30 Day Image Prompt Competition - August

Day 12 Prompt 2 - The Vortex

Normally, Jenna loved horses. She loved spending time with the graceful creatures in the paddocks or going for gentle canters across the fields. She did not love three days of riding at a near constant gallop through forests of low hanging branches, fording icy streams or scrambling up steep hills. Nor did she appreciate being bounced along on an unforgiving military saddle atop the back of one of the largest horses she had ever seen let alone ridden.

Since her rescue three days earlier from the ruffian’s encampment, she had spent most of her days astride the large horse and her body was feeling every stride and breath the horse took. From the waist down she felt numb and when she wasn’t her muscles and bones felt as though they had been jabbed with a red hot poker. The flesh on the inside of her thighs felt raw and bruised and she was certain that she would never be able to walk properly.

She longed for a soak in a hot tub scented with rose petals to wash away the smell of horseflesh and her own unwashed body. Her body cried out for a soft, comfortable bed upon which to rest her aching limbs instead of the hard earth she had tried to sleep upon for those short hours that he had allowed them to stop.

Despite her sufferings, not a word of complaint passed her lips nor did she allow her body to betray the battering it was receiving. Time was of the essence,  if she allowed her rescuers to see her suffering they would insist on further rest stops. From the looks they sent to their rear and exchanged between them she knew their escape was being followed and it would only be a matter of time before her captors caught them.

Through eyes dulled with pain and fatigue, she watched as Caillen held up his hand for them to stop. They had entered the Sartoran desert earlier in the afternoon and dusk was starting to fall. Ahead of them stretched an unending carpet of golden sand and she wondered how he knew what direction to travel in when there were no landmarks around them, just vast undulating mounds of sand.

“The oasis is up ahead. We’ll stop there,” he said, his words muffled by the scarf around the lower half of his face.

Kato looked behind him, searching for the pursuers that were invisible to Jenna’s untrained eye. Even though their pursuers were too far to be seen, Kato always seemed to know where they were and how far behind. She had come to the conclusion there was something about these four warriors that stood them apart from others. They all had something that made them different but she did not know what.

“We have a few hours but I do not know if they will think to setting up camp when night falls,” he commented as he urged his horse forwards to stand next to Caillen’s stallion.

“They would be foolish to travel across the desert in the darkness. Only a fool does that,” Caillen replied.

“Or one not familiar with the desert and eager to carry out his master’s orders,” Dar added as he brought his own mount level. “These are men who covet the reward purse more than they covet common sense.”

“True. We will rest before making a decision.” Caillen urged his own mount onwards and the others followed suit, their horse’s long legs eating up the desert floor.

Jenna groaned as she urged her own horse in pursuit. Whilst the brief halt had been welcome to her battered body it had also started the blood flowing into her numbed limbs bringing a new pain for her to contend with. She prayed there was not much further for them to travel before they reached the safety of their destination but, looking around her once more, she doubted it.

The oasis sat in the hollow of two towering dunes. An unexpected carpet of greenery surrounding a blue lake rising out of the golden desert. The horses, scenting the fresh water and lush, green grass, quickened their pace over the final few hundred yards, jarring Jenna’s aching limbs even further.

Caillen dismounted, drawing his sword as he did so, and, with Kato, scanned the area to check that it was safe before signalling to the others to dismount. Jenna half fell half stumbled out of the saddle to the grass covered ground below. Her legs, numb for so long, threatened not to support her body causing her to grab at the saddle before she tumbled to the ground. As she stood there, her head resting against the side of the saddle, willing her body to carry her for just a little longer, she missed the look of regret Caillen sent her as he tended to his horse. If she had seen it, it may have made her change her judgement of him being a harsh, unfeeling brute.

“Jenna?”

She turned and looked into the concerned eyes of Kato. With an effort, she pasted what she hoped was a reassuring smile as she tried to release her death grip on the saddle. Her legs were starting to feel as though they would hold her up but she doubted she could move anywhere.

“Caillen’s set up somewhere for you to sit and rest and have some refreshments,” he said, pointing over to where a pallet had been set up beneath a wide tree. A canteen of water and one of the sacks of food had been placed by its side. “If you wish to take a wash, Caillen said that we’ll keep watch while you do so.”

“Th-thank you,” she whispered, her voice hoarse from lack of use. .

“Allow me,” Kato said with an understanding smile and offered her his arm as support for her walk to the pallet.

Jenna flashed the tough warrior a grateful smile and accepted his arm. With a major effort and his assistance she was able to walk over to the pallet and sink onto its welcoming softness. Whether she would be able to get up would be a problem she would deal with later, she thought as she unwrapped the food.

“I don’t think Jenna can carry on for much longer,” Kato advised Caillen when he joined him at the edge of the lake. “She’s about done in.”

