Elvaeda Chapter 9 1/2

                                           VANESSA

                    After my capture, the faeries pushed me into a cold, bare cell where the only thing illuminating it was a lone light bulb emanating an eerie dim yellow light and locked the door behind me. I struggled with the binds that held me fast, but with no avail.

                  I leaned against the cold stone wall and sighed, wondering how Isabella could just betray us like this. I looked around and froze when I saw two dark figures in the cell with me; one sitting up straight and looked like it was staring at me; the other was sprayed across the floor, still, unmoving. I would’ve thought it was dead if I didn’t see its chest rise and fall.

  “Vanessa,” the sitting up silhouette said, and I froze.

                 “Charlotte?” I said, genuinely surprised. I almost thought I heard wrong until she emerged from the shadows, her hand in a sling, her head bandaged tightly, but it was her alright; the same brown eyes, the same blonde hair. Since now I knew that one of the shadows was Charlotte, I dreaded to think who the other one was.

                  “Vanessa,” Charlotte said, sighing. “She got you too, huh?” I swallowed, and Charlotte caught me looking at the other silhouette lying, lifeless on the floor, and frowned. Then she grabbed the dangling light bulb hanging from the ceiling by a single tread and yanked it towards the other shadow, spilling light onto him. I froze at the sight of him.

     Charlie. Half his head bandaged and bloodied, both his hands limp and bloody. I gulped, and Charlotte sighed, then looked out into the world outside our pitiful little cell. “I am not sure if we can get out of here.”

     I gulped, not because of the eerie cell we were in, but because I doubted Elvaeda can ever be saved, especially since we all knew even Mercedes could not defeat that many faeries.                                  

                                           AVERY

     Soon we were surrounded by the huge mob of red Indians. The one poking a spear into my face was still questioning me, but I had no idea what he was saying.

     “Sayuer conno miilier?” he said, sounding harsher this time. I swallowed, not knowing what to say. “I don’t…..” my voice cracked, and I swallowed and started over. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

        “Sayuer jennarsak,” he muttered, sighing. Then he turned back to the rest of the tribe and raised his spear high atop his head, shouting at the top of his lungs: “Haisa noko jumBASA!!!!” and the rest of the tribe started raising their weapons and shouting too. Jackie turned nervously to me.

         “What are they going to do to us?” Jackie muttered, and I shrugged, the fear rising up inside me until I felt like running away, but they had us surrounded on all sides, and running with only result with a spear in the back. I swallowed hard. In this world, it was one danger after another. Who are these people? Why are they dressed as red Indians? What are they talking about?

        It took me some time to realize that their ears were pointed too, like ours. My eyes grew wide. They were elves!! But so were we, so why are they surrounding us? Why do they act like we’re dangerous criminals?

             Suddenly, in the midst of all the chaos, a voice yelled: “Saek!! Saek!! Sayuer honjor musai?” The red Indians froze, including the one that shouted into the crowd, and the huge mob of red Indians parted to make way to what looked like their leader. A tall, dark haired young man seemingly in his mid-twenties started towards us. He wore what everyone else wore; feathers, animal skins, all sorts of handmade items, but one could feel the vibe that he was not your average Red Indian.

              Soon he was standing right in front of us and we had to look up in order to look him in the eye. The peered down at us, and Jackie gave him a small, uncertain smile, but he did nothing. After what seemed like an eternity, he stared back into the crowd and yelled: “Sayma Zeyna!! Orsha mideur Zeyna!!”

              After those words, murmurs started up from the crowd, filling the empty plain with noise. The red Indian that shouted into the crowd with a spear in his hand pursed his lips but said nothing. Jackie groaned. “This isn’t looking good,” she groaned, raking her fingers through her hair. “They’re gonna roast us, then eat us!!” 

                Though I didn’t quite believe they would eat us, anything seemed possible in this world, so who was I to comment on anything? I shut my mouth and said nothing, and let Jackie whine herself silly. The young man with dark hair turned his gaze back to us and smiled; his voice a deep baritone when he said: “So, what are you two doing here in Ganji plains?”

               “He speaks English!!” Jackie squealed, then slapped her hands to her mouth, realizing what she just said sounded offensive. The man didn’t seem to mind at all. “My name is Jark of the Ganji. What are yours, little Zeyna?”

             Jackie and I exchanged confused looks, but didn’t hesitate to say our names. “Jaclyn Deforest. Call me Jackie, if you must,” Jackie said first in her normal cheery tone. She seemed to have forgotten that just a few moments ago she was scared of being eaten. I hesitated for a moment, then managed to stammer: “A-Avery. Avery Melissa.”

         A gasp now flew among the crowd of red Indians, and they started whispering to each other like me and Jackie sharing secrets back in elementary school. I gulp. What did I say? What did I do? Was I some sort of wanted criminal in this village? Was my name on a blacklist? Even though I don’t remember doing anything wrong I was still nervous. How come so much noise was made at the mere sound of my name?

        Jackie seemed to share my anxiety and swallowed, her eyes glued onto me. If Danica were here, she would smile at me in her sort-of-anxious-but-doesn’t-want-to-show-it way and whisper a comfort to me. My heart ached at the thought of her, and I quickly pushed the thought of her out of my head temporarily to stop myself from bursting into tears.

