A/N: So sorry for not updating for so long, but I have had writer's block for a while. Chapter5 should beup soon.Happy Thanksgiving everyone andenjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and the characters you don't recognize. Everything else belongs to Tamora Pierce.
Silence and Shadows: Chapter 4
Stifling a groan, Kei's eyes fluttered open. Still groggy from the potion, she gazed at the campsite around her dazedly as her head pounded. The rough bark against her back shot through the searing pain in her head, and brought her back to reality. Clear-headed now, she looked around in interest. Her three captors sat around the fire, warming themselves and talking in low murmurs. While their attention was diverted, Kei took the opportunity to survey her situation.
She was tied to a large oak tree in a kneeling position. Experimentally, she twisted her hands that were bound behind her to the trunk, but just succeeded in digging the rope deeper into her skin. Biting her lip at the stinging pain of the rough rope, Kei twisted her hands again, to see if she could loosen the knots, but to no avail. Leaving the rope for later, she surveyed the campsite. She was at the far end of the campsite, in a small clearing. The fire was at the center, with the men grouped around it. Their packs and weapons were lying on the ground, and Kei was surprised to see that they carried bows as well as swords and daggers. Knowing that she couldn't get to them at the moment, Kei turned her attention to herself.
She was fine; she had not been harmed in any way by her captors, which didn't surprise her; she knew that men did not hurt their captive if someone was willing to pay a large sum for her to be brought to them unharmed. Her daggers were gone, but she had been expecting that; no self-respecting captor would leave a prisoner armed. Her pendant was still there, she was relieved to find, but one glance towards the men's horses told that her own horse was not among them, and neither was her cat. Now that she was reassured about her current situation, Kei was presented with another problem: how to get out of her current situation.
She shifted again, thinking, but soon regretted it. Her knee pressed hard against one of the small twigs that had fallen from the tree near her, and the snapping noise that followed rang through the clearing, shooting through the men's conversation.
All three looked towards her, and Kei stared back. A pair of gray eyes drew her gaze, and Kei gulped as Brock's cold gray eyes met her own. He stood up, a menacing grin stretching across his features as he made his way towards her, in no apparent hurry. Kei glared as he came closer and closer, until he finally stared down at her.
"Well, well, well," he chuckled softly, "Look what we have here, lads! The princess is awake!" One of the men laughed, but the other, whom Kei recognized as Kaleb, merely frowned.
"Don't call her that, Brock," he snapped, also standing up. "You'll give things away, and she's not to know of those plans until we arrive at our destination." He gave Kei such a loathing look that she trembled in spite of glaring up at him.
"But she really is a princess," the other man protested, swinging his head from one companion to the other, confusion written across his face. He didn't seem to notice the glares Kaleb was giving him, and he continued. "Her and that other girl," he said, glancing at Kei, "they is princesses, and we're 'apposed to bring them to the border, but—"
At this, Kaleb had apparently had enough. He was at the man's side in two strides, and in doing so, brought his dagger up to the other man's throat with a silent grace that even Kei had to admire. The man eyed Kaleb, and then the blade pressing softly against his pulse, and then at Kaleb again.
"Shut up, you fool!" Kaleb snapped, "do you want her to know everything that we plan to do?"
The man spluttered wordless for a moment, then shook his head in response, eyes wide. Kaleb pressed a little harder with his blade to make his point, but then removed the dagger and crossed back to Brock's side, who had watched all this with glittering gray eyes.
"Now," Kaleb murmured, glancing down at Kei again, as Brock followed suit, "where were we?"
Kei glared at them both, still not saying a word. She knew better than to speak, but she twisted her hands quickly, fervently wishing that she could break the ropes. At her neck, the chain began to pulse with a blue light. Kei glanced down in surprise to find that the blue light was radiating from her cat pendant. The men in front of her seemed to notice nothing was the blue light ran down her arms, followed by a tingling feeling. Kei felt her hands grow hot as the rope suddenly snapped, and with the snapping noise, the men in front of her noticed something was wrong.
