This chapter was to show Locke's thoughts about Terra and to show a little insight as to why Terra wanted to hide her magic at first. You'd get what I mean if you had read the older version of Iron Claw I originally had up... I cut it out at first, 'cause my story was said to be "too" long. I didn't get it, they said it was good, but they didn't want it to be so long. .
And now, people want it longer :D Well, anyone, here is the next chapter. :)
Chapter: Quickened Healing
As the two hurried through the meadow, Terra couldn't help but feel as if someone was behind them, about to grab her by her shoulder and turn her around. She glanced behind her, worried. Nothing was there. She pulled to a stop and tugged on Locke's hand. "What?" he asked, frowning.
"I…I think we are being followed."
"Um…Terra, we already know that."
"No, I mean, it feels like someone is here with us." Locke looked around and slowly, took her hand again. His eyes searched the trees that surrounded them and then around Terra.
"Terra…you're freaking me out…" he whispered. "come on." He tugged at her hand for a few seconds before she sighed and let the thief drag her off.
The wind picked up when the sun left the sky. Everything was so quiet…so, dark. Terra kept close to Locke, she still felt that odd feeling, like someone was behind her, but every time she glanced behind her, nothing was there. Deciding it was time to stop, Locke led her away from the open meadow to a closed off area of high pine trees. He explained to her that they wouldn't be able to have a fire, nor sleep up high, to avoid eyesight. But what he did next was surprising to Terra.
He erased their tracks with a branch and covered their scent by throwing a weird little purple ball against the ground where they had come from. It exploded and covered the ground and fly out toward their path. He had thrown it before the wind, which carried the purple mist out and pass them. He told her the dogs would track them down easily if they were asleep and their scent roaming around the air. He also explained that if the wind was coming from the other direction and they were up on the hill the wind would push against them, not carrying their scent toward the dogs.
This eased her worries away a bit. So, without a fire, he managed to find some harden meat cut in strips and gave her a few pieces as he leaned against the tree trunk beside her. She nibbled at the meat, her eyes locked on the stars. He could tell she was thinking…but of what? He swallowed the last of his pieces and stretched his arms up, catching her attention.
"So, we should get some rest." Terra nodded and attempted to lie down, but gasped when she heard the shouting of men and the barking of dogs. Before she could get up and tell Locke what she heard, an arrow shot pass her and almost struck Locke in the shoulder. He jumped up and noticed the look in her face and knew she heard them. He yanked her up and started to run.
"Where are they!" he shouted, running as fast as she could. Her tired legs couldn't keep up.
"I…I don't know!" she yelled. Another arrow flew pass them. Locke swore and spotted a shallow dip in the ground. When he reached the dip, he pushed Terra in and told her to stay flat.
"Don't move!"
"But I can help—"
"Just stay there!" he shouted as he turned and ran off. She could hear him fighting with them. She peaked out of the dip and saw Locke fighting with two men. The three dogs were barking at him and jumping at his fight. He needed help…but he told her to stay. When he only managed to take down one man, she decided to ignore him. She placed her hand on her sword and swallowed. I have to help him…I have to! And then she rose and hurried, despite her hurting knees, and ran toward the man stabbing at Locke's back.
He heard the man behind him fighting with someone and turned once he kicked his enemy in the chest and knocked him to the ground. He gasped when he saw Terra, sword in hand, quickly parrying all the man's attack. Her sword had turned to gray liquid, forming a shell of steel around the man as she broke through each of his defensive poses. Each time he pulled up a new defense, she tore it down with a swift swipe of the steel blade. He was in awe. This girl, he assumed was so defenseless, was now tearing this one man apart. His earlier judgment of her being dangerous, was true.
He knew she was playing with him, with that kind of skill; she could have easily taken him down. He realized then she wouldn't kill him. He gripped his dagger and when he saw an opening, he flung it forward. It hit his throat, killing him. Terra immediately dropped her sword and gasped, a horrified expression appeared on her face as she backed away from the dead man. Her eyes were wide with terror, her body shaking.
Locke didn't have time to deal with that. He turned and finished off the man lying on the floor, the same man that was still suffering from the kick to his chest. He looked at the dogs and clapped his hands as loud as he could. "Go on! Get out of here!" he kicked rocks at them until they ran off. He took a glimpse at Terra and saw her hiding her face in her hands, her body was until shaking. He came up and gently laid a hand on her back. "Terra?" she jerked away from his touch and stared at him, her eyes misting over. "It's okay, Terra…you didn't harm him, I did."
