I wanted to sleep, but no matter how heavy my eyelids got…

“Well?” I asked again, hating how desperate I sounded.

“Any moment now,” Krift said calmly, somehow.

He should be twice as tired as I. He’s been walking all this time, without a stop for rest. Not even to take a drink of water, or relieve himself.

It was almost as if he was a caravan bear too.

“You’ve been saying that for an hour, at least,” I complained.

I didn’t raise my head, but my eyes peered as high as they could all the same. He had said they were above us, not too far away. Far enough to not hear the two of us speak, but close enough they could attack at any moment.

We had entered this canyon some time ago… and the crack that we were walking in was slowly becoming narrower. When we had first entered, the walls of stone had been far away. Wide enough to fit entire rivers.

Now both of the flat walls were close enough that I could throw a stone and hit them. And even worse, there were… ledges, all up and down the walls of the cliffs. Ledges large enough to hide people.

It meant we were trapped. That they could jump down and attack us at their leisure. Which meant we couldn’t stop, but also weren’t going to be allowed to just leave.

Almost made me wonder why we had entered this odd… crevice, in the first place.

If he had known, why come here? Where they could so easily accomplish such a thing?

But who was I to argue? Krift was… not being rude about it, but I knew if I had not accompanied him, he would have left me behind.

Being left behind by not just my best chance at getting to the Lands of Power, but most likely my only chance, wasn’t something I was capable of doing.

I still felt allowed to worry and fret over it, though.

It was too bad, honestly. Now that the sun had risen high enough, to illuminate most of this… odd crack like cavern, I was able to see it in all its beauty.

Neat colors raced up and down the rocks around us. Different hues of red and orange. Every so often some green came and went, and then even sometimes an odd tree or two emerged from a random crack running up the cliff.

Granted the colors were… not as pretty, or abundant, as either the Rift Wall, or RiftWarren, but these were natural. Not man-made or magical. So there was a certain… beauty to them.

Too bad I’d never remember them for their beauty.

Only this horrible feeling of tension in my stomach.

“They’ll probably do something at this bend coming up. Either before or after, to make it seem like we’re stuck,” Krift said softly.

I took a deep breath, and hated how my breath seemed to catch itself. I sounded as if I was heaving, or crying instead.

That bend was very close. We’d reach it in only a few moments, even at this slow bear’s pace.

“There are only six of them,” he said.

“You mentioned that.”

“I say it to calm you,” he added.

“You’ve been trying that, too,” I agreed.

Krift sighed, shaking his head.

I knew he was being genuine in his efforts, but I couldn’t comprehend it.

Be calm? When six men were out to hurt us? Or worse?

What were they here for? Why? Krift said it was probably because of the thing behind me, wrapped in that odd spiky leather, but who knows?

Sometimes men just… did evil things.

I gulped, and wished I hadn’t. My mouth was dry.

“Should I do anything?” I asked, worried he’d actually give me a task.

“Would you like to?” he asked back, and I didn’t have to hear the smile in his voice. He had turned so I could see it.

I shook my head at him, and hated how his smile grew into a large smirk.

“Just sit there. And don’t scream, you might startle the bear,” he said.

“I thought they couldn’t get startled…”

Patting the beast’s fur in front of me, I felt a little shameful. The poor thing now had several… clumpy spots of fur, where I had continuously gripped and twirled over the last two days.

I’d not pulled any out, of course, but my incessant messing had still left its mark. Hopefully the poor thing wasn’t too annoyed over me.

“Here they are,” Krift then said, and my heart leapt to my throat.

Looking upward, I grimaced at the sight of two men standing not too far in front of us. Just as Krift had assumed, they had stepped out from behind the bend.

Doing my best to not let my now very loud heartbeat distract me, I quickly looked up and found two more. Both had bows, and their arrows already knocked and ready.

Bows!

The mere sight of them made every bit of my tiredness run far, far away.

I was quite awake now.

