A.N.
Thank you for all of the reviews! Yes, Evanna is being rather out of character right now but her role in the story will change several times. That doesn't mean she will ever come to terms with Shadows return though. ;)
I ground my teeth together with the effort of hauling the huge rock to the other side of the wards. My muscles burned and my legs wobbled over the icy ground, feet threatening to slide out from under me. Harkat was in a similar state next to me, but he hefted a wheelbarrow full of smaller rocks that kept falling out. Both of us were covered in dirt, ice and snow. Bags hung under our eyes and most of our unsteadiness was from lack of sleep. However, I did not dare lower the rock for a rest with the witch watching us with burning eyes. The thing Mr. Tiny had sent done absolutely nothing for me besides making my breath smell like herbs. Harkat had vomited several times over the course of the night and ran a slight fever until mid morning. Now two nights later our situation had gradually gone from annoying and slightly hazardous to downright miserable. Each night had been met with a new bottle of disgusting stuff to try and all of it had failed; most of the time it made one of us sick for hours.
The Little Person was confined to the house and all attempts to sneak him out for fresh air had been met with anger. He had moved into our rooms too, taking turns sleeping in them each night so Evanna couldn't say he was keeping us even more then the nightmares already did. The bright glow had not been seen since the first day, and while I had wondered about it for awhile the curiosity was buried under a heap of other worries.
Harkat had his disguise necklace stripped from him under the pretense that Little People should not be hiding who they are. He had been wearing it to most meals to enjoy the taste of food. His robes were filthy and torn but Evanna would not give him the materials or a bit of magic to mend them.
I had given up wearing shoes after they were ripped to shreds by the many thorny plants and soaked through by ice. My pants held on only because Evanna thought it would be too disgusting to have me running around in boxers all the time and my shirt was tough. Not that I would have let that happen; I would have fashioned something out of the many rugs on the floor. Her hate of me was constant, a heat that I could feel burning into my skin whenever she looked at me.
Both Harkat and I had new adornments on our wrists that were more problematic then anything else we had gone through. A metal cuff on each of our wrists that no matter how much we slammed bent or bit would not come off. Each cuff had unique runes on them and mine was silver while Harkats were bronze. The excuse to put them on me was when one of Evannas vases had toppled and shattered on the floor while both Harkat and I were in our rooms. Evanna had snapped and ranted about how she would not tolerate clumsy teenagers and snapped the cuffs on before we could do anything. While that would have been annoying enough, the skin around and under the cuffs were hurting in different ways, growing progressively worse as the hours went on. Harkats had started as mild itching and had grown into blisters that were slowly going up his arms. I had begun with a slight itching too, but now my skin was rubbed raw, bleeding in some spots and burning. Our conditions were up to our elbows, but this morning they had only been to mid forearm. The other side effect for us was that I could not use magic, and Harkat was having trouble breathing. He wheezed like other Little People did without their mask, but his was on constantly. I could feel the magic, but it was sleeping. It didn't feel quite like the collar, but it was close enough that I was angry beyond belief.
Evanna constantly gave me meaningful looks toward my back whenever I passed her and every time I had given her the delight of paling. But now with the afternoon wearing on, I kept a blank mask as I lifted rock after rock. I was quickly loosing every bit of restraint. I could break the bracelet cuffs and unleash every bit of magic I had with sheer fury, but by this point it would be wild and uncoordinated. I could kill Harkat, the Little Person and Evanna when I only wanted to restrain the witch. Whatever I could do to her as revenge would be outclassed by Mr. Tiny in every way.
"Faster," Evanna snapped when I slipped and nearly fell into one of the many pools.
I grunted and hefted the rock a little higher; walking three more steps before setting it down in its rightful place. That was the last rock and there couldn't possibly be anything else to do. I had a thick line of bruises up and down my jaw that made speaking painful. That had happened when I actually had fallen onto a rock this morning.
"We're done," Harkat said in a level voice and set the wheelbarrow down with a clunk.
Evanna whipped out a shovel and threw it at me so fast I barely had time to bring up my hands to shield myself from the handle. As it was the metal part sliced into my thigh and I was brought to the ground in agony, twin bolts of pain shooting through my ribs and leg. She had hit the dragon. A groan of pain escaped and I narrowed my eyes, forcing my body to obey my commands and stand up. I used the shovel as a cane and glowered at Evanna while blood stained my pant leg and trailed down, dripping out from under the hem of my jeans. The water in the pools started to splash around, and I gripped the handle until a cracking sound could be heard.
"Shadow!" Harkat said and moved toward me but the witch snapped out her hand and sent him careening backwards.
