Blinded

Short So You Can Read The Whole Of It

My eyes were skimming through the addresses on the mails I received this morning. I was searching for a particular one that had me impatiently waiting for weeks. I didn’t know what that mail contained but I knew that it was very important I could sense that it had come today. Swiping through different letters, I finally got my hands on it. I was so excited that i forgot a certain sadness it brought. I opened the envelope to see what it unveiled.

Dear Mark,

We have located the last orb of the Dead. It is heavily guarded by trained soldiers in the Cronasian jungle. You’ll carry your usual weapons excluding your sword and battle axe. The mission has to be carried out in utmost stealth. I hope you understand the seriousness of this mission.

Good Luck,

Alex.

I put down the letter and started packing up. I equipped myself with my usual bow and quiver slung over the cloak I had worn. The cloak had an irregular green and brown pattern to help me camouflage in the jungle. I also carried along a backpack that carried around 35 extra arrows, 15 darts and also a supply of dried food. After dressing up I walked out of my room, down the stairs and made my way to the drawing room.

My wife quickly got up from her knitting and closed in to me. She had known for days that such a situation would come and so she made no efforts to stop me. Instead she gave me tightly embraced me and we both exchanged moments of love. I doubted that I would get that from her again but I still let go. Without a word I slowly walked to the main door.

“Bye...” her sweet voice called out to me. I turned around and replied with a comforting smile and walked out of the house.

It was early in the morning and the sun was shining with an orange tint. My horse, Scyth was peacefully biting off grass from the garden. He was a black, tall and muscular stallion. I had saddled him since days now and even equipped with all my camping gear. I walked up to him and untied him from the tree nearby. I mounted on him, pulled his bridle and he was trotting in no time.

I was riding west and it me a greater part of the morning to get out of the kingdom. The rest of the day was spent riding through the massive canyon. I had a few stops to rest and eat dried food from my backpack. I also fed my horse to restore his stamina. I reached the Fourteen Forts Kingdom by evening where I made a stop for the night at Chalet inn.

I had a heavy breakfast in the morning and also replenished my dried food supplies for the journey ahead. I still had two more days of traveling to do and the next leg was through the Akron forest. I left the kingdom headed east following the Calabi river. I had to follow it through the forest then head west again through the Rocky Mountains. The forest was crawling with very many animals. I had already a few such as antelopes, hares, wolves, bears and even the river was loaded with trout. As my routine I made a few stops but instead of hard, dry and cold meat, I enjoyed fresh roasted fish. I created small campfires every time I stopped. I hadn’t made it out of the forest so it was decided. I moved a little further into the forest, tied my horse to the tree and setup my one man tent. I couldn’t risk a fire because it would give out my location. So I had dried food and went to sleep. Even at night the forest was so active with hoots and howls. It took effort but I finally managed to sleep.

The morning light was trying hard to breach through my eyelids which had brought me to realization that the sun had started rising. I tried to open my eyes but all my efforts ended up in vain. I tried to move every other body part but they just wouldn’t, even my mouth. I could feel my back which was curved and I couldn’t straighten it. My body was constantly bouncing from an irregular surface. I heard hoof beats which indicated I was on a horse. My ears had become more sensitive and I could hear hoof beats of another horse ahead. I quickly understood that during the night I had been drugged and abducted. But why?

My mind threw back at me possible answers. Maybe it was just a bunch of forest dwellers that captured me. What if someone had found out about my confidential task? I racked my brain for ways of escaping this situation, especially the second one. But within me I clearly knew that in this state I couldn’t do anything even if I had the best escape plans. Instead I relaxed and concentrated on all the sounds I could hear with hope that I would figure more about the situation.

All I could hear was birds chirping and hoof beats from only two different horses. That meant that I was only kidnapped by one person and I was being taken on my own horse. I focused more on the hoof beats and noticed that there was a low crunch sound every time hit the ground. This indicated that it was trampling on dry leaves leading to only one answer; I was still in the forest. I could tell the time of the day from the intensity of light behind my eyelids. Currently the light intensity was very high that all I could see was a reddish orange color because of light trying to pass through my eyelids. I could sense that it was now a time in the afternoon. I continued listening to the sounds in my state of ‘paralysis’. Decades passed until I noticed a change.

The horse was now trotting instead of the usual gallop. Its movements had become more irregular and I was bouncing more often. The light was now constant meaning that I was under open sky. The immediate scenario that struck me was that I was traveling the Rocky Mountains. The mountainous journey stretched for long hours. I sensed that the sun was setting because the light intensity had reduced and the air was getting much colder. Quite some time passed before another change occurred.

The horses had now started galloping on a much straighter path. The sound of leaves crunched had returned with every hoof stamping on the ground. The night animals such as owls had begun hooting and frogs croaking. The light intensity had completely dropped hence I could no longer predict the time. The night accompanied itself with silence that made all other sound more clear and distinguishable. The air was getting colder and chilly by the moment. I knew that I was currently in the Cronasian jungle because that was the only landscape past the Rocky Mountains. A lot had changed throughout the day but my body state remained the same. My back and neck were surging with pain and it grew with frustration because of my ‘paralyzed’ body state.

Later, a few more horsemen joined my kidnapper. They continued moving as they had a low toned conversation among themselves. My kidnapper, surprisingly a lady, told them how and when she captured me although she didn’t mention the drugs she used. She asked them if they found any but they all replied with a no. They all rode in silence until all the horses came to a stop. I heard them get off because they trampled many dry leaves under their feet. A man came to me, held me by my arms and pulled me off the horse. My legs hit the ground very hard but it didn’t matter to him and continued dragging me. I heard a metal door creak open. I knew I was being dragged downstairs because I felt my leg falling every time the man took a step. With a loud grunt he threw me. I hit the wall and stayed motionless. I was freezing in there as I realized that I was not the only one. I could hear breathing from many different men. I tried focusing on the sounds, and then all of a sudden the metal door slammed shut.