Winged Shadow Chapter 5

Winged Shadow

Chapter V: The Camp

“Get up!” yelled Christopher as Delila lay flat on her face on the dry grass. She had tripped, yet again, on the uneven ground. The thick rope that bound her hands prevented her from catching herself, and Christopher was no help. He half dragged, half pulled her up and on the way again. As she stumbled across the dry plain, with every step kicking up dust and sand, she heard Yasimi say

“Hurry up! At this rate, the sun will set and rise again tomorrow before we get to camp!” Christopher muttered something under his breath, and started to tug the rope really hard. He was incredibly strong, and no matter how hard Delila tried to stop, he kept going at a steady jog. Soon, she gave up, and just tried to avoid falling over.

Delila could see a large flat hill, with lots of little shapes on it. As she got closer, she realized that they were tents. That must be their camp, she thought. Her apprehension was growing. Chris noticed that her pace was slowing, and he started to sprint up the hill with Delila following behind, her sides heaving. They had run from sunrise to noon, nonstop. Yasimi, Chris, and Hanna had never broken a sweat.

When they got to the top of the hill, Delila could see that most of the tents were quite small, only one or two person. However, there were four very large tents. One was pure white, with a small flap outlined in red. The one next to it was dark brown, with a large banner in front of it. The banner was coal black, with a grey dagger and a pair of white angel wings attached to the handle. The third was red and gold,  and had two surly-looking guards at the covered opening. The last one was the same color as the rest of the tents, a pale beige. There was also a large space between the small tents and the large ones. It had small dummies and there were lots of people in leather armor practicing with their weapons. Delila could see that most people had a sword.

When Delila looked closer, she saw that one person had a long, curved weapon in the shape of a bow, but it couldn’t be a bow. The person holding it was whacking and cutting the straw figure apart with the ends. She could see two people practice dueling.

There was also what looked like an archery range. There were targets lined up sideways and a large space in front of them. There were painted lines, showing where to shoot from. There were only four people on the archery range, which looked like it was built for at least fifteen people at a time. One of the people was not even using a bow or arrows. He was just throwing a long spear, and he hit the target every time.

Delila then started jogging after Christopher again, and she felt her body heavy with weariness. As they got to the camp, she heard shouts of

“Hold your fire! The scouts are back!” and she was dragged through row after row of tents. Finally, Christopher handed Yasimi the rope, and sprinted toward a large field where people were practicing with swords. He then drew his weapons and started training with the dummies. Delila could see, even from this distance, how good he was, as if the swords were extensions of his own arms.

Hanna, took a quick drink from her waterskin, turned and said to Yasimi,

“I’d better get back to the infirmary. Benjamin's bandages need to be changed, and Leanna’s already taking care of Naliette, and most of the others are gathering herbs. Also, I need to go check on Henry. He still wasn’t awake when I checked on him yesterday.”

Yasimi nodded, and Hanna started off toward the large white tent with the red flap, walking briskly. She then ducked under the opening and disappeared.  

“Hurry up,” snapped Yasimi. She grabbed Delila tightly by the arm and hurried to another steep hill with a makeshift door in the side. Yasimi untied the ropes around Delila’s wrists. Delila looked, and saw that they were red and the skin was shredded where the rope had rubbed against it. Yasimi opened the door and tossed Delila inside. Then she slammed the door and Delila was left in complete darkness.

The floor was bare earth, and it was stone cold. Delila stood, and stumbled blindly towards the door. She tried the handle, but it was locked. She turned around and felt for the wall. It was rough and rocky. She felt all the way around the room, and realized that it was very small, only a few feet in diameter. She sat down, and tried unsuccessfully to get comfortable.

She wondered why they had not put her in a blindfold, as they clearly did not want strangers here. A horrible terrifying feeling spread through her as she realized they had no intention of letting her go.