Fun Summer

Zeke in a dungeon

Zeke felt hungry. Had he been back home, he'd have rode to the hill where McDonalds was located and had a box of McNuggets with a coke or Fanta slushie.  

But he wasn't at home. He was in a cold and lonely dungeon. Ina world he'd never seen the likes of before.

Moving his starved and skinny frame to lean against the wall like a skeleton whose skin hadn't rotted away, he remembered what had happened.

He'd found himself in the middle of a bazaar. He'd have thought the villagers had never seen a boy before, the way they screamed and writhed. He'd begged if they'd seen his sister, her best friend or his cousin, but they simply screamed for guards.

When the guards arrived, they cuffed his hands and ankles to a horse and taken him up the mountain that the village sat at the base of.

Once there, they led him through a labyrinth of tunnels, all the while the soldier in the front holding a glowing jade whilst murmuring inapprehensible words.

Which then led him to this little cell. They'd fed him twice a day at first, then only bothered once a day after about 3 days.

The first day, a soldier with a helmet shaped like a monster of some sort, which covered his face excluding his grey eyes.

The second day, a trembling and terrified village man, who seemed to have been forced to feed him.

The third, a beautiful girl who wore a fur coat of dark brown, with bronze skin, amber hair and light brown eyes. She looked just like Poppy...Noah's dead girlfriend. Except that girl was a lot smaller, and looked skinnier than Poppy.

'I hope she comes again...' thought Zeke. 'She looks around Noah's age. I like her the most. At least she smiles...'

In fact, it was the Poppy-Look-Alike that came to feed him again.

She handed him a large lamb roll. Zeke hungrily bit into it, his hollowed stomach ceased to pain a little. He looked at her through the bars.

"You came yesterday."

"That I did." the girl smiled sweetly and shyly at him. She was a lot timid than Poppy.

"You look like my cousin's late girlfriend."

"Poppy right?"

Zeke gasped at her. The girl laughed softly. Her beautiful, curled hair bobbed.

"I was made to read your mind when you arrived. I found Poppy amongst your memories. I assumed she was YOUR girlfriend."

"I'm only 13..." grumbled Zeke, and the girl smiled.

"Well...Zeke." She reached her opened hand to him through the bars. "My name is Esmeralda. Pleasure. You can call me Esme. That's my nickname."

"Right Esme." he clasped her hand. "I guess you know a lot about me already. So, tell me about you. Are you like Zoran? A Summer land girl?"

"Actually no. I'm a runaway..." Esme smiled disheartened. "I am actually from Autumn land."

"I'll guess there is a Winter and Spring land too?" asked Zeke asked in interest.

"Yup."

"So, what are you running away from?"

"Marriage." Esme replied simply. "You see, most girls from wealthy families like mine are forced to marry at my age. Most don't o that nowadays, but some still hold to 'tradition' I guess."

"Must suck." sighed Zeke with sympathy.

'Well yeah. You see, your Poppy friend was actually my sister. She was sent to your world because she refused to marry."

"POPPY?" Zeke cried in amazement.

"Yes. Her memories were erased, she was placed into a family who had memories implanted of a daughter named Poppy, her growing up and etcetera."

"She...died. Of cancer."

"Ah yes. My mother begged my father not to kill her, but when she found out my father has cursed her, it was too late." Esme sighed sadly and looked down. "My mother died, and my father tired to sell me off for a dowry of much wealth."

Zeke whistled. "Wow. Keep going, I'm listening."

"So I rebelled." Esme smiled at her stomach. "I am currently pregnant. I doesn't show much, but it's true."

"Oh wow!!! Congrats!!! May I?" Zeke reached out his hand.

Esme nodded and pulled aside her cloak. Zeke placed his hand against her stomach. He could just feel the tiny heartbeat through his fingers.

"So who's' the father?" he pulled his hand away. 

"He's one of the Summer Folk." Esme sighed heavily. "What's worse, he's a Mage of Summer. Almost on the same level as an angel!"

"Golly."

"Yup. But I love him. He's wild, funny and passionate. He's really nice too," Esme rubbed her belly, "he'll be a good father, I know it. But I have to find him."

"You do that. No one should grow up without a father."

"Oh and by the way, your friends are nearing the mountain, they should be here any day now to save you."

"Oh!!! My sister Tale and Zoran?"

"Plus The Summer Mage Birchwood and a maid called Atea. Oh, and apparently another mage, but I'm not sure who it is. But it wouldn't be my husband."

"What's your husband's name-"

A soldier called out, and Esme scrambled up.

"I'm sorry Zeke, I must leave. But once your friends arrive, I plan on escaping here with you guys. Okay? Don't worry, I'll make sure they're safe."

"Okay then Esme. You're a prisoner here too aren't you/"

"In some ways yes. Oh and my husband's name is Azure."

Esme scurried out the dungeon.