CHAPTER 11
Well, here it finally is. It's a bit long but I didn't think I could separate this part into 2 chapters. I know Orchid's 'other power' is a bit corny, but it is important later on in the story.
Orchid just managed to grab one of the roots before the hole engulfed her. There was no solid ground anywhere around her. This must be how you got into Julian's world. The blackness she dangled in didn't just feel like empty space. It seemed alive and forceful, as though it were trying to drag her down into it. She wondered if the minions had made it appear, or if they just randomly popped up ever so often.
It took a huge amount of effort to pull her feet out of the portal, wrap her legs around the root, and manage to pull herself up through the roots and cling to the trunk of the tree. Even with her super strength it would have been difficult to defy the mysterious gravity of the portal. Now she was exhausted.
There were no minions in sight, which made Orchid nervous. She obviously couldn't hide here anymore. The portal might drag the whole tree down at any minute. Her only option was to make a run for it and hope no one saw her until she gained enough strength to defend herself. She pushed off of the trunk and jumped as far away from the tree as she could, putting as much distance between herself and the portal as possible. She landed clumsily and scraped both her knees. Had her reflexes slowed that much? She was going downhill fast.
She couldn't bring herself to crawl through the fog, but she was running low enough that it did a fair job of hiding her. Every other second she had to fight the urge to stand up and demand that the minions show themselves and fight her. Her pride didn't want to accept that she might no be in good enough condition to exhert herself that much.
After a few minutes she could make out the fuzzy shadow of what looked like a large boulder. She could at least stop there to rest. If she could just keep moving and hiding she might be able to make it through the hour without much trouble. She figured at least twenty minutes must be up already. She was within feet of the boulder when suddenly she felt something forceful and hot slam into her shoulder. The impact of the energy beam threw her a good ten feet through the air before she crashed in a heap in a small patch of what looked like very tall grass.
Orchid thought she just might have a heart attack as she struggled to disentangle herself from the grass. Mere yards in front of her was one of the menacing, featureless minion creatures. It had been bad enough wondering if they were going to suddenly jump in front of her, but seeing one advance on her with a large black gun was absolutely horrible. She had seen tons of scary looking people in her life, but seeing this one alive and plotting her demise for some reason engulfed her with sudden terror.
Struggling to keep her heart rate under control, she delved into her pocket and grabbed the silver knife. She tried to jump to her feet and realized with horror that the grass was curling around her body, entrapping her. The strands swayed and twisted like snakes. They had already gotten a firm hold on her ankles and one was slithering around her waist. The minion stopped for a moment and Orchid guessed he was staring at her, taking a bit of amusement at the situation she was in.
A tendril slipped around her wrist, but not before she had the knife firmly in her hand. She took the knife with her other hand and began hacking at the grass. She managed to chop the binds off of her wrist and waist before the minion decided that she was getting to close to escape and came over to grab her. Orchid furiously sawed at the strands wrapped around her ankles, but there was just no way she could get it all off of her before having to deal with the minion.
The minion stood in front of her and she shivered in its shadow. The grass had both of her wrists now. Slowly, the minion reached out its hand as though it were going to touch her head. Orchid gasped as she felt the same black energy that had been inside the portal radiating from its palm. All it had to do was touch her.... Gritting her teeth, she yanked as hard as she could against the vines on her wrist. Amazingly, she felt the rubbery substance ripping. Any second and the minion would do her in. With a scream she snapped her wrist free and, without thinking, plunged the knife right into the creature's stomach.
For a split second, the minion was completely frozen, one hand just centimeters from her forehead. Then its body burst into a million tiny black fragments, which were instantly carried away on the air. Orchid gaped at the space the creature had been standing in. It was completely gone. She could feel herself shaking all over. Had she actually *killed* it? Physical weapons could actually hurt them?
