Free Altered Destiny by Shawna Thomas

bring Oren, okay?” He disappeared behind a curtained doorway without waiting for her response.
    Selia recalled the scare she’d had on the way to the village. It didn’t make sense. If there had been someone or something that had meant her harm, there had been plenty of opportunity for an attack.
    Selia turned her attention to the dusty shelves. The store housed an odd assortment of beads, pots and pans, herbs and pieces of cloth Abel had no doubt bought from Jim. The weaver was a perfectionist and if there was a slight irregularity in his weave, he’d refuse to finish the piece. Abel, however, was glad to have it, and so were the settlers who couldn’t afford to buy fabric directly from Jim.
    The curtain swished and the door banged open at the same time. Selia looked from Abel to Tass, who stood panting in the doorway.
    “What is it? Svistra?” Abel rushed in.
    Tass farmed a piece of land just west of town. He shook his head, his eyes bright with tears. “They took ‘im.”
    “Who took him?” Abel dropped the goods and ran forward to grasp Tass’s arms and shook him.
    “My son, they took my son.”
    “Damn you, who took your son?” Abel screamed.
    Outside, a low rumble sounded in the distance.
    “The soldiers. They’re c-c-coming,” Tass stammered.
    Hoofbeats echoed the staccato of Selia’s heart as it pounded against her ribs. She ran to the porch as twenty or thirty soldiers on horseback slowed to a stop near the oak. One of the soldiers rode his horse out from the rest.
    “By command of King Leisle, all men who are able to hold a sword are ordered to join us to fight the Svistra.”
    Tass moaned low in his throat, staring at the group.
    Selia followed his gaze. Tass’s son, Teagon, Marc and a few others sat in a cart. She blinked. Teagon had just begun to grow facial hair. He wasn’t old enough to fight. The soldiers bore no standard or insignia to prove they represented the king.
    The leader pointed north and a few of his men thundered off. “Together we can defeat the Svistra threat. Alone, you will be slaughtered.”
    “If you take all our men, we’ll be slaughtered anyway,” one of the women called.
    “We’re going north to head them off,” the soldier replied.
    “Who’s your commander, boy?” Oberl shouted.
    A few more horses thundered in from the south. Her limbs went numb. Slung across one of the horses was a large familiar shape. Oren.
    Selia shook off Abel’s hands and ran toward the prone form. “By the gods, if you’ve hurt him.” She reached Oren’s side and touched the blood trailing down his face.
    His eyes fluttered. Relief surged through her limbs.
    Strong hands grasped her arms and pulled her back. “That one had some fight, he did. Must be his woman.”
    The soldiers laughed.
    She struggled to free herself from the man’s grip to no avail. “Let. Him. Go.”
    “I’d be a mite more concerned about yourself right now, missy,” her captor whispered in her ear.
    Selia twisted hard, kneed the man in the groin, and then punched him in the jaw. “I said, let him go.”
    She looked up in time to see the leader’s horse charge, a flash of steel, then darkness.

PART TWO
    The lamp waits through the long day of neglect for the flame’s kiss in the night.
    Fireflies, Rabindranath Tagore

Chapter Six
    Something warm pressed against Selia’s lips. She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids wouldn’t cooperate.
    Pain. I’m alive.
    She was lying somewhere in the dark. She wasn’t sure how she knew that, except the world outside was only slightly less black than the world behind her closed lids. Even that difference hurt. Was I supposed to go into town today? The pain in her head bloomed.
    Selia focused on the steady rhythm of her breathing. She lay on something soft but it didn’t feel like her bed. Why do I hurt so much? Focusing on opening her eyes, she managed to part her eyelashes to see a dark blurry shape standing over her. Where am I?
    “Don’t try to sit up.