Chapter Two:
Ari opened her eyes to the sunlight filtering through the bright green leaves of the forest canopy above. The shadows played across her face as she squinted her eyes, trying to focus on the dance of light above her. She lay with her back resting in the old leaves and dirt, but paid no mind to the filth. She watched the sunlight drifting through the darkness; rays of light broke the spell of dreariness created by the ancient trees.
Slowly she registered the pain; realizing that her head hurt. She tried to sit up but her aches caused her to lie back down. Her thoughts slowly filtered into her foggy mind just as the sunbeams filtered into the forest darkness. "What the hell happened?" she moaned. Turning her head side-to-side, she tried to note her surroundings with a minimal amount of pain. "Where am I?"
Suddenly she sat up with a shout. "The book!" And fell backwards again as the darkness took her.
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Hours later she awoke to something nuzzling her face. She opened her eyes to meet the big brown ones of an animal. She let out a yelp and scooted away as fast as she could.
The doe looked at her with accusing eyes before turning and melting back into the trees. Ari sat on the forest floor, her hand over her chest trying to calm her marathon heartbeat. "J-just a deer. Wow, that scared me." She leaned back on her hand and took a look around her. She picked at a few leaves that were scattered around her. Well, obviously I'm in a forest. Pretty deep in a forest too. You don't see deer anywhere near civilization anymore.
She put her hand to her head. Ow. Bumped my head on something. Thinking back, she tried hard to remember how she had ended up in a forest in the middle of the day. Last thing I remember is being at work…up in that storage room…and that earthquake…and THAT BOOK! She remembered the red light that made her black out and the feeling of falling and then… and then…that was where her memories failed her. What is going on? Why can't I remember?
Thoroughly frustrated, she put her pounding head in her hands, staring at the ground. I'm in big trouble here. I'm lost. I have no idea how I got here. And I'm injured. Looking at the facts didn't make her feel any better about them. Ari slowly got to her feet, careful of her head. She put her hand against a nearby tree and took a few deep breaths. This helped her head, but the clearness also brought a sense of panic.
Oh God. I'm lost. I don't know where I am…or how I got here. Her breathing became labored and her eyes started to tear up. What do I do? What do I do? She let go of the tree trunk and stumbled forward. She grabbed hold of another tree and tried to calm down. But her body wouldn't have it. It continued to panic. Her mind told her to think rationally…but her body told her to run. So she ran.
Stumbling blindly through the trees, she ran. As long as she kept moving, her mind and her fears couldn't catch up with her. The darkness of the forest was haunting; the ghostly sun beams the only light. Ari continued to run. The reaching arms of the trees caught hold of her from time to time, but she jerked free, tearing her clothing.
She ran until her body couldn't take another step. She collapsed to her knees in a small clearing. Her tears caught up to her. She rested in the small oasis of sunlight, her face in the palms of her hands, gasping for air, tears streaming down her face.
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Ari lay quietly in the grass of the clearing, her hands behind her head, once again watching the dance of light and shadow in the treetops. Her eyes still burned from the tears, but at the moment she had run out of the energy it took to cry. She just lay there, breathing, letting the panic slowly drain from her system.
A bird's shadow flew overhead. Lucky devil, at least he knows where he's going... I should find a way out of this forest. Then maybe I can find my way into civilization. She got to her feet with a renewed sense of hope. The panic was still there, hidden under the relief created by the sunlight, but it was there.
She picked a direction and stepped back into the trees. She regretted having to leave her patch of hope behind, but it was getting late, and she wanted to find shelter before the real threats came out to play. She walked through the trees, not recognizing any of them. These trees are way different from the types at home. Depressed by this reminder that she was far from the familiar, she turned her attention to her feet, watching her steps through the debris.
Walking through the brush, she listened to birds calling to one another. The sunlight caught the dust particles in the air. The forest was silent aside from the rustling of the trees, and the sound of the birds. Ari started humming to herself out of sheer loneliness.
Suddenly, something shot out of the darkness to her right and hit the tree in front of her. She froze in place, her breath caught in her throat as she looked at the arrow that was embedded so deeply in the bark. She stumbled back a step as shadows separated from the surrounding trees.
