Forces Collide by Jamie Wilson (ap literature book list txt) 📖

them to be hit over the heads for helping us escape.

I was able to get a little bit of sleep as Drannor ran with the others. It was hard to feel his footfalls, which really helped. When we stopped though, I woke up and was surprised to see a huge shape near me other than Drannor.

That woke me up. I cringed into him as the creature turned to look at me. I could barely see it in the night.

Drannor hugged me tightly to him. “Ssh, it’s Neldor,” he murmured into my hair.

I looked over and spotted the bright golden eyes watching me silently. “Neldor?” I asked tentatively.

“Yes, it is I, My Queen,” replied the wyvern. Then he looked past me at Drannor. “She’s hurt!”

“I know Neldor. This I could not stop. They hurt her before we got in there.” He sounded thoroughly chastised.

“I’m glad you came,” I said softly. I was starting to feel a little more relaxed now that I was out of those horrible stone walls.

“Of course I did,” Drannor replied, his voice gentle. Then a little hurt he added, “You called me a filthy, irrational bloodsucking leech earlier.”

Now it was my turn to feel like an idiot. “Well you do sound like one of them. Sorry about that,” I mumbled. I was certainly ashamed of my own word choice this time.

“As I have said, I have changed. Now I know why my people, the Cyan Elves, were sent away for.”

“I’ll get used to it in time.” I shifted carefully over to him and gently put one arm around him.

He shifted both his arms around me, holding me close.


Chapter 18

His eyes looked down at me and I knew he was thinking about something. I was getting hungry; very quickly I had not eaten in a few days now.

“What have they done to you?” he asked and I could tell he was a little shocked by how I looked to him. His hands were lightly moving over my back, I knew he could feel all the places I had been whipped, bruised and everything else.

“It’s easier if I just show you,” I replied, shivering at his icy skin. I really did not want to describe it to him, the thought of it made me sick.

“Alright then,” he replied. “What ever makes you happy dear.”

“I’ll give you two somewhere private away from the others,” Neldor said. He curled his body around the two of us. His wings rose to cover where his scales did not.

Knowing what it was that I was going to show him might set him off, I said a little worriedly, “I hope this won’t make you thirsty.” I knew my back was coated in blood, though it was dry, and I knew that people like Barrain always got thirty when blood had been spilt.

“I’m stronger than you think,” he replied. “I could never hurt you, Gem.”

For some reason I did not really believe that. Each and every one of them was the same when it came to blood. I was not convinced. “I don’t know about this.”

“Gem, honestly, I won’t hurt you,” he replied, almost frustrated. “You’ve always trusted me, why not now?”

Whether it was at me or not I had no way of knowing, but in a way I felt sorry for him. Then I informed him, “That was before I knew what you really are! You know I only know what my parents have taught me of your people.”

“Gem, please, I know you’ve heard badly of my people, but really, I have scarcely changed since you last saw me,” Drannor told me. “Please, trust me, when I say I won’t harm you.”

I fell quiet, thinking about this. One wrong move and my life would be over. However pain was something I was more than used to now. Not that that had anything to do with it.

He had said he would not deliberately mar me, and I knew he never lied to me. There was still the detail of what he was nowadays, but I guessed if he said he was in be in command of that, then I could trust his statement.

“Alright, do what you have to.” I sighed; despite the fact that I knew he could be trusted.

I shifted so that my back was to him and then lifted up the remnants of my soiled tunic.

Drannor hissed in fury and I turned my head to look at him as he gently reached out to touch one of the cuts.

I hissed at his touch but for a different reason as his hiss was for. He was so cold it was almost painful on my torn skin.

“Ssh, Gem, let me take care of these,” he murmured sympathetically.

“Can you actually trust yourself around my blood?” I asked apprehensively. I knew that this must be a struggle for him.

“I’m stronger than you give me credit for. Your blood does not inconvenience me,” he said, trying to comfort me. “Stay here.”

I saw him leave through the gap that Neldor briefly made and I waited for him. While I waited I thought that since he had changed, there would be things he did not that I was not going to really like. As I thought about it, my stomach growled.