         Even Jark seemed to be taken aback, but it was only a flash of surprise and then it was gone. He nodded at us, then said: “You are Zeyna, are you not? Or are you the new elves of Mercedes the fourth queen of Elvaeda? Can you tell us? We wish to know where you are from.”

         I wanted too, I really wanted to tell him all I knew, but as I opened my mouth to say something, only bubbles of air came out, and that was all I knew; nothing. I had no idea what he was talking about, but how was I suppose to explain? I was supposed to be a human taking on a normal life until I became an elf and am now looking for the Great Spirit and find my possessed friend and become the new queen of Elves? I do not think so.  

       Fortunately, Jackie managed to ask the question that has been burning on my lips: “What is Zeyna?” The whole crowd gasped and resumed their whispering, and Jark looked at us like we were aliens, then turned back to face the crowd and shouted: “Heysha!!”

         Immediately, the crowd settled down and the whispers died down, but the thousand pairs of dark eyes were still glued onto us. Jackie turned a nervous face at me, and I could feel myself reflecting the same expression back to her. Jark then turned to look at us, and said: “Then, you must be the new elves of Elvaeda that we heard so much about, am I correct? Are you the heirs to Mercedes the queen of the elves?”

        Jackie nodded but I just stood there, too anxious about what will happen to us that I couldn’t even lift one finger, much less nod my head. But is seemed that Jackie’s nod was good enough to send the whole crowd gasping-some squealing-in excitement. I could tell many of them wanted to meet the queen.

        Jark looked stunned but had sense not to show it. He bowed and Jackie giggled so loud I had to jab her hard in the ribs with my elbow to silence her. Then Jark caught sight of Jackie’s bandaged left arm, the white bandaged soaked with crimson. “Jaclyn of the ‘D’ forest,” he said, and she stared at him. Then Jackie saw what he was looking at and clutched her left arm with her good hand. “It’s nothing; I just got attacked by a giant worm that came out of the ground.”

          Again, gasps could be heard, this time louder, as soon as Jackie finished her sentence. Even Jark looked stunned. “Jaclyn of the ‘D’ forest,” he said, staring at her injured arm. “You got bitten by a sand worm?”

         “Um, yeah, I guess,” she said and shrugged. Jark’s face turned serious and he yelled into the crowd: “Saek!! Saek!! Jurpae mun aswa!!” Another Red Indian, the one that yelled into the crowd before Jark appeared, stepped through the crowd and started towards Jackie. As soon as he saw the crimson bandages he shuddered, and Jark and him chatted on something before he pulled out a purple needle from his pocket and before she could react, sunk it deep into Jackie’s left wrist, drawing blood. I shrieked.

           “What are you doing!!!??” I cried, and was surprised that Jackie didn’t scream out of pain when the needle protruded her skin. Then did I only realize that Jackie had lost consciousness as soon as the needle struck her flesh and crumpled to the ground, only supported by the arm by Jark. The Red Indian that held the needle looked at me and pointed to me when he faced Jark again and said: Sayuer aswa jas?”

            Jark nodded, and the Red Indian sighed, then kept the needle back in his pocket, and drew out another one, this one green instead of purple. He started towards me, and I realized what he was about to do a second too late as the needle protruded my flesh. Before I could even scream in agony-because the needle was dead painful- I had this great urge to sleep. I watched helplessly as my heavy eyelids closed and I lost consciousness before I even hit the ground.

                                             SARAH

The light. So close, so near, but still too far.

           Barreling towards the exit, I could hear them shout my name as their thundering footsteps headed towards mine. I couldn’t focus on anything else but the blinding light of dawn in front of me. I had been sealed away far too long already; it was time to get out.

           Suddenly, a voice that rang from behind me stopped me dead in my tracks: “Sarah Herma; stop right there.” Shocked at the sound of the voice I stumbled on my own two feet and was sent sprawling, using my elbows to break my fall. I winced as my elbows struck the hard ground beneath me, dusting them with dirt and rubble. I got up to my feet, brushed myself off and looked behind me; expecting to see another one of them standing there, waiting to drag me off. What I didn’t expect was her, standing there, her dark eyes glittering in the dull light. I was shocked to silence, but I managed to breathe one word: “You…..”

                “Sarah,” she said, smiling that wicked smile she always did for playful reasons; but this is no play-this was real. It took some time to realize that I had no time to be shocked. I scrambled off, them hot on my heels. A distraction-that was all I needed. Knowing that shooting out the door wouldn’t solve anything; I took a sharp turn left and hid behind a barrel, holding my breath. It was like playing hide ‘n’ seek with the rest of the kindergarteners in Elvaeda when I was five.

             Soon I heard the stampede of feet march past me and into the darkness beyond. I smiled. They would never get me now. Once they realized I wasn’t there I would already be long gone; outside this world of mines and cruelness, where they would never find me again. But howls of fear, pain and agony stopped me dead in my tracks. I looked around, and finally realized it was coming from the darkness of the tunnel all of them had disappeared into. A screech rose from the darkness, and a huge cluster of bats flew out from the darkness.

What came out next was the most terrifying sight in my life.