8 Chapter 8
Aria-
I dumped the stew out the window and stashed the bread and everything else. When Martha came by to get my dishes, she commented on how hungry I must be, I was starving at this point but I just smiled and said it was delicious but that I was quite tired and wanted to rest. She closed the door when she left, I've been laying on the bed facing the door ever since. Watching as the light that danced on the wall slowly faded. Hours had passed, I could hear Abigail telling people good night. I could see the light from under my door go out from the candle that had been doused.
When the door handle to my room started to turn, I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. The door creaked open, my stomach instantly started turning in knots, Abigail. The door closed shortly after, I waited and kept my eyes closed until the knot in my stomach was gone. Once the anxiety eased, I opened my eyes to a dark room. No one was in there with me, I still needed to wait. Everyone needs to be asleep before I can leave.
Dario-
After seeing Aria, father sat me down and I described every detail of the room. It wasn't much to go on, "There wasn't a window with something outside of it?" I shook my head, I was getting more and more frustrated.
"Try it again, think of Aria again. Maybe if you don't get over excited and stop focusing, you may be able to see more." Fathers voice was stern, so I tried again.
Aria laying on a bed in a room, I focused on the last image I'd seen in my mind. I looked at Aria, she was in the room still asleep, but it was dark now. I focused in, and tried to look around. The image kept fading in and out, almost like I wasn't welcome in this space. But, I saw a window in the room. I pushed over to it, and looked out. From this window, I can see a couple of houses. Maybe one on the left and two on the right, or three? The image was wavering now, then there is forest beyond that. I turned to look at Aria, she was up now. Looking at the door, I went to her. "Aria, I'm coming for you." The vision wavered again and became so blurry I couldn't make out Arias face anymore.
I opened my eyes, Ryan was sitting across from me and father was pacing behind him. I looked at Ryan first, "I was able to move around this time, I looked out the window, whoever has her might live on the edge of the woods, it was hard to tell but there were some houses outside the window that I could maybe match up to find this place." I looked up to father and he smiled, "Lets start looking." Father grabbed Quillian and hauled him to his feet he grunted and said, "A warrior should treat a God in this manner. You better watch yourself." Father turned his glare on him, "You are not a God I respect." That was it, Quillian glared back for a moment, but then looked down.
Father holds high honors with the Gods and Goddesses, he has done countless acts of heroism. I always thought it was strange considering there were other warriors that did similar things but didn't have the same kind of relationships with the Gods and Goddesses. I just never questioned my father, maybe once we got back it was time to get some answers.
We started walking the perimeter of the town, it was already dark but we had to keep moving. There was no point in stopping now that we were so close. I was keeping an eye open trying to match up the houses I saw in the vision to the real world from another perspective. This was going to be a challenge.
Aria-
It has been a couple of hours since my door had been open. I've heard no movement in the house at all. I sat up and threw my legs over the side of the bed, I almost felt like Dario was here with me, giving me strength to escape. I went to the window and unlatched it. I pushed on it slowly, hoping it wouldn't creak or anything. After a few agonizing moments, the window was open. I grabbed the chair Abigail sat on earlier and used it to step up. I was able to get my legs out of the window, in a seated position on the sill. There was only about 5 feet of clearance before I would hit the ground. I jumped down, I did a quick check over my body and nothing was hurting, I landed just right.
I looked around me, it was pitch black around me so the lights from the small town helped me see which way to go. I crept lightly away from the house checking to make sure no one was following me. I didn't see or hear anything so I kept going until I got to a large tree and slipped behind it to take a few deep breaths before I took off for the town. I wanted to get into the light as soon as possible. I hate the dark especially when I'm this on edge. I turned to make sure I still wasn't being followed, I peaked out and saw a small light in front of the house.
Shit! She knows I'm gone. I made sure I was still concealed, and waited worried she would go beyond her home to look for me. If she caught me, what could I realistically do? I started to feel scared, I was alone in the dark with a woman who makes me feel unsafe looking for me. I decided to check again and see if she was gone or not.
I slowly and cautiously turned my head to peak, I let out the loudest scream I could manage. Right in front of me, was Abigail, but she changed! Her hair had formed into feathers her eyes glowing red, her arms spread out, but they too were covered in dark brown and red feathers covering her hands completely. The feathers covered her breasts and traveled down her hourglass shape and covered her legs where her feet had been replaced with large bird talons.
Abigail was a Harpy, she screeched at me, "YOU LITTLE BRAT!" I turned and ran pushing myself as hard as I could I looked behind me and she was having trouble getting through the trees, I could use that to my advantage. I started running into thicker trees, she couldn't fly after me, so she would be forced to the ground too where I had a chance to escape.
Dario-
We had been walking and searching for a couple of hours, Quillian kept complaining that he was tired and needed a break. Father kept ignoring him, but I was ready to cut out his tongue. We came to a stop where there was a cluster of small homes, I looked around seeing if any of it felt familiar, I shook my head, "This isn't it." Quillian sighed, "Can we please stop for tonight? It's not like you can see that well in the dark." I rounded on him, "You were told to keep an eye on us, what did you expect that being? Warriors can go days without sleep. We have missions to carry out and we do it. Now shut the fuck up unless you have something to say that's useful."
Quillian opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a loud scream. I looked over at father and Ryan, father dragged Quillian along with him, and we took off to the source.
