Blurred Memories by Kallysten Page A

Blake had
no idea where he was being led, but the further he let himself be
taken, the harder it would be to get back to…
    To where?
    The breach was closed. How
would he go back to his world?
    He needed to find another
breach. It didn’t matter where he ended up; he only needed to go
back through. And for that, he first needed to escape.
    He started to pay closer
attention to his guards. There were two of them, both in front of
him. They were grunting quietly at each other—talking, Blake
supposed. It would have helped to know what they were saying, but
Blake had to work with what he had, not what would be convenient.
He had no weapon, nothing to cut his bonds, but he didn’t need to
get to his guards’ weapons to have access to something sharp. His
guards themselves were full of sharp edges, and he knew from
experience that their spiky bone protrusions could cut like steel.
He had another advantage: they believed him beaten and caution
unnecessary. If he could get close enough, managed to incapacitate
the demons in some way, freed himself and ran fast enough and found
another breach to jump through…
    Too many ifs. The odds
weren’t good, but he doubted they would get any better once they
arrived wherever the demons were taking him.
    He maintained the tension on
the rope, pretending that he was still dragging his feet, and the
demon that held the rope continued to jerk on it every so often
without bothering to look back. Neither guard noticed that he was
slowly coiling up the rope in his hands and getting closer to
them.
    Looking ahead, he saw a rock
protruding on the side of the trail. This was his chance. He waited
until the demons had just passed it, then jumped to the top of the
rock and immediately jumped back, this time toward the demons. They
both looked at him, but too late to draw their weapons. His body
collided with the closest demon, his momentum giving him enough
force to send it crashing into its partner.
    The three of them fell to
the dusty road. Hindered by their armor and their sheer size, the
demons were still down when Blake jumped back to his feet. He
frantically pressed the rope against one of the demon’s spikes in a
see-saw motion. Three slides were enough, and he cut through his
tether. His hands were still bound, but he’d worry about that
later. For now the important thing was to run.
    The path would only take him
where the demons wanted him. Going back would be useless because
the breach there had been closed. Instead, Blake left the path,
rushing into a terrain of rocks and sparse vegetation as fast as he
could on such treacherous ground. He could hear the demons stomping
behind him, grunting every so often, either at each other or at
him. They sounded like they were slowly catching up to him. He
wasn’t going to lose them, was he? Change of plan, then.
    He worked at the rope that
tied his wrists with his fangs. It forced him to slow down, but at
least his hands were soon free. He looked around for what he needed
and was quick to find it: a large but manageable rock, as big as
his head, and a series of flat rocks that would first hide him then
give him a boost in height. When he had a sword in hand, he didn’t
care that demons were so much taller; it was different when he only
had makeshift weapons.
    He hid behind the rocks,
forced himself to stop breathing, and waited. He would only get one
chance.
    It all happened so fast, he
felt like his body was acting on its own the entire time. When the
demons sounded close enough, he jumped out of hiding, swinging the
rock down onto the closest demon’s head. It impacted with a deep,
crushing noise, and the demon collapsed under Blake. It didn’t move
again.
    Its companion roared and
slashed toward Blake with its sword. Blake, who was still clutching
the rock, used it to block the blow, then threw it at the demon as
hard as he could. It raised its arm to protect its head, and the
rock broke one of the bone spikes on its arm. When it lowered