"Don't you touch him," I snarled and tried to limp forward but my leg gave out and I fell again.
"Go to your rooms," Evanna said and let Harkat pass her.
Harkat lifted me under the armpits and helped me up; together we staggered into the house, leaving footprints of blood that we would no doubt be cleaning later. The Little Person came around just as we walked into the living room. Right away he came over and held up my other side. We made it into Harkats room and my friend laid me out on his bed. Crimson leaked onto his bed sheets but he just ripped a pillowcase free and tied it around my thigh tightly, drawing a pained groan from me before probing my side. He shot me a look just as the Little Person came closer. "Darren she hit you on your leg. Why are you bleeding here?"
I looked down at my side and winced. A gash of equal size was on my side too, bleeding just as heavily. "It's an echo," I panted. I tried to sit up but a fresh wave of blood and a rush of dizziness made me slump back down. "I am going to kill her," I said with deadly seriousness. All bets were off when someone messed with my dragon. "I will rip her apart!"
Harkat instantly knew what was going on I could tell, especially when I started uttering death threats. He began to slice apart my jeans around the gash and I let him work. I could feel the dragon now on my other leg, injured and shaking. I had none of the magic to heal him now. "Harkat it's an echo," I said insistently, trying to make him understand I was hurt in a way we could not fix easily. Technically I had three wounds. Part of the shovel had hit me on the leg and that was bleeding. But the other half had hit the dragon on the ribs and now I was bleeding there too. And then the actual dragon was hurt.
The Little Person pushed me down by the shoulders and then started tearing strips of his robes off until they looked like a short dress. He fashioned the strips into a long bandage and began to wrap them around my ribs tightly, putting extra padding from the pillowcase on the wound. I felt like a coddled baby when Harkat wouldn't let me help on my leg, but was grateful because I was shaking just as much as the dragon.
"Oh," Harkat said finally and by the shine of worry in his eyes he knew. "Any ideas?"
"Kill her?" I suggested hopefully. "She…she…harmed-"
Harkat jumped over and clapped a hand over my mouth before I could say "my dragon." Only when I sighed and nodded did he remove his hand and continue working on my leg. When everything was finished I had a large bloody stain on my side, and the bandages had been placed underneath. My jeans were ruined and I was not going to be able to walk back to my hammock.
"We are going," Harkat said after piling the rest of the blankets on top of me.
"Where would we go?" I asked, digging my hands into the blankets to try and help my uncontrollable trembling. "How would we even get out? I'm sorry but I don't think I am going to move anywhere at high speed."
Harkat turned to the Little Person. "Has your Master ever been watching us directly? Do you have a way to get a hold of him besides taking us somewhere else? Are you able to send information to him?" He asked.
The Little Person shook their head, paused and repeated the motion for each question Harkat had asked. "Not…able…to….move…you," the Little Person said hesitantly. He sounded shocked to hear his own voice. "Only…if…wards fall."
"Damn," Harkat said. "And you are sure Mr. Tiny hasn't been watching us?"
"Yes. He…always…looks at…our…memories," the Little Person explained.
"Crap, crap, crap," Harkat muttered.
"Run…" the Little Person said evenly.
"What?" I said startled. The Little People hardly ever offered their own opinion.
"Go...my…Master…will…find…you," the Little Person said.
"What about you?" Harkat asked.
"I…will make my…own way..." the Little Person said.
I spoke up finally, sounding like the Little Person too as my teeth chattered. "Will you…be able to contact Mr. Tiny to let him know…what happened?"
"Yes," the Little Person said simply.
"There is still the problem of us," I said reluctantly. "I can't go very fast. And with these cuffs…it's even worse. Harkat, you can't carry me with your breathing the way it is." I could feel the cuffs burning into my skin, the marks trailing past my elbows now. My entire body felt hot now, and I wondered if the magic in them was making me sick just like Harkat. "But if we can get…to the river then maybe…we would…have a chance." The water would supercharge my body for a short time, or at least I hoped it would. There I could use the extra strength to remove the cuffs.
"There is a river?" Harkat asked.
"Yes, about a mile to the south," I said. "I could sense it when we arrived. It seems to be a pretty big one too, and if we can float on it then we could make miles without lifting a finger."
Harkat scratched his chin and frowned thoughtfully. He seemed to be running an idea over in his head. "Tomorrow morning," he said addressing the Little Person. "Could you create a diversion? Nothing that would keep you from getting away too, but something that would draw off Evanna for a few minutes. I highly doubt our condition will get any better by day. If you can give us just a bit of extra time we can get to the river."
