The Hunt for Freedom

Chapter Thirty Six

    The thud shook the cave and Lainey knew it wouldn't be long until reinforcements came. Essam no doubt had summoned his best warriors and Lainey could imagine the chaos that was about to erupt. As fast as she could she raced back to the entrance of the alcove. The food was gone! She had left it here only minutes before. The food was to sustain her on her escape and now she had none. It would be too dangerous to go back to the kitchen to get more.

Disheartened, she climbed in. She wiggled in her normal fashion but found she couldn't move back. Using her hands she felt for the obstacle that blocked her way. She felt the warmth of skin and realized what she touched was a foot. Dakari was here!

"Are you awake?" She whispered into the darkness.

"Barely" his voice was raspy. "Where are we?"

"The escape path, it leads down to the water and out to the cliffs."

Just behind her she heard the pounding of running feet. Within seconds the sounds of battle echoed in the alcove. Thuds and curses shook the walls causing small rocks to shake loose and fall in their hair.

"If you can, try to move back, and inch at a time....we gotta get away from the edge."

With great difficulty he moved, slow movements that seemed to drain his ebbing energy. They moved for an hour, hardly making a dent in the journey that was ahead. He could go no more. "Food" was the last thing he said before his head fell on his forearms, he laid prone and moved no more.

Lainey sat there listening to the sounds of battle. Going to get food was not an option. He must have eaten everything she had brought before. She was glad she had thought to bring the water. What could she do? Inspiration hit in a flash. If they were all down here fighting, no one was left guarding the kitchen.

Without allowing doubt to creep in, she grabbed the pitcher and tore off down the hallway. She was back within minutes, she had found a tray of muffins someone had brought in and filled the pitcher again. With no cook, most of the weredragons were bringing in food and Lainey scored a bucket of fried chicken too. When Dakari awoke he could have his fill. She snuggled into him for warmth and fell asleep. The sounds of the battle raged on and served as her warped lullaby.

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Maggie ran into the room knocking over the lamp in her excitement. "Dakari has escaped!"

The room froze and all conversations stopped. The great hall was full of group leaders strategizing and ego's were getting bruised as ideas were discarded as folly as soon as they were spoken. Katalea had been trying to inspire cohesive brainstorming when Maggie exploded in the room.

"He sent me a message, the little slave girl he had told me about helped him escape. He said they had passed a death sentence on him and she had gotten him out with hours to spare. He is weak, and he still doesn't know where he is. He says they are hidden, but then he was gone. I came as fast as I could."

She was immediately bombarded with questions. She had no answers and frustrations grew. Everyone felt so helpless.

They rehashed the message over and over, looking for hidden meanings but could find none. They wrote it down looking for a code but nothing came of that either. All they could do was agree to meet again when they knew more.

As everyone began to leave, Abe caught Katalea's elbow and steered her out by the pool. "Can I get a few minutes of your time Princess?"

With some annoyance she allowed herself to be led out. This was not the time for matters of the heart but Abe was not to be denied. He held her hand and used his other hand to caress her hair. He sighed and seemed to be breathing her in.

"Princess, I miss you, I miss us."

"Abe, in all honesty, I can't deal with more right now. Our Pride is falling apart, we need to be working on solidarity as a group, preparing for the battle we all know is looming. I can't worry about my personal life. I need you to focus on keeping the soldiers together so no one goes rogue. Can you do that?"

"Of course I can, but maybe the others will show more respect to you if a strong male comes alongside you". He slowly placed butterfly kisses on the base of her neck circling to just below her ear and whispered, "I could be that someone."

An inner rage began at the pit of her stomach. She didn't need a damn man to lead her Pride. Of all the chauvinistic male bravado. Before turning her fury on him she let ice slide down her spine. There was a better way to handle the likes of Abrax Kalb than with emotion. After all, she still needed his expertise to lead the troops.

"Let's bring Dakari home safe and sound, and then we'll deal with a merger between our families. You have no rivals so please let us not waste another moment discussing this." She pulled out of the reach of his kisses and caresses and tried to look up at him with admiration. She fluttered her lashes and flipped her hair, a gesture she had seen Dalya use on countless admirers.

It must have worked, because his face showed he felt he had gotten an acceptance. He beamed with pleasure. He could not fathom someone rejecting him. It made Katalea nautious to see his smug smile. She would one day lower him to his rightful place in the Pride, but not before she accomplished her goals. She knew she was playing with fire.

He tried to walk through the house holding her hand. What used to seem sweet now seemed like he was trying to mark her. She busied her hands and conjured a ball of fire into each hand, creating warmth and drawing the stragglers back to her.

"Tonight I feel the feline gods with me. I feel they are leading me in a positive direction. I am going to shift and go for a run down the beach in a show of support for Dakari. All those who would like to come are welcome. We will end the night with a bonfire to honor the goddesses and ask for their leadership in these trying times."

All those within earshot nodded appreciatively. They would tell their relatives and friends. All felt it was a needed change to come together. She split the fire ball into enough pieces that everyone had one to take home.

"These bursts of flames will not be extinguished while there is still hope for Dakari. Hold on to it through the night, knowing that Dakari is out there. Let it's light remind you of our burning desire to reunite us all. We will find him, and when we do we will join our flames into one massive inferno. Let our enemies know that this deed will not go unpunished."

The small crowd erupted into cheers. She shifted and roared. Abe was left standing in the doorway, ignored. She couldn't have planned it better.