Water {Elements of Power 2}

Chapter 11: Roxy

I edged further around the tree, trying to work out exactly what they were doing. They weren't chopping down branches so much as clipping them back, making them look more uniform. It seemed like a waste of time, particularly since they were collecting up the branches they cut off.

One of the women had climbed up into a tree, to reach some of the higher branches. As she leant across to get one that was slightly out of her reach, she lost her grip and fell into a heap on the floor. The others rushed over to check that she was okay. Before I could stop myself, I laughed loudly.

Everyone froze.

I clamped my hand over my mouth, even though it was too late. Flames!

"What was that?" one of the men asked. My heart hammered loudly in my chest. Surely they would hear it this time; the whole forest must be able to.

"Is anyone out there?" another called. I held my breath.

"It was probably a bird, Seb," the other woman said, her attention on the fallen Sephan. "Help me get her up. We need to get back to the village." He ignored her; I could hear the crunch of his footsteps across the leaves on the ground. He was getting closer.

"Seb, come on! We need to get back," the female Sephan called out again and the footsteps stopped. My lungs were burning, so I allowed myself to take in a slow, shallow breath, praying to the Fire God that he wouldn't hear me.

The footsteps turned and receded. The God was on my side for once; they were going back to their camp.

They gathered up their tools, along with what looked like bundles of twigs, and left the clearing on the opposite side to me. Two Sephans supported the fallen woman between them, as she couldn't put any weight on her right ankle.

I followed at a distance, using sound more than sight to guide my way. They chattered as they went, making them easy to track. I paused briefly in the gloom of the clearing to check that they hadn't left anything promising behind, but the whole area was clear; it was as though the Sephans had never been there.

After another half an hour, the sounds grew louder and the crackling of flames alerted me to the fact that I was approaching their camp. Best stop here then, I thought. I was too far away to be seen, but it would be easy enough to find the village when night fell.

I found a promising looking clump of hedges and sat down, doing my best to make myself comfortable. It would be a while yet until I could do anything else, so I might as well sleep. As with the boat, my hiding place wasn't perfect, but it was good enough. Besides-even if they did find me-they were only Sephans.

***

When I woke up, the world around me was in darkness. Only the faint glow of fire to my right pointed me in the direction of the village.

I stood up slowly and quietly, stretching out my muscles after the cramped confines of my hiding place, and then approached the village with cautious steps. When it emerged between the trees I had to stop myself from laughing again.

I had never seen a home look so makeshift. The Sephan 'village' was more like a campsite. A large fire dominated the centre, with ten or so large green canvas tents pitched around it. An assortment of belongings had been left outside. Easy pickings.

Their homes were up in the trees. Nests. It was the only word I could summon up to describe them. The houses seemed to have been woven from twigs and grasses. Some even had flowers threaded through the walls. They were tiny: practical rather than luxurious. I could only see them because a torch had been hung outside of each one. The Sephans didn't seem unduly afraid of flames.

There was so much stuff lying out on the floor that I was confident getting rid of the manacles would be easy. The objects seemed to be organised by type. The tent nearest to me had what looked like cooking utensils outside, the one to its left was surrounded by bags and there, over to the right, was a tent with the tools I had seen the Sephans using earlier.

I grinned as I crept into the village. Easy was the only word going through my head. Silly Sephans. I kept to the outskirts of the camp, so that the campfire wouldn't cast my shadow across the tents. I didn't want to disturb the sleeping occupants.

A pair of sharp, heavy-duty clippers caught my eye at once, as did some kind of saw. If I used the tools there, I risked waking up the Sephans, so I shoved both through my belt, planning to use them from the safety and seclusion of the shore.

Before I went back, I decided I should grab some food for the journey. I hadn't seen any so far, but there had been a lot of bags around the campfire. I would start with those.

But when I turned back towards the fire I was met with a rather different predicament.

They had surrounded me. Somewhere between thirty and forty Sephans: men, women and children. All watching me with the same distrust, the same cold gaze, the same resolve. I stared back as their eyes took in my clothes, the tools at my waist and, finally, my hair. There would be no point in pretending otherwise; I was quite clearly a Helian.

They should have been running then-trying to get away from the flames they knew I could produce. There should have been mass panic. But the Sephans only stood and stared.

If I had my powers, the whole place would be up in flames by now; perhaps they knew that, perhaps they suspected that I was... impotent. Without my powers, I had nothing but the tools at my belt and my training. There were too many to fight and win. I could run, but I didn't know where I was going and I'd be more likely to fall and hurt myself. They knew the terrain better than I did, too.

I looked round at my aggressors, watching them as they watched me. They were rough and wild looking. Many carried tools and makeshift weapons in their hands.

I knew that I couldn't win, but they were Sephans and there was no way I could let them take me down without a fight.

Before they had a chance to react, I crossed the distance to the man closest to me, hitting out with a side kick to his stomach, causing him to double over in pain. I swung straight round to attack the next, punching him square across the jaw before following with a flurry to his chest. I took out the woman who came at me next with another kick, while the first man to throw a punch I sent careering down onto the floor with a throw.

By that point they had come to their senses and I found myself surrounded on all sides. Rough hands pushed me down onto the ground. My arms were twisted behind my back and I felt my wrists being bound.

Stuck, I finally stopped fighting.

"That's right, Helian. You're not going anywhere, so there's no use in trying." The voice was gruff and foreign.

"What do we do now?" another of the Sephans bearing down on me asked.

I kept my head down and tried to get my breathing back under control. My heart was racing from the fight.

"I vote we kill her now. She was trespassing." That was really, really not what I needed. Leave it to the brainless Sephans to kill first, think about diplomatic options later.

"Come on. There's no way she was here just to steal a few tools. She must have an agenda. We need to find out what it is."

"We could get her talking in no time." A few of them laughed and I heard the clanking of the weapons in their hands.

"No." It was a woman who spoke this time. "We should take her to the capital and let them deal with her."

A few of the weapon-clankers grumbled at this, but the majority seemed to agree.

And in the democracy of our lesser Realm, the majority were always obeyed.

Thank the Fire God.

{And thanks very much to @wall_flower872 for the awesome picture of Roxy!)