Haematite (Toraun Part 15)

In life, things change, sometimes rapidly and sometimes slowly, in the case of Musaafir and at this particular point in his time, his entire world changed in much less time that it is taking me to write this sentence. You see, as I write this sentence I rewrite it several times just to get the right words down to create the perfect atmosphere that draws readers in, to learn more about the story. This, I think, is the same reason that I want to get out of the blogging challenge. Blogging Challenge. What are you talking about? I thought we were talking about Musaafir and change in life. Well, you see, I belong to an amazing group here in Arizona that is currently encouraging all of its members to participate in a blogging challenge in which they write for 35 days straight. Check it out here (https://authorblogchallenge.wordpress.com/) . I hope that by doing this I will capture the attention of many others who love to read and get caught up in stories. I hope that it will help me get back into the groove of writing on a daily basis and that I will meet my goals of getting my next novel finished. So, that is my goal for accepting the challenge of writing for 35 days straight. Now, what does this have to do with Musaafir you might ask. Well I’ll tell you. I have abandoned Musaafir for far too long and so this challenge will give me the opportunity to continue his story. So, without further ado, we shall return to his moment of change that was much quicker than it took me to explain.

As the heart of the Steam hound died its magic collided with Alex’s own magic causing an incredible shock to Alex’s own heart and she collapsed to the ground. The heart, now black and hard, fell from Sarina’s hand and landed with a thud on the cold ground next to Musaafir’s face. The stench however had not left, which made Musaafir’s gag reflex go into overdrive and he reached his hand to his mouth to stop the explosion that thankfully never came. He twisted and turned in the broken window and glass to try to avoid the stench, but to no avail, until finally the window pane cracked and he pulled himself away from the bloody mess he’d recently lay in. As he pulled himself to his feet with the little remaining energy he could muster, he heard what he had most dreaded to hear at that moment. Sarina’s wail matched that of a banshee, well what he supposed a banshee’s wail would sound like. Musaafir had never really heard a banshee wail, he just assumed that one would sound like the wail that escaped Sarina’s soul.

He turned. Stumbled. Pulled himself up once again and reached the two sisters with one giant step. Remember, he was right next to them so he really didn’t have far to go. This is important to remember because if I were to write something that sounded like it was farther away like he crested the mountain and rushed down to the two girls then someone would surely let me know that that was not possible because the heart dropped from Sarina’s hand and landed next to Musaafir’s face. Anyway, just making sure you all know that I remembered that little tidbit of information. But, now, on with the story.

Musaafir reached down and touched Sarina gently on the shoulder as she held her sister in her arms. He touched her gently, not exactly sure of the proper protocol in this instance and still being a bit frightened of the girl, didn’t want to alarm her. She pulled Alex closer to her and the wailing continued for some time until it began to grow a little on Musaafir’s nerves. Finally, when he thought he could stand it any longer it stopped just as suddenly as it began. A cough came from Alex’s petite mouth, then a whisper, and finally a word, “Escape.”

A pause followed the single word by both Sarina and Musaafir. Sarina studied the expressionless look on her sister’s face then looked back to Musaafir, who had a quizzical look on his own face. “Haematite,” Sarina whispered. She turned back to Alex and said, “Haematite. What do you mean?”

Alex’s eye’s opened with a flutter and her eyes rolled back into her head. She opened her mouth several times to try and voice what rolled through her mind with no gain. A howl, now familiar to Musaafir since arriving, sounded in the distance. “We need to go,” Musaafir spoke softly, still not wanting to interrupt Sarina for fear her wrath would turn on him.

Regrettably for Musaafir it still did. “There’s no where to go.” Luckily she still held Alex in her arms or her words would have ended with a sword through Musaafir’s heart. Even so the daggers that lanced out from her glower pretty much did the same thing.

Musaafir stumbled back and tripped over the window frame and fell cutting himself several more times. He yelped and jumped back to his feet. A second howl brought him to action much quicker than one would anticipate from such a beaten up individual and he said through shaky voice, “You can come home with me. We can at least figure out what to do there.”

Sarina started then stopped as her sister’s ragged breath came quicker. She turned back to Alex and pushed her hair from her face. She turned back as the wind picked up and the howls grew louder. “If you can save us, do it quickly.” Musaafir nodded and stepped forward swiftly as he pulled the device from his pocket. He put his hand gently on Sarina’s shoulder once again and pressed a button on the device. Now this is the first time that he had ever tried to bring someone back with him before so as the lights flashed and the wind howled around him his heart stopped as he heard the howl of ….

Now as I almost wrapped this up I thought to myself how fun it would be to leave everyone on a cliffhanger. So why not, there’s always tomorrow. And yes, there will be more to the story tomorrow.