“I know. It’s been a hard ride for her.” Caillen watched as she took a long drink of the water and sank back against the trunk of the tree. Even from this distance, he could see the dark shadows beneath her eyes, the lines of fatigue marking her features. He had noted the stiff way she walked whenever they dismounted for a rest, the effort it took her to climb back into the saddle. He had also seen how she never complained, never voiced her discomfort or gave any sign that she was suffering. “We have another couple of days of hard riding before we reach the coast and the ship.”

“She’ll try it but I don’t think she’ll manage it.” Kato sighed, wondering how something as simple as escorting a young lady to Navarre had become so complicated and dangerous. Caillen had told them that Jenna’s life was in danger but none of them had expected the threat to be so severe. It was testing all of them, even Caillen.

“Have our pursuers stopped?”

Kato looked back down the route they had travelled, long lashes sweeping down over gray eyes. “They’ve slowed but they show no signs of camping. I think they’re going to continue into the night until they are forced to rest. We have about three hours, four at the most.”

“We’ll rest here for as long as we can. Let me know when they get to within an hour of us.” He turned to walk away but Kato’s hand stopped him.

“Caillen, what are you planning?”

“What I have to, to get all of you to safety,” he replied enigmatically before walking off into the darkness surrounding the oasis leaving Kato frowning behind him.

“Jenna, Jenna, wake up. It’s time to go.”

Jenna groaned as she felt Kato’s hand upon her shoulder, gently shaking her awake. Her body protested against the movement as bones and limbs ached in ways she had never thought possible. She opened her eyes and met his concerned gaze. “How long was I asleep?”

“About three hours. You need to get ready to leave, now.” Kato rose and offered her his hand.

“Three hours? Why did you let me rest so long?” The world spun around her for a moment as she stood up but she refused to allow her weakness to get the better of her.

“Caillen’s orders,” he replied, his harsh tone causing her to look sharply at him as he stared at his friend. Something had happened between them whilst she had slept, something not good. Not wanting to delay them further, she had a quick wash in the lake before gathering her possessions and going to where her mount was waiting. She could see Caillen and Kato angrily exchanging words and she wondered what was going on.

“You cannot do this,” Kato argued for not the first time since he had learned of Caillen’s plan. “It is foolhardy.”

“It is the only way to get Jenna to safety. She cannot manage another long, hard ride and we cannot afford to slow down. This is our only option.”

“We could have left earlier,” Kato pointed out although he knew that Caillen spoke the truth. He sighed, knowing from the hard amber eyes there was no dissuading Caillen from his course of action. “And when we are safe, what happens to you? What will keep you safe?”

Caillen gave a little mocking smile. “You come and rescue me,” he replied. “Be ready to ride, fast, for there will not be much time.”

“Riders approaching!” Dar announced. “Coming in fast.”

In the moonlight, the shadowy forms of their pursuers could be seen as they travelled across a distant dune. Caillen nodded to Kato and the others, leaving Jenna puzzled as to why he did not mount his own horse. What was going on, she wondered.

Caillen stared towards the unseen coastal destination they had been travelling to. He pictured the dock, with their ship moored in one of the berths, and closed his eyes. Breathing in deeply, he summoned the power that lay dormant with in him and raised his hands to the vast expanse of sand before him.

Jenna watched, her face frozen with amazement, as the wind sprang up from nowhere around them. Swirling through the oasis it gathered speed as it started to spin around in a vertical motion. Sand, lifted up by the rushing wind, floated up into the sky, whirling around and around until a great orange vortex appeared. At the heart of the vortex, Jenna could see the still figure of Caillen, his arms raised to the heavens as he controlled the wind.

“Look,” said Dar, pointing towards the vortex.

Jenna could see a light shining through the whirling sand, a light that began to take shape, revealing itself as a harbour, with a long, wooden dock where a tall ship stood berthed. Her mind could not believe what she was seeing before her, it was too magical to comprehend. Created by a power far greater than what she herself possessed.

“Let’s go!” Kato ordered and urged his mount towards the vortex. Dar and Tao followed, urging their startled mounts onwards. She felt Dar take the reins of her mount, leading him onwards whilst Kato led Caillen’s stallion. She wanted to ask why Caillen wasn’t following but the wind was screaming around her ears, taking her breath from her lungs. Sand stung at her face before a deathly calm surrounded them as they entered the vortex. She could see the harbour, smell the sea air as they stepped out onto the dirt track leading downwards. Frantically she turned to see where Caillen was, her throat tightening on his name as she saw him standing in the mouth of the vortex, riders closing upon him. Her last vision of him was his arms lowering and the vortex collapsing leaving them standing at the dockside without Caillen.