White Magic - by InkedGirl, Chapter 8, Fantasy

InkedGirl Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:01 pm

Chapter 8

She could not quite see the face of her attacker, for his face was shielded by the dark of the jail. Her heart jumped in her throat. So, Ardis thought, this was the second time in one day that she would be threatened with her life. Things did not seem to be in her favor. She was still reeling from the scene of the dead guard and did her best to appear calm. Her hands, however, were cold and shaking. She silently prayed that it was not a guard on the other end of the blade. She had noticed that the other had not even shied slightly at harming a girl. He had been ready to do whatever was necessary to end the threat.

“Who are you?” The voice rasped.

She shuffled backward out of the jail and into the sun. The best thing she could do was get the man into the sunlight so she could determine what his aim was. Better to know that threat than be killed by some unknown individual.

“Maybe you should remove the blade from my throat. I am unarmed,” she said steadily, hands raised in defeat.

Unconcerned with revealing his face, he followed her out into the sun. Instead of finding a heavily muscled guard, she was face to face with an extremely thin, tall, broad shoulder man. His piercing gray eyes studied her. She noticed his grip faltering ever so slightly on his dagger. His hand was shaking slightly and his face was pale. Had this man been trapped in the prison for so long without food?

She did not doubt the man’s threat, however. He had most likely taken down the other guard and captured the keys. The prisoner’s gaze flitted ever so slightly to the dead man lying on the ground.

“Was that you?” He asked, not moving the blade.

She gulped. “Yes.”

“I do not believe you.” He responded, steely, cold, accented voice making up for his obvious physical weakness. His voice was one of authority, and managed to give her fear when she knew that she could probably beat him in a hand to hand fight.

She shrugged her shoulders.

“Are you an assassin, then?” He asked, raised her chin with the tip of the blade. She cringed in anticipation of the sting.

“No.”

There was a loud clanging and a yelp from the other side of the prison.

Ardis remembered Felix. This man was probably his friend. If she did not get the man to trust her soon, which she knew was going to be a difficult task from his distrusting glare and constant questioning, Felix was going to be in trouble. Then again, she thought, Felix was strong and probably a decent fighter. She could tell from the way he had walked, his gait measured, albeit not graceful.

“What’s your name?” She questioned him before he had a chance to voice the words hanging on his lips.

It was as though he needed a moment to think before answering the simple question. His head lowered before he tipped the blade slightly, raising her head even more. “Nixon Wells. Now-”

“Your friend Felix sent me.” She said, quickly cutting him off before he had the chance to move the knife even closer to her throat.

He quickly lowered the blade as if he had been burned by it. It was then that she noticed a woman standing behind him. She also had black hair, but hers held more of an unwashed shine. It appeared dirty and hung in scraggly tendrils about her tanned, sharp features. Her gaze was lifted and Ardis got the impression that the woman was inspecting her to see if she was any sort of threat. Her, a threat? Ardis almost laughed at the woman’s wary expression.

Nixon mumbled something unintelligible under his breath. “Where is he?” He asked, irritation clear in his voice.

“Right here.” Felix strode toward his friend, wiping the red off his blade onto his tunic. Had he killed both the guards? She felt suddenly sick. Ardis had heard battle stories from her father and the rest of the Knights of the castle, but experiencing a real death was completely different. Violence and death were real and close. Who knew if those men had been husbands or even fathers? Their families would be at a loss when they did not come home for supper.

Felix, however, seemed unaffected by the carnage of a few bodies. Ardis felt the need to just sit for a few moments, maybe even for the rest of the day

“Nice job but I could have gotten out on my own. The place is not as hard to break out of as you might think.” Nixon slipped his own blade into the sheath that hung from his belt. Standing next to Felix, Nixon appeared almost ghostly. She thought that if a strong wind was to blow by in that moment, the man would surely fly away with it.

“Who is she?” Felix asked, nodding his head toward the sharp featured woman behind Nixon.

“Another prisoner. Imara Farley.”

Imara hung back as if in fear but spoke in a clear tone. “The guards found me in the river. Thought I was some sort of thief.” She said with no further explanation.

“And who’s this?” Nixon asked in turn, pointing to Ardis.

Ardis looked up from the patch of grass she was studying, thoughts instantly lost. “Ardis Farrow.”

His gray eyes held the same coldness that they had when he had held the dagger up to her throat. “And you hired her to help you? What about those bandits out in the forest?” He spoke to his friend but he kept his gaze on Ardis. “She is just a girl.”

Ardis picked up on his strange lilt once again. He must be a foreigner, she thought.

“The girl needs the money and the men weren’t to be trusted.”

“Yes, the money.” Ardis jumped in, eager to rid herself of the strange and violent men. “I’ll be taking that and leaving you two on your own business.”

Felix nodded, opening his sack of coins.

“Wait a moment.” Nixon said, stopping Felix.

“What?” Ardis asked, nervousness creeping into her voice.

He looked at her thoughtfully. “I could use your help.”

“Help with what?”

He ignored her question. “I propose an agreement.”

Ardis shook her head. She did not at all like where this was going. “What is with men and agreements?”

Nixon’s gaze hardened on her. “What is with women and their money?”

She was surprised at the snippy and rude retort. In the castle, men always treated women with respect and service. If a man ever even insulted a woman in the slightest he would face rebuke from his friends.

“I just wish for payment for my services and to be on my way.”

“Services?” He let out a laugh. “I got out on my own, thank you very much. All you managed to do was dagger one of the guards.”

