Shadow Spinners
Chapter Six~He who does not look upon things with the eye of insight is lost and to be blamed.~
--Sayyid Jamal ad-Din (Translated by Nikki R. Keddie)
I was vaguely awake. The first thing I was dimly aware of was myself. I felt I was almost bouncing around and the sense of discomfort was strong along with a faint dizziness. Then there was the almost rhythmical "cluck, cluck". It took me a moment to realize it was a sound of a horse walking.
I could sense shadows of trees on my face. I must be moving, was my first complete thought. My eyes tried to flutter open however; the shadows escaped my eyes and were met with piercing sunlight. At this I involuntarily winched.
Groggily, I fully woke up. My head was set on someone's strong shoulder. "Awake are we?" At the sound of that familiar male voice the memories came at a charge and I sat up so suddenly, startled, that I felt a bolt of pain rush up my leg, not in nettles of pain but it came in a blast. I hissed agonizingly. My head ringed.
"You have an infection on your leg, you'd best lean on me for the rest of the ride as you have been doing when you were asleep," said the white haired one indifferently. I glanced at my bandaged bare leg; it was put over his leg so it would be leveled. We were riding a big strawberry brown stallion with chestnut hair.
Through squinted eyes I studied my surroundings, I was in an alien forest and within the horizon mountain peaks touched the sky. "I will take leave of you even though I don't understand why you helped me," I stated. I stretched out my arms. "But you have my thanks."
"I don't believe you have a choice," he replied evenly, looking ahead.
"Many believe what they wish to believe," I said dangerously, as I instinctively reached for the dagger, which was no longer there within a cloak that was no longer there either.
"True. Woe to the one that believes no logic however, I believe you will agree that you are in no position to define me. You are wounded, sick and have not thee slightest notion where here is." He did have an air about him as he was riding that was confident (so I could guess he knew where he was going). But as he talked, his voice wasn't arrogant but monotone that matched my own yet oddly warm with spirit and yet oddly cold, like a puppet.
I threw out such thoughts as I grew in anger; I could do nothing—for now. "What do you want?" I inquired, as if what he revealed to me meant nothing, without the air of haughtiness.
"What do I want? Ah, that… will be a mystery—among many others." He stated this to the sky rather then me.
"What do you want of me?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. I knew I would escape. The sky suddenly seem to darken, it was getting late.
"That you will learn in time. The question is not what I want—now. For now, it is another mystery." I pondered over the remark when the hooded lord stated we would be resting under a cluster of trees next to a stream for the rest of the night.
When the lord got me off the horse, he watched every movement. Before I planned to act as if I couldn't walk at all so he would underestimate me but the problem was I couldn't walk at all. How did I get hurt so badly?!
Now that I thought back on the fight all I basically remembered was Red and a blur of pain.
As I thought, the lord started a fire. For long moments, he stared into the flames. Eyes blurry and confused, face intent as if looking, searching for something. His straight, white hair lightly moved smoothly within the breeze. His eyes were aglow—with passionate zeal and yet they somehow darkened those red eyes—but in almost… I tried to find a word that justified this familiar feeling that I had within myself. Remorse.
How odd, he stared with fervor but… there was this coldness of indifference that caused in him in almost pain. No, with absolute agony. How ironic, I thought quietly to myself. We are both inflicted with the same plague and yet we are enemies.
How odd, I learned more about myself than I ever hoped to just by staring into this man's eyes.
And he was staring back. I flinched. I glanced at the fire it was dieing, how long had it gone untended?
I went under a blanket he had passed to me before and uneasily thought back. It was as I had sat there staring with rapture that I had realized something that I had before unconsciously noted—something that now came to my full attention. He has no shadow.
As I looked into the darkness with absorbed eyes but not seeing I question myself, Who is he?
Maybe I could escape. No I can't, not now. I have to wait for the right time. To my surprise I saw a slight movement in the blackness. I suppose the lord didn't see it for I hear not a thing but songs of the forest's creatures.
I reached out into the darkness as I laid down with my eyes unseeing or closed—I did not know. Like felt velvet and thick air I searched within. Body heat—from the degree that meant the creature was large. There were other things like bugs but I blocked them out so I wouldn't get distracted.
I could feel the shape and in my mind a drawing came out, in the end I realized who it was. The golden slave boy that I had freed. He had followed me.
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R2R
Note: When Muslima was writing this it was about 5 in the morning and she was high on the sugar of the tea she took so she would be awake. It shows you Muslims don't need drug and alcohol—we can get drunk and high off tea!
Lady Crysania Majere~ WOW. 0_o That totally amazes me—THANK YOU SO MUCH LOYAL ONE!!!! Your like such a great writer and you like my stuff. Allah-u-Abar!!! Hell yeah!!! ^0^ Candace~ Kool… Thanx so much--KOOL!!! I'm ssooo glad you enjoyed it!! Have any suggestions? Open ears await. Omni Dragon~ I love you, steadfast companion! How did you like the chappie? Confused, hopeful, etc? Kikaiyu ~Thanx that's how I write and that's why I like to do it. I like expressing sensations. That's why I kinda like to read I was so amazed that people were so like. When I younger I thought it was only me that flinched in the night, in my sleep if I had that queer weightless sensation. Sors ~LOLz, You never fail to cheer me up. I updated Steel Eyes if you wanted to know. Aerena ~Yeah, Lloyds awesome. So you liked the fighting scene? I wasn't sure about cause it was one the first times I tried something like that.DarkAngelB ~Yes, I' said it once I'll say it again—Lloyds awesome. AND you liked the fight scene? OMG I'm so happy! Yea!
Yes, I know I took hella long to update before but it's summer, so forgive me (I also had a few fics to pick up). I heard about DoL 2 and how Sony was trying to keep it secret but I didn't hear about it being on PS3. That's so stupid, buying PS2 made I broke for 3 months but they know they'll sell…
~Muslima
~Muslima