A Twist in time

Chapter 5-

As Amelia began to stir awake, she thought she was dead. The cool night breeze running through her hair and dress. Her fingers flexed gently to feel the heavenly soft feathers she rested upon. Slowly she opened her eyes to be greeted with a beautiful night sky covered in purples and hues of blue. She couldn’t tell which constellation was due to all of the stars mingling together, it was something she never got to see growing up in the heart of a city.  Even if she stood outside in her backyard all night, she only got to see the faint outline of the seasonal constellations. Slowly she began to realize that death hasn’t claimed her yet and she would continue to live out this nightmare. Curiously she glanced over her shoulder only to see nothing but endless trees and no castle in sight. She turned her head and peered over Angel’s shoulder, surprised to see among the endless green laid a remote village with a stockade fence surrounding it. The four corners of the stockade held two towers each with a guard occupying each one. Amelia noticed a few of the guards pointing up at them as Angel began to descend to the ground and blew into a horn, alerting the other guards and the village. Angel buckled his knees upon landing, tightening his grip upon her legs so she wouldn’t be dropped. The large gate came crashing down, inches away from Angel’s feet, allowing him to slowly enter the bustling village. The eager villagers began to crowd around Angel and Amelia, immediately asking both of them all sorts of questions and talking among themselves. 

    “Oh, thank the gods you’re back!” Spoke a young female with small ram horns sticking out of her brown hair. 

    “You’re smelly…” Chimed a human toddler as he looked up at Amelia only to be whisked away by his mother. 

    “I wonder what kingdom she’s from?”  

    “Do you think they took her from Yuledal?” 

    “No…Yuledale’s people have fair skin and straight hair, she doesn’t have either.” 

    “Almate?” 

    “No that kingdom hasn’t been in contact with ours in years.”

    “She looks odd..”

    “She smells odd..” 

Amelia quickly became overwhelmed with the amount of questions and talking that didn’t seem to have an end to it. On top of the overwhelming conversation, Amelia noticed something odd. A lot of the villagers weren’t human. Hell the stranger carrying her had wings for hell's sake. Many horns of different shapes and sizes poked out from the crowd. Others had tails. Amelia was certain she spotted someone with goat legs. Coming from a place where the only difference someone face was their skin color and culture to  jumping into this world made her want to cry. Blinking away the tears she buried her face into Angel’s shoulder, thinking this was too much. 

“Now now, that is enough from all of you! Give the poor kids some room!” An elderly voice called out from among the chattering crowd. Almost immediately the crowd hushed into a low whisper as the crowd parted just enough for the village elder to walk through.  A short 4’11” elderly woman with a plump round body walked right up to Angel and Amelia, balancing her weight against a long curved cane that was taller than her. Two grey braids hung over her shoulders, reaching down to her knees, with all sorts of bright and colorful flowers woven into her hair. Every wrinkle upon the crone’s face held a secret.  

“Angel I can  not thank you enough for your bravery. You deserve to rest.” A wrinkle hand gingerly caressed Angel’s cheek. “Especially this wee one.” Reaching over Angle’s shoulder she placed her hand upon Amelia’s head and gave her hair a gentle ruffle, a smile upon her face. Her green eyes full of kindness and wisdom.  “I can’t imagine what it took to get out of that castle, but you both can tell me all about it over tea some other time.” As the elder spoke a younger woman, roughly in her early thirties, waltz through the crowd and stopped next to Amelia. Standing 5’6” her baby blue eyes scanned over Amelia for a moment, studying her from head to toe despite Angel trembling like a leaf, before reaching out and pulling Amelia into arms; bridal style. Despite her plump and squishy appearance, she was able to hold onto Amelia with ease.  

“I’m Karin, nice to meet you Princess.” Karin spoke softly, trying to ease the tired and worried expression upon Amelia’s face. Amelia couldn’t stop staring at the lush pink hair that flowed over Karin’s shoulders and down her back. She’s always wanted to dye her hair this color. Amelia’s attention was dragged away when the elder placed her hand upon her head once again, a soft chuckle escaping from the crone. For the first time during this horrible experience, she felt warm and fuzzy from the attention she was getting. Quickly she wiped away tears with the palms of her hands.

“And you may call me Mama. There’s no need to cry anymore deary, you’re safe now. Karin and Deet will take care of you. We’ll talk tomorrow.”  Elder Mama spoke. As though summoned another woman, barely in her twenties, slipped by the cawking crowd and wrapped an arm around Angel. Her lime green hair was cut short into a pixie cut, the ends barely kissing her jaw, with two cream colored nub horns poking out the top of her head. Her arms were bound with colorful tribal tattoos that blended perfectly with her mocha skin. She was a complete opposite of Karin in both body type and energy. 

“You look like shit. How about you come down and we’ll patch you up?” The stranger spoke, giving Angel a playful tap upon his chest. 

“I’m fine Deet…Take care of the princess first and maybe I’ll pop in when you’re not busy.” Despite how exhausted he appeared, he pulled away from Deet. 

“You better come by if those wounds are still bothering you. For heaven’s sake you still have soot on your face.” Karin scolded, adjusting her hold upon Amelia, before motioning with her head at Deet to follow then began to walk away. Ignoring the whispers that picked up as they walked away.