Happy Reading!
The Feri Light
Chapter 13
'Rye, Rye, Rye... Wake up! Wake up!' I heard Wren whispering, accompanied by an annoying tapping noise in the background.
I grimaced and shoved his hand away from my face when I realized the tapping was him slapping my cheek. 'Go away, Wren.'
'Rye, you need to get up right now.' I was about to growl at him some more when I suddenly recognized the urgency in his tone.
Something was wrong.
I opened my eyes straight away to see his worried expression.
'What is going on?'
He didn't answer me. Instead he sniffed the air.
'We're surrounded.'
'Surrounded?'
'Yes...' He started, but never finished as a very loud and frantic feline roar broke the gentle morning ambiance.
'Caleb!' Wren and I said in unison.
I got to my feet but Wren pulled me down instantly.
'That's Caleb. He's in trouble,' I said frantically.
'They're already in the camp,' he said, more to himself than to me. 'Wait right here and be quiet. I'll go check it out.'
'The hell I will,' I said standing up and starting towards the camp.
I took only a couple of strides before I froze in place. I saw Caleb, in beast form, snarling, striking at the air with his front paws as he struggled to get free from a large net squeezing him tightly. Around him, I saw six men pulling at ropes to prevent him from escaping. They were laughing and taunting him with rude comments and the worst of insults.
Heat rose to my face as I pushed out my hands, sending two of those bastards into the air for their first flying lesson.
All movement ceased, as the rest of them turned as one to stare at me. Caleb- tiger fell flat on his chest from exhaustion.
'Get that asshole!' A giant of a man in a trench coat with a clean shaven face bellowed.
My body suddenly froze as I felt a crushing force coil around me. Just as an anaconda constricts its prey, I couldn't move, shout or breathe.
Leaving one of their comrades to hold down the tiger, two of the shabbily dressed men with rotten teeth, growled as they closed in on me.
'We're in luck boys,' one of them chortled, 'it looks like we caught ourselves a feisty little witch-boy.'
They circled around me as if they were judges at a pet fair. 'This one is a bit too skinny, but we'll get a good price for him if we feed him properly for a week or two.'
'Why bother, Simm. We barely have enough to feed our kids let alone a stranger. No. We'll sell him to the slave-masters, just like that one over there, once we get to Koff.'
Still under the stunning spell, I eyed the other one as he nodded his agreement. He grinned when he noticed me staring at him. In a disgusting display, he licked a grimy finger and traced it around my lips. I would have puked if I weren't being held so tightly.
He laughed when he saw the murderous stare in my eyes. 'Maybe we could have some fun with him first. I would love to taste those pretty lips.' He licked his finger again, but this time it never reached my lips.
It so happened that a certain black wolf, chewed it right off to the bone, spiting it out of its mouth. The man shrieked in pain.
Just like that I regained my freedom of movement. I knocked down the other slave hunter using my telekinesis as Wren took down the clean shaven leader. The sound of another yelp of pain told me Caleb was free of the net and had dispatched his aggressor.
I dashed over to him, stopping short to catch my breath.
'Are you guys okay?' Wren said approaching us in human form. Caleb reverted back to his original form too before nodding yes.
'What just happened? Where did these guys come from?' I asked puzzled.
'I don't know,' Caleb apologetically replied. 'I just woke up in the net, cornered.'
Wren shook his head. 'It's not your fault Caleb. We overslept too. Besides, this happened on Keene's watch. Where is that bastard?'
We all looked around but didn't see him. 'He's gone off again.' Caleb said.
'Where did he go this time?' I asked.
'Beats me,' Caleb said.
Then I realized something else. 'Where are the deer shifters?'
'I heard them leave in the middle of the night,' Wren said grabbing his pack off the ground. Thankfully the horses are still here. I hated to think if I had to walk all the way to Koff without them.
'We need to get out of here fast before these guys come to. It's already...' he didn't get to finish when an arrow pierced the ground before his foot.
'What the...?' Caleb exclaimed before going stiff and falling unceremoniously to the ground, completely paralyzed.
Once again we were surrounded by half a dozen armed men.
Wren snarled when he saw his old messy haired buddy, Ferard, on a horse behind his scare-faced lover.
Wren dropped the bag. He was seconds away from shifting.
'I wouldn't if I were you mutt,' the bearded leader cockily said pointing a short sword at my mate.
'What do you want?' Wren bluntly asked.
A man on horseback kicked Wren from behind. Face first, he fell in the grass. They all laughed in amusement.
Angrily, I yanked the man off his horse and his neck cracked as he landed on a tuff of flowers.
The laughter ceased as they all watched me in awe, or was it resentment.
'Dart him!' The leader shouted. I could feel his rage from where I stood.
'No! We put him down now. He just killed my brother.'
He jumped off his horse and strode furiously towards me.
My eyes were on him when I felt a prick at the side of my neck. For the second time this day, I went stiff and found myself on my back looking at the clear blue sky.
The angry man kicked me a few times in the ribs before the leader stopped him. 'That's enough Lonny. We need him alive.'
My body was so numbed that I barely felt any pain.
'But he killed my brother!' he tersely protested.
'You'll get your justice soon. I promise. And for feri's sake your brother knew the dangers we face every time we go on a mission.'
Lonny kicked me once more. He was about to do it again when another man pulled him away.
The leader tsk-tsked. 'Dart the other one and tie them on their horses.'
'What about the others?' The scare-faced lover of Ferard asked referring to the other group of dirt-bags who attacked us first.
'Kill them all,' the leader simply said.
Tied face down on the horse next to Caleb, I watched, unmoving, as the men dragged the slave hunters' corpses into a pile and burned them. It took more than an hour for the intense flames to reduce the pile to ashes. In the meantime, Lonny and his companions dug a grave for his brother. Every so often, I could sense his angry gaze on my skin. Emotionless, I couldn't help but pray for a way out of this mess.
'Hello Wren,' I heard from behind me. Wren, who was tied on his own horse, didn't respond. He couldn't respond. 'Forgive me for betraying you like this. Believe me, I didn't have a choice,' Ferard was saying. Wren, unmoving and facing the other way but I sensed his agitation nonetheless. If he knew what was best for him, Ferard should shut up and walk away. As predicted he didn't do that. He continued apologizing; blabbing about his boyfriend; fueling Wren's inner rage. To say the very least, he was getting on my nerves as well.
He finally moved away when Gwynek, the bearded leader, gave the order to mount. Just before moving out, a pungent scent of the weed with blue flowers Keene rubbed on his skin reached my nostrils.
'There's our little spy. I was beginning to think you ran off without us.'
'I was at the other end of the field giving my daily report. What about you? It took you long enough to get here.' Keene the spy replied.
'Relax my young friend. Everything has been taken care of. And what did your master have to say?'
'He's expecting us to be within Koff borders by this time tomorrow.'
'Well. Let's not keep the man waiting. Let's move out,' Gwynek shouted at his men.
It was hard to believe. Kane was right. Keene was really a traitor after all.
...............................................................
End of chapter 13