Thread: A Journey to a Safer Place (Angel + Strmas)

Ilyza slept soundly, peacefully for the first time in days and then slowly as the rays of the sunlight came up over the mountain and shone upon her face, she stirred slightly. She opened her eyes, closing them again, reluctant to wake up as she kept them closed, dozing off once again, before she felt her head being tilted up and a hot, herbal tea being poured a little bit at a time into her mouth. She opened her eyes again, blinking away the sleep and looked at him, a feeling of security and safety encompassing her when she heard him speaking and when she saw him. She nodded slowly as she was laid on the sled, her leg still throbbed painfully, but it felt better than it had the night before and then she watched him pour more juice onto the makeshift horse bit. She was a bit hesitant to have him put it back into her mouth, but she knew he was only trying to help her and so she opened her mouth and soon her eyes were fluttering again, almost closed but not quite. Again, the words he spoke drilled into her mind as she once again sucked on the soaked cloth and laid back against the sled. Ilyza, You are with me you, feel safe, protected. You will feel ties on you, binding you, you will not fight them. The ropes are from me, they hold you to me, you will accept them. The words were crystal clear and floated once more in the empty space that her mind became when she was administered the hallucinogen and she groaned softly, still sucking on the cloth and the horse bit in her mouth. She felt the leather on her skin and it sent tingles up and down her spine causing her to shiver and to shudder as she felt them binding her onto the sled and then she heard his next words and they soon became her thoughts along with the other words that he had spoken to her. The cold and wind will come, it will hurt. You will accept it. The warmth will come again when I call for it. You will accept the cold as you do the pain until I decide for it to stop. She moaned softly again, her eyes fluttering and then she felt movement and for several hours, she remained in the state between consciousness and sleep, dreaming and thinking of the words, and only of the words he spoke to her as her eyes fluttered. Then as they crossed the river bed to the small shack, they went over a large bump, probably over a rock that was covered by snow and whimper of pain came from her as the horsebit was jiggled loose and tumbled from her mouth, landing on her chest. It was a time before her eyes stopped fluttering and she was able to open them, but when she looked around, she shivered and saw that a small pile of snow had blown into the shack. She also saw the man collapsed and unconscious and at first she was terrified that he may be dead and that she would die with him, here in this shack. A small sigh of relief passed through her lips as she saw him breathing, but now that her eyes were open and her mind was working properly again, she knew she had to get the door closed. She first tried to move her arms, finding them bound to the sled, she let out a soft groan of frustration and then leaned down, starting to bite and gnaw at the leather bits that held her arms to the sled. Finally, after a hour, she bit through both and sat up, knocking the horse bit to the ground, she ignored it and looked towards the door. She saw the pile had grown larger and then, looked at the door and swallowed hard. Then gritting her teeth against the pain throbbing through her leg, she struggled to her feet, limping to the door, she braced her bad leg against her good leg and with a scream of pain and effort she managed to close the door, blocking off the cold air that filled the small shack. She looked down as she felt warm liquid oozing down her leg and she knew the wound was broken back open as she whimpered quietly, then gritting her teeth again, she fell to her good knee, feeling splinters pierce through the thin pale skin of her kneecap from the wooden ground as she rustled through the bags and finally found a small device. She didn't know what it was, but when she pressed the two metal rods together, with the flints at the end, it caused a spark to fly. Her eyes lit up, fire would help keep them warm and she crawled towards the fire place. Tears prickled at her eyes as the blood dripped down her leg, fresh, worse, and painful as she flicked the two metal rods together again and a small spark landed upon the wood, she blew on it and soon a small flame started and then she crawled over to Kryton. She was still crying softly, but she felt terror and misery combined for the fear that she would lose the person that had saved her and fear that she would lose the only person who, right now, cared about her and protected her. She laid her head down on his back, dragging her knees up against her chest as she curled up against him, snuggling up against him, and as warmth filled the cabin as the flames grew, she soon fell asleep, her blood from her leg drenching the white fur of Kryton's coat as she slept and slipped into darkness once more.