The Little Person nodded and I could smell a bit of excitement from him. "Yes," he said. "I shall." \ Harkat looked at me and I could see a frightened determination from him and I dreaded what he was about to say. "Shadow, in order for Evanna to leave us alone the rest of the night you need to make her so angry she goes. Stand up to her. Back talk put on as much attitude as you can. We need as many hours as we can get to rest and for your body to heal."
"What if she snaps and kills me?" I asked pointedly. "Anymore… serious bodily damage will put a stop to… our plans."
"You said yourself something is keeping her from doing that. She hasn't so far so I don't think she ever will no matter what. Somehow I don't think she meant for the shovel to do that much damage." Harkat sent me a sideways look. "Besides I've seen how she looks at you when you're not looking. I think somewhere deep down she is frightened of you. Why else put the cuffs on?"
"I don't know how to scare a witch," I said.
"Embrace the…other thing," Harkat said. "Bring out all your anger and trust me the job will get done. I've seen you angry and it's a sight that would make armies turn back!"
I smiled and then it faded faster then it had come. "To do that I would have to… you know."
"Do it. Whatever it takes," Harkat said right away.
My wings itched and I bared my fangs slightly, startling both the Little Person and Harkat. "Agreed," I spat. "Do it now?"
"You can barely stand!" Harkat gasped. "I didn't mean…"
"I know."
"You don't have to!"
"I know."
"Then why?" Harkat asked.
"Because I refuse to be bound. Our freedom is not conditional. No one has the right to cuff us and think they can get away with it," I growled. The shaking had finally eased and I was filled with purpose. I leveled my gaze at the Little Person. "I know you will share your memories with your Master when you find him but make sure you tell him about the river too, even if you don't see us there. Our condition may be too serious to meet him anywhere."
The Little Person nodded and stood up, moving to stand by the door.
I wobbled out of bed and Harkat grabbed a short cane out of the closet for me. I placed it under my arm and limped toward the door. My bleeding had mostly stopped, but I knew my ribs would not heal until the dragon did. "Be careful," I warned. "Maybe I can come back from the dead but I don't think you can."
"Noted," Harkat said and walked right behind me, like he was prepared to catch me if I fell.
The further I walked the straighter my back became until I was barely using the cane. Each halting step sent red hot bolts up my leg and side, and my arms burned but I refused to lean too much. Evanna had to see me as a threat straight off. I was quickly becoming an expert on emotions and I knew how to make fear so strong the person would never bounce back fully. I could smell the witch in the living room and each foot I placed toward her made the anger roil up inside so strongly my fangs ached. I wanted to kill her. I wanted to tear into her flesh and rip it apart until she learned the pain my dragon was going through. When I stepped into the doorway of the living room I saw Evanna had summoned a TV and was watching it. With a burst of angry magic the screen was reduced to static and the witch turned around to see all three of us standing there. The Little Person kept walking and only stopped when he was on the other side of the room; probably to get a good image for his memories.
I let the cane drop to the floor and only placed a hand on the doorframe for support. "You will not mistreat us anymore," I said firmly.
Evanna narrowed her eyes and turned on the couch so she was lounging on it with her feet off the ground. "Really?" She purred.
"Yes," I evenly. "You will stop threatening all of us. The cuffs will be removed and there will be no more harsh actions. No withholding Harkats necklace."
"Uhuh," Evanna said doubtfully. "And what exactly makes you think I will listen to the petty demands of two teenagers?"
I clenched the fist that was leaning against the door and the TV let out another burst of static. My eyes narrowed. "What makes you think I am a weakling? You have called me that since I got here. Yet I came back from the dead!"
"Twice!" Harkat added helpfully.
" How do you know I am not stronger then you?" I leaned forward and my wings struggled to burst free. "Can you honestly say that?" I pressed on her fear of the Lord of the Shadows.
"Yes I can," Evanna said but there was a flicker of doubt in her eyes.
"Really?" I purred, mimicking her tone. "You are scared of kids Evanna. That's why you cuffed us." My voice wound through the room like a snake, sliding into the witches mind and planting the idea there slyly. "In the back of your mind you see the power don't you. You know I could rip apart everything you hold dear without breaking a sweat!"
Evanna cut off my voice with a shout. She stood up, chest heaving and brandished the TV remote at me. "Prove it!" She called. "If you are so powerful prove it boy!" She seemed raised up when I did not immediately respond. "PROVE IT!" She yelled.
I smiled wryly and planted my feet firmly into the ground. Out of the corner of my eye Harkat sidled backwards a few feet. I relished their fear and drew on it, chest puffing as I inhaled a breath. My lips pulled back, exposing fangs dripping with saliva and with a gusty noise of assent roared.
R&R please? .
