Alara
Die before you get captured.
The thick, heavy smell of smoke and roasting meat fills my nose. My body feels as if it has been stomped on by a dozen horses.
Zayen's words—once they've got you, they can do anything to you—repeats itself over and over in my head. But louder than his word, is my own, chastising me for my stupidity.
My body can not move, not only because of its numbness but because I have been chained with a cold material.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Tears threaten to break out of my closed eyes. Curiosity had gotten the best of me, and I had turned in the direction of whatever was chasing us.
As soon as I had, my balance was lost and I fell. We were so close to being safe.
But I had seen what was chasing us. I saw it as I laid on the grass near the hill, my body feeling like it was broken. I saw it as it lifted me and slammed me back against the dirt.
It wasn't a creature. It wasn't an animal. Or a monster.
It was a man.
A man who tied a cloth around my eyes and dragged me, with a painfully strong grip, across the grass until my body and brain went numb.
My limbs shift and pull against my shackles. They're tight, feeling like they're biting against my wrists and ankles. I can't move an inch. I am stuck against the wall, arms hanging up vertically to my shoulders. The position makes me feel unbelievably vulnerable.
The cloth over my eyes makes it impossible to figure out where I am. There is no chance I have of getting out of here—wherever here is. I am not a princess. I'm nothing. A nobody. There is nothing worth saving.
But my mother is worth saving. So I will try to stay alive, for her.
The cloth is pulled from my eyes. I barely have time to adjust to the light as I come face-to-face with the same man who chased and dragged me away. His body is more bear-like than human. There are dark markings, similar to henna but much darker, where his hair should be.
He could easily be mistaken for an animal, with his size and the terrifying expression on his face—and his green tinted skin.
If I could move back, if I could move at all, I would. My heart beats in my throat. My entire body is heavy, like it has been filled with stones.
It is a cavernous room. The walls are all jagged rock. There's barely any light, aside from a hole high up in the ceiling.
"Wha—" I have to stifle a sob. There is a question on my lips that I don't want to ask; that I don't want the answer to. "What do you want?" My lips shake as though I have been sitting in an ice bath for hours.
His eyes roam my face. Large hands, big enough to cover my entire face, reach out and brush dirt off my face. I flinch, my head twisting to the side. A shiver dances down my spine.
"Afraid." His voice sounds like how I'd imagine someone who hasn't spoken in years would sound. It is savage. His hand goes down to my throat and squeezes. It makes it impossible to breathe. I squirm. "Weak."
"Don't." My voice is strained. I'm not going to beg a man that seems to barely be able to speak.
He shoves my head back, knocking it against a ragged stone wall. "Don't tell me what to do!" My eyes squeeze shut as a sudden ringing fills my ears.
"What do you want?" I scream back, but it only makes my head hurt more. Please don't kill me.
Although I'm sure the rest of the group have left me behind anyways. They're probably closer to Diyar now, knowing that I won't last long here.
YOU ARE READING
One Night
Teen Fiction[Arabian Nights meets Atlantis] She wants to save her family. He wants to save his people. After selling all of her belongings to survive, Alara has nothing-except a burn scar left by her unknown father and a sick mother she has to take care of. In...
