What sweets did you bring, candied fruit? I guess that will do. Now you wish to know what happened next? Why pain of course.
Falra tried to lay out the trap as was planned but the watcher never came. She made a show of walking into town alone, yet nothing. No matter how often she tried to appear alone, they always knew she was not. This was becoming more of a problem. She could feel the “Master’s” very breath on her skin, she knew he was close, yet none approached. It would be left up to her to see to his end. She had Jinta, her winter lynx and she now had a plan.
One night Falra slipped from the eyes of her protectors. It was easy when you knew how to mix herbs that would cause a person to sleep a type of slumber that held onto a person for hours. When she cooked dinner that night, she slipped the herbs into the soup and served it. They all ate what was set before them and soon drifted off into a deep sleep. As Ayla and the guard slept, she changed into a new dress. One that would allow for the concealment that she required. Instead of strapping a dagger to her thigh as she had always done, she took one of her medical knives and attached it to the inside of her arm. It was attached in such a way that when it was pulled it would cut through the thong holding it, but also cut a gash into her forearm. All was set, now all she needed do was find the man set to watching over her. This took some time, he followed but did not approach, not till she entered the silent woods.
About a mile into the woods, a man walked out in front of her, halting her in her tracks. She could easily read the signs the man showed her in the dim light of the lantern she carried. He was the one she looked for. In one fluid motion she blew out the light and drew the dagger from her sleeve. The cut was deeper than she had anticipated, she hoped she would not run out of blood before she was brought to the “Master.” Allowing the dagger to be easily knocked from her hands, she let out a small huff of sound. It was the signal she taught Jinta and the lynx that was trailing Falra raced off to find help.
Falra had put a lot of thought into this, there was only one sure way to ensure that Jinta could follow her trail –and- get help in time. That meant she needed to create a trail that was easy for Jinta to follow. Being a carnivore, as all cat like creatures are, the scent of blood, no matter how small would attract them. The idea was to create enough of a gash that the blood would seep down slowly and leave a droplet trail for Jinta, instead she cut deeper than planned and the trail would draw more than just Jinta. The loss of blood was not the only thing she had to worry about, now she was in the hands of one of the “Master’s” men. What orders did he have for her?
Falra felt the rush of being lifted into the air and heavily thrown across the broad shoulders of this man. He planned to carry her where they were going, he didn’t bother to cover her eyes, nor was she tossed onto the back of a horse. Somehow, Falra, had entered the very forest the “Master” was hiding in. He wasn’t far, she knew he wouldn’t be, close enough to make the trek quickly, far enough that he would be hard to find on a normal patrol into the forest. Within an hour a light flared and Falra could see that her bindings were saturated in blood and the ground had changed from a forest floor to the roughness of a cave. Soon she’ll meet the one that made her skin crawl and her blood freeze.