"I…I was being careful." she insisted, her voice shaky.
"Terra, it was me. I killed him." He sighed and guiding her over to the dip. "You need rest," she ripped away from his grip again. "Terra, come on. You just need something in you and good night's rest."
[-]
The fire roared as he threw more pieces of wood in it. Since they had taken care of the men, they would be safe enough to rest. He would stay up and watch, to be safe, but he needed to rest his body, he knew it. He looked over at her and berated himself for his early apprehension. She sat down, her arms wrapped around her pulled up legs. Her chin rested on her knees, her eyes held nothing but sadness, loneness, worry and innocence. When he had met with Arvis and had started their little trek into the caves, Arvis explained so many little things he understood from Terra in mere moments.
From where he sat, he could actually feel the inner turmoil radiating off of her. Her eyes were so…dull as she watched the fire. The light made her look so much more dangerous than he originally though, but he knew she wasn't. She was so much like a child… the pulling drive to protect her was overwhelming, yet he knew she could handle danger with her own skill, yet he wanted to be there for her…for whatever may come. He wanted to be there, to make sure she pulled through okay. She closed her eyes at some point when he looked away and fell asleep, in the same position. He took his jacket off and laid it over her. He didn't want to dig through his bags and wake her up. He knew she had to sleep off the fear of what happened. His eyes went back to the fire as he recalled all the events since he saved her.
Did…did I really save an Imperial soldier? Someone who actually destroyed a whole town and killed people? His heart raced as he thought of actually saving one of those…beasts, but then he sighed, thinking how horrible it was to enslave a teenage girl, witch or not, it was disgusting and wrong.
Had he made a mistake saving her? Would she be the downfall of everyone…of him?
[-]
The next morning Locke cooked up some fresh meat, which he told Terra was 'bunny'. She had no recollection of bunnies, so she had no problem eating them. She ate with uncertainty though, because Locke had joked about them being evil creatures from the moon. She admitted it was good, so he didn't want to show her what they looked like, encase she would get angry or hurt over it.
After their meal, Locke led her to the stream that ran along the meadow's western side. While Terra did her "girly" things, Locke refilled their water-skins and any other container he could find. He knew that they were going to need them when they reached the desert and he was glad that the stream stretched longer toward the desert, just encase he had to refill again. As he waited for her to come to the spot he told her about, he watched the water drift a twig away and watched as the fish swam up to the surface to eat the fallen bugs. He smiled as he let a finger drag through the water. He heard footsteps.
"….Locke…" called a quiet voice. He smiled and stood up, wiping his hands on his pants as he turned around. He gasped when he saw her holding her hands out toward him, a worried frown on her face. They were red, swollen, bleeding and cut up terribly. He took a small breath.
"What happened?" he asked gently as he took her hands. She looked behind her and frowned heavily.
"I touched these weird looking flowers…" she whispered, feeling guilty for some reason. Locke chuckled. "You never said flowers could hurt you…" she pouted, her eyes locked on her hands.
"Were they red and purple?" she nodded. "You touched the Nickleberry bush. They are like more extreme poison ivy…" he realized then she wouldn't know what that was. "Here, come to the water." When she sat down near the stream, he flipped her hands over and told her to keep them in the water. While her hands stayed under the cold water, he dug through his bags for some sort of medication to apply to her hands. Her interest was catch by the fish.
When he found it, he chuckled. "Ah, found ya!" it was a small red bottle, nearly empty. "Okay Terra, give me your hands and…I…" he paused when he noticed what kept her attention. "Fascinating, isn't it?" he asked, taking her hands. She looked up at him.
"What do you mean?"
"The way life works….isn't it?" he queried, nudging his head over toward the fish. He knew that was why she watched so intently. She let a small smile appear on her pale, young face.
"Do you know how they breathe under water?"
"Oh, so you know about water, eh?" she gave him a confused face, so he just shrugged. "They have things called 'gills' which takes air from the water so they can breathe."
"There are so many things I need to know…" she muttered. "that I want to know…" he sighed and finished applying the medicine.
"Don't worry, Terra. You will! Soon, you'll be telling me what things are or why they do the things they do." He stood up, helping her up too. "So cheer up, kay?"