Still… that was only four men…

I tried to look around elsewhere, but couldn’t find them. Maybe behind us…? I couldn’t see behind me completely, thanks to the platform and box upon it…

“There isn’t enough room for you and the bear to pass calmly,” Krift said, raising his voice to make a point.

Looking to the calm man, I wondered just how used to this he was. He didn’t look worried at all, and that smirk from earlier was still there.

“You and it can pass, if you give us what we want,” the man on the left said.

He had an accent, but I couldn’t place it. They all seemed… human. But likewise with Krift, it was hard to tell. After all, it wasn’t like I knew many male powers.

“Oh really?” Krift asked, amused.

“No games! Just give her to us and you’ll live!” one of the archer’s shouted.

With his words, my heart went into my throat. Her?

“Me!” I sat up straight, as a newfound rush of worry filled me.

“Her?” Krift also sounded shocked.

“Now! Or we take her over your corpse!” one of the men down the cavern shouted. His pants were bright orange, a similar color to the rocks around us.

Krift studied the men for a moment, and I felt like I should say something. To argue, or debate their claim. Why in the world would they want me, and not the bear…? The bear was worth more than thousands of me ever could be!

“What exactly do you want, again?” Krift asked. His voice was… oddly calm. It even almost sounded amused.

“The woman! You deaf fool!” the other archer shouted, and with his shout he had stepped forward a bit. Several smaller rocks fell off the ledge he stood on as he did so.

Both of the men were aiming their bows at Krift, which somewhat relieved me… but at the same time didn’t.

Was I just what they picked, after watching us? Or was there something else?

Could my uncle still be trying to…?

“If you really want her that much… Then come try and take her,” Krift then said, with a huff.

“Bastard,” the archer on the right cursed as he stiffened up, and I heard the bow creek in complaint as he drew it tighter.

“Krift!” I shouted, and with my shout the arrow was loosed.

For the tiniest moment no one moved, as I watched the arrow fly towards Krift.

Then bounce solidly off the nearby wall of rocks, several feet away.

The arrow bounced three times, and the world was awkwardly silent as it finally came to a rest.

Krift hadn’t moved, and instead was staring at the other archer, who still had an arrow notched.

“Krift…?” the archer who had just shot asked.

“The one and only,” Krift said.

“You can’t be…” one of the men down the cavern whispered. His voice only reaching my ears thanks to the echo this cavern gave off.

The look on the men’s faces told me clearly what had happened.

They hadn’t known who he was.

And now that they did… they were unsure of themselves.

Somehow that made me feel a little less scared and…

Then, Krift spun on a heel, startling not just me but the rest of the men.

I jumped at Krift’s sudden movement, especially since everything had gone so still and quiet, but I startled even more when suddenly footsteps were right next to me.

And it wasn’t Krift’s footsteps.

“Get the girl, Mock!” the man to the left, above us, shouted. Right as he let loose his arrow.

“They’re serious…?” Krift looked to me, and must have seen my panic through my confusion, for he suddenly dropped the caravan bear’s reigns.

For the smallest moment, barely a blink of an eye, I actually thought Krift might have abandoned me… but such a thought was tossed aside as quickly as my heart going cold when a sudden hand grabbed my right ankle.

The hand was, of course, attached to a man. A supposed Mr. Mock. Who I didn’t like the look of at all as he very roughly snarled at me.

His hand was a large one. He had grabbed me just above the ankle, yet his smallest finger touched my foot… and his thumb nearly touched my knee, thanks to the angle.

A shiny gold ring on his middle finger cut into me, thanks to how tightly he had grabbed me… and then without warning, he tugged.

“No!” A scream echoed through the great crack in the earth, and it almost sounded like my voice as it resounded in my head.

Almost.

Even though I had been tied to the bear with a rope around my waist, it had done nothing to stop the man from pulling me off the creature. Off in the corner of my mind I had registered the feeling of the rope tugging at my waist, pinching and somehow… even burning me, but then I felt it snap.

Then I felt the impact.

All the air in me left, as the pain came in. I had landed shoulder first onto the rocky hard ground.

