Twisted Worlds

Chapter 22- A Deal you Cannot Refuse

After only seconds the winds within the portal increased and we were flung away from one another and out of the portal. Kailen landed headfirst into rows and rows of tall, armed trolls and goblins and I was flung backwards into tall, elegant humans? But my reassurance that they would help us soon faded I shuffled away from them, keeping my eyes on them at all times. They were tall, elegant people; all with long perfectly straight black hair and slitted eyes, Serentali. "NO! KAILEN KAILEN!!" It was all I could do...scream and yell until he heard me. I could just see him through the dust of the burnt out planes that surrounded the Palace. It was blindingly bright considering the sky was pitch black, and he was being held up by two ten foot tall trolls, who dwarfed kailen so completely. 

"Ella! Ella!, don't worry; everything is going to be okay, I promise you everything will be okay" His words were broken, and now the dust had begun to clear I could see the defeat in his face. An assassin survived by living in shadows and in rumours, but now there was no where to escape, no shadows to hide in and he was powerless against them. We didn't get to talk anymore, I was violently pulled up off the ground so my feet dangled helplessly beneath me.

"Ah Arabella; so good to see you again." Diorten, "I thought you may have been lucky enough to die from you wounds.." He ripped off one shoulder of the jacket I had huddled under mid tears to reveal the deep blue cut scar across my chest. And I felt Kailen gasp.

But looking across at him he was being smothered by a troll's large sweaty hand. ".....but now you are here, I will give you a choice. " He pulled me closer to him, one hand looped under the collar of my jacket as he lifted me even higher off the floor, to reach his eye level. "Either, you live free and happy on Earth; we tell everyone you died in a terribly unfortunate accident and you will live a long and full life as the Ella Baxter you pretend so hard to be. BUT KAILEN DIES" it sounded like a good option up until the final words; and the King actually took pleasure in seeing my eyes fill with tears as I squeezed them tightly shut in a failed attempt to block out the world. "Or, you marry Chito, live here as a happy Princess; have children, and never try to escape. And your dear lover here will stay alive..." It was then I flicked my eyes open, averting the looks I was getting from the Sereltali and focusing on only Kailen. He was attempting to shake his head 'no' but the King had done his homework. He knew I would never want anything to ever happen to Kailen, and he was using this to his advantage.

"Put me down, right now and you will have my answer" I kept my voice steady and even; not letting in on the fact that I was turning to dust inside.

"Fine Princess, whatever you say" and he lowered me slowly till my feet touched the floor.

"I- I will marry Chito, If you release my mother and the other prisoners and If you allow Kailen to walk free" I had to think really hard about what I was saying...giving in to everything I was running from.

What was I thinking?

"ELLA NO!!!" Kailen was yelling from across the plane; "You can't do this, not after everything you have done to stop it!" he was being dragged away, dragging his feet in the yellow dust; but the guards were too strong as they dragged him back towards the sap forest. 

"Kailen, you don't get it do you. If I don't do this you will die" I couldn't look at him anymore, I didn't want to watch him disappear. My last memories of him had to be the happiest and this could not be counted as happy.

"Then It is decided; you shall be married in two days at midnight. You shall not leave the Palace until then and we shall see to it that your subjects and your mother are set free. Kailen shall be returned to his home in the woods and we shall inform Chito that the wedding will go on" he held me by the shoulders and looked down at me from his towering height. If Kailen was tall, Diorten was a giant; he must have been at least seven foot as a human, which dwarfed Kailen at only six feet something. 

"You see Arabella, this is how it is supposed to be; a Princess must complete a duty to her people, this fool you have fallen so madly in love with would have resulted in your death. This way everyone is happy" And with that I was pulled away, with the other Serentali back up towards the castle..

This was it...I was going to be a bride, again and I was going to free my people. Even if that does mean never living my own life.

After being hauled up the steep path the the Palace I was pushed through the double doors and instantly pinned to a wall. I felt cold wrap around my wrists and as quickly as it happened I was off again being dragged up the stairs and back into my tower room. It had remained the same; as though I had never left. Its round walls completely empty, the pale golden stone bare and battered. My bed full of dust when I was thrown down onto it, filling the room with a pale powder that made  me sneeze uncontrollably. "Welcome home Princess, I will ask a maid to come and get you cleaned up; you look horrific. Oh and my dear Daughter in law...don't ever try to escape, unless you want us to force the assassin to kill you" Diorten turned and stepped out of the small door, throwing the handcuff key onto my bed in front of me before closing and locking the door.

"No, no, no, no....this cannot be happening" 

I heard the lock of the door creak and the door was pushed slowly open and a maid walked over to the bed. She kept her head low; never looking up at me, but instead she walked swiftly over, almost floating across the floor and took the key from the foot of my dirty brown/cream bed sheets and undid the handcuffs that had kept my hands tight into my back.

"Thank you" I whispered, but I didn't really feel anything; I had lost the fight. Not that I ever expected to win; the Serentali are coordinated, always working together in large groups. The more brain power they had the harder it was to escape and now I had become another statistic, another Syltyn native forced into a life they never wanted at the hands of the Serentali.

But once the maid had removed the handcuffs she didn't leave, she just stood there watching me. I hadn't taken a good look at her, she was in the scruffy brown maid outfits with a white apron and a darker brown hat. But then she spoke and all the fuzz and messiness in my head vanished...

"Now come along child. Don't loose hope, us witches have ways around these things" I shot my head up to find an old woman, Grandma. 

"Grandma!" I yelled a little too loudly before squeezing her so tightly I am sure she grew a few inches.

"Now then Ella, we need to talk to Kailen don't we?" she perched on the very edge of the bed, filling the air with dust again.

"But grandma, I cannot talk to Kailen, he is back at his home and I cannot leave"

"You may not be able to leave but you have a connection...I know you felt his presence, even when you were apart. You know how he reacted when you were taken away you felt it and so you can use that to contact him....come darling move over so I can show you........"