Chapter Two done!
open eyes.private.comTotal word count: 5,289
Chapter word count: 2,205
A being that was too large to be a bird, yet too small to be a jet-propelled flyer, floated just above the tips of the trees that made up the huge forest. Wings flapped gracefully and naturally, letting the leaves rustle about in the trees just below.
That being was a birdman, and the wife of Balbaroy. Her name was Amon, and she was the queen of the now-demolished Shade Abbey. Her blue wings juxtaposed nicely against her creamy white feathers, and her shining silver armor.
She could’ve flown higher, but she was under a powerful spell that could control her altitude while flying. The two ugly beasts that walked below her were the ones controlling the spell on her.
Amon was very clumsy with a sword, and thus, was one of the first of the five to be caught. She could struggle and distract the Shianwa warriors with her powerful wings, but it wouldn’t do much to help her situation.
Her sword had been confiscated the moment she was under the influence of the guards, and had no means of protecting herself.
As her wings flapped rhythmically, she reflected on her situation: “Darksol is the last person I wanted to be wasting my time working for,” she stated, dryly. “Why wouldn’t he just kidnap Max? His business would be done much quicker that way…” She didn’t know what hit her, but she suddenly realized why Darksol hadn’t just kidnapped Max. Darksol, she contemplated, wanted to see Max suffer. But, in addition, he wanted to draw Max to Panmei, with the whole Force with him!
“And the best part about his plan is that there is no one to warn Max of this,” Amon said, quietly. The rest of her journey to Darksol’s territory was silent.
- - -
Bright blue hair bobbed along a trail. Bright blue hair on a small, childlike head, surrounded by ugly beings. The woman’s delicate robes were being dragged along carelessly on the ground, attracting bugs, dirt and filth.
A princess shouldn’t be treated like this! Narsha, the princess of Runefaust, thought, horrified. How rude!
Of the five Shining Force members that were kidnapped, Narsha was the one worse off than any of the others. Rather than having two guards accompanying her to Panmei, she had six. Of course, this provided her with fewer opportunities to escape the clutches of evil that were bringing her in.
She stumbled along, gluing her eyes to the ground as she walked. There was obviously no way that Narsha could escape from the Shianwa, no matter who came to rescue her.
The blue-haired guru looked up once, and noticed a sky to match her robes. They had emerged from the forest, and were making their way through a sunny field. She felt as if this field would offer some sort of hope to set her free; she noticed several birds flying majestically toward the sky, freer than she.
Gray clouds soon consumed the sky; the sun had disappeared. One enormous, tall building stood only a few hundred yards ahead. She knew where she was. Her father had dragged her here once, having planned to imprison her in the cellars of the building.
Her father. She had never known someone to betray her more than her father had. But that was explainable. Her father was Ramladu.
- - -
An archer would feel empty without his bow. This is exactly how Hans, the silver-haired archer, felt after those savage beasts had torn him from his campsite. They had stripped him of his only weapon; he felt naked without his bow and quiver.
But most of all, Hans felt embarrassed that he had let his team down. The Shining Force needed his excellent archery skills. There wasn’t an archer in a thousand miles that could equally match Hans for talent.
The bowmaster tried not to imagine what sorts of grueling tasks Darksol would force him to do – wash every window in his tower? Scrub every square inch of the forlorn place? He knew that whatever it was, he would much rather put an arrow through Darksol’s thick skull.
He wondered how Ken, Lowe, Narsha, and Amon were dealing with this torture. How long would it be until he saw them again? How long would it be until he saw anyone he knew again?