Fallen Chapter Five- Bound and Helpless

A muffled groan escaped Cohan's lips as he slowly came to, the tape over his mouth making it sound stifled and strange. He slowly blinked his eyes open, or tried to, but when he did everything was black. A cloth around his eyes, there was only darkness. Gulping, he tried to move his hands, but they were taped tightly behind his back, his wrists crossed over each other. Frowning beneath the tape over his mouth, he moved his feet, but found them to be taped together as well. Sitting up slowly, he groaned as pain shot throughout his body, and gave a cry beneath the tape. The pain was like fire, running through his veins. 'Where am I?' he thought to himself. 'What's going on?' Beginning to panic, he frantically yanked at his binds, but the tape proved to be tough, and he found he couldn't break free. Still, he tried, tugging at the tape furiously. Suddenly, something tapped against his left shoulder in his struggling, and he found himself falling back onto his side. He grunted as he hit the ground, and struggled to free his wrists. 'Not good,' he thought to himself. 'This is not good...damn it, where am I? What's going on?' But of course, he didn't have an answer. Feeling the ground beneath him, he noticed it was dirt. He was outside somewhere, and in the distance he could hear the sounds of a rushing river. Freezing, he wondered what this person had in mind for him. Thinking back to what had happened, he shook his head. 'Sohai?' he though. 'Where are you?' He was suddenly grabbed by the front of his shirt, and lifted to his feet. His legs dangling in the air, he was helpless.

"Cohan," whispered a dark voice, and he froze, his senses awakening. He was being held captive by a shadow! Oh this wasn't good, he knew. It wasn't good at all. He began to struggled again, but the voice said, "Do no struggle, young one. It will not help you. This is a tape of my special making; it cannot be broken. Why struggle and waste your breath?" the voice chuckled, and he found chills racing down his spine. What was this shadow? What was going on? "You're going to need all the breath you can get." He froze and felt his heart skip a beat. What was the shadow talking about? What was it going to do to him? "The mighty Cohan...helpless. Oh how the mighty have fallen," murmured the shadow, and Cohan could tell by the voice that it was smirking. The shadow laughed and shook him slightly. "But I will not kill you until I am ready; for now, you will rot in your new home." with that, he was thrown roughly to the side, where he hit something hard and then bounced off, hitting the ground. Groaning, he struggled to sit up, but felt something (a foot, maybe) press down hard on his back, pushing him into the ground. He pulled at his binds, but of course they weren't loosening. The tape was suddenly yanked from his mouth, and a sudden stinging made him give a slight yelp. "Are you ready to go down into your new home? Any questions?"

Cohan paused for a moment, his mouth stinging. Wincing, he whispered, "What's going on?" the moment those words were out of his mouth, he was hit hard on the side of the face, and his head whipped to the side as he did a little spin and then went down hard on his stomach. Groaning, he only lay there, not even bothering to get up.

The shadow laughed at him. "On second thought, you aren't going into the warmth. You will spend the night out here, in the wild. If the animals don't eat you, if you surive these next three days alone out here, then I will be back."

Cohan was suddenly hauled to his feet, where the tape securing his wrists was torn from him, causing him to give a slight cray. Someone, something, grabbed one arm while another grabbed his other. He was dragged backward, and he struggled.

"What's going on?" he shouted. "Where are you taking me?" Struggling to yank his arms free, he tried to pull away from whatever was pulling him backward. "Let go, damn it!" He was clipped hard in the back of his head, and he groaned, still struggling. "Damn it, let go of me!"

"Shut up!" the shadow said. "Sheesh, you talk too much. No wonder Raiski had your mouth taped." His back was slammed against something, so hard that it made his breath come out in a rush, and he struggled to regain it. He felt his arms begin to go behind something, and knew he was going to be tied to whatever it was he was against. Struggling, he tried to pull his arms back in front of him. For a moment, he thought he was going to be able to, but whatever it was that was forcing his arms behind him was strong. "Be rough," the shadow said, and Cohan was hit hard in the head, making him freeze and stop struggling for a moment. The moment was long enough for his arms to be forced around the thing he was against. His arms rubbing against it, he knew it was a tree. He shook his head and tried to pull his arms away before they were tied, but could not. "Stop struggling," the voice of the shadow snapped, and he froze. In that instant, his wrists were crossed over each other and bound tightly with tape. When the hands left him, he couldn't break free.

"Where's Sohai?" he snarled, suddenly thinking of his partner. "He'd better be okay." He heard the shadow laugh, but waited for an answer.

"Oh, he's okay. For now, anyway. I have a few plans for him. He's special, you see. You're not. I'm merely keeping you alive right now because we need something to lure him with. In a few days, if you're still alive, we'll let you two see each other. But I am not saying more."

Snarling, he snapped, "He'd better not be harmed." Suddenly his mouth was taped again, something pressing it down hard. He flinched away from the thing pushing down on it, but only got slapped across the left cheek for it. Growling beneath his breath, he shouted out something, but it came out stifled. "Damn you!" he snarled, but the tape prevented him from opening his mouth to actually shout it at the shadow. Something was thrust hard into his gut, and he sucked in a sharp intake of breath through his nose. He hated breathing through his nose; the shadow would be able to tell how scared he was by the raspingly quick breath seeping into his nose as his breathing sped up in fear. What was going on? He yanked at the tape as he was hit hard again, and then again. Time after time, he was hit, in the head, the chest, the ribs, the gut...anywhere, he was hit. He felt blood racing down the side of his face, beginning to crust over. His left eye was swollen, he knew; he could feel it beneath the cloth. Coughing, he tasted blood as it filled his mouth, but it had nowhere to go and began to gather there. He wanted to gag, but could not. The blood began to trickle back down his throat, and he almost choked. His muscles tightening and then relaxing, he tugged at the binds, but could not get free. It was hopeless.

"Goodbye Cohan," said the shadow from a little ways away, leaving him alone with his blood and his busted lip and all his other injuries. "Perhaps this is goodbye for good. Oh, and I'd do something about that blood if I were you. You're losing a lot; it will attract the animals." with a laugh, the voice faded away, leaving him alone against the tree.

Giving a harsh tug at the tape, he still couldn't break free. He hung his head low, somehow knowing it was hopeless.