ELIJAH SAVED ME

At the sound of Bartimus' shout, Grand tree knew that he was in trouble. Bartimus found them faster than expected and he first went to Vivian who was scarcely awake.

"This is all your fault!" he hissed, partially in his dragon voice,"If you had not left then Selene would still be here!"

"I....I didn't ask her to..." Vivian whispered in a rasped voice.

"She cares about you and yet the only thing you can think of is that you didn't ask her to?" he asked as his eyes turned black.

The memory of Selene kissing him flashed before him and his eyes became normal again. He moved away from Vivian and walked to Grand tree and sat next to the old man on the ground.

"Are you too old for this task?" Bartimus asked in his normal voice.

"No. She just slipped and the next moment she was gone." Grand tree said sadly.

"People don't just slip and fall. Your primal task was to protect Selene and not some witch or coachman!" Bartimus thundered.

Grand tree remained silent for a few minutes while Bartimus sat beside a tree meditating.

*

*

When Selene woke up, she was on a dragon's back. The dragon looked like Bartimus so she immediately relaxed. She was tied down on his back which she assumed was normal because she was unconscious. She recalled the events of that afternoon and frowned. They hadn't found Vivian and Vancouver had masqueraded as her asking about a baby. Selene furrowed her brows deeply as she realised he was responsible for her abnormal pregnancy. The night they had spent at Mr Eli's small settlement, she had a dream where she'd seen a dragon mating her. She didn't know who the dragon was or why she was mating but she knew she would only mate with Bartimus.

She had planned on asking him if it was possible for a dragon and a human to mate but she had figured the topic was too sensitive to ask in front of Vivian and Grand tree and the next thing she knew was that she was pregnant.

'He looks like the dragon from my dream.' Selene thought to herself as she observed the dragon.

Selene then stretched her arms out the same way she had done when she first flew on Bartimus and she gripped the dragon's scales knowing that Bartimus would not have on of them. Both scales were present confirming that it was not Bartimus.

As if the dragon knew that she had discovered that he wasn't Bartimus, he tilted sideways making Selene hold on for dear life. He started flying closer to the ground and made a U-turn while doing a series of spins. Selene screamed and felt the scales she was holding onto come loose so now the only thing holding her was the clothe that loosely tied her down. She watched as the shiny scales fell and disappeared into the dense trees below them. When they were flying over an open space, close to the ground, Selene untied the clothe and let herself fall to the ground.

Selene landed roughly on the ground and hissed from the pain she felt. She heard the dragon land close to where she was so she got up to run but her foot had been impaled by a stick. She dragged her feet until she reached what looked like a road.

"Help!" Selene screamed,"Help me!"

"Come back here, princess." Vancouver said not too far behind her.

They both stopped when they heard the sound of wheels crashing against the stones on the ground. Selene felt a glimmer of hope that she would be saved and hopped in the direction she could hear the sound from. Vancouver was still weak from his fight with Bartimus and having transformed into a dragon had drained him. He had used up a lot of magic that he needed to replenish with a sacrifice quickly and he assumed that if the owner of the carriage was a human then he could kill the person for the sacrifice but his hopes were dashed when he sensed the presence of another strong wizard and he knew he could not go against him so he stopped following Selene.

"Help me please!" Selene shouted waving her hands so the carriage would stop.

The man driving the carriage looked at Selene and she thought she remembered him from somewhere. His face was dirty with something that looked like charcoal powder but she could see that the man looked surprised to see her.

"What are you doing here, Selene?" Elijah's voice said from the carriage.

Selene smiled as he got out of the carriage with a puzzled expression. He came to hold her shoulders and he examined her from head to toe to make sure nothing else was wrong with her other than the obvious stick sticking out of her foot. When he was sure nothing else was wrong with her, he took her with him into the carriage and they headed back to King's Apple. Selene fell asleep along the way so she wasn't awake to see that the stopped in King's Apple only to get food then continued to go to the settlement. When she woke up, they were still in the carriage.

"I thought you said we would stop in King's Apple?" Selene asked as she looked at Elijah.

"We did. You were asleep. I treated your wound and I just hope you will get better soon." Elijah answered.

"Thank you." she said,"Who's the man driving the carriage?"

"He is Manuel. He works as a coachman from time to time but we've been taking turns driving so don't worry about him."

"Where are we now?"

"We're still a day away from home, I'm afraid. Do you need something?"

"Food and water for now."

"We have some in here. I hope the rough ride doesn't affect your eating."

Selene took the bread Elijah offered her and also the leather bag of water. She drank the water first then ate the bread hungryly. Elijah watched with a look if satisfaction.

"Where is your husband?" he asked her curiously.

"I don't know. We got separated again." Selene answered honestly.

"Where were you headed?"

"Jezim."

"Jezim? What for? On...on foot?!"

"No. We got a carriage for us but then Vivian left without informing us and we had to look for her. I guess I took the wrong turn back there and I ran into a bear so I went up the tree and I don't recall what happened or how I survived but here I am." Selene lied.

Elijah squinted his eyes at her but let her be. He knew that it was a lie but he wanted her to tell him the truth herself. As Selene sat staring at Elijah, she mentally started calculating his journey with Manuel. Bartimus had used magic to get them to King's Apple in a day and they had spent the rest of the day there. They left the next morning, which was that morning, and were attacked. But how did Elijah and Manuel travel so quickly if their home and King's Apple were a day apart? Could she even trust him?

The carriage stopped abruptly and she heard Manuel's boots crush against the stones as he came to the carriage door. She broke into a cold sweat and stared interchangeably between Elijah and the carriage door. Manuel didn't open the door for a reason both she and Elijah didn't know.

"Let me see what is wrong with him." Elijah whispered.

He opened the door on the opposite side and got down quietly though his boots and the stones betrayed him. Someone hit the back of his head and he fell to the ground unconscious with his eyes open. Selene gasped making the carriage door open wider. There was a big burly man just inches shorter than Bartimus who had a dirty beard growing on his face. The other door opened to reveal another man, shorter than Selene which meant he was below five foot seven. He spat on the ground and smiled at Selene.

"Don't worry, milady. We won't hurt you. We just need to get you into that carriage over there." the burly man said pointing behind the carriage she was currently in.

"I don't want to go with you." Selene said shivering.

"She's injured. Will they still buy her?" the shorter man said looking at Selene's foot.

"Sure they will." the burly man affirmed grabbing Selene's hand tightly making her scream,"Rich perverts like them won't mind that she is injured as long as she can do stuff."

Selene was dragged out of the carriage and the man carried her on his shoulder like she was an animal. She kept on screaming and kicking him but he seemed unbothered by all her efforts. The shorter man opened the door of the black carriage where three other women were tied up with sacks covering their heads. The burly man made Selene sit on the carriage floor then he pushed her head back with so much force that she fainted and a pool of blood formed there.