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Chapter 8

I heard the noise of hushed conversation stop as Aijet went bounding around the corner. I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut, frozen in place as I waited for the sound of my dog's painful death by being stabbed to death by a mutant hobbit living deep underground.

To my relief, the downfall of Aijet didn't come. The four of us stood silently, huddled behind a small wall of rock that blocked the light. I still didn't dare breathe and suddenly there was a kind of snapping, rustling sound combined. And then twisted shadows darted across the far wall and someone with hard, calloused hands was gripping my arms and legs, and almost making me black out from the agony of the tight clutch on my left arm.

"Stop! My arm!" I shreiked, trying not to struggle. More vines shot out from around the corner past me, grabbing at the walls until they reached my friends, and curling around wherever they could reach. The plants around my left arm slithered back as if they could sense I was hurt, besides my yell, and the four of us were dragged into the gold glowing room.

I curled around my hurt arm as best I could, trying to block out the pain and the solid plants trying to keep me from moving.

"What do you want?" a redheaded girl hissed, glaring at the four of us entangled in the vines.

"N-nothing, we were just trying to get out ... we fell down the hole," Claire stuttered out. "Please, we didn't mean you any harm."

I watched through my tears as a dog that was now more gray than black slowly stood up from its bed carved from the wall, climbed down the small set of stairs, and stiffly made his way over to Aijet.

I heard him growling and gasped, opening my eyes wider. "Aijet! Come!"

The old dog turned in my direction, one shockingly blue eye scanning my face. It lowered its head, still watching me closely, and then closed its eyes and a man said, "Jasmine Faim. It's good to see you again."

I looked around the room, trying to find the voice, and then it came again, speaking in a language I didn't know or recognize.

The girl turned towards the dog, which had straightened up again, and replied in the same strange tongue.

I froze as I realized the dog was talking, and blinked as the girl faced towards me again and waved a hand. Immediately, the vines shrunk away, sinking into the floor with no trace that they had ever been there before.

"Jasmine?" she asked, a strange look on her face. "You-you're alive?"

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Hello everyone! I'd just like to thank you all for taking the time for reading my story, I've kind of had this plot planned out for about a year now but I didn't think there was a point of just writing it when no one would read it, but then I was introduced to WattPad! Okay, I'm sorry about the relatively short chapter, I just changed the end at a moment's notice and before I knew it it was published! I will try very hard to update before next Thursday, I'll write every day. Thanks again, I hope you enjoyed! :)