Bellendy rose from a dreamless sleep and sat up slowly, her dazed and groggy mind trying to sort out what had awakened her. She gathered the soft sheets of her bed about her and looked about the room with bleary, blinking eyes.
The sheer curtains were glowing palely in the moonlight as they hung over her bedroom window, billowing slowly as the house breathed. Bellendy rose and sleepily crossed the woven mats of the floor to the window, where she drew back a curtain to gaze into shadows of the back yard.
The tall trees stood silent and shadowy around the house, but with a start she realized dim figures were moving about in the yard, hushed and sneaking. She bit back the rush of fear and ducked back a bit, letting the curtain drift gently back in to place. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she turned back to the room, looking to the couch that stood against the mud-brick wall nearby.
Crouching at the daybed's side, she reached amongst the many pillows to stroke a thin form with a gentle yet trembling hand. It was a faerie dragon, with wings like those of a butterfly. He lifted his tiny head from the pillows to blink up at the girl, yawning as widely as his small form allowed.
Bellendy looked back to the window and spoke to him in whispers. Her eyes were wide and shy as she warily watched the window. "Someone's in the yard..."
The faerie dragon tilted his head at her, then smoothly turned to the window. His wings fluttered to life with a small sparkle, and he flew quietly over to peek through the curtains, holding the fabric's edge in his tiny claws.
Bellendy joined him there. "It's not... him.... is it...?"
"Bellendy!!"
She jumped, ducking to the floor and sitting below the broad window, out of sight. She knew that voice.
"Bellendy, come out!"
She looked fearfully to her maow friend as the faerie-dragon fluttered down to her shoulder, nuzzling her. "Bris..." she whispered, her voice cracking as fear surged through her.
A rapid knocking sounded from elsewhere in the house, at the kitchen door. It paused a moment as Bris yelled for her again. "Bellendy!! ...alright, guys, torch it!"
A chorus of shouts rose from the backyard and Bellendy's eyes grew wider. The curtains suddenly lit up with a yellow glow as a roar of fire abruptly peirced the warm night.
"No..." she whimpered, "No, no, no!"
The dragon nuzzled her comfortingly, unsure of what was happening. More shouts rose louder from the yard, but the roar of flames overwhelmed the words. He slithered up, lizard-like, under the curtains to peek his head out of the window. There was an audible squeak, a rare thing from the near-muteness of most faerie-dragons. He raced down to her shoulder and tugged at her silvery hair.
She looked to him, her blue eyes watery. "What... what do we...?"
The faerie-maow looked about the room, his dark eyes now glinting with yellow as the room grew brighter and louder. He fluttered from her shoulder, tugging a bit with his claws to pull her up to her feet, and zipped over to the closet. The closet door, woven of lightweight reeds, slid open as he approached, a bit of faerie-magic, and he dove down to tug at the small backpack stashed there, the same telekinesis magic working to drag the bag out onto the mats of the floor.
Bellendy stared down at the bag for an instant, then froze as she heard a loud crack from the kitchen, as though something had burst through the mud-brick wall.
In a panic, she quickly grabbed up the bag and started stuffing it with clothing. The faerie dragon fluttered about the room, gathering items of importance and floating them to the bag as well, then he zipped back to her shoulder and tugged with his tiny claws towards the door. The room was getting smokey, and the crackling roar could be felt vibrating through the floor. Entering the hallway with the flurry of faerie dragon pulling her along, Bellendy saw in dismay that the entire house was awash in the flickering yellow-orange light, and the slanting ceiling was interlaced with the thick, white curls of smoke. She covered her mouth and nose with the front of her nightgown and squinted her eyes against the smoke, allowing the tiny dragon to lead her. Her heart was pounding with fear.
"Bellendy!" she heard a voice call through the roar. They were looking for her... "Bellendy!!"
She ducked away from the voice, the dragon flitting after her, and they rushed out of the front door and into the surrounding woods, ducking off of the cobblestone path. She paused there, looking back to her home. The thatched roof was ablaze and falling in, and flames were licking up the curtains in the windows, where they danced like firey ghosts. She stifled a loud sob as more men came around the side of the building, shouting and watching the burning house. She shuddered with fear as she saw a man emerge through the front door, his form lost in the backdrop of flames and smoke. He called her name again, loudly and angrily.
She felt another tug and looked up. The dragon was watching fearfully, his eyes wide; he could do nothing to protect her, and both of them knew it.
A large black form, its fur patchy and its bared teeth glinting in the blaze, lurked around the corner on a leash, its nose to the ground as it tracked to find her fresh trail.
"No..." Bellendy trembled. Her worst nightmare had just fallen even deeper. The giant wolf-creature stopped as it crossed a scent, going rigid and looking towards the woods, towards Bellendy, its evil eyes bright with bloodlust.
It lunged forward.
Bellendy ran like the wind, hiking up her nightgown and leaping through the trees. Her maow friend pressed tight to her shoulders, his claws digging into the pack's shoulder straps, as shouting and yells and roars rang through the woods behind her and her home, what was also once the Hartsylla Guide Hall, sent blackening smoke into the dark sky.
* * * * *
"She wasn't there?"
The silver, winged fox shook his head, peering through the bushes for any chance that they may have been seen. "No, they must have moved her... the security around here was not very tight, at any rate. I should have known that they would have moved her to a more secure location... we just got here too late, it seems."
The winged girl cursed under her breath, her eyes narrowed as she watched the black-clad agents run out into the wood and away from the explosions of their munitions store-house. They were looking for her and her fox-friend, combing the forest for them. As she watched through the bushes, one of the Warriors ran past, his blue skin pale in the faint moonlight and his black-feathered wings sailing along in the air behind him, held flat out like a rudder to keep from snagging any branches as he raced by. His heavy boots thumped along the soft moss of the forest floor.
He hadn't noticed them, and as he dissapeared into the faint mist of the dark forest, she scowled after him, wishing for all the universe that she could give stealthy chase and end his life.
But her maow companion had a paw on her knee, reminding her to stay. After a long moment, he nodded with his head towards the darkened forest behind them, and they crept away into the shadows, leaving only the carnage of their enemy's broken camp behind them.
"Don't worry," the fox whispered to her as they slunk among the treetops, "I think I know where they've relocated her..."
* * * * *
pic space ;)
