Escape pt5

After about twelve minutes I became restless. I tried to calm down. 'Breathe in, breathe out,'

I told myself over and over. I closed my eyes for a minute and an image of Sam, laying on the ground, blood rushing from his head witch lay on a sharp rock, popped into my mind. My eyes flew open and I stared off into space. I couldn't take it any longer. I stood up suddenly, not saying a word. Jakie was startled by my sudden movement and looked at me confused.

"I'm going to go look for him," I said turning to face her. Her eyes widened.

"I'm going with you!" She said bolting upright.

"No." She stopped then looked at me.

"You're not going out there alone. You don't even have a way to protect yourself!" She retorted.

I bit my lip when I heard her words. I heard them so often, yet it still hurt. I hated it when people said that. The worst part was, they were right. I didn't have a spirit animal. That was just the way it was and will always be. I turned away, not wanting to look at her. "No. You're staying here with Kogi. That's final. Plus someone has to stay here in case Sam comes back." I said forcing myself to face her.

"But-" I cut her off

"No buts. The guards won't care if they see me walking back into the mines. If they do ask questions, I'm way better at coming up with excuses then you. I may not have a spirit animal, but if they attacked you and you poled that thing out it would attract a whole lot of them and they'd kill you in a heartbeat. I know how to fight without a Farene. A Farene would attract too much attention." I said, bending down to pat Kogi on the head. He was sound asleep.

Jakie opened her mouth to retort but I held up my hand. "If I don't come back in an hour you can come looking for me. But make sure someone is watching Kogi if that happens. Let's hope it doesn't come to that." I started to walk away, stepping over the people laying on the ground around me. "Be careful!" I heard Jakie call after me. I nodded. Then I realized she wouldn't be able to see so I turned and walked backward while calling back. "I will!"I said, almost tripping over someone.

I walked into the mines keeping my head low. It was dark. I grabbed a lit torch that was leaning on a rock at the entrance of the cave. I took in a deep breath preparing myself. Then walked into the darkness.

I held the torch in front of me. Its orange light dimly lighting the area. It flickered and swayed from a soft breeze I couldn't feel. The walls around me slowly closed in. Orange and red light danced around. I saw a shadow through the corner of my eye and turned quickly to face whoever was there but didn't see anyone. Just rock, dirt and a few ores, the men in yellow had deemed useless and told us to just leave there. I saw the shadow again this time from my left shoulder and turned around again. I was starting to feel uneasy. But then I realized it was just the torch's light playing tricks on me.

I sped up my pace looking this way and that, searching for a body laying on the ground or leaning on the dirt wall that crept closer and closer as I went deeper into the mine.

I came to a fork in the path and looked back and forth. I chose to go the direction that led to the last place I'd seen Sam. The torch was starting to get dimmer as beads of sweat collected at my brow. It was getting unbearably hot.

I was about to turn back. Hoping he had just been delayed and was back at camp now. I was turning to leave when something caught my eye. A large animal was laying on the cave floor facing the wall, its eyes were closed but I was sure I'd seen it blink. It had brown fur witch at first glance, looked like part of the wall, if it hadn't blinked I would have just kept walking. I walked over cautiously, careful not to wake it up. If it even was asleep. I shuddered, hoping it was. It looked pretty big. I stared at the animal. I realized it was an abnormally large spirit wolf. The wolf had its large paws wrapped around something. I couldn't see what it was as it was being pressed against the wall.

I leaned in closer to get a better look. Holding the torch higher. I gasped and almost dropped the torch I was holding in my hands. "Sam..?"

Sam was laying next to the wolf. Its paws protectively wrapped around him. I reached out to move the wolf's paws but hesitated. What if it woke up and pounced on me? I sucked in a deep breath.

"Here goes."

I gently moved the wolf's paws off of Sam, then realized the wolf had multiple injuries on its body. I began to panic. What if Sam is hurt too? I vaguely remember Jakie telling me Sam had a wolf spirit.

I thought back to when I was leaving the cave with Kogi. I had heard a howl. This had to be his spirit animal. There was no other explanation I could think of.

If the wolf was hurt, then Sam...I shook my head not wanting to finish the thought.

I finished polling the paws off of Sam and bent over holding the torch closer to Sam's limp body.

I let out a sigh of relief. His chest was rising and falling. He was alive. But that didn't mean he wasn't hurt. I brushed the loose thick dark hair out of his face to get a better look. He had several bruises on his face.

I looked at the rest of him and saw long streaks of blood. 'Whips.' I thought. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to awaken the wolf as it might attack me thinking I'm a threat. It had never seen me before so it wouldn't recognize me.

I groaned, wishing Jakie was here. She was Sam's sister and the wolf had to have seen her before. I started to shake Sam gently, hoping he'd wake up.