THE DRAGON HEALER [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 18: THE CHAINED ONE

Alanna stared ahead as the queen brought her to a smaller corridor at the end of the long walkway next to the side garden of the palace. She did not even look around anymore as she walked. She just stared ahead, trying to psych herself to be braver, stronger.

She kept walking and her brain was not processing anything, it could not. Her mouth was dry, and she knew the night had fallen outside. The small corridor was dim, only lit by some torches on the left and right.

At the end of the corridor was a door, painted black and made of sturdy, rough wood.

"Come. I need your help in something important," the queen who had been walking two steps ahead of her now turned around and smiled at her. The smile sent shiver down her spine though. It was more like a grin, a smirk, like the queen had hidden a bad thing, thought she was smart about it, and tried to hide it with a smile.

Queen Thyrra took a key out from her skirt pocket, and opened the door.

Alanna's knees shook so hard she almost fell down.

"Come," the queen nodded at her.

Alanna breathed fast and stood still.

"Alanna, I say come."

Alanna took a couple deep breaths and followed the queen into a small corridor behind the door. She did think in a flash of thought of trying to run away, but that thought died down right away along with the fact that her knees were too shaky to even walk solid steps, let alone running away.

The corridor was dim, with only a couple torches light the way. It was much colder in here than outside the black door and the smell of moss and dust invaded the nose. Alanna began to cough when the smell became so intense it made it hard for her to breathe. This corridor had not been opened much at all so it seemed to her.

Their walk ended at the top of a winding stone stairway.

The queen stopped, turned at her, and smirked. "It is dark down there. Be careful with your steps."

Alanna did not respond. She is not my mother, she screamed within her mind. There was no way this scary woman was her mother. No way. She did not want it to be that way.

Who am I? that question pounded her again as she made her way down the winding stairway, the wall around her only had just enough space for her to half-extend her arms left and right.

Why do I feel like I do not even belong here? In this palace? In this whole snow-covered place?

The stairs kept winding, and Alanna did not even count anymore how many winding of the stairs that she passed by before they got to the bottom of the stairway. She tried to focus on her steps, making sure she did not tumble down as the queen walked a few steps in front of her. Her mind was empty, she began to think of something-something simple, like her meeting with the three-legged white dog earlier. But even that was difficult for her.

The smell of damp rocks and moss became much stronger, and there was another door right in front of them. Another oak door painted in black with two torches on the wall to its left and right.

There were two guards posted there.

Alanna let out a shriek.

The guards were not human.

They were snake-faced human-bodied monsters, slender and tall, at least 2 meters in height, and they wore black armors with sharp teeth of steel protruding from the surface. A gold ring circled their snake head. They stood stiff with their unsheathed sword crossed each other, forming an X on the door.