Keelin hit the grass-covered ground, knocking the wind out of herself. She rolled over, taking in deep breaths and trying to figure out what had just happened. Her memory was like a tape on fast forward.
Flash! There was the man, smiling at her. Oh, how she wanted to kill him. Flash! He was bleeding, pulling a remote out of a pocket… Flash! She was being sucked into a swirling vortex that had suddenly appeared.
She shook her head, her eyes squeezed shut. She couldn’t get that man’s face out of her head, no matter how hard she tried. The smile haunted her, leering out from everywhere she looked.
She finally opened her eyes, staring at the star-specked sky above. Had the explosion blown up the entire building…? No, she sighed, remembering. She was wherever that vortex had taken her. She’d be lucky if she was still on Earth.
Suddenly, she realized how tired she was. No, she couldn’t sleep, she didn’t even know where she was, let alone what else was here also. But she was so exhausted… maybe just a little nap… She shut her eyes and immediately fell asleep.
********************
“Hey Kit,” laughed a light, female voice. “What’ve you found?”
Keelin heard a trilling close to her ear, but kept her eyes shut and her breathing regular. No need to get excited just yet. However, she shifted slightly so that her hood shaded her entire face and her gun wasn’t visible.
“Um, Numair…” the voice was closer now, uncertain. “Maybe you should see this…”
‘Why, what is it? A new voice, masculine and pleasant to listen to. “is something wrong?”
“Not wrong, just… Well, come and see for yourself.” Keelin opened one eye a crack. She glanced a young woman about her own age with wavy brown hair turn to talk with the other. He soon came into view, a very tall man with black hair that appeared to be in his late twenties or so.
She shut the eye quickly as they both turned to look at her. It didn’t seem that would attack her, but just to be safe, she slowly slid her hand onto her gun, still under her cloak.
“Well, what's this…” The man’s voice also sounded uncertain. Again, she heard a trilling close to her ear. She also heard footsteps coming closer, but still did not move. A large hand rested on her shoulder…
That did it. Keelin jumped up, throwing the man’s hand off her shoulder and drawing her gun in one swift movement. She held the gun leveled at the man’s head, far above her own. By his confused expression, he obviously didn’t consider her or her gun a threat.
“Calm down…” The girl on the other hand, looked worried. “We won’t hurt you..” Keelin glanced at her but kept her gun raised.
“That may be so…” Keelin said quickly. “But I’m not quick to trust people.” She glanced down, feeling a tug on her boot. “Holy…” If she hadn’t known dragons weren’t real, she could have sworn there was one sitting at her feet. Her attention quickly returned to the man. “What do you want?”
“Your name would be sufficient.” He still sounded calm, as though sure she couldn’t hurt him.
“Keelin.” She lowered her gun. “Keelin Barona.” She slipped her gun in it’s holster and crossed her arms. “Now what about yours?”
“I am Numair Salmalin, and this is Daine Sarrasri. Pardon me for saying so, but you do not appear to be indigenous to this area.”
Keelin stared at him. “What he means is,” Daine said hurriedly. “You don’t look like you’re from Tortall.”
“Tortall?” Keelin looked at them both like they were crazy. “Where on Earth is that?”
“Here, actually.” Daine continued. “Though I’m not sure about the earth part. You are currently just south of Pirate’s Swoop. Um, where are you from, exactly?”
“I move around too much to be from a particular place, but I think it’s safe to say I stuck to earth, until now apparently.” She shook her head, as if expecting to wake up.
“Well, how did you get here?” Numair raised his eyebrows expectantly, as if knowing how she arrived would solve everything.
Keelin looked up into his eyes. “You’d think I was crazy if I told you.”
“No, I believe I am quite sure of your sanity at this point.” Numair replied. “Besides, I doubt anything you could say would shock me.”
“Well then…” Keelin wondered whether or not to tell them the entire story, but decided against it. “Some sort of machine sent me here, something designed to send people to different dimensions I believe.” She raised her own eyebrows, waiting for their reaction.
“Well,” Numair said finally. “I have never heard of a machine built with the ability to send someone through dimensional fibers, but I believe you would not lie about such things.”
Keelin stared again. “You… you actually trust me?” She stayed silent for a moment, pondering this, before finally saying, “But why?”
“You haven’t given us a reason not to.” Daine shrugged, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.
Another tug on her boot brought her attention back to the supposed ‘dragon’. “Who, or what, is this?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, she doesn’t like being ignored…” Daine stooped and picked up the creature. “This is Skysong, but folk mostly call her Kitten.”
“Is she a…a dragon?”
Daine gave her an odd look. “Of course she’s a dragon… Don’t you have dragons where you come from?”
“Only in fairy tales…” Keelin shook her head. This certainly was an odd place.
“Anyway, you should come with us. I might be able to find a spell to get you back where you came from.” Numair turned and began to walk off, Daine and Kitten following.
Keelin ran in front of them and stopped, looking at Numair. “Spell? Excuse me?”
“Yes…” Numair stated slowly, as if surprised by her reaction.
“Wait, Numair, if she doesn’t have dragons in her world, maybe she doesn’t have magic either…” Keelin nodded, confirming Daine’s thought.
“Oh, I beg your pardon… there are many mages here, and I am one of the more powerful.” Numair said the fact as if simply stating the condition of weather, no arrogance whatsoever. “I should be able to get you home.”
Keelin fell into step a few paces behind them, heading for who knows where. Maybe I don’t want to go home. She thought miserably. There’s nothing there for me… She blinked furiously, fighting back tears. Crying wouldn’t bring her brothers back. Nothing would.