Trapped

27 - NEW!!

I woke up when the carriage had stopped and I slid across the floor and hit my back against the door. This meant that the carriage was parked somewhere steep. Then the doors were opened and I screamed when I fell out of the carriage and started rolling down a rocky hill that the carriage was parked on. I winced every now and again when the sharp rocks dug into my exposed flesh.

The world was spinning as I kept rolling. I grabbed at everything I could to try and stop but nothing seemed to work. Then my front side smacked into a large solid rock and I finally came to a stop, but I was in too much pain to care. The impact left me winded. I wheezed and coughed and pulled my face into a pained frown. Being winded felt like dying, I couldn't breathe and every time I tried to I would be in pain. Everything was out of focus and I couldn't concentrate on anything but the pain. Blurry shades of grey, black and white moved around in my field of vision but I tried to focus on breathing normally again.

When my breath was calm and my vision cleared I noticed that I was being dragged up the hill by my arms and I was no longer on the boulder.

"Your attempt at escape has only gotten you more time with the lovely Withertooth," he said and laughed. I wanted to explain that I wasn't trying to escape but I couldn't speak. I wondered who this 'Withertooth' was, and then I replayed all the possibilities in my head. It had to be some kind of animal or maybe it's an old warlock with rotten teeth.

Since I had nothing better to do while being dragged up the hill, I took in the scenery. There wasn't any grass for miles and the whole area was covered in sharp rocks and stones. It must have been at the coast of Florendale because I could hear the sound of waves crashing in the distance, but I couldn't see it. Once we were on top of the hill I could see the ocean and off the coast, there was a small island. There was a very tall wall built around the Island and obviously, it was there to keep Withertooth and his prisoners inside. There was a stone walkway that led to the island but it was cut off a few feet before the gate.

The gate was similar to a draw bridge and when we got to it the one guard took out a key to unlock a tiny box planted in the ground on my right-hand side. The box had a small lever in it, almost like a light switch and he flipped it. The moment the switch was flipped the draw bridge started lowering to the ground before us.

"Please tell me there's a box like that in there somewhere," I croaked and pointed at the entrance of the dungeon while carefully watching the guard to see him clipping the key onto his belt at his side.

"No, that would be too dangerous. Now stop asking questions and walk!" He said and took a musket out of his belt. Well, there goes my escape plan, I said subconsciously. The guard pointed the musket at me and threatened to shoot me if I didn't go in. That made me wonder about how dangerous it must be in the dungeon if they won't even come in with me. I was in no mood to be shot so I didn't argue and I walked in. I calmed my nerves by reminding myself of all the dangers that I have been through already and it boosted my self-confidence. I had created this mess and I was certain that I would get myself out of it. I straightened my posture and walked beyond the very, very tall walls around the little island. Once I was on the other side the draw bridge was pulled back up and I was trapped inside. I looked around and saw nothing but a gigantic burnt castle and many sharp, big boulders surrounding it.

I was about to laugh at the absurdity of my situation when I heard a loud ear-piercing roar echoing off of the walls. The roar was followed by many loud thumps that shook the earth below me and I ducked for cover behind a boulder in fear of the creature that could be making these noises.

The suspense didn't last long, because a few seconds after I hid myself a large deep purple dragon appeared from behind the castle. It had a scaly, spiky back and a pair of wings that were very small compared to the creature itself. It was flaring its nostrils, clearly smelling the scent of a newcomer but when I looked into its eyes I knew that this creature was as blind as a bat because its eye socket was empty. I tried to hold back the warm bile that pushed up my throat at the sight of those empty black eyes. The dragon also had very sharp canines that stuck out from its mouth, but they were skewed and browned and I came to the conclusion that this was none other than withertooth.