Viggo hesitated, shooting a quick glance
at Rowan. The shapeshifter was standing motionless, his bright, copper-colored
hair tousled and messy. He looked remarkably like a young man who had just
gotten out of bed—not dangerous at all.
“Both of you put your hands up. Now!”
snapped the tall man. “Or me and Ron here will shoot you right off.”
Ron was as short and stocky as the other
man was tall and thin. He swallowed and shifted from foot to foot. “Zeke, maybe
we shouldn’t—”
“Shut up!” Zeke didn’t look over at his
comrade as he spoke; he kept his eyes on Viggo, who was watching the exchange
with one eyebrow higher than the other.
“But Zeke, we’re already gonna be in
trouble for kidnapping the girl…”
As Ron continued to complain—and Zeke
continued to ignore him—Viggo shifted his gaze to the fireplace behind the
kidnappers. Aelfcynn was still there, standing in a half-crouch. Her fingers
twitched with pent-up energy and adrenaline—though she was in human form, her
behavior reminded Viggo of a wolf getting ready to ambush its prey.
“All right, we’ll just shoot them and
bury the bodies. No one will ever know!” Zeke snapped, interrupting Ron.
Viggo turned his gaze sharply back onto
Zeke. The man slid the hammer back on his revolver, aiming at the spot where
Viggo’s heart was.
“Anois, Aelfcynn!
Now!” Rowan shouted.
Viggo threw himself to the ground, just
as Zeke fired. The bullet whispered past Viggo’s head a millisecond later.
Aelfcynn had darted out of the fireplace
and wrapped her arms around Zeke’s head in a chokehold, throwing off his aim.
He was screaming curses now.
Ron lunged for the door, dropping his gun.
Viggo jumped up and dodged in front of Ron, cutting off his escape. Ron stared
at him with eyes that were wide with disbelief.
“Just do what I say, and you won’t get
hurt,” Viggo asserted.
Ron yanked something out of his jacket
pocket. It was a knife encased in a leather sheath, which he threw down
immediately.
Viggo leapt forward, seizing Ron’s arm
before he could move and twisting it sharply backwards.
He
didn’t break any bones, but the man screamed just the same and the knife
clattered harmlessly away across the ground. Rowan sprang forward and picked
the knife up, pushing it safely into the pocket of his jeans.
Viggo released Ron’s arm, and then sent
three quick punches at him. Ron crashed to the floor and did not move.
Viggo ran towards the corner of the room
and retrieved his gun. Then he turned around, ready to defend himself from
Zeke.
He need not have worried. Aelfcynn’s chokehold
had restricted Zeke’s breathing for so long, he had blacked out. She let him
drop to the floor with a loud thud.
“Thanks,” Viggo said, addressing both
Rowan and Aelfcynn. “I swear, you guys are absolutely amazing.”
“You’re welcome,” Rowan said, grinning
happily at the praise.
“It’s about time you admitted our
superiority. Or mine, anyway,” Aelfcynn replied, crossing her arms with a
smirk.
Viggo laughed quietly, and then looked
down at the limp forms of the kidnappers. “We probably should have asked one of
them where Connie was.”
“We
can find her easily enough,” Aelfcynn countered. “This cabin isn’t all that
big.”
“She’s
right.” Rowan nodded. “We’ll stay in human form for now, so we can open doors
and other things like that.”
“All right,” Viggo said. He went over to
the door, where he had dropped his duffel bag, and rummaged around in it for a
minute. He pulled out a coil of rope and tossed it onto the ground next to the
unconscious kidnappers. “First, though, tie those guys up. I’ll start searching
for Connie.”
Aelfcynn and Rowan busied themselves
with the task of tying the men up, while Viggo walked down the hallway, opening
doors and peering into the rooms behind them.
When he was sure that there was no sign
of the kidnapped girl downstairs, Viggo turned around and headed back to the
staircase. Before climbing up the steps, he saw that Aelfcynn and Rowan were
just finishing tying knots in the rope.
A
door was ajar on the second floor. Viggo moved towards it with a silent tread,
and looked inside the room.
One glance told him all that he needed
to know. A girl who looked as though she was about six years old sat on the
bed, blindfolded. Her hands were tied behind her back.
Viggo’s fists clenched at his side, and
he fleetingly wished that he had roughed up the kidnappers more than he had.
As he moved forward, Connie shrank back
against the headboard of the bed. Why wouldn’t she? She couldn’t see who was
coming. For all she knew, it was the kidnappers again.
“It’s all right,” Viggo said, talking in
the same tone of voice he would use to soothe a trapped animal. “I’m a friend.”
Connie did not seem to be convinced. She
pressed herself harder against the headboard, as though she could disappear
into the walls if she did so.
