Not just mortal and Fae book I (Azriel x Suree)

CHAPTER 12

As I entered in between the mountains, the sun disappeared and the temperature seemed to drop. I shivered and rapped my fur rug around me tighter. I pulled out the map that Azriel had found back in the den and ran my finger along the page. I was heading south of the Dawn court, further through the mountains, there was a place called the weavers cottage, though I had no idea what that was, and another place called Under the mountain. I looked closer at the little image and felt my stomach twist. I began to have some eerily gut feeling that was where I was supposed to go. Shouldering my bag higher and taking a deep breath, I marched ahead.

Pretty soon night fell and I had no idea how long I had been walking, but my feet throbbed. I decided to set down for the night and found a soft patch of grass to sit down on. I pulled out the pouch of berries I had gathered back at the Dawn court and munched on them, and took a swig of my water. I knew better then to start a fire and I knew it wasn't a good idea to sleep especially when I was so vulnerable out in the open so I decided to climb a tree and rest there. I tied myself to the root and tried to get as comfortable as possible as I kept a knife in hand, ready to attack anything if necessary.

The night was restless and I kept waking up to my back aching, and when the sun started to rise, I couldn't get back to sleep. I made an early start and ate the last of my berries as I furthered into the mountains. It was quiet the only sound, the rustling of the trees, the birds chirping and the occasional snap of a twig from an animal, still I kept at least one knife in hand. I made camp earlier that night and decided to try hunting to get some meat in my stomach. It took me around an hour before I caught a squirrel and made a small fire while the sun was still in the sky. As I ate I felt content, the most content I had been since I had made the journey through the mountains alone.

The next day felt longer, and the sky seemed to get darker the further in I went, and the less birds sung and the less creatures that would show up. Something in the back of my mind told me to turn back, alarm bells sounding in my ears but I ignored all of them, not when I was so close to Zander. That's when it stopped, the birds melody's died out and not a leaf rustled. I brought out my knives and dropped my blanket and got into a fighting stance.

"Azriel, is that you?"

No reply. I began to think I was just being paranoid that it was just my human fear taking over, when a pear of hands covered my eye's. I began to thrash and cursed when more hands grabbed me holding my arms, my legs.

"Hold her still!"

"Some one knock her out or something!"

A moment later a felt something pressed to my mouth, a piece of cloth with a terrible aroma and I felt myself drifting into unconsciousness.

                                                             ***

When I came around I found myself with my hands tied behind my back, lying on a cold hard surface. For terrifying moment I thought I was back on the ship again, everything that had happened in the past two weeks was just a disoriented dream. But I did not feel the sway of the ship or the sound of people yelling and laughing, and there was no rain pouring down onto me, so where was I?

"About time you woke up, I was starting to think you where dead." A male voice spoke, though not one I recognised. I opened my eye's slowly and tried to take in my surroundings, though the room was dark and next to impossible to see through. I was pulled to my feet, harshly and stumbled before I got my footing. I glared at the figure behind me, a broad shouldered Fae, though I could not tell what court he was from. I looked around the room and saw I was in some kind of dome cave with a chandelier on the roof and red marbled floor.

"Impressive isn't it, the place was in ruins when I found it, but over the last couple of months I've been able to rebuild it to it's former glory."