She was snapped back into reality as the grass began to wind itself around her neck. She quickly hacked away all of the grass and stumbled back into the fog before it could get hold of her again. She was suddenly aware that her shoulder hurt. She pulled up her sleeve and saw a large red mark where the gun's ray had hit her. It seemed to have been more of a stunning kind of weapon than something to kill with. Julian had said that they wouldn't kill her....but how much could they hurt her without killing?
Not knowing what else to do, she started back into the fog, constantly watching her feet in case a portal opened beneath them. It was all so unfair. The portals could appear anywhere in the dimension or the minions could summon them through their touch. They had weapons while she no longer even had her natural powers. And now there were things like killer grass to worry about. She walked for five minutes before seeing another solid object. When she did see it, she gulped. It was a small, dark cave, etched into the side of some rocky mound.
Orchid knew it was a stupid idea going into the cave. The minions could be waiting for her in there. Or if she hid and they found her, she didn't know if there was a back way out. She was about to turn around when she saw something black dart by from the corner of her eye. Then another. With a sigh she started for the cave. What choice did she have?
It was very dark inside. No light rose from the ground here. Normally Orchid was perfectly comfortable with the dark, but now she realized that if one of those things snuck up on her she would never see it, for they were so black they blended right into the shadows. If only she had a match or something....
A thought flittered through her mind. She pushed it away. It was stupid. But it kept coming back, nudging at her consciousness. Somewhere in Orchid's family line there had been a powerful witch. This did not make Orchid a powerful witch, or even a decent one. But she did have a small amount of witch blood in her, which meant that she should be able to decently perform the most basic of spells. She had tried a few times in the past....and failed miserably.
But maybe now that her vampire powers were gone, she would be able to focus on her psychic energies more. Not really knowing where to start, she took off the ring and held it tightly between her fingers. She tried to relax her mind and reach into her inner power supply. She muttered the words of a light spell she'd picked up years back. Nothing seemed to be happening. Concentrating even harder, she riskily left her body in the outside world and journeyed into the depths of her subconscious, until she could clearly see the warm, reddish ball that was her essence.
Freeing herself of any last earthly connections, she soared through the darkness of her mind and plunged into the ball. Orchid's eyes snapped open. Warmth spread through her body and heightened to a burning in her fingertips. She looked down and gasped as the ring began to give off a faint glow, then a dim but steady light. She'd done it! She'd actually done it! She had called light! She felt like jumping up and whooping. Yet despite her excitement, she was now more exhausted than ever. Most witches could do that spell without blinking. It had taken every bit of effort she had to just make something glow.
She cupped the ring in her hands. The light was comforting, and she would hopefully be able to see any attackers, but she didn't want them to see her. She wondered if when she got her powers back she would still be able to do something like this. If she got her powers back. Even if she won, what if Julian decided to leave these stupid shackles on? She supposed she could saw them off or something back in her world, unless they had some weird magic in them, too. Everything here seemed to have some sort of power in itself.
All of her musings quickly vanished as she became aware of a faint rustling sound. The warmth that had filled her body was replaced with the usual cold of apprehension. Orchid thought this had to be the first time in her life that she'd had goosebumps. She shook her head. She needed to completely concentrate on the game. She clenched the ring in her fist, blocking out its light.
Her now depressingly dull ears strained to pick up even the slightest sound. There was silence. Slowly she opened her fist just enough to let a small beam of light poke through her fingers. She shone it around warily, trying to spot the attacker that she knew was there. Even if her powers were gone, the ability to sense someone before you could see them was something ingrained in her genetic pattern. As were the knowledge of how to fight and hunt and feed. Julian couldn't take everything away from her.
Nobody. She growled in frustration. Where *were* they? Then it dawned on her. She had been watching the mouth of the cave, but Julian had never said if the minions could walk through solid objects. And she didn't even know if the back of the cave was solid. She had not gone back far enough to find out. Once again, she mentally kicked herself. There could be a drove of them coming up from the back of the cave at that very moment! She had to get out of there, now!
Quickly she got up from the rock she had been sitting on. All of the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood straight up. She began to run. Then she screamed as she felt a cold hand on the back of her neck.
