Free Spirit Flight by Jory Strong Page B

and those were the paintings she treasured.
    Jagged streaks illuminated the sky. Thunder
crashed like the clap of cymbals at a song's crescendo.
    Above her a thunderbird formed and hovered.
His powerful wings beat the air with such force that clouds swirled
around and under him. The bright colors of his feathers reflected
off gray rock, painting it red and white with splashes of yellow
and blue. His beak opened in a soundless scream and lightning
sparked from coal black eyes.
    She was hallucinating but she embraced the
hallucination. A small laugh of sheer joy came. The wind caught the
sound of her pleasure and carried it away as she felt herself
floating upward, toward the thunderbird.
    The great bird turned its eyes on her and
swooped. Its dive scattered the clouds and drove Marisa's awareness
back to her body. To pain and cold. And finally—nothingness.
     
     
    * * * * *
    Chapter
Two
     
     
    There was the sound of a solitary drum
beating in the rhythm of a heart. A voice accompanied it in a
chant-like song offering prayers in a language Marisa didn't
understand.
    Instead of pain, there was only heat. Moving
through her. Over her. Building in intensity as the song built,
peaking, fading. The process repeated over and over again until the
voice stopped. The drum stopped.
    Into the sudden silence came the eerie sound
of water dripping in the distance. The sensation of being watched.
The hint of a woodsy scent that called to Marisa and gave her the
strength to open her eyes and struggle to her elbows.
    It took her a minute to see him, and then
she blinked. Licked lips that were dry as she forced herself into a
sitting position.
    The movement made her lightheaded. It warned
her against trying to scramble to her feet.
    He rose from where he crouched next to a
small fire and her fingers clenched involuntarily—not with the need
to defend herself, but with the urge to draw him. To capture him on
paper.
    He was a vision from history. A warrior. His
muscles toned from a life where only the fittest survived. His skin
bronzed, revealed except for the area covered by a loincloth.
    Most of his black hair flowed over his
shoulders and down his back. But on either side of his face
colorful beads and feathers decorated tight, narrow braids.
    "Drink this," he said, kneeling next to her
and offering a cup she hadn't noticed him carrying. His voice was
deep, confident. His words English, firm.
    She shook her head in confusion as the
memories flooded in, of overhearing Ethan and Kaitlyn plotting to
kill her, of running, of being injured, of knowing she was dying
and seeing the thunderbird swoop down from the sky.
    He gripped the back of her head and held her
still as he pressed the cup to her lips. "Drink."
    She struggled instinctively, wondered if she
was drugged. Her captor set the cup down. His arms went around her,
demonstrating how weak she still was, how easily she could be
subdued.
    With the touch of skin to skin, she realized
she was completely naked. "Easy," he said, as if sensing her rising
panic and her intention to renew her fight. "Easy. I'm not going to
hurt you."
    She looked around her, taking in the rock,
the darkness, the campfire—her clothes. They hung torn and bloody
and dripping water from a peg pounded into a cave wall.
    Her gaze returned to the man holding her.
Seeing the dark eyes. The thunderbird's eyes. The colorful feathers
braided into his hair. Red and white and black with splashes of
blue and yellow. The thunderbird's colors.
    "You rescued me," she said, understanding
she'd been delirious, her mind lost in the last piece of art to
make an impression on her. The totem poles capped with powerful
thunderbirds.
    Beautifully sculpted masculine lips curved
upward, sending pleasure rivering through her. "I reached you in
time."
    She pulled away from him and he let her go.
She glanced at her body and saw no open wounds, felt no broken
bones though there was dried blood on her skin and the state of her
clothing