12 Rescue

Abe gathers me in his arms, lifting me up bridal style.

I have never been more thankful to see him, to be saved by my husband from a violent death. Tears of relief prick at my eyes, as I still feel the aftershocks of the traumatic experience. I truly thought this tribe was filled with good people. Aside from Serah and her children, I now see how wrong I was.

"I should kill these people for putting their hands on you and hurting you," Abe says, his tone biting on a sharp and maddened edge.

He gently runs a hand over my hip, checking frantically to see whether I have any other injuries. When I hiss at the burns against the dragging on the ground, he snarls at the thought of whoever did that to me.

"Let's get you to safety first," Abe continues speaking.

I nod, my throat still burning from where the chieftain tried to choke me. I can't speak but I hope Abe can see that I want to tell him everything as soon as I can.

But as Abe moves to fly us away from the chaos of the tribe, a strong arm pulls against us, keeping us from leaving.

The chieftain's knife is gone, somewhere far away but his grip tightens on Abe's shirt. He looks insane, and as if someone has beat him because he's bleeding from the skin of his arms and his face.

"I will not let you leave," He grits the words out with that terrifyingly wicked grin.

His mouth shows a set of uneven rows of teeth, blood falling from his lips like strawberry stains.

He makes a move to grab me and take me from Abe's arms and my eyes widen in my alarm.

Being held tightly against Abe's body I can't exactly move to escape from being grabbed but Abe has everything under control. With one hand still around me, Abe swiftly backhands the chieftain and one simple slap sends the chieftain to the ground. Abe doesn't look back to see if the chieftain got up, but I see the chieftain still lying on the ground.

Abe soars through the air, hurtling past the winds with breakneck speed. We pass the rough desert terrain, and the old palace with the burnt down areas. We are back somewhere in a different forest past the old palace when he finally sets me down to tell me how he found me. The trees are different, thicker, and the darkness almost seems to trickles in soft snores around us.

"The tribe drugged me with some kind of poisonous spell herb, it knocked me out for a few days. When I woke and realized you were gone I was in a weakened state. After Kyle found me, he gave me an antidote. And then I went to look for you. I suspected you might have been taken by the tribe but I knew I needed help to get you back."

I listen to Abe, nodding as he recounts what happened while I was at the fire tribe.

"It took some convincing to get Kyle's help, those were his hunters that he agreed to provide to help, since he owes us that much."

"We will take as much time as you need before we set off again. I'll keep you safe I promise. The tribe might look for us again but I'll glamor us before we travel again. We may have to travel on foot and horseback for a while, it's too revealing if we fly all the way to the capital city." Abe says.

I don't know how much time I need, but it shouldn't be too long. As Abe speaks I can already feel my red neck lessening in pain. Though I expect there to be bruises forming by the time tomorrow comes. It won't be a pretty sight, but I feel safe with Abe. He will indeed do whatever it takes to make sure nothing like that happens again.

"Do you remember our garden?" Abe asks, stroking my hair as I lay against his chest.

I shake my head no, and he starts to tell me about all the different plants and flowers.

"I hope you remember soon. You loved the garden. You'd plant all these tomato things to cook with and new plants I'd never heard of all the time. It was one of your favorite places. I'd find you reading your favorite books in the gazebo every so often."

As Abe speaks, he lifts a hand and a flower blooms before my eyes. Making a pained gasping sound, I look at the flower in wonder. It's soft and beautiful, a white flower with wide petals and a yellow center. He tucks the flower behind my ear, leaning down to drop a kiss on my forehead.

"Get some sleep, my love."

Before I even make the gesture to ask him he replies as if he can read my thoughts.

"I have rested enough for now. I will keep watch tonight."

As my eyes get heavier and heavier, I'm about to doze off when a peculiar sound echoes in the near distance. It is like a soft wailing, almost a weeping lullaby. Instantly, Abe wraps his arms around me to protect me.

I sit straighter up in his arms, looking for the source of sound.

Out of the shadows through the thickness of the trees emerge creatures I haven't seen before, not in my dreams and not since we woke up together on the throne at the old ruined palace. Opposite to the hog-like creatures who pound feet across the floor, these creatures float effortlessly in all shapes and sizes.

They are a pale white, almost translucent in color. Their eyes are the most striking part. Wholly yolk yellow, similar to the flower in my hair. Their mouths are open, as they sing their wailing song, getting closer and closer.

"What are they?" I ask Abe in a hoarse whisper, finding my voice.

"Ghoulies." Abe says, his lips twisting to a frown.

"Should we be running?" I ask.

"It depends." Abe responds, his eyes tracking the movement of the ghoulies coming towards us.

"I think they are looking for something." Abe furrows his eyebrows as the ghoulies in the front stop a few feet away from us.

The ghoulies eyes roam around us, not directly looking into our curious stare and continuing with their eerie soft wails. I don't understand what they are trying to say if they are trying to communicate. But Abe's ears perk up as if he's listening intently to what they're saying.

"You know what they're saying?" I ask.

"More or less. They are looking for one of their own. A young one it seems."

"Can we help them?"

Now that they're closer somehow they look cute in a weird way, the way they glide along and their yellow eyes are so expressive, in immense sadness with little circles for mouths.

Abe stands, placing me strategically behind him. He whistles a low tune that sounds a bit similar to the ghoulies voices.

It should be weird to me that Abe can speak the ghoulies language. Maybe he can speak to the warhogs too. But considering the overall strange day and turn of events, I'm too tired to question his abilities. I peek over Abe's shoulder to look at the ghoulies as Abe speaks with them.

There is a smaller and shorter ghoulie who doesn't seem so afraid of seeing us. The ghoulie glides closer than the others. And then something wonderfully weird happens.

The small ghoulie disappears completely from sight.

I spin around to see the small ghoulie materialize in front of my eyes, looking up at me unblinkingly.