He came back in to me and I smiled as he sat down next to me. I saw that he was holding a waterskin and some food.

He passed me the food as he said, “I believe that there’s more to these than really meets the eye. It looks like me she’s put something in you without you even knowing it.

I saw him glaring at one spot on my back. It was an already half healed spot. “What is it?”

“I thought so. She’s bitten you but in a rather unusual manner. She’s actually frozen some of her own venom and gotten it into you that way. If I don’t get it out soon, it will slay you, because I know Luala destroyed her.”

“Precisely how are you going to get it out?”

He smiled at me. “The only way is really for me to bite you. Don’t worry I can make sure I only take the venom out and not any of what blood you still have.”

“You’re lucky I trust you. Is there anything you need me to do?” I’d finished eating now. The idea of him biting me was a little repulsive, but I knew I would rather it be him than one of the others.

“Come over a bit closer, Gem,” he said. I moved a bit closer and I felt his arms wrap around me gently and sit me on his lap carefully.

I could tell he was being cautious of how much strength he used to move me and I wondered why that was.

“It’s because you are so much more breakable than I am. Barely anything can hurt me, including swords and arrows. You on the other hand can be hurt by a lot of things, Gem.”

Well that answered my unspoken question, even in light of the fact he pulled it out of my head which annoyed me. “I guess that makes sense,” I replied.

Amina, I might not like his explanation but it make sense, I thought. I knew he heard that. Are you going to do what you said you were or not?

“I was letting you think about this before I did, Gem,” Drannor replied. You don’t curse very often either, he said mentally.
“I know I don’t, but seriously just get it over with,” I countered.
He sighed. He knew I was not going to let him stall for time. If something was going to kill me, I wanted it out of my body. There was no way that dead vampire would cause my death.
Then Drannor gently pulled me back into him, resting my head on his shoulder. I leaned into him, not looking at him as he slowly lowered his face down to rest his lips on my uncovered neck.
I could tell that this was not going to be simple for him, but at the moment he seemed to know what he was doing at least. His lips were touching me now and he gently kissed me. Then I heard his mind in my own, ‘You don’t know how good you smell to me. Not in the eatable way anyway.’
I managed to chuckle that one off and held absolutely still in his arms. Then his lips parted and I felt something sink into my neck swiftly.
What happened then made no sense at all.


Chapter 19
When he bit me, I was only aware of his mouth on my neck for a few seconds. Then my mind seemed to float around somewhere else entirely. Or maybe I was inside my own mind.
***
I watched as Drannor entered my mind, his eyes searching for something. He was searching for the venom he knew was running in me somewhere.
I wonder what sort of thing he is looking for, I might be able to help, I thought.
Something that does not look like it belongs, Drannor replied in my head. It was then that I noticed that there was a link running between my mind and his.
Wondering if I was able to enter his end, I wandered that way.
Go ahead. Take a look at the real me, Drannor said as I reached the other end. He seemed eager to let me really look at him and I wondered why that was at all. At his end was a glowing white door which opened at my approach.
I won’t hide anything from you, he said as I walked through the doorway. What awaited me was ever so surprising. Facing me were several doors. Where do they each lead? I asked.
The left one is of my childhood in Taror, the middle one is of some unpleasant times and when I first entered Anthatal, the last door is every moment since, Drannor replied.
It would be interesting to see what he was like as a child when I did not know him, so I floated towards the door that would show me. I reached out to open it and it swung open. Immediately I was immersed in a few memories, but only one, the one that linked this room with the next, really caught my interest.
It showed me that Drannor was out hunting in the woods alone. He was hunting for meat for his family for the winter. I watched as he stalked a deer using his eyes only on the trail.
The memory skipped forwards a bit and I could tell that he was watching what I was as well as searching me.
I saw him stopping behind a tree and saw the deer on the other side as well. I saw him release one arrow from his bow, saw it arch through the air, completely on target, and the deer actually ducked the arrow. It soared straight through where the deer’s neck had been and hit a younger elf.
I gasped.