“Grab her, quickly!” another voice shouted, and I felt another pair of hands grab my legs.

And another pair grab my left arm.

Panic surged as I realized what was happening, but I was still without air. Still trying to force air back into my lungs, and it wasn’t happening.

I had to breathe!

Being pulled more than lifted, I was dragged along the jaggy, rock covered ground. With the feeling of countless little spikes poking and prodding me as it happened, I finally got some air.

“Let go!” I screamed, and tried to get free. But just as helpless as I had been the other day, in the alleys of RiftWarren, it was useless here.

Doubly so, with my body so stiff and…

“Mock, hurry!” the other man shouted, and through the pulling and struggling I saw him. He was a much older man than this Mock was, but he wasn’t paying much attention to me. Even though he was dragging me by my arm.

He was instead looking elsewhere. With a…

For a tiny moment, I remembered Krift saying that there had been six of them. The two who had stood out in front… the two archers. Now here’s the other two.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

But I didn’t have time to worry over six of them. Just these two.

“Let me go!” I shouted, and swung my other hand around as to claw at the older man pulling me. Mock had me by the legs, and his grip was firm, so I had no chance of attacking him.

This older man though, wasn’t really paying attention to me. He didn’t even see my nails coming, until they cut into eye and skin.

Although my attack connected, and drew blood, it didn’t help me. Instead the man’s grip tightened, enough to cause me to stop my next planned attack towards his throat.

Sharp waves of pain ran down my arm, and I worried if he had either broken or was in the process of breaking my arm. His grip was that tight and…!

Before I could scream, or try to squirm out of their grip again, the men stumbled.

The one pulling me by my arm seemed to trip, since I went head first into his lap. And the man carrying me by my legs suddenly got all tangled up with his own. All of us fell; luckily I fell mostly onto their legs than the ground.

Amidst the confusion, fumbling, and cursing… something happened.

An odd stillness filled the air, making my skin go cold. As if we had all been in the middle of a massive storm, with the wind blowing wildly… which had suddenly without warning stopped.

For the tiniest of moments, no one moved. Then with renewed vigor Mock, the one who had been carrying me by my legs, returned to pulling me. This time alone. He simply dragged me by ankles.

Rolling from my back, onto my side, I tried to grab at something. A rock or root. Anything to impede him from pulling me away. If even for just a moment.

Yet nothing I grabbed at had a firm hold. Every rock was too small. Every crevice cracked and broke from the pressure. The earth was either too hard to grab, or too brittle to hold onto.

“Stop!” I screamed, and with it I noticed there was yelling. Yelling that wasn’t my own echo.

Men were shouting. One was even screaming. Maybe in pain.

But it all went quiet, when the world became angry.

A roar of noise, and then something else growled. It had to have been the caravan bear, but it sounded…

“Oh shit!” the man pulling me, suddenly and finally, let go of my legs. And without any hesitation I quickly scampered away from him, back towards the bear.

Crawling on my knees, I ignored the scraping and poking of the rocky floor. Especially since the world above me all of a sudden got very, very bright.

I once again screamed, as my eyes began to burn. Covering my face, while rubbing my now throbbing eyes, I again heard the great roar of noise. It vibrated in the air, thumping in my body, as it echoed again and again.

The loud noise brought forth screams, but this time those more human. I didn’t hear the bear this time, though the thought it had been drowned out by the initial roar of noise was obvious.

“Oh gods, no!” a man’s pained shout filtered in through the echo, that had begun to dissipate… leaving only ringing ears and…

Blinking away blotches of darkness, I looked up through trembling fingers and found I had somehow turned around. No longer was the bear in front of me, but instead the very long cavern we had been walking down. Far off in the distance I could see the widening of the entrance, and the sunlight peering in.

I must have rolled around more than I thought when my eyes had gone dark in pain…

“Don’t… please!”

I gulped blood and spit as I watched a kneeling man beg for his life. Hands up, above his head, open and outstretched.

He wasn’t too far from me. Maybe half a dozen steps or so… but yet, the sight looked… unnaturally far away. As if there was a great distance between me and him.

