The Capture -part 5-
Sorry it took so long to get this next bit up.. been having some major RL issues with my wedding, so kind of been a lil distracted. Hope this next bit was worth the wait!
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The undergrowth was thick, grabbing at her as she tried to push her way through. It was dark, with even the moonlight unable to pierce through the clustered foliage above. She could somehow see, even through the darkness, perfectly clear. The sounds were also magnified; she could hear each individual shriek and cry of the nighttime predators ringing through the dense forest.
“Where am I.. “she murmured to herself, looking around. It was so familiar, but she couldn’t get her bearings. “What’s going on?” She sighed loudly and continued to inch her way forward, pulling at the weeds that latched onto her feet when she froze. That was a scream, and it wasn’t from any beast she had ever heard. She immediately crouched down to try to camouflage herself, and scanned her surroundings. She whipped her head around to her left, narrowing her eyes. Something was going on alright. Beasts don’t cry, and she was hearing panicked sobs. She lowered herself even more, crawling her way along the ground, trying to ignore the bugs that were now crawling on her. She parted the fern in front of her, to see a group of people surrounding a rock slab in a glowing formation of stones.
“Oi, settle down little one, you’re going for a good cause.”
“Yes, yes! Tonight we shall bring-wingy Him back, and it’s all thanks to you!”
“Settle down you lot. We still have another hour to wait before the ceremony can begin. You, tighten that gag on her, we don’t want another scream to get out.”
“Perrrhaps we should have thought this thrrrrough a bit morrrre.”
“It will be fine, stop worrying. Tonight we will succeed.” The figure on the stone lurched up, trying to break free of the binds. Whoever it was could barely be heard.. the binding on their mouth was tight, and no words could be made out from the garble that escaped. She scooted closer, careful to not make a sound, trying to get a glimpse of the figure on the stone. She squinted her eyes, trying to focus. Everything was getting blurry.. why couldn’t she focus? She broke free of the bush and ran towards the stone, grasping the edge and staring down into the face. It was..
“Aub.. Aub come on, wake up..” She coughed once, then shook her head, trying to clear her vision. She needed her help, she had to break her free from .. the tavern’s table? Auberjeen clutched her head as she sat up, rubbing the knot on the back of it. The Rusty Anchor? But .. the stones, the forest.. where had they gone?
“Yo, you ok there Aub?” Ponikarovksy asked as he poked her a bit. She snapped at him, shoving his finger away.
“Back off, I’m fine. What the hell just happened?”
“Geez Aubie, I’m sorry, you just kind of stepped in the way.”
“What are you talking about Nombly?” She asked, confused. Athilorian walked up and cupped her face, looking closely.
“Doesn’t seem to be any damage .. you’re a lucky one Nomb.”
“WHAT? How am I lucky when you already clocked me in the eye!”
“That was for hitting her in the first place. You’re lucky you didn’t do any damage, or you would have a lot more than a black eye.”
“Aww shucks whatever man.” Nombly wandered off, kicking the ground occasionally, muttering to himself. Aub shook her head, still trying to get her bearings back.
“I’m sorry.. what just happened? What did he do?” Ath sat next to her on the table she had been sprawled out on and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“He was throwing another chair hun, again for no apparent reason, but I guess he doesn’t need one to be stupid.” He turned to glare at Nombly, who stuck his tongue out at Ath and flipped him the bird. Ath growled and turned back to Aub. “As I was saying, while he was being stupid he threw the chair into your head.”
“She WALKED into the chair! I had already thrown it when she ran straight into it!” Aub looked around the room, still holding onto the back of her head. Man, that hurt like hell. Her eyes rested on Asrial, who was now up and drinking a pint of water at the next table over.
“You ok As?” Asrial turned and grinned at her, waving the pint.
“I’m dandy, you’re the one who got the concussion tonight, not me!” Aub tossed her head back and laughed, then groaned at the sudden pain the movement called.
“Right, that’ll be sore for a few days .. Nomy, it’s ok, I’m not angry.”
“Whatever Aubie. Sorry.” She shook her head again, her vision still a bit blurry. Blabj waddled up and hopped on a chair, staring at her intently.
