Author:
Kaleadora / Jeffrey / Gwenneveire
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Date Posted: 13:16:56 09/27/02 Fri
In reply to:
Nashota/ Alexis + Monet/ Gabriel + Rio
's message, "Re: It All Comes Together" on 21:42:32 09/26/02 Thu
Kalea glanced up at her sister, and nodded to Monet. Together, silently, they moved into the gloom of the cave. Kalea's heart was beating very quickly as they moved closer to this hulking creature, but since she could see as well in the dark as in the light, she considered herself and Nashota at an advantage-- until she noticed that this creature was feline, as well. A great tiger, it looked like, though his eyes were brimming with an intelligence unnatural to a normal tiger, and his coat was a deep, burnished gold ((Kalea noted that her own coat was a brighter, more delicate shade)). She and Nashota crouched beside the prone creature to examine it-- this one was also feline, and Kalea smiled slightly before she took notice of its condition. Its fur, which looked white beneath with patches of gold and dark, was caked with blood and dirt; its very long, pointed ears were torn. Kalea leaned in slowly and breathed in the creature's scent...
And she jerked back in surprise and sudden fear. "Nash!" she exclaimed softly, clutching her sister's arm. "It's... it's the creature! The one we saw on the path! Oh, I'm sure it's her... Remember, with the big golden eyes! Oh, how she stared... She's a liren! It's her!"
~ ~ ~
Jeffrey glared in defiance at the shadowy, humanlike figure before him. "I'll do no such thing!" he said sharply. "Follow a demon to his camp? Never!" He stiffened his knees to stop them shaking, and tossed his head to be rid of a sweat-damp strand of reddish-brown hair. "Go back to the shadow, Cheysuli-demon, and leave us be." Abruptly he turned on his heel and began striding purposefully away, clenching his teeth. "Don't look back, Alexis," he whispered, walking more quickly.
Suddenly an enormous shadow stepped out in front of him. It was the Cheysuli's beast-friend, a gigantic black wolf with hateful yellow eyes that focused unwaveringly on Jeff's own. Alexis buried her head in Jeff's shoulder, and Jeff thought he heard her whisper something that sounded like "I'm sorry," but he couldn't be sure.
Scowling, he turned slightly to the side and started walking again. But again, the wolf moved to stand in front of him, lowering its great, shaggy head and staring him down.
"Go away!" he cried, kicking out at the wolf. It darted away in an instant, and just then an enormously powerful arm slipped around Jeff's neck and, holding him immobile, swung him around. Alexis fell to the leaf-littered ground with a cry, and Jeff beat ineffectually at the arm of the demon that held him. "Let me go!" he yelled hoarsely, wrenching desperately back and forth. The demon merely chuckled-- and yet the sound wasn't very happy. Jeff stopped struggling for a moment, panting through a constricted throat, and in that moment a roll of cloth was brought around his head, and the demon slipped it into his mouth and tied it tightly at the back of his head, effectively gagging him. Jeff threw himself to one side and for an instant he was free, plunging towards the brush, and then the demon had seized him again and struck him across the shoulders. Jeff's back exploded in pain and he stumbled to his knees. The demon pulled his arms around behind his back and the boy, weary and hurting though he was, struggled mightily. But the demon was far stronger than he, and pulled the cords until they were painfully tight and at last Jeff couldn't move them.
Bitter tears, of pain and fear and failure, slipped silently down Jeff's cheeks. He lifted his eyes wearily to apologize wordlessly to Alexis, but the demon was not attacking her. The enormous Cheysuli warrior-demon gently helped the young woman to her feet, looking comically large and clumsy beside her trim delicate figure. But she was crying, as well, and when she looked at Jeff there was great pain in her eyes. She spoke, but Jeff couldn't understand her; his mind was awhirl with disbelief, horror, and anger. He turned away from them and lunged to his feet, flinging himself away, but the Cheysuli seized his feet and bound him about the ankles, as well.
His face pressed into the damp, mossy earth, Jeff's breath came in ragged, wrenching sobs. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the moon-bright figure of Alexis hurrying towards him, and then his mind plunged into darkness.
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