He reappeared behind me, and unfurled the whip on his hip. My eyes widened, as he cracked it in my direction. I quickly jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the snapping whip end, and took off running.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I heard the swoosh of the whip and then felt the sharp sting of leather, as it snapped painfully against my leg, and wrapping around it. He pulled me across the ground toward him. I dug my nails into the grass and began to scream, as I violently shook my leg loose of the whip. I pulled myself up, but the whip struck me down again. I desperately tried to scramble away, but he flailed at me, the whip biting my flesh, with crack after merciless crack.
As I crawled across the forest floor, I noticed branches and chunks of fallen wood littering the ground. I focused my power on them, but as I willed them to move, his whip bit into my skin again. I let out a blood-curdling scream, but at the same time, the downed branches and logs of wood hurtled at Dub like exploding shrapnel. His eyes widened, and he dodged. Out of nowhere, a wooden stake jabbed into his right thigh, and another sliced into his shoulder. Now it was Dub who crumpled his knees, screaming. I took the chance to dash off, running into the woods.
I dodged and stumbled through the forest, narrowly avoiding trees, smacked by branches. My back was bleeding, my legs burned, and my lungs ached. Luckily the ground was mostly soft on my bare feet, but I winced as I hit rocks and detritus on the forest floor, slowing me down.
I heard a sharp “caw!” above, and spotted a large, black raven, weaving in and out of the trees above. “Help me,” I pleaded. Exhausted, I stopped and leaned back against a tree. I saw the raven flap down to the ground, and it hopped toward me, tilting its head.
“What’s wrong?”
Super. Now I’m hearing things.
“What do you hear?” the voice said, as the raven hopped around frantically.
“Oh. My. God. You’re in my head!” I said to the raven.
It stopped hopping around and turned to face me. “I’ve always been with you. I’ve been waiting for the chance to introduce myself. I’m Poe.”
My jaw dropped. “And you thought this was a perfect time?”
“You called to me. I had to wait for that.”
Was I really going to argue logic with a bird brain? A talking one at that?
“First of all who named you?” I asked the bird, still questioning the fact that I was talking to a bird.
“Your mum,” replied Poe.
Okay... She was crazy, maybe the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
“Never mind,” I said. “I need help. Can you, like, I don’t know… give me a magical power-up or something?”
“You’ve inherited the gifts from your ancestors,” quothed the raven. “Sacred memories are alive within you. You have everything you need. Look within Keira, you’ll find the answers there.”
The big, black raven cawed once more, and took off fast. “Come back! I didn’t say fly away!” I did my best to follow the bird, but I lost him in the dark.
Another touchdown for Team Cryptic Bullshit, I thought.
With my lungs burning, I paused to crouch behind a large rock, panting like a dog, and praying to lose Dub. Wishful thinking. His voice seemed to echo in the wind, but also was directly inside my head. “I will find you, I always will.”
What the hell did that mean?
The wind gusts picked up to a steady blow, and I could smell the scent of rain. Thunderclouds gathered, so quickly that it looked like time lapse film. The first fat drop hit my cheek. That’s fucking peachy. Nothing like a dramatic rain to highlight the awful way I’m probably about to die!
My breathing was down to near normal, and I started running again, but between the now heavy rain, and the thunderstorm clouds, the dark was even more impenetrable. That was my excuse, anyway, for taking a bad step and turning my ankle, as I tumbled into a ditch. It hurt like a mother, but I fought through the pain to stand up. I needed to keep moving, although I could barely put weight on my sprained ankle. I managed a couple of limping steps, then a sharp stab of pain just buckled me to the turf again. Gritting my teeth, I gathered the will to get up again, when I hear a twig snap behind me.
As I turned, a jagged bolt of white-hot lightning split the sky. On the crest of the ditch, a single black silhouette was revealed. I froze and trembled slightly, but it was not the dreaded specter of Dub, as I was expecting. Instead, a giant black wolf trotted toward me. It looked wild and savage, but moved with the purpose and intelligence of a human. When I saw his eyes, bright blue and familiar, I relaxed. He came to me, and licked my face. He whimpered slightly, nudging me to stand up and get moving. I reached out, petting the wolf’s wet fur as I asked “Orin?” The wolf shook his head ‘no’. So. He can understand what I say. “Weylyn?” He nodded, and I threw my arms around the giant wolf, hugging him tightly.
“Praise Morrigan, I am totally going to give you so many belly rubs when we get home,” I say to Weylyn. I’d actually like to rub him elsewhere, but wrong time, wrong place.
An eerie, unstable howl cut through the driving rain, making me shudder and making Weylyn growl. “That doesn’t sound like Orin! Right?” I got no response, but took that as a no.
