Chapter Eleven: Long Ago And Far Away

Someone was crying. Amber opened her eyes, slowly letting them adjust to the days brightness. She was sitting in a grassy break in in the surrounding forest. Across from her, in a soft white dress, was a little girl. Her back was stick strait, her arms hung at her sides, and her head was tilted all the way back with her mouth wide open wailing. There was something strange about her. Something not quiet right. Amber stood, slowly moving towards her. The girl stopped her cry's dropping her head down and staring at Amber wide eyed. "I miss him." said the girl quietly. Amber paused."Who?" The girl sniffled and touched the pendant that hung from her neck.Amber was cold. "His name is Darrow." Mumbled the little girl. Amber reached out for the pendant the girl held, she had to know for sure. But the world around her faded and she was plunged back into darkness. This time to come out along side a road. Here there where no trees to be seen, just the road winding and twisting around grassy hills. Far away a caravan appeared, Its brightly colored top marking the wagons as belonging to traders. As they drew closer one of the men on the lead wagon waved and shouted a greeting.The caravan halted some ten feet from Amber's position, the lead man gestured for her to join them. Here to something seamed off. The man look...Familiar. All of them, Men, women, children. And then she spotted him. Sitting alone under one of the wagons was Darrow. Not the Darrow who she now new,but the Darrow who she had known. The boy sat cross legged cradling something in his palm. She didn't have to look to know what it was, she was the one who had given it to him. Quickly she approached him. Sliding under the wagon and crossing her legs. The boy looked at her. Amber touched the pendant in his hand, reaching out with her mind she connected to him, to his thoughts, his dreams, his memory. It was harder this time. Harder then it had been when she had linked minds with his as an adult. And now it made sense. This was why it had been easy in the future. She had linked in the past. Not in her past but in his. The boy was looking at her now, confusion evident on his little face, but there was no time to explain, or try to, the darkness had returned.

Chapter Ten: Darrows Gifts

The large man called himself Akiki. He visited Darrow daily, never answered any of his questions, and always ask right before he left if Darrow had anything to tell him.
The humming was always there now. For the short time he had been around Amber, the name had come to him in his sleep, the humming had been gone. He wondered about her. Was she safe? why had she left him in the camp? He trusted her now. Once she had touched his mind there was no way to distrust her. The connection had opened her up to him and enabled him to see things about her that he never could have known.She trusted him. From the day she met him she had trusted him and now years later she still had not let go of that trust.
There was something else, something about the gift she had given him as a child. The scorpion encased in hardened amber. He had sensed that it was more then a gift but she had hidden that part of her mind quickly. He fingered it now, hanging from his neck. He had never taken it off. Never thought to remove it. Its smooth surface felt cool and soothing against his skin. The same way Amber's touch had cooled and soothed the burning in his brain when the Gralec had attacked him. He turned the pendant over looking at the scorpions underside.
Then door opened.In came Akiki, his clothing stained as usual, his beard carefully spin to a point. "And how are we this morning, or is it evening? I always forget." he said laughing. "Today we are going to try something new.I am going to torture you." Akiki sighed. "I regret having to do this you know. But..." His face lite up "We do what we must to accomplish our goals!"
The humming started to increase.
"I think we should start by cutting off a finger. What do you think?" Akiki paused waiting for Darrows response, only continuing once it was clear that he had no intention of answering. " Ive always wanted to have a finger in a jar. When I was little all my friends had one. My parents thought I was to young to have something so gruesome in my room." He giggled his eyes going wider "Do you want to know what I did?" Akiki walked across the room.
Something about the look in his eye warned Darrow not to let him get any closer. Sliding from the sheets Darrow backed towards the fireplace.
Akiki frowned pausing. "I killed them...in their sleep."
Darrow was looking but there wasn't anything he could use to defend himself. Akiki lunged across the room something metal was in his hand.
The humming filled Darrows mind blinding him, he closed his eyes. His head was spinning. A sharp pain shot through his hand. Silence.