Viggo took out his knife. He tried hard
to keep it quiet, but it gave a metallic clink when he took it from its sheath.
The girl, panicking, tried to jump off of the bed.
Viggo lunged forward and took her by the
arm. “Wait a minute, Connie. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m trying to help you.”
Connie froze, not moving as he cut her
bonds. Once he finished, Viggo reached up and gently pulled the blindfold away.
“There you are. You’ll be back home in no time at all.”
Connie stared at him. He gave her a
reassuring smile, quite aware of the fact that he was dirty from spending all
night in the woods and had blood on his face from where the kidnapper had
punched him. I wouldn’t be surprised if
she thought I was some sort of man out of a nightmare or something, he
thought wryly.
Connie blinked a few times. Her eyes
began to grow misty, and her lower lip trembled.
Viggo frowned. “Hey, don’t cry,” he
pleaded. “Everything’s okay now.”
Despite his efforts, tears started to
roll down the little girl’s cheeks.
“Oh…no, don’t…” Viggo murmured, sighing.
Without thinking twice, he moved forward and put his arms around Connie. “No,
don’t cry, please. Calm down…no one’s going to hurt you now,” he whispered,
gently pulling her onto his lap.
The little girl managed to get out
something about being ‘so scared’ and ‘wanting Mama and Daddy’ in between her
sobs. She buried her head in Viggo’s black coat.
Viggo absentmindedly stroked Connie’s
hair, trying to soothe her and decide how he would get her home. Town was a
three-hour drive away, and Viggo had parked his car about a mile from the
cabin.
Eventually,
Viggo got Connie to settle down; she had fallen asleep, her head resting on his
shoulder.
Poor kid’s worn out, Viggo
thought, picking Connie up and heading back down the stairs.
When he got downstairs, he saw Aelfcynn
and Rowan standing by the tied-up kidnappers, vigilantly keeping watch while
they waited for him to come back. They looked up as Viggo entered the living
room.
“All right, come on, you two,” Viggo
said, shifting the little girl to his other arm. “Let’s get out of these woods
and back to town. Then I’ll call the police and have them come and arrest these
guys.”
Aelfcynn and Rowan both nodded. They
left the house, talking quietly to each other. Viggo followed them, using his
foot to pull the front door of the cabin shut behind him.
--
Sorry it was so long!
Hi, all. I'm new here...this is a chapter out of my novel I just edited this morning, so I'd like some input on it. I had to put it in two parts, since it's kind of long. Let me know what you think! : )
--
A cold, gray mist had fallen over the forest. The sun was just beginning to rise,
a pale pink glow on the far horizon. At first glance, it seemed as though there
was no life in the woods. A few birds and animals, perhaps, but nothing else.
But
there were other things hidden in the undergrowth.
Viggo
Steele slowly sat up, stretching to ease the kinks out of his muscles. Leaves
were caught in his hair. He winced. Unsurprisingly, staking out forest cabins
all night long tended to make his body stiff.
“I’m
getting too old for this, Aelf,” he muttered, turning his gaze back to the
cabin that he had been watching the night before.
Aelfcynn
was one of Viggo’s two companions. Currently, she was in the form of a pure
white wolf, but that was apt to change, seeing as she was a shapeshifter.
Rowan, Viggo’s second companion, was in the shape of a rusty red fox. Both of
them rarely left his side.
Shapeshifters
weren’t exactly what one would call typical companions for a man living in the
modern times. Then again, Viggo wasn't exactly someone who could be called
normal.
He
wished he was normal. In his thirty-three years on earth, he had already
encountered several magical beings. He had seen most of those beings in
Ireland, which was where he had met Aelfcynn and Rowan.
He had saved them from an evil sorcerer,
and now they were wholeheartedly convinced that they owed Viggo a life debt. No
matter how hard he tried, Viggo could not dissuade them from thinking in that
way, which meant he was stuck with them. The truth was, however, that he did
not really mind—he enjoyed their company.
Aelfcynn shook her head. “No, you’re not
too old,” she replied. “Now, come on. We need to enter the cabin before the sun
rises completely; the element of surprise will be much stronger.”
Viggo nodded, knowing that his friend
was right. He pushed his shoulder-length hair away from his face, and began to
creep down the slope. Along the way, plenty of cover was provided for them from
the trees and boulders.
Viggo did not stop moving until he
reached the bottom of the slope. When he did, he accidentally stumbled, and a
stick cracked underneath his foot.
Viggo froze, holding his breath. No one
came out of the cabin to investigate. I
guess it wasn’t as loud as it sounded…
Rowan nudged Viggo in the back of the
leg. “Go on, then! The coast is clear!”
Viggo glanced back at his two
companions, and then continued moving. He tried hard to keep his steps light,
but spending all night in the cold watching the cabin had taken its toll, and
every muscle in his body was sore.
