“I don’t know if...”
In one fluid movement she slipped a hand around his throat, lifting his body off the ground and slammed him into the nearest tree.
Winded, he struggled against her grip but didn’t attempt to strike her. Elora tilted her head, a wicked smile playing on her lips as she pressed her thumb into his Adam’s apple. She held it at a point that must have been uncomfortable for him, grinning with the knowledge that she could just as easily push her thumb straight through his throat until it met the tree bark or simply snap his neck like a twig.
“You better know, Bray. This is me - in control.” She took a slow breath and released her grip, letting him fall to the floor. He stared up at her, shock sparkling in his eyes as he rose to his feet. “You don’t want to see me when I’ve lost control.” They stared at each other, neither speaking as the darkness crept into the forest.
“What will it be Elf boy?” She grasped a handful of his black t-shirt and pulled him towards her lips. “Can you kill me, for love?” Bray nodded once, then his lips crashed against hers.
When the kiss finally ended, Bray pulled away and held her at arm’s length.
“I need you to do one thing for me, too,” he said, voice deep, almost husky. She raised an eyebrow.
“Anything.”
“Don’t ever lose your temper. Killing you would kill me.” He pulled her into a tight hug, arms wrapping around her shoulder. She leaned into him, feeling safe even though she knew that if she allowed the darkness into her heart, she would kill him.
“I’ll try,” she whispered. “We better get back to the inn before they send out a search party.” She took his hand and they walked through the trees, darkness surrounding them but with Bray at her side she felt reassured that she had the strength, the will, to hold the daughter of Chaos back.
“You know, if I’m to keep a close watch over you I’ll need to stay in your room tonight,” said Bray, somewhat sheepishly. “Just in case you have nightmares and try to burn the inn down or something. Nothing, erm...You know?”
Elora laughed.
“Know what exactly?” she teased, smiling as his face took on a pained expression.
“Anything...less honourable,” he said, clearing his throat. She laughed again, letting her face slip into the mask of innocence.
“Whatever do you mean?” Elora elbowed his side. Then dropped her voice and gave it a husky quality herself. “What if I have less than honourable intentions towards you?” Bray’s eyes went wide, and she burst out laughing. “Come on, Elf boy, your innocence is safe with me. But staying in my room is probably a good idea. You’ve just got to convince my uncle.”
Chapter 18
Aveton
Saddles creaked as they meandered down a dirt track, Elora steering her horse with the lightest touch of her reins, a gentle press of her knee; swaying with the mare and enjoying the moment. Bray rode beside her, face towards the sky and catching the morning sun.
She felt at peace, almost tranquil and the exact opposite of when the arguments had ensued on her return to the inn the previous night.
The atmosphere had been thick with disagreements, raised voices and sullen tempers, herself and Bray holding hands as they entered only took it up a notch. Elora had listened for as long as she could before the whispers came, which hadn’t been long at all and excused herself before she was inclined to reduce the building to ash.
Bray had followed her to bed and slept beside her, above the covers. His arm draped over her protectively. If her uncle or anyone else disagreed with that, they’d kept silent.
Moods in the morning had been sombre, the inn quiet but everybody had a task to do and so was busy. Elora and Bray were to ride to the nearest town and locate a chemist that sold blue contact lenses. All her life she had been telling people that her real eyes were contacts; now she would be wearing contacts to cover her real eyes - the irony. They also needed to procure blonde hair dye, hopefully they would have it at the same chemist, Bray didn’t want to spend any longer than needed in the town.
“How much further?” she asked, wanting the ride to last a little longer. They would be leaving Rams Keep this evening, heading into the Shadowlands so this would probably be the last time they would be alone together.
“Aveton’s not far, maybe a mile,” he replied, nodding over to the next valley where Elora could see a column of grey smoke rising into the air. It was hard to believe that over the hill was once a thriving town, now silent, devoid of power and electricity.
“It’s been over a fortnight since the lights went out, the town will be a mess, the people hungry, thirsty and desperate,” continued Bray, his smile gone as his hand drifted towards the axe strapped to his saddle; a long-bearded blade one side and a sharp spike the other. “I’d prefer it if you stayed hidden and let me go into town alone.”
“Can’t do that.” Elora took her lock of blonde hair between finger and thumb and waggled it. “You might get the wrong shade of dye.”
“Then we’ll have to be swift and careful. Desperate people, no matter who they were before, will do desperate things,” Elora nodded, more to put Bray at ease than to agree. They were only people, surely, they wouldn’t try to harm them.
Hooves echoed down the empty street as they weaved between abandoned cars and vans. Litter scattered across the road and pavements; blown by the wind and left to settle undisturbed by any road-sweeper or council worker. Elora stared into the empty shells of shops, windows smashed and looted, a few still smoking, masonry black from old fires but didn’t see a soul. The town appeared dead. A ghost town.
“Where are the people?” she asked, her voice sounding loud as it broke the silence that engulfed the place.
Bray shrugged. “Those that haven’t left will be hiding. Those that aren’t hiding will be foraging and stealing. The rest will be dying or already dead.”
He pulled his horse onto the path and halted outside a chemist, its door shattered, and the glass cleared from the frame. “I’ll go in and have a look around, you stay with the horses. Any sign of trouble and you take off. Don’t stop until you get back to the inn.”
“Yes sir!” Elora replied, snapping up a mock salute, then grinned when Bray scowled at her.
“I mean it,” he said, tying his reins to a lamppost and taking the axe down from the saddle. The weapon looked out of place in the hands of somebody dressed in jeans and t-shirt, instead of a warrior on a battlefield where it belonged.
Elora watched him disappear and suddenly felt alone, sat upon Daisy in the empty street with only the horses and a few pigeons for company. She watched the birds taking advantage of the lack of people, flying in and out of the shops like they owned the town.
Maybe mankind shouldn’t have become so dependent on electricity; relying on a power so totally that its loss meant the downfall of civilization. Something that so many took for granted and now struggled to live without. People were dying, were already dead because they put so much of their blind trust into a technology that her father had wiped out in a single move.
She gazed about the town, the abandoned cars, empty shops and wondered if it was possible to bring it back to how it was, if she could somehow restore the electricity could life go on as before?
Movement to her side made her snap her head around, instinctively she reached for the dagger in her smuggler’s pouch.
“I’ve got your contact lenses but there’s so many hair dyes, don’t know which one will match,” said Bray, striding out of the chemist. “You’re going to have to help.” She climbed off her horse and tied her next to Bray’s then followed him into the shop.
Elora’s first thought was that a bomb had detonated inside, reducing the interior to a pile of glass, broken bottles, split boxes and wall trimmings. Shelving had been pulled down and lay in a heap under a pile of white ceiling tiles, the till half buried amongst the mess, prised open and empty.
“What happened?” asked Elora, shocked at witnessing the aftermath of what must have been carnage. Bray stepped over the mess, a ceiling tile snapping under his weight.
