“I’m going with you!” declared Kaevin, jumping to his feet.
“I’m going as well!” said Wesley. “That’s why I came!”
“The men who took her will have a knife to her throat,” Morvaen reasoned. “We can’t simply attack them without risking her life.”
“If I put an arrow through his heart, he won’t have time to hurt her,” Jireo argued.
“She could be trampled by the horse when he drops her.” Nordamen handed the bread and water to Alora. “Or he may have bound her behind him as a shield.”
“The longer we wait, the farther away they are and the longer it will take to reach them,” Jireo reasoned. “And we must stop them before they reach Vindrake and he discovers she’s not Alora!”
Alora choked on her water. “They took her because they thought she was me?”
“I’m afraid so,” said Graely. He made a bitter face. “I let them walk right into our camp and take her. I couldn’t see the bondmark, and I didn’t realize they were Vindrake’s men. If anything happens to her, it’s on my head.”
“Why don’t you just let Alora fetch her?” asked Beth.
Silence. Alora shifted under the uncomfortable examination of six pairs of eyes.
“It wouldn’t work,” said Nordamen. “It couldn’t work. She doesn’t know Arista. She’s never even seen her before.”
“But she’d n
ever seen Jireo before, and she brought us to him,” Beth reasoned. “Doesn’t Kaevin know her? Couldn’t she just do whatever magic thing she does with Kaevin?”
“What would happen?” Graely asked Nordamen. “If it worked, what would happen?”
“The man would be holding her, and they would be on horseback. So, the horse should act as an anchor. Nothing would happen.” He raised an eyebrow. “Unless she’s powerful enough to transport two people and a horse.”
Graely shrugged. “She moved three people with herself. It’s worth a try. We have nothing to lose.” He looked at Alora. “I know you’re exhausted, but are you willing to try? We can’t afford to wait.”
*****
Arista had almost escaped twice. She squirmed and fought and kicked like a wildcat the entire time. Twice he’d almost lost his grip on her and dropped her off the horse. She’d planned to hit the ground running. But the second time she’d started to fall, he’d reined in the horse and stopped to bind her hands tightly behind her with a rope. He then tossed her unceremoniously across the horse’s withers on her stomach, keeping one hand on her wrists. When she resisted, he pulled up on her wrists until she felt the pain wrenching in her shoulders. So she was forced to give up her thrashing, but she hadn’t surrendered.
She decided on another ploy. She let her body go completely limp, her neck flopping lifelessly despite the discomfort, not even reacting when she almost fell headfirst from the horse. He slowed the horse slightly to check her condition, while the other horseman galloped obliviously onward. He slapped her face in an attempt to revive her, but she didn’t flinch. Obviously fearing he must have somehow broken her back or her neck, he lifted her up and tried to turn her head to force her eyes open. When she felt fingers near her mouth, she clamped down savagely, crunching with all her might and grinding with her jaw. He screamed, and the air whooshed out of her lungs as she hit the ground.
In a flash, she was up. Dashing into the woods. Blasting through the underbrush. Oblivious to the branches and thorns that tore at her with her arms still bound behind her back. She stumbled and fell, but quickly regained her feet.
“Come back here! You’ll pay for biting me! You wendt-dog!”
Arista ran blindly ahead. She could hear him crashing behind her. Gaining on her. Suddenly, the ground dropped away, and she tumbled and rolled downward until a tree trunk stopped her progress. Dazed, she tried to focus her eyes.
“There you are,” he said, advancing toward her, with a sneering smile. “You’ll be sorry for biting me. I’ll knock out every tooth in that pretty little head. The Master doesn’t need your teeth—only your wander-jewel!”
She tried to scoot backward, only to find her foot was wedged under a root. He stood over her, leering. “Do you think I’m stupid enough to reach for you with my hands? I won’t make that mistake again. Let’s see how well your teeth work on my boot leather.” He reared his foot back and aimed at her head.
*****
“Arista? Are you alive? Arista?” Jireo froze in shock for a moment, before rushing to kneel beside his sister’s body, tentatively feeling for a pulse. Behind him, the stunned group stood waiting, swords and knives at the ready. Arista had appeared out of nowhere, so Alora’s transport must have worked.
“Get off me! Of course I’m alive. But get me some water—I’ve got a bad taste in my mouth.” She struggled to sit up, tilting her head back to release a wild cackle. “I’m a warrior now! I bested Vindrake’s man with my hands tied behind my back!” She sat up and ordered, “Untie me.”
“What happened?” Jireo swiped at his wet face, working furiously at the knotted rope on her wrists.
“I bit his finger. Almost all the way off, I believe.” Her voice rose with elation. “And then... I don’t know what happened. He was going to kick me in the head. And then I was here.”
“Alora transported you. She saved your life.” He adopted a scolding tone to cover his emotion. “You should never have come chasing after me on that horse. When we return home, I’m going to help Mother tie you up inside the house.”