| |
CHASING RABBITS DOWN HOLES
––––––––
SAVARA WOKE UP TO THE feeling of being strangled, somewhat relieved to find with open eyes that her sheet had pinched itself under her pillow and curled around her as she tossed and turned. Sadly, this understanding did not help her to close her eyes and drift off once more. Griffin was right to have warned her about the drinks, and she was wrong to have ignored him. She hardly remembered having left the party, let alone having undressed and planted herself in the bed. Now, with a blinding pulse in her brain and a strange dream on her tongue, she wondered if she would ever get back to sleep.
A cold breeze sauntered in from the mountains beyond her window. The last of the stars still held tight to their positions in the sky, but day would soon break that hold. She contemplated closing it and attempting to sleep for what little night remained when a faint noise came from outside that sounded like her name.
Curious, Savara got to her feet and strolled over to the window, where she spied three men in heated whispers. She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, and she almost turned back to bed, when she heard her name called again.
“Who are we looking for again?” asked a grunty-looking man with the five o’clock shadow that had turned into a ten o'clock one everywhere but the top of his shiny bald head.
“The Argia princess,” replied a twiggy one. “She’s supposed to be travelling with that Izar that’s always stirring up trouble.”
“Why don’t we just catch her now and spill her guts?” asked the first with a yawn.
“No!” urged the third man, a considerably more polished slimeball with impeccable taste in fashion, aside from the thick leather gloves on his hands. “Bring her to me. There will be no spilling of blood.”
The three men cast their gazes upwards to the balconies. Savara ducked to avoid their line of sight, but not before having met eyes with the one that looked like the fashionable embodiment of trouble.
“Up there,” he called. “Someone is watching.”
Her heart pounded heavily in her chest as she searched nervously for a hiding place. The only way out was also the only way in, unless she planned on scaling two stories and a mountainside. The wardrobe was too shallow, the bed too high off the ground, and they would spot her instantly in the bathroom. Savara prepared herself for the inevitable when she heard a pebble fall from the wall. Two more followed before she turned to find a pair of blindingly blue eyes staring back at her expectantly from a newly formed, gaping hole beside the bed.
Savara gasped, but the man put a slow finger to his lips and shook his head. “Come with me,” he whispered and turned into the dark of the tunnel.
Savara didn’t have much time to think. Heavy footsteps began climbing the stairs outside, drawing closer with each second that ticked by. She darted over to the tunnel, having it seal itself shut as soon as she crossed inside. Little specks of bioluminescent moss came to life in the dark, casting their glow over the rocky walls like tiny green stars.
“How is this—” she began, but he cupped his hand over her lips and tapped his ear. His hands smelled of night flowers, a scent she’d curiously grown fond of during her time in Visanthe. In the silence of the tunnel, the only sounds she could hear were those of their heartbeats and worried breaths. Then, from beyond the rock, the sounds of muffled voices appeared. The stranger plucked a small pebble from the wall, leaving a peephole that would be lost from the outside. The pair stood in wait, listening as the three men scoured the room for the girl they’d seen, only to give up their search as the day began to break.
The two scrappy-looking men departed, but the last one stayed on, pursing his lips as he scanned the room once more. He removed his gloves with a calm elegance as streaks of blue lightning danced over his fingers. The stranger stiffened, pushing Savara further into the tunnel. The next thing she knew, the blue glow of lightning was seeping through the cracks in the wall, and the man before her was blocking any stray surge with his hand. When the light died once more, he pressed a shaking finger to his lips until he was sure the man on the other side had gone.
“Who were they?” Savara asked, taking his hand to steady herself.
“Bad news,” he replied, patting away the thin layer of dust that coated his otherwise impeccable blazer. He glared at her with those midnight blue eyes that had chased her all around Visanthe. A dense energy radiated from him, one she found a strange duality in. Tangible lust and distant longing bundled into one. She’d noted as much when he’d asked her to dance, and when he’d saved her in the forest...
“Who are you?” Savara asked.
“Probably best you don’t know,” the man replied.
“I’m tired of not knowing,” she groaned as she dusted herself off, the only reply she received was the echo of footsteps. Savara turned back to where the man had been moments before, realising she now stood alone, the bioluminescent moss her only company.
Savara knew she should look for Griffin, tell him what had happened and ask the guards to search for the intruders, but she couldn’t stop thinking about this strange man, and the fact that he always seemed to know more than he let on. Whoever this man was, Savara felt he was the first real clue to finding out who she is and why the world was after her.
It was only a matter of time before Savara found herself feeling around in the dark, following only the echo of a haunting stranger into the deeper parts of the tunnels, unaware that the darkness around her had begun to smile.
