High The Vanes (The Change Book 2) by David Kearns Read Free Book Online

can. Yeah.” It was the young woman who had collected sticks the previous night. And she was heading straight for me. She moved quickly, following the rough path she had beaten before. I tried to run back along the hedge, but my shift caught on a branch. As I struggled to undo it, she was upon me.

    Looking back, she was obviously much more surprised than I was. I had seen her coming towards me, she was not even aware of my existence. I am sure that the last thing she expected to see when she set out to collect some wood was a bedraggled young woman of about her age. For the moment that I had the advantage, the Teacher’s skills kicked in. Still attached to the hedge, I raised my arm and swung around with the full force of my body. With a dull thud, my elbow contacted with her face. A sharp pain shot up my arm to my shoulder as she fell backwards. As she hit the ground I heard another, louder thud. Her eyes stared at me for a couple of seconds before her head fell to the side.

    I pulled at my shift and it came away, leaving a tear in the fabric. I knelt down beside the young woman, but she was clearly unconscious, if not dead. I felt Eluned’s hands grasp my shoulders. She pulled me to my feet.

    “What have you done? What have you done? They will know we are here.” She was shaking.

    For once, I took command of the situation. Adrenalin still pumping through my veins I turned to her and said, “Stop it. We must get away. Now. Get your bag. And mine. Forget the blankets.” The control in my voice worked. Eluned turned and ran back to the corner, before returning with both bags. I grabbed her hand.

    “Now. Away. Before they realise she’s not coming back.”

Chapter 13

    We ran. Ran and ran and ran. Stumbling through fields thick with overgrown grass and crops, our lungs scorched with each intake of breath, we ran. Without once looking back, regardless of which direction we were running in, we ran. Until I could run no further. My chest burning, my legs turned to jelly, I could not continue. I collapsed in a heap in the middle of the last field that we had reached. Eluned took a few more steps before she, too, collapsed. We lay spreadeagled like that for who knows how long. Slowly, very slowly, my breathing returned to normal. As the pain in my chest subsided, I was able to gulp in more air. When I opened my eyes the sun was high in the sky.

    Half a day had passed. We should have been approaching Uricon by this time. Instead, we lay in a field surrounded by other fields. Nothing else. I sat up and lifted my shift to rub life back into my legs. As sensation returned, I was able to lift myself up to a standing position. Every muscle in my body ached. The backs of my thighs felt as if they had been stretched beyond breaking point. Even though my breathing was now near to normal, the muscles of my stomach felt stiff and unyielding.

    “Eluned?” I said, looking over to where she still lay.

    She turned her head towards me, wincing as she did so. “My lady?” she whispered.

    I crossed the short distance between us and knelt beside her.

    “I’m so sorry, Eluned. We had been doing so well. Now where are we? And it’s all my fault. I should not have struck that poor woman. What was I thinking?”

    She opened her eyes. “Your strength is greater than I had thought, my lady. This will be a good thing in the future. But you must learn to control it.”

    “Do you think I killed her? Was she dead, do you think?”

    “I do not know. She was terribly injured. Your blow inflicted much damage.”

    “Oh, God.” I sat back on my heels. “What have I done?”

    “She may have seen you, my lady. If she did the others would have come. They would have taken us. Our task would have been over before it began.”

    “Do you think so?”

    “It is possible that they still do not know of us. It would have been some time before they noticed she had not returned. More time to discover her. It is possible they would think