She glared at him. “Your friend told me that if I would help him break you out that I would be paid. I wish that bargain to be kept before another is to be made.”

“You should not be so naive as to think all bargains are so honestly carried through.”

I killed a man, Ardis thought suddenly. Was it all simply for money that she had ruthlessly ended this man’s life? She could not even bear to look at the body that was only a few feet away from her.

“Just let me give her the money, Nix. She’s just a girl.” Felix said, jingling in his pouch and handing the coins to Ardis. She took them and refrained from retorting with an “I’m not just a girl”. She had always prided herself with her ability to hold her tongue, something her mother had never been able to do. That did not stop her from feeling anger, however. It burned in her stomach with the hot embarrassment that always happened when the servants chided her for being stupid or lazy. It should not matter now, however, for it was just a simple observance, not intending harm in the slightest.

She looked at Felix’s kind eyes in silent thanks and then turned to his thin friend who continued to stare at her. He moved forward toward her and she shied away out of pure instinct. She always feared when other’s approached her. It usually led to either scolding or something much worse.

The rude man did not seem to notice her wordless fear. “Listen to me for a moment.”

But he was quickly cut off when an arrow whizzed past, ruffling his hair as it passed. It stuck in the soft ground, its feathers vibrating from the shock.

Without a second thought she ran.

She remembered target practice the day before and how it had ended with an arrow in her shoulder. That pain would not be repeated twice, she thought, touching her shoulder absently as her feet carried her back into the woods.

With a quick glance behind her she saw Felix draw his sword in stride, Nixon jump over a felled log like a cat, and the woman, Imara, follow close behind, long legs carrying her quickly along the needle strewn forest.

There was yelling and more arrows as Ardis made it further into the thick expanse of trees.

They were following her, she thought suddenly. Felix, Nixon and Imara believed that she knew the way out. The joke was on them. She had never been in this forest before in her life.

She stole a few glances back every few steps. A group of armed men hurtled after them on foot. Two were on horses, bows in hand.

Nixon, the thin, sickly man from the jail was all grace in running, in fact, within a few moments he had made it next to her and was pacing her with his long legs. Cold autumn air burned in her throat as she struggled for each breath. He had it easier. Her legs were much shorter than his and it became difficult not to fall behind.

“Do you know where you’re going?” He panted, looking over to her.

She kept her eyes focused on the ground. The needles had begun to wear and bite at her bare feet. She knew that the more she ran the worse the pain would become, both in her seizing lungs and her torn heels. “Of course.” She lied, thinking that if he found her useless, he would most likely let her be taken by the guards.

He nodded and flew over another tree stump. She was still surprised at his gracefulness. There was a yell and she tore a look over her shoulder. Luckily the guards had seemed to lose resolve and were beginning to fall back farther and farther. Imara and Felix had caught up with them, their faced red with exertion.

Ardis led the group on a straight path. Through the trunks of the trees ahead of them she could see…well the only thing she could see was sky. Fear stopped her cold before she ran over the edge. Nixon stopped just in time, the tips of his boots hanging over the river before he gained his balance and jumped away. He immediately looked to the frightened girl, fury mixed with his own fright fighting in his eyes.

Her heart was pounding as she turned around to watch. The guards quickly approached them. It was the four of them, standing side to side with their backs to the raging river below facing the men with bows pulled tight and swords at the ready. They slowed to a halt when they reached the group.

“Breaking out of Norcott,” The bearded man at the front of the group stepped forward, his sword glinting in the open air. “It’s quite a risky thing to do. Now, who out of the four of you are prisoners?”

There was silence for a moment. No one said a thing. Her heart beat in her ears like a drum, drowning out even the whispers of wind that carried across the canyon.

“Well, then I’ll just have my men determine the prisoner. All of you are suspects now, so it does not truly matter to me.”

One of the men on horseback held his bow up and pointed it directly at Nixon’s thin frame.

Without thinking Ardis threw herself in front of him, shielding him from the aim of the bow. Now, it was aimed directly at the girls head. Her eyes closed, preparing herself for the arrow to spin through the air and turn her world to black. The truth was, after seeing one man dead at her hands, she was not willing to waste the life of another, even if he was rude and quite inconsiderate.

The bearded man let out a loud, ear splitting laugh. Ardis’s eyes flew open at the piercing noise.

“Oh, this is good.” His laughter eventually stopped. “Please stay away from him miss, I know perfectly well who it is your protecting. It isn’t smart to go out of your way to risk your life on a petty criminal.”

“Then why do you want him, huh? If he’s just a petty criminal as you say then he shouldn’t be worth all this trouble.” Ardis retorted back to the man, her voice loud and betraying no quaking fear that hid inside.

“What are you doing?” Nixon muttered in her ear. The vibration tickled her ear and she had to fight not to scratch it.

“Smart girl.” The leader responded. “But foolish.” He turned to one of his men.

Ardis took that chance. “Trust me.” She muttered to Nixon. Her eyes flicked to the other two who were perched precariously close to the edge. They both caught her eye. “Follow me.” She mouthed to them.

“I have decided that I will spare your life if you let me have the two men. If you don’t…well then I’ll just have to kill you for treason. What say you?”

He waited for her response, bowman behind him at the ready.

With one swift shove, the short girl pushed Nixon backward. She too, lost her balance and fell through the air, the odd weightlessness making her wish she knew how to magic her way into flight. But it was no use. The raging river was coming up to meet her and all she could think about was how she had never learned how to swim.