"No! Let me go!" Lindsay struggled against the guards as they dragged her through the Meeting Room to the head councilwoman.
"We caught her spying on your conversation," the guard reported, easily holding the pulls and thrashes of the girl.
"Oh dear, we'll have to send her early, then. No matter, I'm certain they'll be ready for her." Councilwoman Mona approached the large stone disc bordered by decorative carvings that formed the backdrop of the row of council seats. She turned a few of the markings and pressed in on a keystone shaped mark at the top.
Suddenly, the surface of the stone began to waver and then ripple as though it were the surface of the sea. The color turned a strange, shimmery opalescence. Lindsay stared at it in awe, not knowing whether to feel terror or wonder. Of course, the guards were staring, too, though in a way that suggested they were familiar with its transformation.
She saw her moment. She'd never escape. The Hollow was too large and she hadn't even memorized the way she'd come in beyond knowing there were a lot of stairs she'd gone down - plus there were the guards and Eddy, but there was something she could do for herself.
She jerked quickly, elbowing the guard in the gut. She grabbed her pill bottle from her pocket and dumped three of the little yellow pills into her mouth. It was too much, but she didn't have time to be picky. The guard knocked the bottle from her hand, grabbed her, and shoved her into the shimmering surface of the stone.
"Oof!" she said as the hit solid ground. For all the pomp it was no different than being pushed through a door. She stared at the grass between her fingers. Looking all around, she took in her surroundings. She was no longer in the cave; that was certain!
A cool breeze rippled through the grass, above, wispy clouds in the blue sky fought to obscure a large moon, beside which another, much smaller moon floated, almost invisible in the light of the day. Beyond the field, there was a great, dark forest of densely packed trees, like the pine barrens of New Jersey. To the other side she could see giant gleaming buildings, skyscrapers jutting up into the blue.
Where was she? She heard quick footfalls rustling the grass behind her and unintelligible sounds like grunts and jabbering. She turned to look in time to see two men, easily the most beautiful she'd ever seen, rushing toward her. They looked like they had stepped out of some bad Christian painting of heaven.
They stopped on either side. The blond man knelt down and placed a hand on her arm, he seemed to be making a weird clicking sound. Or maybe her brain was just scrambled from the fall. She looked into his brown eyes uncomprehendingly and suddenly the noises began to make sense. "You're early! Here," the man said offering his hand. "Let us help you up."
"Thank you," she said, allowing the men to take her arms and lift her to her feet. Up close, she could see both the men had shining, gold flecked skin. The other man had more of an East Asian cast to his face but in no definitive way, he had black hair and blue eyes.
"I'm sorry," the second man said. "Normally, we'd have more people ready to meet you. Do forgive us."
Lindsay stared at the men as they led her to a wooden platform in the middle of the field. "Where am I? Who are you?"
"We are the Korsuch. I am Pell and my compatriot is Rome."
"But where am I?" Lindsay asked again, growing slightly irritated as they led her up the steps. "And why is there a wooden platform in the middle of a field?"
The blond man smiled. "Why, you're home, of course. It will all make sense soon. I'll summon the lord. He is eager to meet you." He took a torch and lit it, turning a mirror to the sky so that it reflected the light.
Run! A voice in Lindsay's mind shouted. She looked around at the two men smiling brightly at her. Run now!
She broke free of the man called Pell's grasp and ran. Leaping off the platform, she landed on all fours. Roll left! Her mind shouted again. She rolled just in time to hear a loud thunk where she'd just been. She turned to see a large spear stuck in the ground.
"Get her!" a strange voice shouted, it seemed to have both a normal tone and yet a weird, secondary, booming quality, like an unbalanced sound system.
Don't look back! Her mind shouted as she ran. She could hear a loud droning above her like the beating of wings. She dodged left and then right, making for the woods as spears flew into the ground from above with incredible speed.
Don't look back! She couldn't help herself, she looked behind her. In the sky above, dozens of men in robes flew on four wings, many still holding spears, she could barely make out their faces but there was something horrible about their eyes - where they even really eyes? They were giant, horrible looking milky voids!
She went down, rolling through the grass. As she stumbled forward her ankle gave way. "Aack!" she screamed, tumbling again. A spear landed right in front of her, not even an inch from her nose, its tip buried deep into the ground.
She scrambled up again, dragging her bad ankle with her. She was nearly there! The forest! She ran desperately, when suddenly pain ripped through her left arm. She cried out. She kept running, not wanting to look, she knew something was terribly wrong from how wet her elbow felt.
Stumbling again, she fell flat at the foot of the trees. Pain seared her side. She tried to pull herself forward, clawing at the ground. She was stuck! Her shirt must be caught on the spear. She heaved herself forward with all of her weight. She felt her flesh tear with the shirt. She gritted her teeth, hoisting herself forward into the dense tangle of trees.
She scrabbled forward through the brush. Her arm couldn't take any weight, she refused to look at it - the moment she looked the worse it would be. She willed herself forward, finding a large tree trunk, she pulled herself behind it and waited, shaking, knowing if they found her she was dead. There was nothing more she could do, she didn't have the strength. She tried to silence her panting as she sat, listening.
She heard the sound of two heavy bodies landing. "Should we fetch her? She cannot have gotten far. The blood leads to that tree."
Lindsay shut her eyes and waited for her inevitable death.
"No," the other voice said in disgust. "Let the Bonat have her." The air shrieked and the trunk of her tree shook with a loud thunk. There was the sound of wings flapping and then nothing but the buzzing of whatever creatures lived in this forest.
Lindsay sat in silence, waiting, trying to catch her breath, which seemed harder and harder to do. She felt a coldness beginning on her brow and flowing down to her shoulders, her chest, her arms and legs. Her heart was pounding so hard her breasts shook.
She looked at her arm, a chunk was missing from the bottom of it. Blackness ebbed at her mind at the sight. She forced herself to stay conscious. It was just a bad cut, she told herself. Cold sweat streamed across her skin. She fought to control her ragged breathing as she took off her shirt and wrapped it around the wound, taking one end in her teeth, she pulled it taut.