They noticed a moment too late, for Kei, with her Shang-honed reflexes, was already on her feet, wary, ready for the imminent fight. Both men stared at her for a moment, confusion written across her features. Brock started forward, but Kei's fist shot out, taking him down with a well aimed punch at his temple. Brock slumped to the ground, unconscious or dead, Keianna couldn't tell. She felt slightly revolted with herself for what she had done. That was the first time she had used those moves for self-defense, every other time had been in practice. But she had no more time to think; two men still remained.
Kaleb came after her, two glittering daggers at his sides. Kei watched the daggers apprehensively, and when he raised them to strike, she slipped out his range and snatched up two of the daggers that were lying around in plain sight. She brought hers up to parry with his, but one slipped through her defenses and left a very long, deep gash along her right arm.
Kei faltered, feeling faint at the blood that was dripping from her arm, but Kaleb came at her again. She dropped the dagger that she was holding in her right hand—it wouldn't do for her to get the hilt all bloody and have it slip out of her hand—and stopped his next blow with the one she still held in her left. Kaleb pressed down on their locked blades, his weight forcing her down towards the ground. Having no other choice, Kei disengaged and moved again, this time towards the trees. Kaleb's glittering blue eyes followed her, and he stepped forward, taking a second swipe, this time at her other arm, hoping to cause her to drop her remaining dagger. He stepped forward again, hoping to lock blades again so he could pressure her to drop her weapon. He never got the chance.
Kei was ready to defend herself when her ears perked up at the familiar singing noise of an arrow as it whistles through the air. A moment later, Kaleb froze, eyes wide, and fell forward, the arrow buried deep in his back. The dagger slid from his hand to the ground, but before it hit the dust, Kei snatched it up and looked around. Brock was out, Kaleb was dead, and the other man was also dead, an arrow lodged his back. Looking around for who had saved her life, Kei found them.
Across the clearing, three hooded figures surveyed her. They sat tall in the saddle, and their warhorses shifted beneath them. Two were armed with swords, and the third was armed with a bow.
Dizzily, but still determined, Kei tightened her grip on the two daggers, swaying slightly from the blood loss in her arm. The figure lifted the crossbow to land its sights directly at her chest. Kei lifted her daggers, showing these silent figures that she wasn't willing to go without a fight. She swayed again, her legs threatening to buckle. The figure slowly lowered the crossbow, and even though Keianna was too far away to see, she could have sworn that she read concern on the shadowy features. She felt the blood run down her arm, warm, sticky, and wet, and swayed again, longer this time, fighting to stay upright. Her body won over her mind, and her legs folded. As she hit the earth, darkness clouded her vision, and Kei's eyes fluttered shut for the second time, she saw the figures approach her, she felt arms lift her up, and then she knew no more.
Kaelyn watched as Alec and her brother carefully carried Lady Keianna towards her. She may have looked calm on the outside, but on the inside, her mind was in turmoil. She was still turning over the events of the day in her mind. She needed time to think, to reflect, but right now was not the time. She watched as Whisper watched her mistress's body, stretching her tether as far as it would go when Kei came within range.
The mare sniffed Kei's body, and then shied slightly as Alec and Jamal lifted the body onto her back. Tacy appeared out of nowhere, pawing at Keianna's body and mewing softly. Kaelyn started as Amaya moved silently to the other cat's side and began washing her. Kaelyn's attention was dragged away from this touching sight by the sudden flare of heat from her pendant. She lifted it out and inspected it. As before, the golden cat's eyes flared with a green light. A soft glow of blue light made Kaelyn look up, and she noticed that Keianna glowed with a blue light that seemed to come from a chain around her neck, but only for a moment, and then the light was extinguished. Kaelyn shook her head, drawing her hood farther over her head, and followed her companions in silence as they melted into the shadows.
A/N: Well, that's all for Chapter 4. I'm sorry Kaelyn's point of view is so short, but like I said, I had writer's block. Please review!