She smiled. "Thanks Locke," she held her hands close to her stomach and shuffled around on her feet. "It doesn't burn anymore…" he ruffled her hair.
"Good!" he smirked. "so how about we continue our journey?" she started to follow him, her eyes on her red, marked up hands.
"What…is at Figaro?" she asked, timidly.
"The king…he'll know what to do about this situation we have."
"Situation?"
"Yea, he'll know how to help you…us, actually." He laughed but looked back at her. "Don't worry, he's been my friend for seven years, you don't have to fear him. He's a good man, if you get past a few flaws." He laughed aloud then.
Flaws? She thought, frowning. "What kind of flaws?" Locke laughed.
[-]
The meadow seems to go on forever, or so Terra thought. She was tempted to touch all the new pretty flowers she saw, but remembered her encounter with the Nickleberry bush and frowned. She didn't think that things that can't move could hurt you so bad. She looked down at her hands and sighed at the red, swollen skin. The light sting she felt was annoying, like someone poking you with a piece of straw and you couldn't stop them. She put her hands together gently and continued on walking behind Locke. All she could think about was her hands getting better. The constant annoyance of the sting was so overwhelming. She glanced back down at her hands and then fanned them around, the sting now turning to burn, or so her mind led her to believe.
Soon, her thoughts were cluttered with ideas; chopping her hands off, using up all their drinking water…and a little tiny nick at the back of her head that just kept whispering something, of what, she didn't know. She decided she couldn't take it anymore and closed her eyes and mouthed a single word. Her hands glowed a gentle green and then the light vanished. Slowly her eyes opened and she saw her healed hands, a grin of triumph appeared on her face.
Locke had noticed that she had stopped following and then turned around and saw her staring at her hands. He took one of her hands and gasped. "Your…hands, how did they heal so fast?" he sounded afraid…should she tell him?
"I don't know…maybe that stuff you put on my hands healed it."
"Hmm…" he smiled and then chortled. "Yea, that must be it!" he let her hand drop and then continued onward, his voice carried back to her. "We're almost there. By tomorrow night, we should be in the desert. Now that we don't have to worry about Narshe's troops anymore, we can rest tonight." She smiled and ran after him.
"That sounds very nice." She admitted, sheepishly as she skipped along to his side. He noticed the sudden energy boost she had and laughed, in a teasing way.
"What happened to you?" she looked up at him. "You...you seem to have gotten a lot more…bouncy." She corked an eyebrow at him and shrugged, running ahead. "H-hey! W-wait up for me!" he called out to her, trying to catch up.
[-]
Locke was completely stunned by her sudden turn around. One moment she was wry and hurt, the next she was completely energized and her wounds healed. He didn't want to think about how that happened, but he couldn't help feeling like she had gone under certain drugs in the Empire, that maybe healed her faster. He shuddered at that. Could they have so powers?
He looked in front of him and saw her still running ahead, despite it being forty minutes of straight up running. He was so tired out, his legs throbbed, his head hurt and he was sweating like a pig! He wiped his brow and sighed. How can she have so much energy! He bitterly thought as he sat down for a few moments. Curious, he glanced back up and saw her turning around to see him. When she had noticed him sitting, she giggled and ran over.
"Tired…?"
"Yea…just a bit." He replied, laughing.
"Oh…" she frowned and then sat down beside him. "Was I going to fast?"
"Ahaha!" Locke covered his face with his hand. "I guess that medication did more than heal your hand, huh?" she blushed.
"Am I being a problem…?"
"No, not at all. But no more with the running, okay?" she nodded. "Well, for right now. I'm tuckered out and yet you could probably run on for hours!" he joked and then fell to his back. She fiddled with her clothing and then sat down beside him.
"Locke…?"
"Hmm?"
"What if…if the king doesn't want me to stay there?" Locke sat up to look her in the eyes. "What if he doesn't want an Imperial soldier there?"
"Well, first of all, you aren't a soldier anymore, and you weren't before. You were forced. Besides that, he wouldn't throw a 'woman' out on the streets or punish you for something you couldn't control."
She smiled. "Is he really that kind?" Locke burst out laughing again, Terra gave him a confused look. "What did I say?"
Here it is! The next older, longer version. If I forgot to italicize thoughts, or made any errors, please tell me me about them! :D
Anyway...review! :D
