The Breaking

You now belong to the king

I must have fallen asleep because I woke up and it was dark. The reason for my waking was my hair tickling my face. I angrily braided my floating hair so it would hopefully stop going everywhere.

The cave had reverted to its glowing black color. I looked down to see Greer sprawled out across my lap breathing deeply. I tried moving out from under him. But he fell to the floor with a thud. He was still breathing deeply though.

I grabbed the soft green blanket and wrapped it up several times to make it into a pillow. I gently lifted that mop of red hair and placed the pillow under it. I petted the blanket one last time and stretched. A strange glow came from the opening of the cave. So I went to go check it out.

The walls had stopped shining, so it was dark. Once I turned the corner the yellow glow had moved away. I walked out of the cave and looked up at the sky. It was dark with so many stars. You could clearly see a twisting jumble of stars. Then there was the two moons. One was more of a reddish color and the other was more of a blue and larger than the red one, casting the world in their strange hue. The deep green of the surrounding trees made it all seem magical.

I laughed at how corny that sounded in my head. That's when the glow came back. I jumped at the sound of someone voice.

"Is someone there?" I may or may not have yelped, most likely did because the owner of the voice came through the thick trees.

It was a man in armor, his helmet on his hip and a torch in his hand. Talk about medieval. His dark brown hair was to his neck. And his eyes looked intense, and curious. He gave me a once over, instantly make me self conscious.

"Uh, hi." I said awkwardly.

"State your name and to who you are loyal." He said authoritatively. I found him rude. That's when I noticed my idea for my hair wasn't working. My hair wasn't super long. It fell I between my shoulders, but man was it creeping up my shoulder. I grabbed it, hopefully he wouldn't see my magical floating hair.

"My name is Ever. Who are you?" I asked shyly. What did he mean by who I was loyal to?

"And to whom are you loyal, Ever?" He said my name as if there was acid in his mouth.

"Well, who are you loyal to?" He frowned at me. Clearly my plan wasn't working.

"If you are an enemy of the king then I'll have to take you prisoner." Ah, I see now.

"Funny story. Really. I'm not exactly loyal to anyone. Just a free spirit." I chucked nervously. I realized I was backing up.

I could run back into the cave, but he had moved in front of it. I had no where to go, but back into the woods. And he looked like he was stronger than me, I was in a tangle. I'd have to talk my way out...hopefully.

"You cannot be a "free spirit". From whence were you born?" He drew his sword. This didn't look good. And my hair was wrapping playfully around my hand. I was in a pickle. I could try tricking him to think ill run one way and then change directions back into the cave. That might put Greer and his Grandfather in danger. I'll have to take that chance. I mean, I had dragon blood in me. I should be ok. But I wasn't feeling too confident.

"Um, not here." I gave him a sly smile. He turned into a warrior, ready to pounce. His blue eyes had gone dark. I bolted, totally forgetting about the sword. I avoided its swing just in time, but didn't have time to change directions. His other had swung around and grabbed my waist. Securing me at his hip. I kicked and screamed banging against his armored arm. I went to bite it, but again, armor.

"Let me go!" I screamed pathetically.

"You will be taken to the King and he shall decide what to do with you." He said smoothly. I tried kicking him where it counts, but I couldn't reach it. How tall was this guy?

What was going to happen when Greer saw I was gone. I started to panic. What if he thought I'd abandon him?

"Please. You can't take me. Please." I grabbed his arm and the armor turned red and heated up under my hands. He threw me to the ground and ripped off his armor. It had begun to melt. And it had burn him. Oops.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry. Are you ok?" I jumped to his aid.

"You are a sorceress. Yet you don't know the extent of your power." He stated as he looks down at me. I grabbed some damp leaves from the ground and placed them over his burn. He flinched at the shrubs.

"This should help. I'm sorry again." I could feel my face catch fire. He just stared at me. Who wouldn't freak out a bit.

"You are kind. So please forgive me." I looked up at him, confused. When he turned me around quickly and tied my hands behind my back.

"Ow! That hurts!" I barked at him.

"You are dangerous. I can't have you burning any more of my armor." He was smirking at me. I scowled at him.

We walked further some more in the dark. During the chaos of me burning his armor off, he dropped his touch and it died.

"It would be better if you stopped shoving me!" I hissed at the knight.

"If you weren't so slow I wouldn't need to push you faster." He hissed back. I stopped dead in my tracks. A little body language for screw you.

"You are quite the impudent little girl." He said frustrated. I stuck my tongue out at him. That's when he grabbed me and flung me over his shoulder. I stared kicking and screaming for him to put me down.

"That is one way to pick up women Aritmis." An older deeper, unfamiliar voice came. Along with a familiar yellow glow from torches.

"I found her in the woods alone. She claims to have no affiliation. So I am taking her back to the King. She was being difficult." He dropped me on my butt. I glared at him something fierce.

"Oh, one more thing. Don't let her touch you. She is a sorceress, but she isn't in control of he powers." He stated, amused.

"How do you know I'm not in control. I could just be playing you." I said rudely.

"Oh. I can see the inexperience on your face darling." I wrinkled my nose at the word 'darling'.

"Looks like you found a girl who can stand up to you Artimis." The man laughed. I could see him more clearly now. He had short hair and a thick black beard streaked with grey hairs. He was a bit chubbier than Artimis, but that was mainly muscle. I was screwed.

"I think I'll pass, thanks." Artimis grumbled. At least I knew his name now.

"Hellos little miss. I'm Freyer. The Kings head guard. You say you have no affiliation with either kingdom. Well, we can certainly find use for you. The king is good and just, I'm sure he'll take good care of you." He gave me a playful wink. I thought back to Greer. I was worried about him. "Alright. Men, let's head back to the castle."

"Wait!" I yelled. Finally seeing I was surrounded my men, most of them in helmets, some looking at me hungrily. I ignored them. "Please let me go. I can't go with you. I have things to do. People to see. Please, please let me go." I begged.

The mans eyes shown with pity. "Sorry little miss. We have to take you back. You now belong to the King." A knot formed in the bottom of my stomach.