Part 11: Payton – English; Village of the Warrior
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If there was ever a time that Dominic wanted to take back everything he had said, now was definitely the time.
He struggled to open his eyes, disillusioned with the fog of confusion in his brain. What had happened? One moment he had been screaming at Will, and then the next he was lying face down in the desert. His head hurt, and he could feel dried blood down his jaw and ear.
They were all on their knees, hands locked above their heads, eyeing the two guards that had taken them into captivity just moments ago. No one had seen them coming, all too preoccupied with Nic's belligerently defiant speech, and now he was eating his words ... literally. The gag the one blonde woman had put in his mouth was anything but comfortable.
The two women were several feet away, talking candidly, but no one was able to hear a word. They were careful to keep their voices down.
There had been plenty of times in his past where the need to redo a certain moment in time had arisen, and most were because of something he had said or did. He had a serious impulse control problem. And that was putting it mildly.
What Nic really wanted to do was go back five minutes in time and undo what he had just done. They had come so far. Cantu was supposed to be the place that they were to seek refuge, not be taken prisoner minutes after landing. Somehow, by the grace of ... whoever ... they had actually escaped Cyrus's men, and had landed on Cantu safely. The final part of their plan might have worked, too, if it hadn't been for Nic's big mouth and attitude.
After lifting himself from the sand, leaning heavily on his left leg, Nic turned slightly to his right, taking in Rylie, Bo, and Devlin's position. All three were every bit upset and sore towards him. Devlin and Bo wouldn't even look at him, even though he was certain they could feel his eyes on them. Rylie didn't look at much of anything but the supplies just to her right.
He caught movement out of his right eye and followed it, seeing Alec behind him. He only met the man's eyes briefly, and then Alec returned to his attempt at loosening the rope around his wrists.
Nic turned straight, and could see Koen just ahead of him. His posture was the same as all the others, sitting on his heels with his hands behind his head, tied with rope.
Will was to Koen's right, and from what Nic could tell, was trying to make out what the two women were saying.
Isabel was to Nic's left, with Mabyn close by. And that's when he felt it.
Oh God,
he thought.
Mabyn.
He hadn't had much of a chance to worry about her before through the haze of being knocked on the head and coming to in a cloud of confusion and pain, lying face down in the sand. He knew he had only been out for a few minutes. But in those minutes, he could see that Mabyn had been tied also. Her hands were bound but they were on her lap, not behind her head. She was crying silent tears, more out of fear than anything else, Nic hoped anyway.
She huddled near Isabel, who was valiantly trying to smile at the child and speak softly to her, having not being gagged like him. He noted that none of the others were gagged, and rightfully so. No one else had been as stupid as he had, leading an enemy right to them.
Isabel turned then towards him. She cast a look in his direction, but it wasn't anger or resentment. It was worse. Disappointment. She slowly shook her head, her golden blonde hair hanging slightly in the soft, desert breeze, and then turned her attention back to Mabyn.
He sighed heavily. He would do anything to make the situation right. This was the last thing he wanted for any of them, especially for Mabyn ... and Koen and Isabel and William. Hell, for any of the survivors. They were like a family now, banding together to try and survive another day. And in that one reckless moment no more than ten minutes ago, he had crashed and burned all of their hopes of survival. He felt like the idiotic teenager who stole the keys from his parents and ended up crashing the hovercraft into a parked ship, which by the way, he had done ... twice.
He wasn't even sure why he had lost his cool so easily, or why he had a history of it. When he was younger, he would frequently find himself being punished for something he did or said, and later he couldn't understand why he had acted or said the things he did. It was as if his mouth would say the words, and his brain struggled to keep up. He never thought the bad habit would turn out to be so destructive. He never thought that it would possible mean his death. Not to mention everyone around him.
Yet again, his mouth had gotten not only him, but also everyone around him, in trouble. God help him if they did somehow get out of this. There was no telling what they would do to him. He was quite certain he would prefer death to Will's brand of punishment.
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"What's goin' on?" Mabyn asked quietly.
"I'm not sure sweetie." Isabel had absolutely no idea how she was suppose to explain to a ten year old how much trouble they were all in, or why they were in it, or how they were going to get out of it. One thing was for sure ... she wasn't going to offer any information. She didn't want to have to openly lie to the frightened girl in front of her. That, and she was going to kill Nic as soon as the opportunity arose. Okay, so two things were for sure.
She had actually been surprised when the woman soldier with the longer hair and green-blue eyes who had tied her and Mabyn up had been quite social with the little girl, asking questions and giving a small smile. It had almost seemed as if the woman took no pleasure in her task. But Mabyn had been too scared to say much of anything. When the woman had asked if Isabel was Mabyn's mother, all Mabyn could do was stare with big, teary eyes and tuck herself further into Isabel's tunic.
It had been that question, and not Nic's unbelievably impossible stupidity, that had rocked Isabel more than anything. She had never thought that anyone would assume that Isabel was Mabyn's mother. They looked alike, she supposed. Their eyes were the same color, and they did appear to have similar facial structure. Their mouths and lips were alike, and Mabyn's height at a young age was also an indicator. Not to mention that Mabyn had been plastered to Isabel's side since their introduction back on Aevar.
But their attitudes and personalities were like day and night. Where Isabel had confidence to spare, Mabyn was timid and uncertain. She supposed that wasn't entirely true. Her confidence was almost always a façade of some sort, whether it was to hide her insecurity or to intimidate any surrounding individuals. But in all fairness, anyone in the position of a captive would be scared, and Isabel's attempt at maintaining her confidence and hiding her fear was wearing thin. The only reason her resolve hadn't broken yet was because of Mabyn ...
and
the fact that she was quite certain she could single-handedly take out the guard on the right.
"Well ... what are they doin'?" She hoped Isabel wouldn't get mad at her for asking so many questions. But she was really scared. Seeing Nic lying asleep in the sand with blood coming out of his ear was probably the most frightening thing she had ever seen. If Isabel hadn't tried to soothe her, she would have screamed and cried ... like what she did back home during the bombings, before Nic had found her. After her mom had put her behind the counter of the shop to hide, and had never come back. After she had gone out looking for her mom, and instead found so many bodies on the ground. Her mom's body being one of them.
Now that Nic was awake, she felt better. For a while, she was afraid he would never wake up, like her mom. But he was looking at her now, with big eyes. It looked like he was trying to say something, but there was a piece of white cloth in his mouth, and all of his words were muffled.
She waited for Isabel to answer, trying to keep one eye on her, one on Nic, and one on the two women talking just a few feet away. Her head hurt trying to see everything.
Isabel shook her head hating the fact that she had to answer a question she didn't know the answer to. Her patience with the two guards was wearing thinner by the second. "I'm sorry sweetie. I just don't know. But we'll be okay. I promise, Mabyn. I'll make sure nothing happens to you."
Mabyn didn't say much of anything after that. Instead, snuggling into the older woman, she closed her eyes, wishing that Isabel could put her arms around her like she had in the cave.
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