Time seems to slow down as my feet carry me across the wet forest floor, the water droplets that fall from the grey angry clouds above our heads roar letting us know just how angry our captors would be, knowing they had lost their meal for the night.
I watch Arcotos closely as I run in whatever direction he takes because losing him is not an option, we need to get out of this place alive and I don't care how we will do it but all I know is I refuse to die today, not today, whatever happens, they must not catch us.
The faces of my family flash before my eyes, my heart aches with loneliness and a dire need of being in the arms of my grandmother, my sister, my cousins, my uncle and aunty, I need them in my life because without them life would have no meaning for me.
So nothing, absolutely nothing will ever make me believe they are dead because they are not, they just don't know where I am, they must think I am dead as well, so there is no way I will believe what those winter fairies told me in their castle.
This is why I must find this so-called panthom, even if she uses black magic to show me their whereabouts I don't care, the price of finding them doesn't matter as well to me.
I will do anything to see the people I love.
Once more anger surges through my veins as I recall exactly who caused this pain I feel. Sometimes I want them all dead, I don't care what their reasons may be but other times I reason that they had been led by a leader or group of leaders, so shouldn't it be the leaders to suffer instead of the people who had only been following orders?
No matter, I shouldn't stress over it too much, I must find the panthom first and then when I learn the truth I will decide what I will do.
My hands keep reaching out to push away the bushes that hit me continuously in my face, my feet are starting to ache far more than the wound on my face.
Whoever had shot that arrow had aimed to kill me but why hadn't the person shot more? Maybe they went to get back up? Or report to the rest of the tribe?
But those beings that captured us back at the castle don't look like they are capable of shooting an arrow; I doubt they are smart enough to.
The rain falls harder on us and as I look to my right I notice how Twist is behind a bit, he looks tired as if he knew I had been watching him his eyes leave the path Arcotos is making in the field of tall grasses that we had entered a little while ago and find mine.
His eyes say it all, we need to rest then we can continue tomorrow, after all, the rain would help misguide them if they are trying to follow us, it would be better to find a place to rest for the night than to have one of us collapse due to exhaustion and hunger, no one would be able to carry anyone under this conditions.
We had been running for long enough, I don't even know if we are still in Pohjola or we are outside of our land but no matter, it is not the issue we need to face now.
We need a secluded area to rest and I don't think climbing trees will help our case that is if we would have the strength to, not to talk of how slippery they would be due to the rain.
It's as though fate decided to listen to the thoughts I had been silently pondering on because we all hear a loud thump which causes everyone to come to an immediate halt, Arcotos stops and begins to jog back to where I and Twist look over Dion's fallen body.
"What happened?" I manage to wheeze out but I am unsure if he heard my inquisition.
"Tripped. Tree. Fell." Those are the words he manages to say as a reply to my question. But I think he's trying to tell us that he tripped over the fallen tree, I believe he had been trying to jump over.
Neither of us makes a move to help him because we are trying to catch our breaths with our hands on our knees bent over with our lungs continuously screaming for air.
Now that we have stopped, the exhaustion hits me with full force and I fall backwards and land on my buttocks on the wet forest floor with the rain still falling heavily on us and I don't think it's stopping anytime soon.
I close my eyes and breath as much air as my lungs can, my body hurts everywhere, I am not used to running for this long, I may spend most of my time in the woods but I hardly ever run like this.
Worse more I had eaten no food and I am bloody thirsty, without much thought I lift my face towards the roaring sky and open my lips wide so rain could fall into my mouth but it doesn't seem to be enough because little to nothing gets into my mouth and some slide down my nose causing me to cough.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." I wave off Dion's concern.
A fruitless attempt of stealing from one of nature's resources is what I would call it.
My chests still lift and drop rapidly but not as hard as when I first came to a halt, I look to see Dion sitting with his back resting against a fallen tree next to Twist who had his head lowered onto his crossed arms that rests on his bent knees.
There's no way we can run again and we can't stay in the rain either, climbing the trees for safety as we did the other day is not an option it would be slippery and we are much too tired to do that anyway.
So I tell them what seems to be the most reasonable thing to do at the moment, "Let's find a cave to rest for the night, I highly doubt they would be able to track us under this weather."