Well, here it finally is. It's a bit long but I didn't think I could separate this part into 2 chapters. I know Orchid's 'other power' is a bit corny, but it is important later on in the story.
Orchid just managed to grab one of the roots before the hole engulfed her. There was no solid ground anywhere around her. This must be how you got into Julian's world. The blackness she dangled in didn't just feel like empty space. It seemed alive and forceful, as though it were trying to drag her down into it. She wondered if the minions had made it appear, or if they just randomly popped up ever so often.
It took a huge amount of effort to pull her feet out of the portal, wrap her legs around the root, and manage to pull herself up through the roots and cling to the trunk of the tree. Even with her super strength it would have been difficult to defy the mysterious gravity of the portal. Now she was exhausted.
There were no minions in sight, which made Orchid nervous. She obviously couldn't hide here anymore. The portal might drag the whole tree down at any minute. Her only option was to make a run for it and hope no one saw her until she gained enough strength to defend herself. She pushed off of the trunk and jumped as far away from the tree as she could, putting as much distance between herself and the portal as possible. She landed clumsily and scraped both her knees. Had her reflexes slowed that much? She was going downhill fast.
She couldn't bring herself to crawl through the fog, but she was running low enough that it did a fair job of hiding her. Every other second she had to fight the urge to stand up and demand that the minions show themselves and fight her. Her pride didn't want to accept that she might no be in good enough condition to exhert herself that much.
After a few minutes she could make out the fuzzy shadow of what looked like a large boulder. She could at least stop there to rest. If she could just keep moving and hiding she might be able to make it through the hour without much trouble. She figured at least twenty minutes must be up already. She was within feet of the boulder when suddenly she felt something forceful and hot slam into her shoulder. The impact of the energy beam threw her a good ten feet through the air before she crashed in a heap in a small patch of what looked like very tall grass.
Orchid thought she just might have a heart attack as she struggled to disentangle herself from the grass. Mere yards in front of her was one of the menacing, featureless minion creatures. It had been bad enough wondering if they were going to suddenly jump in front of her, but seeing one advance on her with a large black gun was absolutely horrible. She had seen tons of scary looking people in her life, but seeing this one alive and plotting her demise for some reason engulfed her with sudden terror.
Struggling to keep her heart rate under control, she delved into her pocket and grabbed the silver knife. She tried to jump to her feet and realized with horror that the grass was curling around her body, entrapping her. The strands swayed and twisted like snakes. They had already gotten a firm hold on her ankles and one was slithering around her waist. The minion stopped for a moment and Orchid guessed he was staring at her, taking a bit of amusement at the situation she was in.
A tendril slipped around her wrist, but not before she had the knife firmly in her hand. She took the knife with her other hand and began hacking at the grass. She managed to chop the binds off of her wrist and waist before the minion decided that she was getting to close to escape and came over to grab her. Orchid furiously sawed at the strands wrapped around her ankles, but there was just no way she could get it all off of her before having to deal with the minion.
The minion stood in front of her and she shivered in its shadow. The grass had both of her wrists now. Slowly, the minion reached out its hand as though it were going to touch her head. Orchid gasped as she felt the same black energy that had been inside the portal radiating from its palm. All it had to do was touch her.... Gritting her teeth, she yanked as hard as she could against the vines on her wrist. Amazingly, she felt the rubbery substance ripping. Any second and the minion would do her in. With a scream she snapped her wrist free and, without thinking, plunged the knife right into the creature's stomach.
For a split second, the minion was completely frozen, one hand just centimeters from her forehead. Then its body burst into a million tiny black fragments, which were instantly carried away on the air. Orchid gaped at the space the creature had been standing in. It was completely gone. She could feel herself shaking all over. Had she actually *killed* it? Physical weapons could actually hurt them?