Five menacing figures surrounded her; one had another arrow drawn and ready to fire at a single misstep. Ari looked around wildly, searching for an escape. A man stepped forward. He was head and shoulders taller than her, and twice as wide. In his hand was a wickedly curved dagger; he held the point up, just under her chin. "I wouldn't try anything if I were you."
She got up her nerve to retort. "Yeah, well I bet that if you were me, you wouldn't have ended up in a mess like this in the first place." She stopped as he dug the blade into the sensitive skin at her throat.
"Ye're probably right about that one." He grinned evilly and grabbed her arms, pulling them up behind her back. Ari cried out in pain and anger and tried to wrench her arms free of his grasp. But she couldn't get away.
The rouge just laughed and held her away from him as she tried to fight back. "Fiery isn't she, boys?" The other four bandits just muttered agreements. But one called out a question. "You sure she's a girl? Look at the clothes, and the hair. Looks like a boy to me." The others, again, muttered agreements.
Ari lifted her head in rage. "Why, you-!"
The leader—pulling her close so that it was impossible to ignore her curves—replied, "Yup, definitely a girl." He sneered and threw her to the disbelieving bandit. "See for yourself."
He caught her and smiled back at the leader. "Oh, I don't know. I think I need a little more convincing." Ari let out a gasp of indignity, twisting and turning, trying to get away.
The bandit leader laughed outright at that. "I'll let her convince you later. We still have a ways to go before we can set up camp." He melted into the forest and came back seconds later with a few pack-laden horses. Picking up miscellaneous sacks and weapons, they started walking. The bandit that had a hold of Ari pulled a length of rope out of his pack, and bound her hands behind her back with some difficulty, finally threatening her with his knife to get her to cooperate. With her hands tied the bandit tossed her to another man, saying, "Here Rui, you take the wench."
"I'm not your wench!" Ari was on the verge of tears, but her anger held them back.
The new bandit didn't catch her, but let her fall to the ground. Without a word he nodded stiffly as the men started walking. Rui looked down at the girl when the others were out of sight. He sighed and picked her up by her shoulders and set her on her feet. Ari wrenched away from his grasp. "Don't touch me!"
He backed away from her with his hands up, dark eyebrows raised. "Fine. But I suggest you walk, otherwise you'll end up hogtied across the back of one of those horses. Believe me I've seen them do it before. Not a pleasant experience, you can be sure." His voice was soft and deep, and didn't hold the same crudeness of the others.
Ari looked up at him as she started walking. Roughly cut hair fell into dark eyes. In the gloom of the forest the shafts of sunlight made his hair blaze red from time to time and reflected off his turquoise earrings. "How would you know what it's like to be kidnapped?" she asked skeptically.
He avoided the question and said, "What are you doing out here alone in the woods? That's like begging bandits to abduct you."
It was her turn to side step the question. "Trust me, I'm not begging anyone to abduct me."
They walked in silence for a while, until her curiosity got the better of her. "W-" Her voice broke. She tried again, stronger this time. "What's going to happen to me?" She asked without looking at him.
Rui didn't say anything for a minute, then lengthened his stride and said gruffly, "You don't wanna know."
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At dusk the travelers stopped to set up camp. The bandits gathered around a small, smokeless fire in the center of a clearing. Food was cooked and drink was passed around.
Ari sat with her back against a tree as far from the group as she could get, hoping that they would all simply forget about her. Her feet where bound as well as her hands. There was no chance of sneaking away. Yet.
Wallowing in the hopelessness of her situation, she watched the bandits get drunk. Her plan was to cut her bonds after they all fell asleep and run. But the problem was, she didn't know if she'd be in any shape to move by then. She wasn't even sure if she'd be alive. Morbid thoughts kept her so occupied she didn't know she had company in her lonely corner of the clearing until he sat down next to her. Her startled eyes fell on the dark red hair of the quiet bandit from before. She inched as far away from him as she could get. Not even trying to keep the scorn from her voice, she asked him, "What? Come to have your way with me before the others remember I exist?"