I watch as they all nod their heads to affirm my suggestion, they rise to their feet and I follow in their footsteps. We look around us to see if we can see anything that could let us know a cave would be nearby.
Up ahead towards the left I see what looks to be the opening of a cave where a very small mountain lies, well thank goodness our luck hasn't run out yet.
"Up ahead! I think I see something!" With excitement in my voice I point my finger in the direction I believe the cave is, I just really hope it's safe and no wild animals would be in there.
We begin to walk in that direction with Twist leading the way, it doesn't take us long to reach a little clearing that leads to what looks to be a small cave. Well, I am glad I spent a lot of time in the forest because it has finally paid off rewarding me with a little navigation skill.
As if something entered us all, we take off running to what we would consider safe, when we get there it provides the shelter we so desperately need.
It is dark in here and a bit cold but it is better than being out there tied to a tree about to be eaten.
"I can't believe we made it out alive."
"Me too Twist, me too." I watch as Dion sits on the rocky floor of the cave and Twist follows suit.
I however for some unknown reason keep standing, I feel safe but I don't know why I am still at unease, even Arcotos is curled up on the floor already dozing off.
"Aadya!"
"Huh!" I had no idea that I had been lost in my thoughts for a moment there and hadn't heard him calling me.
"Please rest, we are safe now thanks to your quick thinking."
I nod my head to acknowledge Dion's statement, by his side resting against the rocky wall of the small dark cave is Twist who had already taken a trip to dreamland.
Since we got here we had all been awfully quiet, I am sure it is because our minds are filled with thoughts like mine. And now Twist and Arcotos had already fallen asleep, they must be beyond exhausted.
This leaves I and Dion being the only ones awake, the realization of this creates tension between us, I do my best to ignore it and sit on the other end of the cave away from him and the others.
It's dark in here and it is very difficult to see anything but dark figures or make out the content of this small cave, suddenly the cave is lit up and filled with light for a second by lightning and soon after there's a rumble in the sky that shakes the cave.
Thunder, I smile. The storm had never frightened me since I was a little wolfgirl, it had always brought a sense of peace to me and this time isn't different.
Arcotos shakes out of his slumber, I presume he is scared as always, he crawls towards me till he has his head on my thighs, my hand combs through his thick white fur that's not only soaked but covered in mud as well, this causes his fur to lack its smooth texture and that makes me feel sad. He has been through so much and not once has he left me to thrive on my own. He is all I have left of my home.
My sweet canis, I bend over to place a little kiss on his head "Thank you Arcotos, none of this would have been possible without you." I whisper in his ear, he whines as a response which causes my lips to pull back into a smile.
He really has saved us, if it weren't for him we'd all be dead by now.
The stinging feeling that I have been doing my best to ignore becomes more pronounced maybe because I am no longer in danger and the thrill of survival is quickly diminishing.
Which brings me back to the thought, who shot that arrow? Did the being want us dead? And why didn't they shoot more at us?
What do we do now? When we wake up in the morning where do we go next? And how do we survive without food? How will Twist get back home?
These thoughts keep swirling my mind as I take notice of the cool air that send chills down my spine, I hope I don't catch a cold because that is the last thing I need right now.
Sleep comes easily to me as I shut my eyes.
Suddenly, I feel something sharp against my throat, the shock of having a cold blade to my throat scares me out of my slumber with a frightful sound about to leap out of my lips but it is cut short by the intruder who has his or her hand against my lips.
As if on cue, lightning strikes once more and for a second the cave is lit with light which gives me enough time to see that the intruder has a cloth over his head and face.
I saw a scar running across his eyes from his forehead but then disappear under the brown cloth that covers his mouth and nose.
For some reason, I don't feel afraid of this male, whoever he may be I know he won't kill me because if he wanted to do that he would have done so since he already has me in a fetal position with his blade against my throat, just one move of his hand he could have me bleeding to my death yet he does nothing but watch me intensely.
Slowly I raise both my hands in a form of surrender, a few seconds pass by then he lets me go completely and immediately I feel a fist fly into my face making my head jerk backwards and hit the rocky wall behind me.
It's already very dark in the cave but at least I could make out some figures that look like Arcotos tied down on the floor but soon my vision is clouded by black spots and then I lose consciousness with one thought in mind, not again.