Predator and Prey (P1)

Authors note: This follows "The Soldier and The Slave"

The visit to the surgeon had proceeded without anymore interruptions, Fyra's curiosity about the boy leading her dulled by their small exchange. She had been piqued by his attempt to protect her, which to her knowledge was uncommon among the humans when it came to preventing violence against her people, but his response had been all that she should have expected. He was slightly above average in intelligence for a human, enough to know to protect his own from trouble.

Though he certainly didn't realize it, he had nearly foiled her whole plan. She fumbled to keep a grasp of the small wire she had managed to pilfer off of Kay'sar's belt while they had been in a scuffle. Had the boy been a second faster in tackling the older man, then she would have missed her opportunity.

It had been a devil of a job to keep the thing hidden while the surgeon had been poking and prodding her for further injuries. But luckily the man was not keen to do a thorough job and so after a brief examination, he had smothered the cut on her cheek with some foul smelling substance that stung her nostrils as much as the cut on her cheek. She hoped he knew what he was doing, it would be a shame to escape from here only to die of human medical ignorance.

The darkness of night had by this time fully fallen, the only patches of light being those areas where men gathered by fires, both to escape the darkness of night and the bitter cold of winter as snowflakes persisted in falling without letting up. If anything, the snow fell more heavily with each passing hour.

Under these conditions, and with the human still leading her from the front with the chain she knew she would not get a better chance. Keeping her head bowed and moving as little as possible she began manipulating the wire into the lock. Having been a prisoner nearly all her life in The Tower she had developed a keen interest in locks and had taken to learning all she could, experimenting when possible learn how to pick them. Although not exactly a master picklock, she knew enough of the basics, and in a few agonizingly long minutes and frustrating failures, her persistence was rewarded with a faint clicking sound.

Fyra smothered her elation and quickly looked around. There were about as few people around as she was likely to see. Deciding quickly she suddenly rushed forward, slamming into the back of the human who fell to the ground face first with a yelp. Dropping the chains from her wrists, the hope for freedom put a smile to her lips.

"Don't follow me human." was all she said, and with that she took off as fast as her legs could carry her to the edge of the camp and out to the surrounding forests.

The cold air cut her, and the snow clung to her long dress, soaking into the fabric and seeping the heat from her limbs as it touched her skin. Yet Fyra didn't feel it, the fire of freedom coursed through her veins and leant wings to her feet as she plunged into the surrounding forest. Immediately she felt the smothering sensation which had clouded her whenever she was present amongst humans and those Brothers of the Order lift from her. She allowed a trickle of power to leak from her hands and laughed delightedly to see a flame spring to life in her palm.

"Stop!"

Frustrated Fyra through a glance behind her. Sure enough the human had not listened and was now in full pursuit. Curiously he was alone. Well, she could deal with one of them. It was sad though, he hadn't been the worst of the humans, she'd have taken greater pleasure in killing any other one. Alas, only this one was stupid enough to test her.

This wouldn't take long.

To be continued in Predator and Prey P2