Captured

by Dreal

The wind shifted. That must be it. Something is different. Things smell strange. Nightwind and I are patrolling around militia territory, and something is different. Maybe wrong. I don't know. My hackles are raised.

Nightwind hears something I can't hear, and starts running ahead. Fire-haired woman is unconscious, her leg is broken, I sniff her, and I smell the scent of the person who did it. I like fire-haired woman, and the person can't be allowed to hurt more people. I go on ahead, while Nightwind is healing her, tracking down the person who hurt her.

The trail leads to a clearing; there are several zombies in the clearing, and someone dark and covered in a large cloak by the campfire. That's what smells different. The person sees me in the woods, and I try to run, but I can't move. It's like he's reached an invisible hand into my head and grabbed hold of my mind.

I just remember that he's a bad man, that I was trying to avoid him. I don't remember anything else yet. I feel that invisible hand squeezing my mind, twisting it, and I start to howl in pain, but he triggers something in my head and my body is changing, painfully, becoming an elf but also breaking itself as it goes; my body has forgotten who it was. My howl becomes a scream and fills my own ears through the pain. Zombies come and drag my broken body to a rock and start to tie me up, which is ridiculous, as I can't walk or move anyway, but I suppose he's afraid that I'll still try to get away from him.

I can hear Nightwind coming in my mind; she is tracking me on my pain. My mind chooses to focus on that, frantically shouting to her that she should stay away, that this is a trap, not to follow me, to leave me to my pain. But I know somewhere inside that it's too late, she can't refuse to come to the call of my pain, any more than a wolf can resist food when starving.

My body is an elf, my mind is confused with pain and distance from the person who ripped me from my wolf body, having almost forgotten him, and I just remember that he's bad, that he hurts me. I watch, appalled, as Nightwind steps into the clearing, looks at me, and almost comes to me before seeing the dark figure approaching her.

I'm babbling incoherently for her to run, and I'm not even certain the words are coming out of my throat, or leaking from my mind, or going nowhere.

The dark figure flicks a hand in my direction and the pain increases until the world goes black.

Nightwind

Brenhani