"Amber! Where are you? Amber!"
The voices were drawing closer, and Ryland was searching desperately for a place to hide. His eyes fell upon a low shrubbery, and, keeping a firm hand over Amber's mouth and another tightly around her waist, pinning her arms behind her back in a useless position, he dragged both of them underneath it. It was a poor hiding place, but unless Amber's friends were doing a thorough search, which Ryland strongly doubted they were, as they were inexperienced in matters of abduction and, in Ryland's opinion, too soft, it would serve his purpose.
At least Ryland hoped it would. He couldn't risk Amber's friends finding him; he couldn't take any more prisoners, and if he killed them, their bodies would be found and an alarm would be raised. Worse yet, if they saw Ryland and escaped, they would raise an even greater alarm.
Nearly suffocating from the pressure of Ryland's hand over her mouth, Amber struggled to wriggle free from hid grip so that she could take a breath of air. Ryland, however, was unaware of her plight and simply believed that she was trying to free herself so that she could alert her comrades, and thus refused to move his hand. Amber tapped his hand, hoping to gain his attention so that she could pantomime her problem.
Luckily for her, Ryland, was extremely edgy and reacted immediately to the slightest touch. He whipped his head around quickly to look at her.
"What do you want?" he mouthed, not letting a sound escape his lips.
Amber pointed to his hand, and then pointed to her nose, trying to convey that she needed to breathe. It took Ryland a few seconds to catch on.
Ryland thought for a moment, and then, more silently than Amber would ever have believed possible, slid a knife from his belt and pointed to her throat, then, slid his finger across her throat. The message was clear. If she made noise that would give them away, he would slit her throat. She nodded, and he removed his hand, sliding the knife back into his belt.
Amber inhaled deeply, with a little less caution now that her friends had turned away from the hiding place. Ryland looked alarmed, but none of the Havenesti had heard. Instead, they walked away, towards where Amber and Ryland had made camp the night before. Ryland breathed a sigh of relief, and dragged himself out from under the bush, dragging Amber after him.
A hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Hiding from me?" a teasing voice asked.