Taken

Chapter 6 (Part 1)

Cold hit my face and washed over my head. My eyes clenched shut as panic tore its way through my heart and the cold continued to travel down my body that followed into the lake from another hard shove. I waited for water to fill my lungs at the frightened breath I tried to draw at the harsh push, but all that filled my chest was frigid and biting air.

Until it was knocked out of me when I landed hard on my injured side.

A groan slipped out of my lips as my eyes opened to take in the rough grass that covered the hard ground I had landed on. My brows furrowed in confusion.

What happened to the water?

Pain shot through my shoulder and neck as I moved my head to look down my dry body at the lake by my feet. My eyes struggled to adjust to the little light the moon provided while my mind struggled to rationalize what had occurred in the last few minutes. I had just been shoved into it, yet...

I blinked at the reflection of the moonlight on the water, my confusion deepening as the faint trickling sound of water drew my attention. I couldn't recall there being a waterfall-

A scream tore its way out of my throat when a hand emerged from the lake and clawed at the ground. I struggled to crawl away with my wrists bound behind my back when another arm appeared out of the water. A head followed shortly as the emerging man crawled his way out of the water.

I wasn't sure if it made my suffocating panic better or worse when I recognized him as Cedric.

Worse, I decided when he narrowed his eyes at me as anger pulled at his features. And knowing he did nothing as his friend attempted to drown me.

An attempt that left me equals parts shaken and confused.

"Quiet her."

A hand appeared from around me, clamping down over my lips which were still sounding a hysterical scream. The sudden appearance of another limb only had it growing louder against the palm covering my lips. Until it moved to cover my nose as well.

"Shut up. You're going to attract unwanted company," Tor hissed in my ear from where he was crouched at my side.

Despite his warning, I couldn't stop another cry from escaping when he reached for my arm to jerk me to my feet as the others pulled themselves out of the lake. It resulted in him tightening his grip until I was sure blood had stopped flowing in my arm and had earned me another hard glare from Cedric.

I bit my lip, wincing as I kept in any other pained noises that wanted to escape. It became a bit easier to breathe once Cedric took his eyes off me. Now if only Tor would remove his hand.

Cedric slipped the leather necklace back around his neck and tucked it and the crystal back into his shirt. His dry shirt. Not a drop of water clung to him, me, or any of the other men who had just climbed out of a body of a lake. Though technically, I hadn't climbed out of it. It felt more like I was thrown out.

Or dragged and dropped onto the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"How far are we from the castle?" Calvin asked as he looked around the clearing.

"A half days journey away," Cedric answered, earning a groan from Emerson that he chose to ignore. "We'll set up camp for the night and leave at sunrise."

"Why not just travel through the night?" Calvin asked.

"Or better yet, access a portal that will take us straight to the castle," Emerson mumbled under his breath.

"I'll chalk your stupidity up to you being new," Cedric sighed.

Tor snorted. "We learned this shit in our first year of training."