Dust (Of Dust and Darkness) - By Devon Ashley Page 0,39

recognize the ripple in the air and feel its magic closing in on me. The ripple is thicker than I expect and it slows my progress. I hear a cacophony of sounds blurring together, but they clear into the distinct sounds of nature the closer I get to the other side. I finally punch through the barrier and the magic releases the hold it has on my body. I gasp and come to a skidding stop. Not because I finally see a forest in all its beautiful glory of color, sounds and wildlife, or feel the cool relief of the wind upon my skin, but because I realize I’m standing at the edge of the spriggans’ campsite, sandwiched directly between two huts made of skinny sticks roped together and topped with straw thatches.

Oh. My. Mother. Nature.

There are several more huts in the area, with one designated as their eating area. A slab of rock holds a spread of luscious fruits and vegetables in multiple colors, and segregated piles of various seeds and nuts. Overgrown mushrooms, probably enlarged using pixie dust, shoot up around the rock, offering a comfy place to sit. I hear water rushing and bubbling over rocks nearby, and see a channel made of wood directing a small flow towards the food hut to create a communal watering hole.

I’m half-tempted to run straight through just to grab what I can in food, but even though I don’t see anyone, I decide the best course of action is to sneak along the back side of the campsite until I’m clear. I creep along but I sense what lead I have ahead of my captors has dissipated. Before I can turn my neck to check, a sharp pain radiates outward from my crown. My vision fades and blurs, and wooziness overcomes my body.

I groan as I come to in the darkness, the faint sound of water pounding into rock. There’s a cold, hard surface beneath me that unfortunately I recognize. Intense, sharp vibrations pulsate within my head and it feels like I’ve slept awkwardly on my neck for days. The moment I make it to a sitting position, my vision spins so violently I upchuck uncontrollably. Luckily for me there’s nothing in my stomach to actually come up, and I spare myself the nuisance of defiling what little space I have to move around in. The darkness is suffocating and pounds against my head. I have a pretty good idea of where I am, so I have no problem letting my body succumb to the darkness once more.

Water attacks my skin, drowning every exposed inch, and my body bursts to life in terror. My eyes open to the dim light and I spot a spriggan swinging another pail of water my way. Unfortunately, I gasp in sync with his release and end up choking on water, leaving a burning sensation up my nose and down my throat.

“Oh, good. You’re awake,” says a male voice sarcastically. I haven’t even seen him yet and I already know he’s an arrogant jerk. His voice is smooth though…nothing like the deep, husky sound of a spriggan.

Still coughing my lungs clean, I sweep the water off my face and squeeze the excess from my eyes. It takes several blinks to nourish my moisture-stripped eyes with tears and for the blurriness to fade, but they still burn. My hands stay in the air before my face, unsure if another water attack is coming. I spot the spriggan with the pail and deduce he has no more pails to throw. Beside him is a faerie; the first I’ve seen since imprisoned.

Just as I thought, he has an air about him that screams pretentious; too good to be with the likes of a pixie. His long blond hair is thin and has a slight wave to it, and his thin structure is curved with thick muscles. He’s a few inches taller than me and several shorter than the monstrous spriggan behind him. His wings are almost translucent in this light and are pulled downward behind his back. It’s too dark to determine eye color on his heart-shaped face, and it doesn’t help that he’s squinting them at me, clearly annoyed with me already. His clothes surprise me though. He almost appears to be wearing something similar to a dress. He has on the normal fitted cotton covering his legs, but his long white sleeve shirt is a bit poufy in the arms. Over that is a weird sleeveless,