Snatched

by Vijaya Schartz

  The smoke that stung his eyes would slow the citizens. If he hurried, Svend would catch up with them soon. But the fire approached dangerously. He could see flames through the smoke and feel the heat closing in.

  Svend’s survival instincts told him to double back, but he couldn’t abandon the people he’d come to save. He had to press on. The inferno swelled around him, and the morning breeze fanned the flames.

  People screamed ahead. Svend ran faster.

  Out of the blinding smoke came the trunk of a falling tree looming overhead. In his haste to get out of the way, Svend stumbled on a root. The tree dropped upon him seemingly forever. The branches snapped in loud, sinister cracks. Then a heavy thump shook the ground.

  The searing pain in his leg jolted Svend. He cried out and attempted to free his leg trapped under the monstrous trunk. But his head swam with the pain. Soon, the smoky jungle around him turned black as he drifted into oblivion.

  Zania!

  *****

  Svend? Zania heard him call her name and stopped distributing fruit rations to look around. But as she leaned on her makeshift crutch and turned around to scan the camp, she couldn’t see his blond hair or tall silhouette anywhere. Had she imagined his voice?

  She gazed upon the smoky jungle. Where was he? The breeze kept the smoke away from the camp, but for how long?

  Favoring her tightly bandaged thigh, Zania resumed feeding the citizens who had returned to camp. Each minute brought more of them to the clearing, but of the five thousand, barely half had returned. It was late morning, and the sun approached its zenith. Soon it would be too late to start on the road again.

  Zania turned to Gray, who also served the meal. "We may have to spend another night here."

  "One more night is all we can afford." Gray’s lined forehead creased deeper. "We’ll run out of supplies soon. When that happens, we’ll need to hunt and gather fruit for the rest of the journey.

  "We’ll manage." Zania welcomed the delay. It would give Svend more time to rejoin the camp.

  Gray rose a questioning brow. "Dakini has not returned," he said, matter-of-fact.

  "Nor will she." Zania hoped the finality in her tone would give Gray his answer.

  Gray cleared his throat and pointed at the queen’s labrys on Zania’s belt. "This weapon wears Dakini’s symbol. You killed her?"

  "What if I did?" Zania wasn’t that familiar with tribal law. There could be retribution. She noticed two Amazons standing close by, listening on the conversation with growing interest. One short and skinny looked Asian, and the other was tall and strong, almost like a man.

  "That would make you the new queen of the Amazons." Gray offered a half smile. "The Gorgon might not like it, though. And she has the right to challenge your crown."

  Had Dakini told the truth? Did killing her really made Zania queen? "I wouldn’t worry about the Gorgon either."

  Gray scratched his grizzled beard then exulted in a belly laugh. "Good! Then I welcome you as the new uncontested queen of the Amazons." He performed a respectful bow. "I’ll enjoy working with you."

  The listening Amazons glanced at each other then smiled and ran away, to spread the news, no doubt.

  Zania didn’t mention Svend, who had not returned. Neither did Gray.

  A group of returnees had reported talking to him hours ago, several kliks away. No one had seen him since. He should have been back by now. Tendrils of cold dread snaked through Zania at the thought that something might have happened to him. What could possibly hold him back? It wasn’t like Svend to let his friends worry about him. He was always so reliable.

  Then Zania remembered hearing his voice. Could he have called out to her? Her heart beat faster at the thought that he might be in danger, calling for help. Zania couldn’t keep her peace anymore. "I have to go look for Svend."

  Gray gestured to her crutch and bandaged leg. "The doctor said you must rest. You are under strong pain medication and you lost too much blood."

  "That never stopped me before." Zania had always relied on her strength, but at the moment she felt weak and light-headed.

  Gray shook his head adamantly. "We need you here. The traders killed the Centurion chieftain, and we are short on leaders. Besides, our best Vikings are already looking for Svend." Gray scratched his head. "I know it must be difficult for you, but you’ll have to learn to trust the tribes... They are your people now."