He choked on a laugh. "You sure know how to sweet talk a guy." He watched the shadows dance across the clearing, the firelight reflected in his eyes. Ari glared at him in the dark. "Well, excuse me for not being in the mood."
He continued to watch the fire. "I'll tell you what I am in the mood for…" She scooted even farther away from him. "…A story."
Ari stopped and stared at him, not quiet sure she'd heard him correctly. "Excuse me?"
He turned to look at her. "Your's. Why were you in the forest all alone? Why is your hair cut short and you're dressed like a man, when you are so obviously not? What is your story?" His eyes were hidden in shadow so Ari couldn't see his expression. But he sounded sincere. Then she started thinking. My story? Ha! I don't even believe it. Why would he? "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
He grinned lopsidedly. "Try me."
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So Ari told him her story, starting with her discovery of the storage room at the library. He listened as she described the earthquake and the mysterious book that had caught her attention. She even showed him the tear on her sleeve from the book. She had trouble finding it because there where so many others in her shirt and pants from running through the woods, but it was still there.
She remembered the incantation in the book's prologue and told him of the light that had taken her from the library and had transplanted her into the world of the book.
"And I woke up, lost in the middle of a forest, all alone, with a one hell of a bump on my head." She kept her eyes down, afraid to look at the bandit, afraid of the disbelief she was sure was in his eyes. He's gonna start laughing any second now. Man! I hate being laughed at.
But he didn't laugh. All he said was, "That would explain the strange clothing."
Ari looked up at him, completely confused. "You believe me?"
"Sure. You're obviously not from around here. Why not from a whole 'nother world? I'm not saying that it happens often…but it has happened before."
She turned to him completely. "You're kidding me! What happened to the others? How did they get back home? Did they ever get back home? Oh no! Don't tell me I'm stuck here forever!" She let out a cry and buried her head in her hands.
"Oh, no. Most of them have gotten back to there own worlds well enough." She looked up to see his eyes staring blankly ahead, completely devoid of emotion.
"How?"
"We have a legend in this world. Many legends in fact, but they all revolve around the same basic idea. A young woman from another world comes, becomes what they call a miko—a kind of priestess, if you will— and gathers her seven celestial warriors, thus gaining the power of whatever god she is a miko of. With that power, the priestess can make her wishes come true. Usually the case is that she wishes for the country she protects to be peaceful and prosperous and for her to go home again."
"Sounds complicated," and vaguely familiar. She thought back to the incantation in the book's prologue.
"Very. The miko must endure many hardships in order to summon the beast god. So she can save her country, the warriors protect her as best they…" He faltered. "…As best they can." He stopped talking, his eyes strangely dark.
"What—" she was cut off as someone roughly grabbed her collar, pulling her into the firelight.
"Look who we forgot boys!"
Oh no, please no.
"And Rui thought he could keep her all to himself. Let me remind you boy! In this band, we share and share alike!" The leader pulled Ari to her feet, she could smell the alcohol radiating off him. He leaned in to kiss her, but she turned her head to the side. His lips brushed her cheek, sending shivers down Ari's spine. She looked back over to where Rui was sitting; her eyes pleading for him to help her. He just stared at the ground, refusing to meet her eyes.
She watched him, unable to believe that the young man that was so kind to her a moment before now seemed completely oblivious. She struggled against the arms of the bandit leader. He slapped her across the face and dragged her over to one of the few tents set up. She twisted and turned franticly in his grasp. "Let me go! Please! Help me!" She called out to the others, but her plea was met with nothing but drunken eyes and the back of another who sat alone in the dark.
The bandit tossed her into the tent, her bound hands and feet kept her from catching herself, and she hit the packed dirt with a painful thud. The shadow advanced on her and she squirmed away as best she could. Her mind was racing along with her heart. Her eyes searched the tent for something to protect herself with. And…there! In the corner of the tent glinting in the lantern-light, was the curved dagger he had threatened her with earlier. She wiggled her way over to the corner, her bound hands reaching…reaching…so close. But the bandit was closer. He collapsed on top of her with such force that her head hit the ground, and she once more gave into the darkness.
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