Not What It Seems
Chapter 23

Vudu and I continued to travel as the days passed. He continually kept my hand in his to help guide me though the trails. Every once and a while he would warn me of something coming up so I could avoid it or be ready for it. We continued South and made our way to the Enchanted Forest. But according to my friend, we still had at least a few days travel until we reached the edge of the forest.

We had hoped that we wouldn’t run into any problems during our travel. But that hope was in vain this day. The area we were in was not heavily populated and we didn’t run into many travelers in this area. We soon found out why when Vudu suddenly stopped and I heard footsteps surround us. Releasing my hand, I felt Vudu move closer to me and block my way as a form of protection from the group around us.

“Sir!” A deep voice called out. “Looks like we have a few trespassers in our woods.”

Vudu responded through gritted teeth. “We mean no harm. We are just passing through to the next town.”

“Oh, but you see,” Another voice said as he stepped closer. “That’s the problem there. You shouldn’t be here at all. And now you plan to just leave and take that beautiful specimen with you?”

A sinking feeling entered my chest as I figured he was talking about me. My grip on my staff became tight and I remained silent. I didn’t want to prevent anything that Vudu may have planned, and I couldn’t do much without my sight. I needed to be able to follow what he needed to do.

“Please.” Vudu reasoned. “Just let us pass. We won’t report you, and we won’t cause any harm.”

“Right,” the man said again. “You won’t report us. Because you won’t be getting out of this forest.”

I felt a hand roughly grab my arm and pull me away from Vudu. I let out a yelp as I was dragged back, and another pair of hands grabbed my other arm. I struggled against them and they only laughed.

“Let her go!” Vudu demanded. “She’s done nothing to you.”

By the sounds of it, Vudu was restrained shortly after I was grabbed. I could hear him struggle against the people holding him down. Something told me he was holding back. Normally, he was stronger than any mortal. He wasn’t doing anything because he couldn’t guarantee my safety if he fought.

The man who talked before, who was most likely the leader of this group of bandits, walked over to me, and I felt his hand grab my chin and pull my head to face him. My heart was beating fast and hard. I was terrified as to what was going to happen.

“Look me in the eyes girl!” He demanded.

As much as I wanted to obey his command, I couldn’t. I didn’t know where his eyes were. I remained motionless, waiting for any action he was going to take for not doing as he asked.

“She’s blind.” Vudu called out. “She can’t look you in the eyes. Please, let her go.”

Small movements told me what was happening. A small one to the side told me the leader watched Vudu for a bit. Another small movement back to me said he was examining me once more. We were in trouble.

“Blind or not.” He reasoned. “She can still entertain us.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, and neither did Vudu as he growled and struggled some more against those holding him down. A small chuckle came from the leader and he released my chin. I took in a breath and closed my eyes. Just the simple feeling of them closed helped me focus more on the sounds around me. If I could get the person holding my left arm to release me, I could use my staff as a weapon and try to fight off some of the bandits. But I didn’t know how many there were. The best thing I could do was get myself free so Vudu knew he could act and free himself so we could get out of there.

My grip on my staff tightened and I focused. A small spell of light could blind the bandit holding my arm just enough for me to get free. A small incantation from under my breath caused the spell to activate. I heard a cry of surprise and the hands holding my arm released. Acting quickly, I moved my staff over and used the end to hit the man holding my other arm. I connected with his gut and he released me.

I swung my staff around and connected with another body. I repeated the action to the other side and made sure I had some space around me before I cast another spell. I brought my staff up and slammed the bottom on the ground, casting a shield around me. I would hold it until Vudu said it was safe.

From what I could hear, my actions did cause Vudu to show his true strength. He had thrown off the men holding him down and was able to fight some off for a while. I listened as closely as I could to be sure that he was okay. I felt something impact with my shield and heard Vudu’s voice cry out in pain. Panicking, I dropped the shield and I heard Vudu fall to the ground.

“Vudu?” I called out and tried to find him.

Through grunts, he called out to me. “Zeriah, duck!”

I didn’t act fast enough though. A hard object hit the back of my head and my consciousness was lost before I even hit the ground.

From what I could guess was a few hours later, I woke up with a painful headache and my hands and feet tied together. Once I could think a little more clearly, I felt myself sway from side to side and gravity made my arms fall above my head. I was hanging upside down somewhere I didn’t know. I pulled my arms up to me and bit at the rope holding my wrists together. I couldn’t loosen it.

Letting out a grunt, I allowed my arms to fall back towards the ground below me.

“Firefly?” Vudu’s voice called from beside me.

I turned my head towards the sound. “Vudu? Are you okay?”

“I should be asking you that question.” He stated. “I’m fine. Just trying to figure a way out of here.”

“Can’t you break through the rope?” I asked. “I mean you are -”

He hushed me. “Don’t they don’t know that. And I don’t want them to find out. Not yet. I need to wait for the right time.”

I didn’t realize how warm I felt until just then. I let out an exhausted breath and swallowed through a dry mouth. I was feeling ill, and I couldn’t do anything to prevent it. My breaths started to come out in pants as I tried to cool myself in any way I could.

“What’s wrong?” Vudu asked.

“Just feeling warm suddenly.”

“Blot.” He responded. “That’s the poison. I need to get you out of here. If we stay here too long, the fever will kill you before the poison does.”

Some footsteps entered the area, and the leader’s voice greeted us. “Glad to see you awake. Now, what should I do with you two. Killing you is just too easy. I want to have some fun first.”

“Can’t you see that she’s sick?!” Vudu cried out. “If we don’t take care of her, she will die.”

“Well that’s one less thing for me to worry about.” He stated. “You seem to care a great deal about her. Are you wooing her? Or is she your beau? Family? Why is she so special to you?”

He growled in response but said nothing.

“You are an intriguing person, my friend.” The leader continued. “I underestimated you, and I don’t do that often. You are stronger than the average man. Are you a Barbarian? Or something more supernatural? You’d be a wonderful addition to my clan.”

He was silent for a moment, as if he was thinking about the proposal. I wanted to tell him to no join them, but my mind was so fogged up with fever that I couldn’t find the strength to speak. Shortly after, my eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep once again.

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