Heyla. I'm evil, aren't I? Putting in my first cliff-hanger… Anyways, so you guys can release your breath(s), here's the new chapter. There's some actual action in it … Maybe I should put more in, I got more reviews this time. JK^_^
Have a brownie to make up for the cliff-hanger.
***
Sheer panic swept over Cal, and a desperate mindvoice reached her 'ears.' :Herald! Send another Herald quick! I don't know how much longer I can hold them.: The feeling in her stomach worsened, and her lungs burned, drawing in quick, gasping breaths.
Meyra stared at her, not quite knowing what to do. :Cal?:
With that tiny mental contact, all of the emotion that had been projected to Cal flooded down the mindlink. Shields, Meyra thought. Got to get shields up around us. That was the work of a moment, and well worth it.
Cal turned to her. 'We have to go to them.'
'Isn't there another Herald closer?' Meyra didn't want to seem petulant, but it was midsummer break, for Lady's sake.
A humourless grin touched Cal's lips. 'Yes, there is. Meyra, it's a Herald in there, a Herald's life at risk. Besides us, there isn't anyone who could make it in time.'
'Fine, we go. But you are the one who gets the privilege of explaining why we were late to my parents.'
Cal grinned at that. Once Meyra had put up the shields, she had felt much better, but some of the emotions still lingered. :Josh?:
:Yes Chosen?:
:Can you move a little more to the right?:
:There isn't anyone else on the road…:
:No, it's not that. Just, I don't really want to puke in the middle of the road.: The Companion obliged.
***
'I think we might actually make it,' Cal commented a few galloping marks later.
'Make it? They're alive after this long?'
Cal wrinkled her nose at her friend. 'They were fleeing at the time. When they sensed how far we were, they made the call urgent. And it is.'
'You had better be right…'
'I'm always right.' Meyra snorted.
'Almost there,' Cal noted.
'How can you tell?'
'Listen.'
'Oh.'
They thundered into the glade, Cal glad for once that the paranoid Meyra had insisted on bringing full weaponry. That for which you are least prepared is most likely to come to pass, she reflected wryly.
Battles are not pretty was the conclusion she soon reached. There were about three dead already, one with his head caved in, two with heart-stabs.
The two new arrivals startled the others, distracting them momentarily. The sword was out of its sheath before she even thought about it. All that mattered was reaching the other Herald before … before … before it was too late.
A strange sort of focus came over Cal. Move to the side, bend, duck, slash, engage. One man stopped her a few feet from her goal, a huge bear of a man over six feet tall wielding an … oh damn, an axe. Does Fate have some sort of perverse sense of humour? Cal wondered. She still hadn't gotten over the last axe-wielding idiot she had met, she certainly wasn't ready for this.
:But you have me now,: Josh reminded her.
:True.: The short sword cut out for his knee without warning, somehow he managed to block it, nearly twisting it from her hand. Josh reared up, kicking out at him and hitting his chin. The man raised the axe up to cut Josh's neck, Cal retaliated by swinging the sword almost wildly, and it sliced off…
His arm. She had just cut a man's arm off. But she felt no guilt, he had tried to harm Josh. That would not be tolerated. The thought of it gave her the strength to decapitate him, she was not about to give him the chance to get to a Healer.
The fighting seemed endless until suddenly she noticed that there were only six living beings in the glade. And the Herald who had 'spoken her was not one of them. There was Daecia, over by the entrance, Meyra was a short way away vomiting in a bush. And she knew about Josh and herself, which left … who?
Near the far end, in the shadows, something moved. Cal dismounted and staggered over, wondering what had managed to survive the carnage. It moved again, stood up, flash of white: the shadow walker was a Companion. She nuzzled something in front of her worriedly, trying to get it to move. It isn't that Herald's Companion, they would either be gone and not moving or aware of what happened to their Chosen and not moving. She moved closer.
It was a boy of around sixteen, his plain brown hair cut to ordinary length, nothing at all unusual about him. Except, of course, the fact that he was laying prone on the dirty forest floor.
***
Meyra recovered from her temporary illness and joined Cal at the far side of the clearing. When she saw the boy, though, she frowned. Almost as if she was trying to remember someone. 'Is that you … Leran?'
'You know him?' Cal asked in relief. If he knew one of the people he woke up seeing, maybe he wouldn't panic.
Meyra nodded. 'He's the friend of the son of the man my dad sold our produce to. He was always really nice, but what in Haven's name is he doing so far from Shady Vale? It's not like he was a wanderer.'
'Who knows,' Cal agreed with a shrug. 'Men make no sense.' They both broke into the slightly hysterical laughter brought on by near death experiences.
'That's true,' Meyra admitted. Then Leran shifted onto his side, exposing the long thin cut on the other and the large bruise on his forehead. He sat up quickly, winced, and then stared at the two girls that were looking curiously at him. Two girls and a stallion.
The stallion attracted his gaze, he stared at it in wonder. Then he realized that the two girls were dressed in grays, they were Herald-Trainees, this Companion wasn't looking for him. Still, he couldn't help but admire the strong legs, the shimmering white coat, the sharp ears, the beautiful, intelligent blue eyes…
Leran fell into those eyes, endless drowning in sapphire blue. :Hello Leran. This might sound overused but hey, my name is Parach, and I Choose you.:
'Oh my god.' He didn't recognize the voice at first, it was too harsh, too quiet to be his.
The shorter girl smiled. 'It's amazing, isn't it? My Joshaylin showed up just in time for me too.' She stroked the coat of the blood-spattered Companion next to her. 'You don't know me, of course, but do you remember Meyra? She says that she's the daughter of your friend's father's supplier.'
'Yes. She used to chase Rom and me around the Square when we teased her. Save me.' The last was said teasingly, Meyra grinned.
'Yup, that's Leran. So, oh-master-of-Gifts-'
'Mistress,' Cal interrupted.
'Whatever. Anyways, oh-mistress-of-Gifts, what's he got?'
'Uh, little bit of mindspeech, close range and Companion, you know, and oh!'
'What?'
'He's the reason I was feeling sick. We've got an Empath on our hands.'
'Goody.'
***
Shadow: There, no cliff-hangers. And Marithra? No running around in circles. You might fall of a cliff. *grins at pun*
Storm: And then we'd have to clean you up. And then we wouldn't get any reviews from you. *mock-pouts* Anyways, again for Marithra's benefit, we (we being the muses) are part of a novel Hawk's writing. We'll let you know if it ever actually gets published.
Have cherry pie and review.