  Trust! How could Zania trust anyone with Svend’s life? She couldn’t help but think that if she’d not gone after Dakini, Svend would be safe with her. But she’d done what she deemed necessary at the time. Now she doubted her decision.

  Zania hated waiting. But in her condition, that’s all she could do while others scoured the jungle in search of Svend. Fear gripped her insides. What if the warriors didn’t find him? Worse, what if they found him dead?

  Chapter Eighteen

  As evening descended upon the encampment, the volcano to the east glowed ominously inside the containment shield. Zania helped stoke the fires despite her crutch. When a team of Vikings straggled in, her heart beat faster for a few seconds. Svend wasn’t among them. From the men’s sagging posture, Zania could tell not only were they exhausted, but their mission had failed.

  Nevertheless, she limped toward them as fast as she could. "What did you find out?"

  One tall red-haired Viking, his eyes white in a soot-streaked face, sighed dejectedly. It was Svend’s right arm, Red. "We tracked Svend to the area the citizens described. But that whole sector is now ablaze."

  "So you stopped?" Zania couldn’t believe they gave up because of fire. She would have pushed forward. Why didn’t they?

  "You don’t understand." Red cleared his throat. "The flames tower above the trees. With the fire all around us, we barely escaped with our lives. If he is trapped in the middle of that inferno..."

  Zania gazed up in the distance to the south. An ominous orange glow bathed the top of the trees. The smoke blotted the stars. Svend was in that fire? Her heart twisted at the thought. Aries, god of war, watch over this worthy Viking.

  "Even after the fire abates, which could take days or even weeks, we’ll never find his body. The fire reduces everything to ash." Red shook his head. "May the Valkyries lead him to Valhalla. He deserves a hero’s paradise. He saved so many lives..." His shoulders sagged as he walked away.

  Zania wanted to scream but controlled her rage. Svend couldn’t be dead. In the morning, she would go look for him herself. The hell with the citizens of Dagora. Svend mattered more to her than anything or anyone. She’d never left a soldier behind. If the conditions were reversed, Svend would keep looking for her.

  Gray approached Zania and squeezed her shoulder gently. "Don’t even think about it."

  Zania’s throat constricted with frustration. "Why not? I have the right to look for my man, don’t I?"

  "It’s useless." Gray motioned toward the faraway glow. "Besides even if he is still alive out there, he won’t survive the night."

  "That’s a rotten thing to say." Zania couldn’t help the sharp retort. "I refuse to listen to such predictions."

  "We’ve lost half of the citizens already, and over twenty warriors." Gray looked tired in the flickering light of the fires encircling the camp. "You are indispensable. I can’t lead these people by myself. Without Svend, without Dakini, and since the traders killed the head Centurion, it’s just you and me, now. You must help us."

  Although she understood the logic of Gray’s reasoning, Zania couldn’t accept it. "How can the exodus go on without the man who planned it all? Do you even know where to go?"

  Gray nodded. "I have the maps and the instruments. The citizens evacuated by shuttle are waiting for us in the ruined city of Amadir by the Sea. If we don’t reach them before their rations run out, they’ll die, too. They can’t survive without our help."

  "Where are the shuttles? The citizens they transported should be settled by now. Why aren’t the pilots coming back for our women and child
ren?" Zania didn’t mention that a shuttle could also search for Svend.

  "We lost contact during the eruption. We don’t know what happened. They may have their own problems. If anything breaks down, they may not be able to repair." Gray’s eyes softened. "They know our route. If they are able, they’ll come looking for us, but we should not rely on them."

  Zania heard the words, but their meaning escaped her. She could only think of Svend, alone in the wild, surrounded by fire, possibly hurt. "I can’t abandon Svend."

  Gray sighed and his shoulders drooped. "The sooner you accept the truth and let go of him, the better it will be for you and everyone else."

  "Until I see his body, I refuse to believe Svend is dead!" Just saying the words turned her insides to stone.

  Gray’s heavy frame straightened and his voice rang like steel. "You made a commitment to these people. You promised you would lead them to safety. Has your word no value?"

