Chapter 2: Close, yet far

A Chapter by Dee Cole

Kaya and Tora seem to be close to their escape. Will they finally make it?

The chains weighed heavily around their wrists.

Kaya hadn't done much physical exercise since the pirates decided they

wanted to watch her squirm in a sparring ring for a while.
The pirates who had taken her from the ruins of her village were not the kind saviors their public actions made them out to be; although, she would have died for certain had they left her.
Tora trudged along, her legs still bruised from the whipping she received from one of the captain's best men. The pirates were a strong sort but rarely touched by magic.
The pirates rejected magic, and though they would never know it, mana reacted like a living being, shunning the men who would not accept it.
The trees seemed to swirl around them as Kaya and Tora shaped their path through the thicket, careful to avoid wild animals. And as the day wore on, they slowed, their mana depleted from carrying the heavy chains that they were forced to wear at all times.
They were at least as thick around as her hand, a ridiculous amount of weight to put on a normal person, human or beast-man. But for Kaya and Tora, the weight was just barely enough to keep them from fleeing.
The magic in their veins sang true not long after the pirates had taken them in and shackled them. It started off as the captain inspecting the two beast-girls to determine their potential, but soon became a beating when they were too afraid to comply.
Captain Taranin started with Tora; he picked her up by the throat and slammed her against the wall. Kaya's terror grew; with each passing second, she thought Taranin would kill Tora and turn his wrath on her.
But this fear quickly gave way to rage. Her blood swirled in her veins, hammering throughout her body, her scales stood on end along with the feather-like quills her hair developed at their ends. Her vision, quite literally went red, and she only remembered one thing after that: the metallic taste of poison as it sprayed from her head.
"Enough reminiscing," she thought. "The forest seems to be clearing up, we should avoid being seen as much as possible," she whispered. Tora gave a minuscule nod of understanding.
Crawling through the tall grass, they made their way to a small wooden town that seemed nearly empty except for the shifting curtains behind nearly rotten windows.
Hope swelled in her chest; they had finally made it to civilization, even if it barely counted as civilized. That hope turned to cold fear as she realized they were being watched. She put a hand on Tora's arm to alert her, but she already knew.
The white fur located only on her forearms and lower legs, much like Kaya's own scales was standing at attention as if expecting a predator to leap from the forest at any second. They waited several more minutes in dreadful, terrifying silence.
That terrible, tortuous silence was broken by a faint rustling that seemed to be coming from every direction. "An ambush! But how did they know we would be here? No one saw or heard us leave, right?"
Her mind swirled with an almost hysterical paranoia, bolstered only by an intense fear of an attack. Even more horrific, grueling moments passed as they waited, completely still, with their muscles coiled tight underneath their green cloaks. The answer came to them then as the rustling stopped. A hulking figure dropped from the trees, grabbing both girls by the arms.
Simultaneously, Kaya and Tora jumped nearly twenty feet into the air, spurred by adrenaline and beast-like reflexes. But in the end, they stood no chance against the man, he was stronger, taller and faster than both of them. It was the first mate, Kortlig.
No one could escape him, especially not Kaya and Tora. He had been watching them for days, after all.

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