Stolen Light

by V. R. Janis

  “Oh. Well, your little friend will not get far and she’ll be sorry when we catch her. Just like you’re going to be sorry.”

  He reached out and smacked me across the face. “That’s just a taste; later you’ll get the whole meal.”

  I hoped Jan knew how to run and hide. I hoped they would never find her; I would be willing to take their anger if I knew she were free. I curled into a ball and waited to see. I slept, and was surprised when I was awakened by shouting. Apparently, they had not found her and had lost her trail at a river. I wondered in which direction she had gone.

  Hanyetuwi came to stand over me and I smiled at him. I knew I was in for more pain, but I was happy anyway. I was already in pain and I was willing to pay for Jan.

  I turned my head and screamed as I met eyes I did not expect. “Why do you have my cousin? Let him go!”

  “You foolish girl, who do you think helped us succeed in our plan?”

  I stared in my cousin’s eyes and saw confirmation there. “Why? Why would you do this, Wagnuka?”

  His stare pierced my soul with hatred. “I wanted you to suffer and Great Tree to suffer. I’m tired of never being good enough.”

  I shook my head, as tears streamed down my face. “I don’t understand.”

  My cousin glared at me. “Oh, and your secret is no longer a secret; they know what you can do. Everything you can do.

  “Now I’m done talking, cousin. Wasn’t there something you wanted to do, Hanyetuwi?”

  Hanyetuwi grinned at me as Wagnuka turned his back on me. “Yes, yes there was. A lesson to be taught.”

  He and a couple of his goons punched and kicked me until I blacked out. I remembered some of the men holding Wi and our eyes meeting before the blackness narrowed to nothing.

  I woke again in unbearable pain and knew they had broken my ribs again. One of my hands was broken from trying to protect my face. I think the rest of my pain was from bruises.

  My mind was reeling. I could not believe the person I had seen yesterday was the cousin I had grown up with. That monster was no family of mine. He wanted to watch my pain from a distance, without getting his hands dirty. That man was nothing but a coward. He would pay for this, in one way or another.

  I tried to wipe away the tears that his betrayal had brought on. That was when I noticed that I was sitting and my hands and feet were chained to my chair. No wonder I woke in such pain.

  I felt someone near me, and for a second I feared they had found Jan. I turned my head and saw the top of a head leaning against the wall next to my chair. The person reached with an outstretched hand to touch my arm and I knew it was Wi.

  My throat was dry but I managed to croak, “Why are you here?”

  “To watch over you. I couldn’t stop them completely, but I ended it before they could really do a lot of damage. The only problem is the compromise, which was that you were placed in the chair.”

  “I told you not to make promises. Leave me alone.”

  “You can go if you want. I will stay where I am. I am kind of comfortable at the moment.”

  I laughed and then winced in pain. I glared at him.

  “I want ihpe’ya.”

  “I know, and as soon as Hanyetuwi gets his gold, you can.”

  “I am sitting beside you and yet I am utterly alone.”

  “You are not alone.”

  “Go away, I am done talking.”

  I turned my head toward the wall and started to count cracks in the stone and the tears that slid down my face. This was the most I had ever cried. Wi sat beside me and rubbed my arm. He sent some of his energy into me through his fingers. I sent it into my ribs, and was finally able to take a deep breath.

  I leaned toward him and whispered, “Thank you.”

  His whispers sent longing into my heart. “You’re welcome and I am so sorry.”

  “Sorry doesn’t change anything, no matter how many times you think you need to say it.”

  “Okay, I will stop if you want me to.”

  “Please do.”

  “Fine,” he huffed.

  I let a small smile fall on my lips. “Thank you for making this a little easier to bear.”

  He looked up at me with half lidded eyes. “I try.”

  I let my eyes close with my head still angled toward him. I could not easily fall asleep in this uncomfortable chair, but I could try to rest and gain my strength.

  He did not leave my side and eventually I

  think we both drifted to sleep.

