consciously, ‘but I love them and they’re so soft.’
‘It was difficult to find one
of our women with the same shape as you,’ grinned Tallon, ‘but I
think I did a good job never-the-less.’
Tallon left to get his horse
and Gilster wandered over. ‘New clothes I see, they look
good.’
‘Thanks,’ said Max, looking
down at herself. Gilster continued.
‘Where’s Haven?’
‘Gone,’ said Max, ‘apparently
he went on ahead with Roki and the others.’
‘Gone!’ said Gilster, sounding
a little shocked. ‘That doesn’t sound like Haven at all, did
something happen last night?’
‘Well . . . yes . . . we had a
bit of a disagreement.’
‘A disagreement, but
everything’s all right between you two isn’t it?’
‘I honestly don’t know,’ said
Max sadly.
‘I’ve noticed Tallon seems to
have taken quite an interest in you since we arrived, is it
something to do with him?’
‘No,’ said Max defensively,
‘it’s nothing to do with him, it’s between Haven and me. I’d rather
not talk about it if you don’t mind.’
Just then Tallon returned
astride a huge black horse pulling a travois filled with tents and
other gear.
‘Now, is this a horse-horse or
is this a horse-person,’ said Max jokingly. Tallon threw back his
head and laughed heartily, sending a little shiver down her
spine.
‘This is a horse-horse,’ he
said, ‘I think if it was a person, they would’ve objected most
strongly.’ He jumped from the horse’s back and began to pack Max’s
tent and gear onto the travois. When he had finished he leapt
gracefully back onto the horse and leaned down, offering his hand
to Max. ‘Coming little one?’ he asked.
Max smiled and grabbed hold of
his hand. Tallon lifted her effortlessly and placed her behind him
on the horse’s back. He turned his head to look over his shoulder.
‘Hold on tightly, I don’t want to lose you.’ Max wrapped her arms
around Tallon’s waist.
‘You won’t,’ she said.
Gilster, who had been watching
the proceedings, raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he jumped
onto his own horse. He had been practising riding with is new
friend and found it came quite naturally to him. Tallon turned his
horse’s head around, gave a shout and led the remaining fifty
people—including ten of his warriors--from the camp.
Daria had lost count of the
number of days that had passed since she had been abducted. She was
still in the same damp, dark cell. In the beginning they had
brought her out of her cell on a daily basis for questioning, but
the questions were always the same. Where were the others going?
Did she know who the other Chosen were? Who had the scrolls? Her
answers were always the same. Silence. In the end they gave up
asking and the only time she saw another living being was when the
guard came to throw her some food--usually a piece or two of mouldy
bread--and to refill her water jug. She was filthy dirty, her
copper curls a matted mess, her clothes had been torn by the rough
handling she’d received and she had lost a lot of weight. ‘I hope
my friends are safe and well,’ she thought for the hundredth time.
A tear trickled down her face leaving a clear track in the dirt, ‘I
miss them so much,’ she cried softly. She sat with her knees drawn
up, resting her head against the wall behind her, the chains around
her ankles and wrists clanking as she moved. She slept.
She was rudely awakened when
the jailer grabbed her hair and yanked her head up. ‘Still alive I
see,’ he spat. ‘No one will ever find you down here, this is the
deepest cell in the castle, no one comes down here, ever, ‘cept me
of course,’ he laughed at his own joke. ‘So don’t get your hopes up
about being rescued, it’s never gonna happen,’ he added. ‘Besides,
who would even recognise you, you’re ugly and you stink, no, no one
is looking for you, you’ll die down here and all that will be left
of you is your bones, until the rats eat them.’ He threw her some
crusts and left.
Days passed with nothing but
the sound of squeaking rats and dripping water. She was happily
dreaming of her home world and Haven and Gilster when she was
suddenly awoken by a sound she had not heard in a long time . . .
voices. Fully alert now, she strained to hear what was being
said.
‘Come on, stop dragging you
feet,’ came the familiar voice of the jailer, ‘I have someone who’s
just dying to meet you,’ he cackled. A clank of keys and the cell
door opened. The jailer entered holding a chain which he yanked
sharply causing the person on the other end to stumble and fall
into the cell. It was a man that much Daria could tell, he was
shorter than Haven or Gilster and had short, blonde hair matted
with blood. She could see he had been badly beaten. His clothes
were torn and his feet were bare and bloodied. The jailer dragged
the chain across to the opposite side of the cell from Daria and
attached it to a metal ring embedded in the wall. ‘Here you go my
beauty,’ he cackled, addressing Daria, ‘a playmate for you, and you
have something in common, you’re both Chosen.’ He laughed again,
‘only two more to go and we’ll have you all and then you won’t need
to worry about dying slowly, because Anubis will kill you all.’
Laughing like a maniac, he left, locking the cell door behind
him.
Daria looked at the man
opposite. ‘Are you alright?’ she asked, ‘you look terrible.’
‘Have you looked in a mirror
lately,’ laughed the man. Daria couldn’t help herself, she laughed
too; it made her feel good. ‘My name is Stefan,’ said the man, ‘and
you are?’
‘Daria,’ she replied.
‘Pleased to meet you Daria, so
you’re a Chosen too eh. Well I’ve got some good news for you, my
friends will be watching for when yours come through the portal and
in the meantime they will be working on a plan to get us out of
here.’
‘That is good news,’ said
Daria.
‘Are both the other Chosen with
your party or are they yet to be found,’ he asked. Not knowing
whether to trust Stefan or not Daria decided to play it safe.
‘No,’ she said, ‘we had not
found any chosen before I was abducted.’
‘Too bad,’ said Stefan, ‘but
perhaps your friends have found one since you’ve been gone.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Daria.
‘Well, all we have to do now is
sit tight and stay alive until we’re rescued.’
Daria smiled, ‘let’s hope it’s
not too long until that day arrives,’ she said.
Tallon’s group had been
travelling for nearly a month and Max had grown to enjoy the
camaraderie. Tallon was exceptionally good company, always making
sure she had everything she needed, constantly making her laugh
with his silly antics and funny jokes about his warriors and what
they got up to when they went hunting.
The scenery was stunning and
Max soon fell in love with this beautiful world. They followed game
trails through ancient, dark forests, where every sound made was
muffled by the surrounding trees. Only able to travel in single
file, the group stretched out for miles as they slowly walked
through the forest. Across the leaf covered floor their horse’s
hooves where silent as the night.

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