“Aub.. you mumbled something about stones.. were they in The Sanctuary of Zi’tah by any chance?”
“What? How did you .. oh hell, so that’s where I was.” Athilorian stared down at her quizzically, furrowing his eyebrows.
“What’s this about Zi’tah? When on earth did you go there? You know it isn’t safe there, why would you go without me to look after you?”
“Hold up, ok.. I wasn’t there, not really.. I guess it was just a dream. Lucky guess there Blabj.”
“It wasn’t a guess.”
“What?”
“There were 5 people surrounding a stone, with a woman laying strapped to it.” Poni said quietly, drawing the attention of the pub to himself. Blabj looked silently at him and nodded. Krismorel walked up, hands behind her back, and looked down.
“A mithrrra, a galka, a hume, and elvaan, and a tarrru.” She said, her eyes rising to meet Blabj’s. He again nodded, and scratched his chin.
“So who else in here dreamed about it then?” he shouted.
“I did.” Geth said quietly from the back table, staring at the fireplace. “Last night. I didn’t see the person on the stone though, I woke up before I could get close enough.”
“The same happened to me.” Poni said, looking towards Geth. “It got blurry, and I was drawn back to reality.”
“Serrrious? That happened to me to.”
“And me.” Blabj tapped his fingers against his chin now, staring at the table. “Why on vanadiel would we all have the same dream?”
“What dream?” Raizt questioned as he meandered out of the toilet. Blabj cursed at him, waving his little taru arms around.
“For crying out loud Raizin you were in there for over an hour, I had to go to the airship dock just to take a piss!”
“Sorry, got into a good book and didn’t wanna leave till I finished it. So what dream?”
“5 people around a stone in Zi’tah.”
“Oh, I’ve had that.”
“SERIOUS? Do you remember when Raizin?”
“Was last night.”
“Mine was last night, too.” Poni added in.
“Yea.. I’m surrre it was last night.”
“Ok so, we all had it last night. Why did Aub just dream it now?” Auberjeen shook her head once more, still rubbing the knot on her head.
“I don’t know, but I managed to get close enough to see.. oh hell, Ithyl!” Aub jumped up and looked around. “I gotta tell her.”
“She’s already left, you can tell her tomorrow.” Ath said, pulling her back against him. “Be careful hun, don’t move around too much.”
“No, this is important, it was Ith, I gotta tell her tonight.”
“What was Ith?”
“In the dream, I got close enough to see who it was on the stone, it was Ithyl.”
“Damn, are you sure? We gotta go find ..”
“WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ..” the shout was cut off suddenly, and Aub jumped up from the table, rushing to the door, trying to squeeze through it with everyone else at the same time. They burst onto the street, running left and right, shouting for her.
“ITHYL??!”
“ITH??”
“WHERE ARE YOU?”
“Ithyl! Was that you! Ith!” Aub shouted, looking around frantically. “Oh hell, oh bloody hell. What the hell just happened?”
“Hun.. you might wanna look at this.” Ath said softly. She walked over to where he stood, surrounded by the rest of the people from the party. She pushed through and looked down. There on the ground was Ith’s red mage artifact hat.
“Oh hell, you know she wouldn’t leave that anywhere. She worked her ass off to get that pimp hat.”
“I know .. guys, I think we have a serious problem on our hands.” Ath said solemnly, picking the hat up and dusting it off.
“You’re sure it was Ith on that stone?” Blabj asked her, tugging on her hand.
“Yea.. I got right up in her face. It was Ith. And whoever else was there just got her.” Aub said quietly, while Asrial sobbed like a banshee next to her.
"We can't assume anything." Ath said, looking around. "It might have been common street thugs."
"Are you bloody serious?" Asrial turned to him, growling. "She isn't dumb enough to get caught by some common scum. She was taken and.. and.. they're g-gonna sacrifice h-her." She began to wail, and Strachan pulled her to him, patting her on the back. Littlefair walked over too, and patted her as well. Everyone began to talk amongst themselves, so Auberjeen walked off, looking over the port. What a way to end a party.. what the hell was going on?
Also I like the way my sheep murdering was added in there, as i spent alot of time killing them for Erase!