  CHAPTER 10

  I woke to an unexpected sight. I was alone, lying next to a tub of water and there was a screen around me. My hands were untied. The heat rising from the water made me sigh in bliss.

  I heard a whisper from the other side of the screen. “You’d better hurry; they didn’t like the bath idea to begin with.”

  I stripped out of my clothing, but left my undergarments on. These men had given me no cause to trust them. I unbraided my hair and washed weeks of grime from it. By the time I was finished my arms hurt. I stole a little energy from the wood of the screen and dried my undergarments, then washed my outer garments in the tub and dried them too.

  I sat cross-legged and tried to take the knots out of my hair with my fingers. Finally I sighed and said, “I'm finished.”

  A gruff voice that was becoming very familiar grated on my nerves, making me agitated. “About time too. I was about to come and fish you out.”

  Some of the men hauled the screen and tub away. I stood pressed against the wall, out of the way.

  Hanyetuwi’s rough voice sounded again. “Well hello, beautiful. I had forgotten how pretty you were without grime and bruises covering you from head to toe. Want to come sit next to me and enjoy a meal?”

  “No, thanks.”

  Wi came over with a brush and handed it to me. “Here, try this.”

  I smiled at Wi. “Thank you.”

  I noticed the glare that Hanyetuwi gave the two of us. He seemed to focus most of his heated looks on his brother, though. Wi seemed not to notice or care, and was still watching me.

  I ran the brush through my hair, section by section. My hair reached down past my knees when it was loose; I had not been allowed to cut it since I was born. My father used to say if stations were determined by hair, then I was definitely a princess. Then he started calling me his “fairy princess,” his affectionate habit since I was very small.

  Hanyetuwi glowered at me. “All right, that’s enough. Back into your chair. Now!”

  He hollered in my face when I didn’t move fast enough. He shoved me in the general direction of the chair and then left the building.

  I knew my father was coming. I could almost feel him getting closer and closer every day. I prayed it would happen soon—before something worse happened.

  I think that Wagnuka knew my father was coming too. He paced, his eyes darting to me every few minutes, but there was no hatred in them now. Fear shone clearly in his eyes and he seemed to be begging me for something, maybe pity. He started to rant, but I could not catch his words because he stayed on the other side of the room.

  The men were acting oddly and paced all day. They let Wi move my chair from the corner to the window but I still had to sit in it.

  The men spoke to me in nicer tones. They let Wi give me extra fruit. They even let me get up after a while and walk around. I didn’t understand what had happened to make them change the way they treated me.

  The heavy clouds that had made it dark in the cabin finally opened up in a downpour. I paced the room, restless. I loved the rain, but I hated it too. With the ground soaked through there was little chance of escape. But maybe there was, I thought. I could use the rain to my advantage, but they wouldn’t let me leave the room.

  The smell of rain was driving me nearly to distraction—I loved it. I went to the door for the third time in an hour and slammed into a solid wall of chest. I looked up into hard, glittering silver eyes that flashed with annoyance. Hanyetuwi shook h
is head slightly, put his hands on my shoulders and spun me back to the room.

  “Girl, you are trying my patience. I have had enough of you.”

  He hustled me quickly back toward the window. He leaned down and chained my feet to the chair. He reached around me to chain my hands, but I wouldn’t cooperate.

  Wi stepped up. “Just let her hands be free, Hanyetuwi. She won’t go anywhere with her feet chained.”

  Hanyetuwi huffed in frustration, but stalked away from me. I had to look at the positive side or I would go crazy. At least my hands were not chained. And Hanyetuwi was across the room.

  I opened the window slightly and leaned my head out; the smell of so many bodies in one small room could be a bit overwhelming. The woodstove added to the heat of the people, making the room stifling. The air was muggy outside, but at least it smelled better.

  Eventually the room was emptied out by Hanyetuwi’s yelling at everyone. The only things left in the room besides me, Wagnuka, Wi and Hanyetuwi were everyone’s bedrolls, rolled against the walls, the woodstove and, of course, that one bedamned chair.

