Chapter 43 #2
Just when I thought my chance of escape was gone, my kidnapper let out a strangled cry of pain in my ear.
As he fell to the floor, he grabbed at me, pulling the eye covering off.
As the dark wood came back into view, a flash of steel whipped past my face.
A long stiletto knife protruded from the kidnapper's throat, spraying blood everywhere.
From a tree branch above, Zenn dropped to the floor on silent feet, landing in a crouch. He summoned his knives back to his hands and wiped the blood off on his trouser leg.
“Evening,” he grumbled as he scanned our surroundings.
“Any idea what this is all about?”
His eyes narrowed as he studied the surrounding woods. Pressing a finger to his lips, he pulled me closer to his side as we waited in anticipation of what would come next.
From the dark woods, Mercy and Efydd appeared. Mercy, brandishing an aggressive-looking slingshot that fired spiked ball bearings, Efydd pointing a sword that was four times his size at us.
“Hey, guys!” Mercy said cheerily. “Fancy seeing you here, Zenn.”
“You heard it too, huh?”
“Sure did. It was like a call to war,” Efydd said.
I looked at each of them with confusion, but before anyone could clarify what was happening, Lleucu burst through the treeline.
Lleucu launched Manawydan with a roar. It spun in an arc, causing each of us to duck down to avoid losing our heads.
“Party's over, Lleucs. You were too slow,” Zenn taunted. He helped me out of my bindings, his eyes lingering on the shirt I was currently wearing. “Where's Dyl? Not like him to miss something like this.”
“The last I saw of him, he was sleeping in his pabell.”
Zenn looked at me with a knowing smirk, but it was Lleucu who tensed at what I'd insinuated.
”You guys heard Non calling his name, right?” They all nodded in agreement.
Zenn studied me for a moment, then moved closer and sniffed. “When you last saw him, had you by any chance spent a significant amount of time with your body pressed up against his?”
“Maybe,” I whispered coyly.
Zenn, Mercy, Efydd, and Lleucu all moved at the same time, sprinting through the trees. I struggled to keep up barefoot. Once we cleared the woods, they headed straight for Dylan's tent at the centre of the fairway.
When I skidded to a stop outside his door, gulping down air, the others were already packed inside.
They all huddled around something on the floor. I pushed through a gap between Zenn and Mercy. When I saw the body on the floor, I let out a sob.
Dylan lay on his back, arms and legs splayed out at an unnatural angle. His skin was grey, his eyes sunken, and his lips were cracking.
“I was with him less than an hour ago, and he was... Well, he was full of life.”
Zenn ordered Efydd to go get Morgen. When I explained the specifics of what Dylan and I had been doing prior to the attack, and that Morgen had been by my side in the woods, Zenn changed his instruction for Efydd to fetch Hefina.
“Do you think they took her?” I asked Zenn as we both struggled to get Dylan on his feet.
“They must have. There was no one else in that clearing when I arrived.”
Zenn called for Lleucu and Mercy to take over the task of getting Dylan back up on his feet.
With a reassuring arm around my shoulder, Zenn led me out of the tent and over to another one that was yellow in colour.
“I know this is all very confusing for you right now, but believe me when I say Dyl will be fine.
He just needs to see Hefina, and he'll be fighting fit by morning. I need you to promise to stay here for the night, though. He just needs some space.” Zenn smiled, and I think it was the first time I'd ever seen it.
The pabell he put me up in was clean and comfy.
I managed to have a shower and change into loose-fitting trousers and a t-shirt that were folded up on my pillow.
After hours of pacing by the door, I let myself fall into a fitful sleep where the sweet-smelling cloth was pressed to my mouth over and over again.
When someone brushed the strands of hair from my face, I jolted upright. The tent was exactly as it had been when I'd fallen asleep. As I turned to lie back down, I noticed the figure lying next to me.
His complexion was still peaky, still lacking its usual tanned lustre. But he didn't look like he was dying anymore.
With his eyes still shut, he guided me back down. When my head touched the pillow, he cracked one eye.
“How are you feeling?”
“I've been better,” he said hoarsely, “but I've certainly been worse. Rolling over expecting to see your beautiful eyes but instead being met with Hefina's was a shock.”
I propped myself up on my elbow to examine his face closer. “Are you planning on sharing what happened to you?”
Dylan let out a long breath as he played with the ends of my hair. “As things stand, we don't know all the pieces of information. I didn't want to worry you until I fully understood what exactly was going on. In the wise words of Non Meredith... Can you trust me?”
My answer was immediate. “Of course.”
He placed a kiss on my forehead. “Think you've got one more trial in you?”