  A sword point in her chest couldn’t have hurt Zania more. She willed the tears to retreat from her eyes and took a calming breath. "I always keep my word. I’m a warrior."

  "Good." Gray offered a timid smile. "Then we all leave together at dawn."

  Zania nodded with a heavy heart. She hoped that somehow, Svend would find his way back to the camp before dawn.

  Gray squeezed her arm. "I’ll send the doctor. You are exempt of guard duty tonight." He turned and walked away.

  The doctor came and changed Zania’s dressing. Then he pulled a few pills out of a small metal container. "Here." He handed them to Zania. "For the pain."

  Zania swallowed the pills on a dry throat as the doctor left.

  An Amazon carrying a blanket had been waiting for Zania a short distance away. She approached Zania and bowed. She handed her the blanket. "For our new queen."

  "Thank you." Zania bowed back and took the new blanket. It felt soft and light under her fingers, more luxurious than the old one. "What did you do with my old blanket?"

  "We burnt it, my queen, as tradition demands." The tall Amazon smiled, turned around and left.

  Zania wrapped herself in the blanket, noticing the large letter Z sewn on it with white cloth, along with a small red symbol. The same symbol stamped on Dakini’s labrys. The symbol of the Amazon queen. Zania thought of Morrigan and Grayson who had lost their lives, but her mind invariably returned to Svend.

  As hard as she tried to remain awake and think, Zania felt the inexorable advance of sleep quickly gaining upon her. Then she realized that the pills must have been more than pain killers. She’d been drugged. Gray wasn’t taking any chances of her going after Svend. Smart man. Unable to focus anymore, Zania sank into nothingness.

  *****

  When Svend opened his eyes, he shielded his face from the heat with one arm. He lay on the ground, face up, in the midst of a raging inferno. All around him the forest burned brightly. The fire seemed alive, breathing and roaring like a mythological monster. Spiky flames rose to engulf a wide tulip tree, then the behemoth toppled, moaning and cracking, shaking the earth as it fell, dangerously close.

  Thick smoke obscured the sky. Svend couldn’t tell whether it was day or night. His attempt to get up only prompted intense pain in his left flank. His left leg disappeared under a giant trunk, and he couldn’t feel it. Worse, the trunk started to ignite where it touched the branches of the flaming tulip tree, only eight paces from where Svend lay.

  Dread rushed through his veins.

  Desperate to get out of this predicament, Svend stretched one arm to grab his axe, but it had dropped just out of reach. Worse, the very motion brought excruciating pain to his ribs. Ignoring the stabs, he snapped a small branch from a bush and used it to nudge the axe closer, until he could reach it and grab the handle.

  Lying on his back, he had little range of movement to wield the heavy weapon, and the pain in his chest stabbed harder, but he had to try something, no matter how futile. He couldn’t just lie here and die. The trunk was too massive to cut. Svend would have to dig the earth underneath. But as he tried, in his position facing up, even with the axe, he couldn’t reach under himself.

  Using the handle as a lever, Svend attempted to lift the heavy trunk. He prayed as he exhausted his strength against the weapon, pushing with all his might, wincing against the pain in his chest. Just an inch might free him. But the tree didn’t budge.

  In last resort Svend would have to carve chunks of wood around his trapped leg. Hopefully, he could free himself from the clutches of the tree without amputating himself, before the fire reached and consumed him. With the strength of desperation, holding the axe at half shaft, Svend attacked the wood, carefully carving the trunk without cutting into his own flesh.

  He sweated profusely from the searing heat and from the effort. His head swirled and throbbed with each blow. Each breath hurt, and he choked on the smoke. He tore a patch of lining from his leather vest and tied it across his mouth and nose. Bracing himself against the pain, he went on chopping at the object of his predicament.

  As he found his rhythm, a diehard trance took hold of him. He became a mad man, a hacking machine without thought, without name, intent only on survival. Svend was good at survival. And he had to survive if he ever wanted to see Zania again.

  *****

  "Wake up. It’s time."

  A hand shook Zania’s shoulder. Groggy from the medicine, she reached for the sword but not fast enough to draw. Then she opened her eyes and recognized Gray standing above her. She winced at the pain in her thigh. "Many have died waking me up that way."