Every time a twig snapped underfoot,
Viggo cringed. But no one ever appeared at the windows or door of the abandoned
cabin.
Even so, Viggo was relieved when he
reached the front door. He waited a moment, and then slowly tested the
doorknob. The door was locked.
“Why is there no guard?” whispered
Rowan.
"
Tú amadán!" Aelfcynn scoffed, using her first language--Irish. "They’re
probably asleep. Even if they’re not, they didn’t expect anyone to follow
them." Aelfcynn's pointed ears twitched.
Viggo ignored them, fiddling with the
lock picking tools he had stored in his duffel bag. He chose one and inserted
it into the lock.
Within seconds, there was a faint click.
Viggo felt a hint of satisfaction that he had picked the lock in such short
time. Well, I’ve had enough practice with it, I guess.
“One of you go around to the window and
make sure no one’s keeping guard,” Viggo whispered.
Rowan nodded, and, in a pale shimmer of
light and mist, shifted into the form of a sparrow. He took flight, darting
around the corner of the cabin.
Viggo waited, tensely rubbing his palms
together—partly to warm them, and partly because of his agitation. With every
moment that passed, he was sure that Rowan had been killed somehow. There were
plenty of creatures in the forest that would not hesitate to hunt down a bird
to eat.
Just as Viggo was about to go search for
Rowan, the shapeshifter came around the corner, and transformed into the shape
of a fox. “It’s clear,” he reported.
Viggo silently turned the knob and crept
inside, leaving the door open. As Rowan had said, the room and hallway he
entered were empty.
Too empty. There were a few pieces of
furniture covered with dusty sheets, but no humans in sight. It was impossible
that the kidnappers were that stupid. Viggo started to search the room for any
sign of the kidnapped girl he was supposed to save, taking care not to make any
loud noises.
As he methodically investigated the
room, Viggo contemplated the reason he had agreed to take this job. He was
always willing to take a job that would help a young person. He felt protective
of all children, and was more than ready to help them—even for free, if the
need arose. It was what he wished someone would have done for him when he was
young…someone to stand up against his abusive father.
Shaking his head to rid himself of the
memories, Viggo returned to the task at hand.
At length, it was clear that there was
nothing to see in the living room, which was where he now was. Frustrated, he
turned to go down the hallway to explore the rest of the cabin.
“Viggo! Look out!”
Aelfcynn’s cry of warning came not a
moment too soon. Viggo instinctively dived behind a dusty couch. Gunshots split
the air.
The kidnappers had been waiting after
all. Perhaps they had expected a rescuer to come for the girl; perhaps they had
heard him. Either way, it was too late now.
Viggo yanked his own revolver out of its
shoulder-strap holster. He waited for the shooting to pause, and then jerked
upright, firing off three shots of his own.
There were three of the kidnappers, and
they all scattered. One of them dodged back into the room they had appeared
from, and the other two shoved over a table to use as a defense.
Viggo fired once more, and then ducked
back down as the two kidnappers shot back.
While he waited for the guns to fall
silent, Viggo did two things. He reloaded his revolver, and looked around for
his two companions.
At first, he didn’t see them. Then he
noticed them—they had shifted into their human forms, and were crouched inside
the fireplace to take shelter from the flying bullets. The kidnappers hadn’t
noticed them yet.
Abruptly, his enemies’ guns fell silent.
Viggo waited, unsure of what was going to happen next.
Before he could decide on his next move,
someone lunged around the corner of the couch and tackled Viggo to the ground.
Viggo’s revolver clattered across the floor.
The kidnapper still had his handgun,
however. Viggo focused on keeping it pointed somewhere else besides his head.
The kidnapper had him pinned down and was repeatedly punching him in the face,
making it hard for Viggo to keep a grip on the hand that held the gun.
Viggo lost his grasp on the kidnapper’s
arm. Just as the thought entered his head that he might die, there was a
challenging yell. Someone rammed into the kidnapper from the side, knocking him
to the ground and thus freeing Viggo.
Viggo stumbled to his feet. The
kidnapper had been bowled over by Rowan—the shapeshifter was still in human
form. Viggo kicked the man’s gun away, and then turned to see how Rowan was
faring.
Rowan had slammed the man’s head into
the floor with deadly accuracy, with enough force to render him unconscious,
but not enough to kill him.
Reassured that Rowan was safe for the
moment, Viggo began to turn around. When he did, he saw that one of the
kidnappers had their guns trained on him. The other one was focused on Rowan.
“Hands up,” commanded the man watching
Viggo. He was a tall fellow; and, when Viggo looked closer, he saw that the man
was missing part of his earlobe. “Both of you.”
