Destiny is Calling Me!

❥❥ Star had never known true terror, never known real fear until the day she had disappeared. It wasn't by choice, she would never have left Frost's side had she known what horrible things were in store. It had been a quiet day of herb collecting in Fern Gully when she met a darkly coated, well-spoken stranger. The female had been far larger than herself, but she presented herself in a non-threating manner, and Star was just friendly enough not to think twice about a smiling face. She had proclaimed herself a wandering healer of sorts and had a fine band outside Boreas who needed special herbs. The woman had seemed nice enough, interested in Star's work as she gladly spoke of her role within her pack, her mate, and Star's herbs. She had seemed truly interested and offered Star a look at her own supply of herbs, though the way she presented them had been foreign to her. The stranger lay her travel bag down and took out an odd looking bowl then a canteen-like bladder filled with brown tea. Pouring the tea out into the bowl, the female began to covertly watch Star until she filled the bowl about an inch and invited Star to drink it.

❥❥ 'What's in it?' Star asked as she took the first of a series of several lapping sips from the bowl, not thinking a healer would harm another wolf. 'Lots of things; chamomile, valerian root, lemongrass...all in normal doses. The real kicker is the poppy pods, I put five pods in this one...should be enough to knock out a small horse in there.' The stranger replied, a sly smirk moving over her darkened face just as Star's vision began to swim with drowsiness. An awful heaviness began to infect her limbs, her energy had leeched from her in waves as she felt the sedatives in the tea begin to do their horrible work. Star panicked, but she couldn't utter much more than a whimper as she passed out from the dose of opium contained in the tea. Distantly, she had felt the sharp prick of teeth in her scruff and the drag of grass and rock against her pelt as the stranger took her near-lifeless body to a more inconspicuous area. Caves nearby had provided plenty of cover from prying eyes, and gave Stardust long, pain-filled months of hell.
***
❥❥ Sunlight speared her dark-adjusted eyes and caused her to hiss quietly then listen behind her for any sign that her captor had heard her. Luckily, Star had tricked her jailer into drinking her own brew, and the evil woman lay on the floor of the caves, unconscious and unknowing. Months of being drugged had destroyed thoughts of escape, any attempts had been thwarted by the sheer force of the strange woman. Star had made it appear as though she had given up, but she truly remained determined to make it home, to see her mate before she died. She had to, what would Frost think of her! What kind of hell had her disappearance caused for him? Would he blame her for leaving, or understand that it hadn't been by choice?

❥❥ Star panted hard against the pain in her eyes, tears adding to the burning that the light caused, trying to see through a haze that was caused by endless months of being drugged and half-starved. The only water she had been offered had been the tea that contained the poppy pods, the only food was barely able to be called bone, resulting in a simply atrocious outward appearance. She was bordering emaciation, her stomach tucked and back arched with cramps from dehydration. Her eyes burned from the light and her tears, but also from mydriasis - dilation of the pupil from drug use. There was an unkempt filth all over her, making her fur matted and dull, meaning it would be obvious that she had been to hell and back.

❥❥ Slowly, and very painfully, Star moved in the direction she knew home lay. There was only one thought in her mind, only one goal, and she would be dead before she gave it up. With each trembling paw step, she grew closer and closer to her goal, and further away from her drugged captor. Every muscle in her body ached, her limbs were heavy and painful, her stomach cramped, her head felt as though someone was pounding on it with a boulder...but she fought herself and the last of the drugs that slowly left her system. Panting hard, and trembling, she finally saw the most blessed sight in the near distance. Finally, she knew success! Her paws quickened until she was ambling toward the border, every aching step moving faster until she reached it! She would have stumbled all the way back to her den, but the mad and awkward dash for home had taken her energy.

❥❥ The woman was unconscious before she hit the unseen line, but this time, she crash-landed on her own doorstep. Instead of relief, she found herself drifting in a nightmarish field of anxiety and fear, locked in a mental prison and forced to relive her time in the hellish woman's clutches. One thought overcame all others, how could she have been so stupid?

"Soothing voice." Quiet paws. Whispering mind. "Spoken to."