Maybe because of how unreal the scene was.

The man was mangled and dirty. His clothes torn. His hair a mess, in patches… As if he had just weathered a great storm, without any shelter.

And his hands and fingers had endured the brunt of the said storm.

They were bloody. And broken. Especially the fingers… which were twisted and gnarled, in unnatural ways… as if recently crushed.

“Spare me,” the man begged the one standing before him.

Krift stood just as calmly as ever, staring down at the begging man.

The praying man.

And as I stared at the scene, a tiny glimmer of light drew my attention away from Krift.

Sure enough, on one of the twisted fingers, out of place… was a shiny ring.

The kneeling man was Mock, the one who had pulled me off the bear.

Somehow that did something to me. As if suddenly, it was me he was praying to and not Krift. It gave me a strange feeling, something deep… and…

The feeling made me find my feet. Standing up, I quickly glanced around and wished I hadn’t.

Not too far from me, was another man. But…

Stepping away from the blue flames that were still in the process of burning the unmoving body, I grimaced when I realized why the body wasn’t moving.

A part of his chest had been torn open, as if struck by something very large and hard… Had the bear hit him with a claw? Yet it almost looked as if… the injury had been done from inside. Maybe whatever had damaged him, had hit him originally in the back?

Had he been the man who had been pulling me away as well? The older one? He was already… burnt enough, that I couldn’t tell if there was a gash on his face, from my attack.

“I beg you…” a sad, sobbing, groan tore my eyes away from the rest of the carnage. Mock was pleading with every fiber of his being, and the cavern made his words echo well.

The man’s pleading shook me. I’d never heard such pure emotion before. At least, not in this way.

Not like this.

It was almost…

“Krift,” I almost stuttered, but was able to say his name.

Mock hadn’t heard me, as his arms trembled while he continued to sob and cry. Krift however, glanced at me.

“You all right?” he asked me.

“Uh…” I hadn’t meant to say it, but Krift didn’t admonish me as I looked myself up and down. My clothes were a mess, and both of my knees had blotches of blood on them…. But otherwise. “I think so,” I said, finally.

“Good. One moment and this will be over,” Krift then said, returning his attention to the pleading man.

“No! Please!” Mock looked up, and my stomach fell nearly as far as my heart did at the sight of the man’s face. Even through the blood, and grime, I could see his desperation.

“You knew what you were getting into, messing with me,” Krift said to the man.

“I didn’t! I only knew of her! I swear… I swear!” he cried, and I shivered at the sight of him trying to grab at Krift’s legs. His mangled hands couldn’t get a grip on Krift’s loose pants.

I had to look away. I knew I had to. If I didn’t I’d break.

My eyes wouldn’t look away, so I forcefully turned around. It took several clumsy steps, but I finally turned around and instead looked behind me. Towards the bear.

The body closest to me, was still burning… but the blue fire had dwindled to tiny little flames, eating away at what had been the clothes of the man. Not too far from that body, another man was lying on top of a rock. A broken bow, and its string, lay a few feet from the body.

I couldn’t make out any signs of… obvious reasons, as to why that man had died. But I didn’t really care that I didn’t.

“No! They said nothing of… of you sir, I swear… just her… just her…” Mock’s voice echoed a little, and I realized Krift had asked a question. I hadn’t heard, or rather hadn’t processed it.

A part of me wanted to turn around, to see and hear the rest… but for some reason the rest of me wouldn’t let me. As if I’d lose something precious if I did.

Another pair of bodies, also being eaten away by tiny blue flames, was a few feet to the left of the bear. I recognized the orange pants of one of them, even though they were being burnt away. They had been the ones to stand out in front of us, originally.

That was five men. Where was…

Then I saw it.

“Oh no!” I startled at the sight, and almost tripped and fell as I hurried over to the poor creature.

Lying on its side, with the strange box and wooden platform crushed against the side of the cliff it had fallen against, the caravan bear was not moving… and also no longer a pretty yellow color.

