Reflections in the Fire

Slowly the footsteps came closer. Zida parted a few leaves on the bushes, to see where this person was. As she looked, she saw him bend down, part the shrubs from each other, and look up in the trees. Then he towards her, Zida stiffened with fright, but quickly thought of an idea on how to get away from him.

   He bent down and parted the bushes away from Zida and saw her lying there, he turned his head and shouted, ‘Oi! I’ve found her!’ It was the one with the young, enthusiastic voice. He rued the moment he looked away from her, because when he looked back Zida was gone, or at least he thought. When he stood up and turned around, Zida stood up from the bushes under a tree to where she had silently, yet quickly, rolled there when he was not looking.

   She walked quickly but carefully towards him with a rock in her hand. When she was behind him knocked him on the back of the head, and he fell unconscious to the ground. She threw the rock down, when she heard the others running towards them, turned on her heel and ran deeper into the woods.

Zida ran through the trees, stumbling here and there over tree roots. She came into a clearing, saw a riverbank, and ran towards it. When she reached the river, she stopped, panting and looked around. She could hear the guards not far behind. If they caught her now she would not have any sort of trail and never get out of prison again. And without another thought, she ran into the river.

   The water was icy cold. It was wide, deep and extremely treacherous. She swam as fast as she could through the ice-like water, against the strong current and the weight of her soaked clothes pulling her down slightly. She pushed and pushed herself, willing herself to go faster.

   Half way across the River she heard someone yell behind her. They were coming closer! She tried to go faster, but then she felt something colder than the water, something that oddly felt like a bony hand, close around her right ankle. She struggled but the grip of the hand prevailed and she could hardly move around let alone free herself.

   Her energy drained as she struggled on. Zida began to feel drowsy and light-headed, her lungs seem to close the longer the hand held her preventing oxygen to reach them. She took sharp, painful gulps of air, trying to keep awake. She felt as if all her veins were freezing, and her blood was being turned into ice.

   Then another hand grabbed her other ankle. She tried to paddle away with her arms, but they so numb and felt like lead that she could not make them move.

   The hands pulled her, slowly but forcefully under water. It felt as though her lungs were going to collapse. The little bit of air that she could get into her lungs seem to have disappeared. Faster and faster she was pulled down under the water, nearer and nearer to the bottom and then… nothing!

*                     *                    *

Zida stirred, she felt as though she had just awoken from a horrible dream, which she could not remember. She was laying on something very cold and hard. Her clothes were wet, she could not think why, and in the background she heard a drip, drip sound of water falling into a puddle.

   Then she remembered. She running in the woods, running away from Asil and the other guards, and into the ice-cold river, and about half way through, frozen hands grabbed her ankles and pulled her under water! She opened her eyes, everything was blurred for a moment or two.

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Softcover

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