  I stretched my head out the window as far as I could. One of Hanyetuwi’s men blocked the view—not that I could see anything past the downpour. I would have pitied him for standing in the rain, but I envied him too much.

  I leaned further out to touch the raindrops and caught a glare from the guard outside, who spun at the sound of my chained feet. I shifted back in the window, but refused to close it.

  Earlier I had wished that my cousin would leave the cabin with the other men because his muttering was giving me a headache. Now his grumbling seemed closer than before and I looked at him. His gaze focused on me, but the look in his eyes made me nervous. I tried to shift on my chair but there was nowhere to go.

  A scream tore out of my cousin’s mouth as he ran at me, a knife in his hand. He jabbed, aiming for my throat, but I twisted away at the last second and the knife sank into my shoulder. I screamed in pain but tried to lift my arms to defend myself.

  Hanyetuwi yanked Wagnuka away from me and threw him across the room. I stared at Hanyetuwi in shock and then looked at my cousin as the rest of the men came running in.

  Hanyetuwi shouted, “Someone kill him, NOW!”

  One of the men stabbed Wagnuka with his sword just as I screamed, “NO!” Wagnuka looked over at me and whispered something, but then his head lolled back and the men dragged him out the door.

  I tried to stand, but the chains prevented it. The knife in my shoulder moved and made me whimper and sit back down.

  Wi came over to me and removed the knife, then put his hand over my wound. Blood was soaking my shirt at a fast pace.

  “Get me a branch from outside,” Wi shouted. “And hurry!”

  One of the men ran to get a large live branch. Wi laid it in my hand and I took all the power I could get from it. I healed my wound and slowly gained some strength. Wi pulled the branch away and handed it off. I stared at the brothers and wondered at their behavior.

  I was surprised that Hanyetuwi had defended me so swiftly and harshly. Apparently he was the only one who could hurt me or give the orders to do so.

  Someone wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and I pulled it close as I slumped against the chair. I turned and smiled at Wi. I leaned toward the window and sat for minutes or hours—I don’t know how long, because I lost track of time. I was sad about my cousin, but I honestly didn’t know what to think about everything that was happening to me.

  We seemed to have created a cycle after that: window, bed, and bath. For days or hours, I didn’t know or feel the need to care anymore.

  On a colder day I was sitting in the chair again next to the window. I shivered. It was my habit to tolerate as much of the cold as I could and try to enjoy looking at something other than the people in the room, but just sitting at the window for a few minutes had sapped all my strength and warmth. I didn’t want to close the window, but knew that one of them would come soon to slam it shut.

  I was a little bit stronger than the day before, but Hanyetuwi seemed to understand that. He had a sixth sense that knew when I was strong enough to run, and he had the men beat the strength from my limbs. This seemed part of the cycle too, a part that I would love to forget, a part I wished would not happen. My wishes usually went unanswered, though. I knew the men would take my strength tonight or tomorrow at the latest. They would not risk losing their forsaken prize.

  I was scared, but I could feel the earth feeding me strength through a small tree branch I had found in a crack in the floor near the tub during my last bath. I had lost count of the days I had been in the cabin, but I was getting cabin fever. This very night I would let go of my fear and make a change in my situation, for better or worse. I would have be careful and not let my anxiousness get the best of me.

  I figured I should rest and save the small amount of strength I had gained. I reached over and closed the window and leaned back in my chair, exhausted. Everyone stared at me.

  There were six men inside and double that outside surrounding the cabin. I studied them as they took shifts guarding outside. There were only two who did not take part in guarding outside, Wi and Hanyetuwi.

  I had been trapped here hoping for a rescue that was never coming. My family would be frantic by now. I had felt my father close a long while ago, but now I felt utterly alone.