Covered in blackness, I groaned and had to cover my nose and mouth as I finally smelled it. The smell of burnt fur, and flesh.

Tiny wisps of blue flame danced all over its body, slowly burning every strand of hair it connected with.

“Don’t touch it!” Krift’s voice stopped me from drawing too close, and I dared a glance back at him.

He was still standing in front of the pleading man, but the man…

Quickly looking away, to not see the final moments of Mock as he died, I grimaced at the sight of the burnt out gash running along the caravan bear’s side.

Running along its entire flank, was a giant cut. From its neck to the very bottom of its left calf. It was so large, and deep, that there was no doubt that it had been what killed it.

That was what I had heard. The bear hadn’t been shocked earlier, from the loud sound, but had been inflicted with this wound.

It had to have been magic…

The blue flames sure enough were spreading outward from the gash, implying that the wound had been the source of them.

Magic indeed… That must have been what also put that hole in that one man’s chest.

Had they gotten themselves mixed up in their own magic? Or had Krift somehow affected their use of it?

“You poor thing…”

Obviously it had died quickly. It was neither moving, nor breathing… and I had sat upon it long enough to know just how deeply it breathed.

“Don’t ever touch the flames. They’ll burn you too, and they can’t be put out.”

I stiffened, and stepped away from the man who had suddenly appeared next to me. I must still be on edge, to not have heard him walk up next to me. There were tiny little stones all over this place, and it made walking rather… loud…

Looking the man up and down, I was almost annoyed at how he neither had a scrape or scratch… but not even a speck of dirt or a drop of blood upon him.

For a long moment Krift allowed me to glare at him. As if he somehow knew.

“Why… why don’t you go sit over there? Let me look at your knees,” Krift said, pointing to a nearby rock.

“The… the bear died,” I said, glancing to it.

“So it did. Come on,” Krift said, and I noticed how gently he not only spoke, but grabbed me by my arm.

I let him guide me to the flat rock he had pointed at, and I noticed it was pointedly… away from the carnage. Not just from the bodies, but the bear too.

Sitting down on the rock, I felt my own heartbeat slow… and as it did I realized quite clearly that I was already calming down.

Krift calmly, and slowly, kneeled down in front of me. I noticed how blatantly he was making each of his movements… like a man trying not to scare a cornered animal.

I didn’t really feel like such a thing, but I knew I probably looked it. After all, my eyes were watery.

“I’m fine,” I said, and almost sounded convincing even to myself.

With a tiny glance, Krift nodded as he then went to examining my knees.

“They don’t look that bad, true,” he agreed. Yet even still, Krift very carefully touched my knees. First the left, then the right, to make sure I was truly indeed unharmed.

Or at least, not harmed too badly.

Watching him do so, I realized why he was being so… gentle. He probably thought I’d start crying at any moment.

“They hurt, but I should be fine,” I said to him.

With my words, Krift looked up at me. His dark eyes narrowed a little, and I wondered if he not only heard my calmness but saw it too.

I did feel awfully calm. Almost too calm.

“Must be because of how tired you are,” Krift said.

“Undoubtedly. I nearly passed out several times, just now,” I said honestly.

Krift smirked, and somehow that calmed me down even more.

“I’ll clean and bandage your knees in a moment. Your hands?” He asked, holding his own palms out for them.

I placed my hands in his, and let him look at my hands too. “Not as bad as the knees,” he said, and then with… an oddly tender slowness, lowered my hands to my lap for me.

“Well?” I asked.

“Were you hurt anywhere else? Did you hit your head when you were pulled off the bear?” he asked.

I shook my head. “My back hurts a little, from being pulled but…” I didn’t go into detail, since I knew he probably already knew.

“You fared well, all things considered,” he then said.

“They weren’t trying to kill me, after all,” I said.

“I noticed. We should be thankful for that, I think,” he said.

“Really…?”

He nodded, but said nothing more as he stood.

I too went to stand, to join him, but he waved me down. “Just sit and rest. I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Sure,” I agreed, happily… as I watched Krift walk over to the nearest body.

