Shadow Weaver (Back on Wattpad 2020!)

Chapter 3 (Part I)

We gave up jogging some time ago. We are all too exhausted now. Hunger gnaws at my stomach despite the bowl of oats I slurped down as we abandoned the camp. My head is heavy and woozy. Kel holds my hand inside my pouch again. He whimpers, but I'm too tired to console him. We are exposed to the eastern winds here and they mercilessly swirl up the snow and throw it against us. My mother has surprised me. She hasn't keeled over and she isn't complaining. She hasn't broken down and refused to go on. I guess we are driven by each other. No one wants to be the one who gives up.

Jade Sword Mountain rises ahead of us, its narrow peak like a sword saluting the stars. Black Ridge Mountain lies to the west, the Edelon mountain range and the vast tundra to the east. We have reached an open, sloping plateau. Land folds and undulates towards steep, jagged rocks. Only shrubs and stunted trees grow here. It is like walking through a wasteland of empty shadows. Except the snow. Snow everywhere, reflecting the shimmering light of the stars, enough light to stop the world from tumbling into pitch blackness.

Suddenly, like stars blinking - there, then not - I realise I cannot sense the men's minds. I spread out my awareness, grappling through the foggy emptiness. I cannot remember when I last reached for them. Two minutes ago? Five? Ten?

I lean over to Kel. 'Can you feel them?' I shout above the wind, breathing hard. His shimmering eyes meet mine, then cast sideways, concentrating. He shakes his head. Perhaps we're too tired. The pounding in my head muffles everything. And I am not used to the effort it takes to focus constantly, to stretch my attention across such distances. I stop, wiping tiny flakes from my top lip, the blustering snow replacing them moments later.

'What's the matter?' my father shouts.

A flutter of colour. 

Something right behind us! I fumble with the knots of my shoulder straps. How did they get so close? 

'Get ready!' My numb fingers free the rope and I shake off my pack. It falls with a thud. My shoulders are left feeling oddly weightless.

'Take Kel!' Pa calls to my mother. 'Keep going!' He throws down his rucksack and prepares his bow. I slide on my furless deer-skin gloves which allow my fingers flexibility and strength without freezing up. Facing down the open hillside, I scan the horizon. Waves of wind-driven snow break over me, whipping the hood from my head, obscuring my vision. My hands tremble as I grasp an arrow from my quiver, pull it back in line with my cheek. The strain after the day I've had makes my arms shake, muscles barely holding up. Icy flakes burn my eyes like grit and a great haze muzzles the mind-world. The hunters must have taken the mist berries. It is the only explanation. But if they've concealed their minds with the berries, how is it I saw the wisp of memory?

Pa is by my side, bow ready to fire, eyes scouring the plateau beyond as best he can. Every distant shrub looks like a man crouching, moving, sneaking towards us. I feel dizzy.

A blurred, muddy form appears on my inner eye. I aim for where I discerned the image. Pull the arrow a notch tighter and release my fingers. The bone-tipped shaft spins into the night. Pa fires in the same direction. There comes a gruff cry. He's hit one of them. My thought is cut short by sharp pain. The top of my arm burns, liquid oozing across my skin. I drop my bow, reaching across my chest to extract the arrow. It's scrapped the fleshy bit below my shoulder. Nothing fatal. Unless the arrow is poisoned.

I sense the bounty hunter before I see him. Rage. Blinding rage. His mind a jumble of fists and blood-fights. He hurls towards us. Broad shouldered, tall. Pa doesn't even have time to reach for his sheath before he's struck with a knife. As he stumbles, I scream his name, terrified. The only thing I can imagine worse than Kel being taken, is my father dying. I pull the longer knife from my thigh strap but my throwing arm is limp and useless.

'The boy's glitter eyed!' a gruff voice shouts. Not my father's attacker who is now on top of Pa. The other one. Kel must have glanced around when I screamed and in the darkness his sparkling eyes will have danced like fireflies . I clench my knife and dive towards the man running for my brother. Keep going, Kel! I think. It's the last thought I have. An instant later, a fist smashes the side of my face and my head rips back, crushing the nerves in my neck. A flash of white light. Everything is upside down and I'm falling.

Thanks so much for reading!