  I studied Wi as I sat in my chair. He was taller than Hanyetuwi by a hand and broader by two. His tanned skin and dark brown hair were in contrast to all the other men except his brother. His golden eyes were kind, but he did not stop the others, especially his brother. However, the kindness of giving me access to the window was his doing. The shackles around my ankles were his brother’s kindness.

  I watched Hanyetuwi under my lashes, but he had an uncanny way of knowing when I looked at him. He always met my gaze with a hard, amused glint in his eyes. His skin was closer to my own tan coloring than to his brother’s darker shade. His long black hair was pulled back in a clasp at the nape of his neck. His silver eyes flashed to my face and I feigned sleep. He let a hard smile grace his face before turning away.

  The brothers were meeting yet again, trying to decide what to do with me. I grew worried as their voices gained in strength and volume. Usually they did not show this disunity in front of the others. Everyone could feel the strain in their relationship. Today seemed a day of drastic actions.

  “We should just let her go,” Wi huffed. “This is turning into a greater ordeal than you planned. Her father is getting closer and if he catches us, we are doomed.”

  “Don’t be so dramatic, little brother. I have been setting up something and we will put it into action tonight. We leave on a…. Hold on.”

  He walked over to me and leaned in. “I thought you were trying to sleep, not eavesdrop. You know that is very rude.”

  I started to say, “Sor—” but he reached out and hit me over the head.

  CHAPTER 11

  I was getting sick of being hit over the head. My stomach and my head were rolling so I grabbed my head and pressed. It felt like I was holding it together when all it wanted to do was split apart. I opened my eyes a crack and spied golden eyes staring back in a darkened space. This did not look like the cabin.

  “Your brother must get a kick out of hitting me on the head. Dang, I feel unsteady now.”

  “I think you feel unsteady because we are on a ship. We have been sailing for three days. I was beginning to worry.”

  “Oh, thanks for the concern. I appreciate it.” My throat was dry and it ruined the sarcasm that I was trying for.

  “Well, I could leave you all alone down here or you can come with me on the deck.”

  “Deck, please.” I could not keep the desperation out of my voice.

  “I have to carry you. My brother found the branch you had. He doesn't want you getting energy from the deck. You are to have a guard with you always, so you don’t touch any wood.

  “I had to promise h
im I would not let it happen so I could remain here with you.”

  “Gee, thanks. I don’t even have enough energy to heal my pounding head. Maybe I should just stay here.”

  “I promised him I would not let you touch wood.” As he said this he laid his fingertips to my temples. “I said nothing about not touching you and sharing my own energy. I am elf enough to do that.”

  “An elf?! How can an elf be this cruel?”

  “I have done my best to protect you. I have not done anything cruel to you. My brother, on the other hand, has a bad side when it comes to you. I have never seen him this out of control.”

  “I never had enough time to study your brother to even guess he had a sweet side. At least not before being hit over the head.”

  “Yeah, well, my brother doesn’t trust you.”

  “The feeling is mutual.”

  “Shall I carry you on deck or do you still want to stay here?”

  “Deck.”

  He lifted me out of the swaying hammock and carried me easily up the stairs and out into the air. We were heading north; I knew that before the air really hit me. I knew we weren’t near the northern ice caps yet, but the cold air gave our direction away. Where were we going?

  There was a slab of stone in the middle of the deck, and this is what Wi set me on.

  “Your own personal island in the sea. You can’t leave this for any reason unless one of us carries you. Do you understand?”

  I nodded, knowing they wanted me weak. I stayed on deck for an hour, staring out at the endless water. The wind and cold sapped my strength, so I waved Wi over. I didn’t want any of the others touching me.

  “I need to go below. I have no more energy.”

  Wi lifted me in his arms and I looked back at his brother. Hanyetuwi’s silver eyes met mine and he grinned. He seemed to get joy out of seeing me weak. But when his eyes moved to his brother, he glared and frowned.

  His actions confused me. One minute he was protecting me and the next he was being cruel.

  I wondered what that glare meant.