Although I was glad to calm down, especially so quickly, I realized the price of it. Pain began to spread, or rather become more apparent.

Oddly most of the pain I felt was in my right shoulder, which made me wonder if I had fallen on it wrongly. It was throbbing and…

There was also wetness. On my knees, and palms. A quick glance showed the blood. It wasn’t much, but enough... enough to…

A blotch of blood dripped down my palm, and into my sleeve. Normally I would have not wanted that, since it would stain, but at the moment I just…

I took a deep breath, and was glad I didn’t sob. I might later, but right now I really didn’t wish to… and…

Glancing away from my injuries, I looked to the man who had stopped worse things from happening to me. He was kneeling next to one of the bodies, the one stuck in the hole.

He looked calm, but his eyes were vivid. Studying whatever he was staring at with an intensity I hadn’t seen from him yet.

Was he angry? Upset? Concerned?

Happy to be alive?

Although… it was somewhat comforting to see him so calm, even with his eyes so alive.

If he was still this calm, even after all that, then maybe I really didn’t need to worry over our eventual journey through the Rift.

After all he had just killed six men so quickly… how long had it taken him? A few moments? I had been pulled off the bear, and then only dragged a few feet… and…

A moment of realization dawned on me as I replayed the memories in my head. Not just of the event, but afterwards.

I had counted the bodies, yet they hadn’t added up.

Where was the sixth?

Mock, the one who pleaded. Then the one with the hole in his chest… then the one in the hole itself.

Then those two not too far away. The ones still on fire.

That was only five.

Had the sixth died behind the bear? Or under it? It was the only…

Or maybe he ran away!

Krift had stood, and stepped towards the bear. And I could tell he was upset over it.

Standing, I hurriedly stepped far enough towards the other side of the cavern that I could see past the bear. To find the sixth body.

I still couldn’t.

If he ran away, then… what if he came back? With more?

“Krift…?” I got his attention, as he shook his head at the dead bear.

“Krift,” I said again.

“What?” he asked with a sigh.

“Where’s the sixth man…?” I asked, concerned.

“Dead,” Krift said, looking at me.

“Are you sure? Where’s the body…?” I asked, looking around again.

It was nowhere to be seen… I slowly spun, taking in the whole area around me.

Finally my eyes came back to Krift, who with an odd face pointed upwards.

Following his finger, my eyes ran upward… and did so for some distance. And I felt them widen as I finally saw it.

High enough that I had to crane my neck all the way back to see it, was a blotch of darkness. Up against the left cavern wall, far above the place where the men had originally been standing.

The rocks had been… burnt. Yet also broken. Cracks had emerged, all around the burnt darkness. It looked eerily similar to that one man’s chest, behind the bear. Broken open, as if struck from within.

And, impossibly, within the holes and cracks… hidden in the darkness of burnt stone, were mangled pieces of body and clothing.

“No…” I whispered, almost unable to believe it.

Yet I had to. Since a hand, still holding a broken bow, was stuck… emerging from one of the cracks.

I had to look away from the sight, since I almost tripped trying to back up as to get a better look. I had almost tripped over the rock I had just been sitting on.

Was magic really capable of that?

The man had been standing… half the height. Yet he had not only been thrown that far into the air, but then also that deeply into solid rock?

I had not known such magic existed.

What little I had heard of magic, was that it was simple. Small. Weak.

Not suited for such things.

Rumors of such magic existed, but…

I had not believed it. In fact no one did.

Yet here were the obvious results of such magic.

How had Krift done it? How had he survive… how had he made it so they were the ones who suffered and not us?

A tool? A weapon? Some technique?

I almost wished I hadn’t been the target of the men, so I would have been able to witness it.

Though if I hadn’t been… would I then have also been a target of said magic? Would I too have been… blown apart? Burnt? Cut apart?

“Let’s get you cleaned up, so we can leave,” Krift’s voice drew me out of my thoughts, and I found him walking towards me. With not just his own bag, but my own as well.

“Please,” I agreed.