731. Escape, 1
(Temee)
My father had warned me the first days would be the hardest. He underestimated what the first nights could be.
I didn’t have joy even, realising I wouldn’t have anymore to wear myself down all day long practicing with weapons.
Because I did not have time to daydream, not even to catch my breath back.
I couldn't run well with everything I was carrying, but the panic in my guts made me wish I could.
I had to hurry crossing these woods to escape them.
These woods. The local lord would not let me go.
He would never let me go if they were to catch me.
Because he knows.
He knows my secret.
The packet on my back moves. I beg it to stay quiet in panicked whispers.
Now’s not the time Ukhtukht. Don’t make any noise I’m begging you!
I sneak past boulders and trees. It’s a very steep and uneven forest, and night is falling.
It’s a nightmare.
At least, she listens to me and remains calm on my back. I have the tiniest of chances to manage leaving this area without getting kidnapped.
I hear voices not so far away, and a bark. What was that? I never heard such an animal. Was that a dog?
I slip. I catch my balance back.
Night falls and I’m scared.
It’s time I dine usually, but now I don’t think about it. My tummy is contracted by the escape and fear.
My father...
I can’t manage to hold back the tears and cries. I choke myself with my clothes to hold a little the voice I don’t control.
They hear me. They’re catching up with me.
I slip again. I’m taking too long standing up. A monster is barking behind me. Men a few steps behind are pointing their lights on me.
I’m shaking. I rush carelessly deeper into the forest always darker.
Even if I know they will not stop.
~
I’m losing my breath foolishly in this panic. A man ends up managing wrapping his arms around me and throws me on the ground. They hit me until I’m no longer threatening to escape them.
I can’t cry anymore. Barely breathing.
They open my package. My swords. The maps. And you.
- A... child.
They are so stunned to discover you, they forget me for a moment.
One of them carries you away with the rest. The other one picks me up heavily onto his back to go back the way they came.
It’s not like with my father... When I was a child, he was carrying me on his back sometimes.
I don’t have a choice, and I resume crying. The other man ahead is putting distance with us, climbing up the slopes of the forest faster. The man carrying me is slower. He complains about it, that I’m so heavy. And he complains about my noisy cries.
I’m crying no longer from fear, but from resignation. I must do it...
I didn’t want to... I really didn’t want to.
My arms clench. My back contracts itself.
He understands I’m beginning to resist him, but it’s too late. My arms are chocking him, and his cannot move me.
His throat breaks under the pressure and I burst out in cries hearing that noise.
He’s flailing, but his hits, they don’t change anything now.
He ends up falling there, and me standing up from above him. The pain burns everywhere through my arms and head.
I pick up his lamp and ask him for forgiveness.
I wipe out my face onto my arm and go after the other one with bleeding heart.
~
I didn’t want to.
These people, my father knew them. They worked together. Even if I had never met them, I knew them. My father told me so much about them that I knew them.
Him, with his smell of tobacco, he was Altan, the Geologist. The one with a dog I’m running after, I think he’s called Sunak. He makes computer work, and he has a dog.
I hate that we end up there... I’m hating myself for that...
But I cannot abandon you there!
Further into the woods, I hear a rather strong voice, through a machine that amplifies the sound a lot.
- Temee! We need you!
My ears hurt. I get closer crawling toward the place where they regroup.
Sunak must have seen me for a moment and understand what was going on. They’re coming back!
I cannot flee without you... Even if I must.
I grab the torchlight tighter, to the point it deforms between my fingers.
Three men are approaching me.
I’m screaming. I’m so sorry and scared. And I’m fighting.
As the forest is a very steep slope, I make them fall, one after the other, toward the chasms further down. They scream too. They won’t climb back.
I’m wiping my eyes again, soaked. I took more hits but I can’t feel them.
I climb back toward the road.
Sunak is stunned again. The lord of Kyameli is stunned too.
Me, I have the face in tears and blood. I jump on you to protect you Ukhtukht. But neither them nor the beast attack me, even if they snarl.
Daren, our local lord, is trying to convince me to stay. We all know it’s not possible.
He orders, and the other one obeys.
But I picked up a sword from the package they neglected.
It’s been five hundred years. No one utilizes sabres or swords anymore. They didn’t understand.
The dog flies back in a stream of blood before it could bite me.
I’m sorry... My eyes are steamy again.
One, then the other, jumping on me. They want me alive after all, but they don’t understand.
An arm and a torso are slashed frontally. He falls in blood. The sight of it petrifies me in horror and I’m not reacting for a moment.
Lord Daren pushes me on the ground and hits me. I’m so sorry.
The tip of the sword he didn’t disarm pierces his chest. My hand slides toward him without resistance then, as the blade goes through. He groans, and slips on the side to agonize.
I pick up my belongings, and you, while still sobbing.
Then we resume leaving without waiting.
I’m so sorry...
~
