Runaway Devil
58

Jareth (Dusty)

I sat with my eyes closed, both my arms and legs sore from my stiff posture. The restraints held my arms back tightly, I could no longer feel my hands. And I knew upon standing my legs would feel like jelly.

The scent of the human's fear hung in the air, making it heavy and annoying to breathe. My body had healed, albeit rather slowly. My skin had finally stopped itching from the inflammation, and my head no longer pounded every time I moved my eyes.

Behind my closed eyes, I saw the link between me and Karau. I grasped for it, almost as if it was the only thing keeping me on the ground. All of the voices, the jabs, the taunting fell away as I focused on her. She was on her way, the connection was growing stronger with each passing moment.

I would meet my goal for coming to this shithole of a realm. I would have found Karau, although it's more like she would find me. It was getting her home that I would need to work out, and soon. I had thought about possibly mowing down anybody who tried to stop us.

I thought back to when we would fight together. In battle we were unstoppable. We moved fluidly together, in perfect sync, it was how we all operated. There was no need for words, no need to clarify anyone's intentions. We fought like machines. We could cut through this excuse for an army like it was nothing.

Azgaria had done something different with these soldiers. They smelled different than I remember. They moved with less grace, they were bulkier than the average soldier and were far more clumsy. They spoke together like they were hanging out after work, sharing a drink at a bar. There was a nonchalance to their behavior that was foreign to me. They were supposed to be working. They were there for a purpose, and all I saw was them hanging around, socializing.

And Azgaria only spoke to a select few, her commanding officers. They were the only ones who were traditionally trained in the whole bunch. The rest of them struck me as young and inexperienced. Azgaria hadn't seen Karau in years, she has underestimated her. She viewed her as a coward and weak for running. She thinks that Karau has gotten rusty during her time away from the armed forces. But I knew my girl, she would rain hellfire from above when she got there.

A boot in my side broke me from my thoughts. One of the children Azgaria brought thought he needed my attention. I glanced up at him as he placed a small bucket of water before me. He then nodded to one of my keepers and took his place. He stood with his arms crossed and an overly stern look on his face. "Drink."

I looked at the bucket. If I were to take a drink, I would have to bow forward and lap it up like a dog. I raised a brow and didn't move. "Too good for water? Would you prefer wine? Or maybe piss?" said the one to my right, grasping his groin and grinning. These were mere boys. Azgaria sent them to their doom, they would be cut down like dead grass, Karau and I the sharpened scythes. She sacrificed quality for quantity. And it showed.

I ignored any further jibes or taunts, closing my eyes and focusing on the mental chain with Karau on the other end. It didn't matter how long I had to wait for her. I was a patient demon.

The man who knew Kara was being held separately. He knew their language and was unbothered by these creatures. In fact, he knew them all too well. I stared at him, looking for anything strange about him. He looked human enough. Although there was something... wrong. He looked uncomfortable in his skin, like it was a shirt that was too small. He adjusted it every once in a while, shifting his shoulders or rolling his neck.

We were slowly being picked off, one by one. At the start of this nightmare, we were a collected group of about thirty people. Now, we were, at most, thirteen. As I looked around me all I saw were small, haggard, and tired people. They curled into themselves as if to escape into their own bodies.

The beasts got bored. And we were the only entertainment for miles. They took watching over us in shifts. Just as they changed shifts watching us, they switched out watching the man who knew Kara. I never caught his name, and a part of me knew I would never know it. A breeze blew through me, cold and merciless. It chilled me to my bones and I huddled closer to Joel. He was the only thing keeping me warm. If he wasn't there, keeping a constant, tireless eye on these beasts, I didn't know if I would still be in one piece. I couldn't explain how I was keeping it together, but there I was.

The cold seemed to agitate them to no end. They all walked around with their arms folded, sneering disgust on their faces. I could see ruffled feathers and puffed fur from where I sat. Whenever the sun peeked out from behind the thick blanket of clouds, I could practically feel their sigh of relief as they made their way to the patches of light. I would think that the bigger ones, the ones with thicker layers on their bodies wouldn't mind the cold. But they were just as sensitive to it as the rest of us.

To my left, the deep guttural voices speaking their harsh language cut through the air. Everyone's head spun, looking for the source of the commotion. A small girl, she was no older than twelve, had been lifted into the air. She hung from the beast's fist, paralyzed by tremors. A woman wailed and begged for mercy, pleading for him to put her child down, to leave her alone. She offered herself in her daughter's place, having no idea what their intentions were. The beast had orange fur bordering his face and mean teeth in his mouth. He took after a tiger-like creature. His body was lined in thick muscle, like the rest of them.

Someone barked an order at him, and just before he responded, another noise caught my attention. The quick shuffling of armor and sounds of a controlled struggle. I swiveled my head to look. The sudden burst of activity made my heart quicken and panic spread through my body. I felt a pang in my gut that reached down my legs, anchoring me to the ground.

It was the one in chains. He had been silent and still since they tied him up. He had been waiting patiently. And now he was standing, sneering at any solder that tried to get in his way. His eyes were open and alert, ears perked. His body looked like a taut bowstring, ready to snap at any moment. He sniffed the air and his eyes glowed from under his dark brows. Something was happening, and control was slipping.

Commanding officers were trying to reign their men in, but they were undisciplined and young. They could sense something was coming, and some even looked nervous. The man in chains growled as a soldier knocked him down, baring his fangs at them. Even though I couldn't understand their language, I knew cursing when I heard it.

Chaos took over, much to our dismay. Panic and disorganization meant carelessness, and we would be the first to die in the confusion. I lost track of where the little girl or her mother was, there was too much movement to see what was happening anywhere. Multiple soldiers rushed over to their prisoner to help contain him.

I grabbed onto Joel like I was lost at sea and he was my life raft. He held me close to him, a protective father until the end. A sharp, resonating bark quieted everything in an instant. The only woman among the beasts stepped forward, a steely look in her eye. She spoke in their language, almost scolding those who gave into and added to the chaos. Everybody froze where they were and slowly regained composure. The man in chains stopped struggling but did not calm. I could sense the storm beneath the surface, rumbling and roiling below his skin.

The woman approached him, her movements slow but intentional. Every step she took looked like a step towards her prey. She studied him silently as he huffed and growled under the weight of five men. She spoke so only he could hear her, her voice soft and disturbingly soothing from a distance. Something she said made him stop a moment. That reaction pleased her, and she grinned.

Her smile sent chills up my spine and threatened to flip my stomach inside out. It made me nauseous as my fear crawled up my back and seized the back of my neck. She turned and looked over my shoulder, at something behind me. Her eyes sparkled with giddy anticipation, glowing like the man's. I craned my neck to see what she was so satisfied with. What I saw took my breath from my lungs and stopped everything in its tracks.

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