  "I know." Gray smiled. "But you have enough barbiturate in you to knock out a horse."

  "I wish I had a horse." Zania struggled to stand with the help of her crutch.

  "I have better than that." Gray indicated an antigravity plate floating a few meters away. "Your transportation awaits."

  "Don’t we need those for the supplies?" Zania would be damned if she behaved like a spoiled brat while others marched the long haul.

  "Our supplies are depleted and the caravan is reduced. We now have extra antigravity plates to transport the children and the invalid."

  Zania hated to be thrown in that lot. "I can walk."

  Gray shrugged. "Your choice. But the plate goes with you, as well as the doctor. And when you can’t keep up anymore, you get on it. Understood?"

  Zania didn’t intend to get on the damned plate, no matter what. She had her pride. Besides, she’d survived worse wounds during the sand demon wars. But it was the original Zania who had suffered those wounds. Not her.

  Gray pointed to the volcano across the vale. "We have to hurry."

  When Zania followed his gaze, she realized the shields had doubled in volume overnight. The glowing firestorm of lava and ashes writhed inside the deformed dome like a monstrous serpent, twice as large as the previous day.

  Looking around camp, Zania realized it had already folded, and the column was ready to depart.

  Gray handed her a piece of fruit. "You come with me at the head of the column."

  Giving the antigravity plate a dubious look, Zania hooked her sword to her belt, adjusted her weight between her good leg and the crutch and followed Gray to the head of the caravan. She’d be damned if she’d use the lazy contraption.

  Gray, his mate Raven, and Red the Viking slashed away the vegetation hindering the old broken road.

  Gray glanced back at Zania. "This road leads straight to the ruined city of Amadir by the Sea."

  Zania wished she could help clear the road, but she had enough problems just keeping up with the pace of the march. Each step required a conscious effort. Her vision blurred slightly, and she couldn’t think straight, probably due to all the drugs in her system. So she focused solely on walking.

  "Watch out!" Gray yelled. He turned to the caravan and gestured adamantly for them to get back. "Quickly! Run!"

  Zania peered through the foliage to figure out what had prompted the emergency turnabout. The answer came in the form of a
rumbling roar. The ground shook as a long fissure opened, blocking the path. The gap expanded. At the bottom of the rift, swift, incandescent lava glowed white as it rushed by, sending up sizzling blasts of heated gas.

  "Run, run!" Gray herded the column back with frantic gestures.

  The end of the caravan still advanced, bumping into the front lines in an accordion, creating chaos, preventing those who fled from escaping. When understanding finally filtered down the column, cries of panic propelled the citizens back the way they came, on the segment of cleared road they’d just traveled.

  The edges of the chasm crumbled into the molten flow as the earth opened wide. The rims of the rift collapsed faster than the citizens could run, gaining on the caravan.

  "Hurry!" Gray urged as he rushed ahead.

  Zania limped along on her crutch as fast as she could, encouraging the others to follow. But the enlarging cleft full of roiling magma claimed the road behind them faster than they fled. Only a few meters of road remained between their running steps and the widening abyss. The heat of the liquid inferno already scorched the back of Zania’s legs.

  The narrow path of the cleared road became a handicap as those who ran faster jostled the slower ones in front of them. The thick jungle on each side didn’t allow them to spread out. Many fell and were trampled. Others, winded, lagged behind.

  The heat from the roaring lake of molten lava behind her urged Zania to hobble faster on her crutch. Frantic citizens collided with antigravity plates, spilling the supplies and tripping over them. A child fell from a plate in front of Zania.

  Despite the crutch, Zania snatched the boy, tucked him under her arm, and raced as best she could. She didn’t look back, only forged ahead. Screams of terror and pain reached her ears. She knew people were falling into the glowing lake. She couldn’t save them, but she could save this child.

  Zania threw away the crutch and fled breathlessly, encouraging those beside her. Soon, she couldn’t feel the superheated air at her back. Had the fissure receded? She dared to glance back.