She was snapped back into reality as the grass began to wind itself around her neck. She quickly hacked away all of the grass and stumbled back into the fog before it could get hold of her again. She was suddenly aware that her shoulder hurt. She pulled up her sleeve and saw a large red mark where the gun's ray had hit her. It seemed to have been more of a stunning kind of weapon than something to kill with. Julian had said that they wouldn't kill her....but how much could they hurt her without killing?
Not knowing what else to do, she started back into the fog, constantly watching her feet in case a portal opened beneath them. It was all so unfair. The portals could appear anywhere in the dimension or the minions could summon them through their touch. They had weapons while she no longer even had her natural powers. And now there were things like killer grass to worry about. She walked for five minutes before seeing another solid object. When she did see it, she gulped. It was a small, dark cave, etched into the side of some rocky mound.
Orchid knew it was a stupid idea going into the cave. The minions could be waiting for her in there. Or if she hid and they found her, she didn't know if there was a back way out. She was about to turn around when she saw something black dart by from the corner of her eye. Then another. With a sigh she started for the cave. What choice did she have?
It was very dark inside. No light rose from the ground here. Normally Orchid was perfectly comfortable with the dark, but now she realized that if one of those things snuck up on her she would never see it, for they were so black they blended right into the shadows. If only she had a match or something....
A thought flittered through her mind. She pushed it away. It was stupid. But it kept coming back, nudging at her consciousness. Somewhere in Orchid's family line there had been a powerful witch. This did not make Orchid a powerful witch, or even a decent one. But she did have a small amount of witch blood in her, which meant that she should be able to decently perform the most basic of spells. She had tried a few times in the past....and failed miserably.
But maybe now that her vampire powers were gone, she would be able to focus on her psychic energies more. Not really knowing where to start, she took off the ring and held it tightly between her fingers. She tried to relax her mind and reach into her inner power supply. She muttered the words of a light spell she'd picked up years back. Nothing seemed to be happening. Concentrating even harder, she riskily left her body in the outside world and journeyed into the depths of her subconscious, until she could clearly see the warm, reddish ball that was her essence.
Freeing herself of any last earthly connections, she soared through the darkness of her mind and plunged into the ball. Orchid's eyes snapped open. Warmth spread through her body and heightened to a burning in her fingertips. She looked down and gasped as the ring began to give off a faint glow, then a dim but steady light. She'd done it! She'd actually done it! She had called light! She felt like jumping up and whooping. Yet despite her excitement, she was now more exhausted than ever. Most witches could do that spell without blinking. It had taken every bit of effort she had to just make something glow.
She cupped the ring in her hands. The light was comforting, and she would hopefully be able to see any attackers, but she didn't want them to see her. She wondered if when she got her powers back she would still be able to do something like this. If she got her powers back. Even if she won, what if Julian decided to leave these stupid shackles on? She supposed she could saw them off or something back in her world, unless they had some weird magic in them, too. Everything here seemed to have some sort of power in itself.
All of her musings quickly vanished as she became aware of a faint rustling sound. The warmth that had filled her body was replaced with the usual cold of apprehension. Orchid thought this had to be the first time in her life that she'd had goosebumps. She shook her head. She needed to completely concentrate on the game. She clenched the ring in her fist, blocking out its light.
Her now depressingly dull ears strained to pick up even the slightest sound. There was silence. Slowly she opened her fist just enough to let a small beam of light poke through her fingers. She shone it around warily, trying to spot the attacker that she knew was there. Even if her powers were gone, the ability to sense someone before you could see them was something ingrained in her genetic pattern. As were the knowledge of how to fight and hunt and feed. Julian couldn't take everything away from her.
Nobody. She growled in frustration. Where *were* they? Then it dawned on her. She had been watching the mouth of the cave, but Julian had never said if the minions could walk through solid objects. And she didn't even know if the back of the cave was solid. She had not gone back far enough to find out. Once again, she mentally kicked herself. There could be a drove of them coming up from the back of the cave at that very moment! She had to get out of there, now!
Quickly she got up from the rock she had been sitting on. All of the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood straight up. She began to run. Then she screamed as she felt a cold hand on the back of her neck.
