Chapter 1 #3
It was nearly impossible to track time with the dual suns glaring down on her, but she made do. Aela leaned against a nearby boulder on the side of the path. She reached down and fingered the damage to her boots, which she had meant to replace at the market.
“Luckily, that’s repairable,” she murmured aloud.
“Hmm… don’t think so, lass. You’ll need a good leather maker, you will, for that.” The same out-of-place accent she heard at the market had Aela whirling around.
“Now, now. No need to get all startled. I’m not going to hurt you. Just stop your runnin’.”
While Aela was taller than most women and even some of the men on Prente, this male towered over her.
The hood of his brown robe was thrown back, revealing more of his pale skin. It had a sickly cast to it, as if the sunlight wasn’t strong enough to banish an illness.
“Stay away,” Aela threatened, already sliding a hand into her pocket for more hematite, only to find it empty.
Fates!
In her haste fleeing Surya, she hadn’t refilled her hematite reserve. The pale man made his way toward her like he hadn’t a care in the world.
“Now listen, missy, I’ve been on this unrested planet for long enough as it is. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Whether you make it fun or not, you’re coming with me.”
Blood drained from Aela’s face. Fear sank its claws into her and replayed her most terrifying moments behind her now-closed lids.
A storm of fire glitched behind her eyes, and both her power and body seized.
Before she realized what was happening, he was on her.
Caging her in, he placed a pale finger over her lips and silenced her whimpering. Aela’s eyes snapped open.
“Shh. Don’t start crying yet. We haven’t even had any fun.”
He ripped the pack off her back and dumped the crystals out on the ground. The jostling movement refocused her. Aela recoiled as her crystals and carefully wrapped vials thudded to the ground.
“Ah! Look at that. That’s a nice bit o’contraband, ain’t it?” he said.
When he looked at her again, one glimpse into his black eyes gave her enough insight to know she was worse off than she thought. Some far suppressed instinct told her to run. Resolve overtook the panic.
“Take them. I won’t put up a fight. Just let me go.”
The gray-haired man flicked back his brown robe and squatted down, making it seem like a grand garment behind him. He stroked the small unbroken selenite towers that had tumbled out of her pack almost fondly.
“I haven’t seen ‘em like this in ages.”
Something in his words tugged at her oddly. Before she could question what it was, anxiety flooded her mind.
“I tell you what, lass. Where we’re going, I will be doing you a favor by taking these off your pretty little hands.”
He reached for her, and she darted backward, slamming her back into a boulder. He laughed throatily. “You’ve got spirit; I like that.”
She maintained sight of him as she inched away uphill on the path. He rose slowly from his crouch and toed the wrapped vials away from the crystal specimens.
“Shame you don’t have any more selenite. I’m feeling dreadfully dull.”
“Take whatever you want. I won’t stop you.”
Carelessly, the tall man kicked a combustible vial, and Aela shot her forearms up to protect her face. The tall male just laughed at her reaction, not understanding what rolled up the path to lay at her feet.
“‘Take whatever I want,’ she says. You need to be more careful with your turn of phrase, missy,” he said, prowling toward her. “You’re coming with me.”
Aela shifted her weight on her feet. “You’ll have to go without me,” she said with a dark smile as she stomped the vial closest to her boot.
Vaporous green gas seeped from the crushed vial, and she quickly covered her mouth with her dust scarf.
Lunging to the side, Aela snatched an obsidian specimen that had tumbled from her pack and threw it at the pale male’s face.
His roar propelled her faster up the mountain path as she ran for her life for the second time that day.
The lethal combination of crystals in the gas was intended to ease someone’s passing while giving them clarity in their last moments to spend with their loved ones.
For her assailant, his fully coherent mind and functioning body would betray him until his heart stopped beating, all while keeping his mind aware of what was happening.
She disappeared among the gray and brown rocks of The Spine, her clothing helping her to blend in.
She saw a turn that would lead back toward Surya.
If, by some miracle, he survived, he wouldn’t expect her to backtrack.
At least, she hoped not. Aela darted around the curve and scaled the rock face closest to her.
She never thought she would be so grateful to the mines for honing her physique, but the perilous crevices and runs in the desert were saving her life.
As she dug her fingers into small divots in the rock, the only sound was the soft scrape of her boots and practiced labored breaths until she screamed.
A firm hand pulled Aela roughly down the rock.
Landing on her back, air abandoned her lungs as she looked up at a black-eyed, crystal-gouged face.
Black edged into her vision as she lost focus. Gray Hair.