Forest Whispers by Kaitlyn O'Connor Page B

thing that she was
aware of was an arm wrapped so tightly around her ribs that she
could barely drag a breath of air into her lungs. It took a supreme
effort to lift her head and focus her eyes and even so her range of
vision was so limited as to be almost useless. She caught sight of
her pistol, however, as it was brought level with her face.
    “ Not a sound,” Sadin growled
menacingly, spewing flecks of spittle on her face and a cloud of
hot breath as he spoke inches from her face. Bending, he dug his
shoulder into her belly and lifted her from the ground. The blood
rushed to her head as he stood upright once more, accentuating the
dull throbbing in her skull to a painful clamoring. She gasped,
trying to drag in enough air to keep from blacking out
completely.
    Struggling against the blackness, Lana found
her thought processes were so sluggish as to be practically
non-existent, but one thought was crystal clear.
    She was going to be Sadin’s next victim if
she didn’t gather her wits about her. When she finally managed to
lift her head and focus her eyes, she could no longer see the
clearing that surrounded Lianal’s cabin. That didn’t mean much. The
forest was thick with undergrowth in this area. Sadin would not
have had to carry her far for her to lose sight of the cabin.
    He was huffing like he was ready to pass
out, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything either. She was dead
weight and would’ve been a hell of a load to carry even if she
hadn’t been. No doubt a part of his distress could also be
attributed to the fear that one or both of the warriors he’d seen
might be right behind him.
    The question was, where was he carrying her
and how far would he try to carry her before he decided to either
throw her down and kill her outright or try to drag her off under
her own steam?
    She was no use to him as a bargaining chip,
and they both knew it, unfortunately.
    He could’ve simply killed her when he’d
sneaked up on her, so he obviously wanted her alive—for now.
    He’d taken her knife and her pistol, which
meant she was down to hand-to-hand against a well armed man.
    Would it be better to play possum and wait
until he decided to drop her? Or better to try to figure out a
maneuver now?
    She did a mental inventory and decided her
reflexes were probably as keen as they were going to get any time
soon. She didn’t know what he’d hit her with, but she thought the
possibility was pretty strong that he’d given her a concussion. The
chances seemed pretty much in his favor that she wasn’t going to
recover enough before he decided to kill her to be much of a match
for him.
    That being the case, she decided she’d just
as soon take a quick laser blast than allow him to carry her far
enough he could play with her for a few days.
    Gathering herself, she jackknifed upright,
catching his head in an arm lock as she threw herself backwards.
Her weight and momentum flipped them both over. She landed on her
back with Sadin on top of her, but the surprise and the blow
loosened his grip on her legs. Bolting upright, she slammed the
edge of her hands down on either side of his head against his ears,
trying to draw her knees up at the same time. His weight on the
lower part of her body prevented the attempt to knee him under the
chin, but he howled in pain and rage as her hands made contact with
his ears.
    Unfortunately, the blow seemed to enrage him
far more than it debilitated him. Heaving upward, he caught her
around the throat with both hands. Instead of grabbing for his
hands, Lana slammed her palm into his face. That maneuver, too,
failed since she couldn’t get the angle just right. Instead of
driving the bone and cartilage of his nose into his brain, she
merely broke it.
    Before she could make another attempt to
break his grip, something slammed into Sadin so hard and so
suddenly that she was lifted from the ground as he flew off of her.
Gasping for air, massaging her bruised throat, Lana struggled to
rise