Following the Hidden V
Taliori’s breath came in clouds of condensation, the ground beneath her slippery and falling apart with each step she struggled to take. Snow was not something she was accustomed to trudging through, and especially when she was running as quickly as she could. Each movement threatened to toss her down into the white powder and ruin her chances…
What had happened? It had been going fine, then suddenly it wasn’t.
Someone had walked out of the shadows- attacked the pair. She hadn’t even heard the sound of it, and then Baelisian had been struck. It happened so quick, and then she’d been the next target. He’d hit right on her left, breaking any sort of defense she had started to put together due to the soreness in her arm. It hurt. The kicking, the falling into the cold snow, having to quickly pick herself up. She’d not been prepared.
Neither of them were prepared.
Baelisian had tried to fight back, but in the end, she’d told her to run, that she’d be following. Tali didn’t like the idea of that, but it was the best shot. As soon as they’d reach the goblin town that was over the next few hills, they’d surely find safety. The cartels wouldn’t take kindly to that sort of trouble…
And so here she was, running up a hill in the growing dusk that seemed so much darker due to the heavy and grey clouds above them. She heard something behind her. She wouldn’t know if it was Baelisian or if it was the shadow that had attacked them. Her heart was in her throat, her back was sore, she could only focus on not falling… not letting herself fall behind for an easy prey.
She should’ve stayed to fight, should’ve helped… but she wasn’t going to be help in the state that she was in.
Tali made it over the crest of the hill, then felt a blow smack against her left side, the ripping pain shuddering through her back and causing her to actually release a sound of pain as she toppled into the snow, rolling down a bit in a mess of cold. She’d lost her breath, sucking in, but not before she felt a foot on her neck, heavy and cold as the snow that now surrounded her. It pressed down hard, threatening to break something, and she felt a well of fear, looking up to the covered figure- featureless, completely a mystery to her.
Her eyes squinted shut a bit, struggling to calm herself as she moved her right hand abruptly to punch right at the joint of the man’s knee. It wasn’t nearly as strong as she could’ve offered, and she’d not trained as of late, but the impact was obvious when it struck. There was a sound of pain, and he lost his balance. It was the only moment she had, feeling her throat released by the foot and struggling to get up and slip away from him again.
She managed to get a whole foot from him before there was another strike to her, this time slamming her down onto her stomach, the foot digging down painfully between her shoulder blades. Another sound of pain escaped her and she struggled to push herself up.
“Trying to get up?” Came the rumble of the deep voice above, a teasing tone before he clicked his tongue. He spoke in an odd fashion of Thalassian, and it reminded her of something, but she was quickly derailed from any such thought as he went on. “Come now, you can do better.”
The feeling of his foot coming up just enough gave her the hope to push upwards with all her strength… all before he put pressure right onto her again, focusing his heel right into the scar that was across her back. Tears welled up in her eyes from the sheer pain, clawing at the snow as she tried to get away from this.
“Does it hurt? Hrm? Not too much I hope, because you’ve questions to answer, little thing.”
The way he called her that caused a shiver to run up her spine and the hairs on the back of her neck rose straight up. So many thoughts were running through her mind, trying to figure out what to do, where bell was, who this person was, what it was they wanted.
Suddenly there was the weight lifted from her back, and she heard a cry of surprise and another of anger. She shifted quickly, picking herself up and looking to what caused this.
Baelisian had come back, bloody faced and all as she’d tackled the man, struggling to maintain a upper position to him. It seemed as if she was winning, and it gave Taliori the chance to pick herself up. Punches were being thrown from both sides of the predicament, and there was a ripping sound somewhere.
All of a sudden, Bell was smacked hard, and it seemed there was a flash of something… and she dropped to the side, limp as a corpse. Tali’s heart leapt to her throat, beating fast as she backpedaled, then quickly tried to get away. There was another flash, then she felt the world spin in a dizzying manner, rolling about her vision in a mix of white and blues and browns. Her hair loosened from the security of her hood and next she saw was the hazy image of that man back above her.
The mask had been clawed away, and clear was the annoyance in the man’s features… Familiar features.
Her eyes widened as she saw his foot moving as if to kick her right in her face, she was quick as ever, calling out the name that finally came to her mind.
“Nythan-!”
She felt the cold impact and saw only darkness.
Following the Hidden Series