Elion Silthral of SnowReign

5. The General

Her body let out a small shiver as she finally stepped into the sunlight again, feeling that burning summer heat caress her skin as her hand rose to momentarily shield her eyes from the blinding light.

But before she could even take a glance at her new surroundings a very dark fabric suddenly draped over her face, taking her by surprise.

She let out a frightened squeal, her first instinct however guiding her to safely tuck the pendant somewhere before anything else. And since she didn't have any pockets attached to her dress, she quickly shoved it in the only safe place she could think of. The inside of her cleavage.

No one would dare search in there.

She had to return it to its rightful owner after all and no one else.

So the moment she felt callous and massive hands curl around her upper arms she instinctively flinched, futilely trying to free herself as she quickly started to struggle against them, letting out a string of profanities between occasionally demanding whomever was holding her against her will to let go of her.

"Sir, we've got her!" A grave male voice sounded from somewhere close to her, right before another answered,
"Good. Take her to the dungeons. I will go to the palace to inform the General."

What? No!

What is it with these people and those stupid dungeons?

She mentally whined, right before she felt herself being dragged forward, by the feeling of those silky petals and long leaves trailing over her bare legs and those unmistakable fresh flowery scents quickly realizing that indeed she was in that garden again.

However, before she even got the chance to wonder herself how was that even possible she suddenly felt herself being hoisted up and rather roughly thrown over a warm and lumpy surface, thick yet soft hair touching the back of her thighs and bottom as the pleated skirt of her dress had slightly ridden up, soon realizing she was actually seated on a horse as she could hear it let out one of those specific garbled sounds they make through their muzzle.

And not a second later she felt the warmth and steely grip of a strong arm around her, completely restraining her movements as the horse started to walk.

She tried for a few times to free herself and jump from the steadily trotting horse, whining and begging for the unknown male to let go of her, apparently to no avail since he didn't even budge, let alone react.
So after a few more tries she eventually stopped struggling, silently accepting her current situation as the horse walked and walked for what felt like hours, soon starting to feel her back and bottom ache after constantly sitting in that same position.

So the moment she felt the sudden halt in the horse's movements she let out a small breath of relief, sensing the male right next to her climbing down right before grabbing her by the waist and putting her down as well.

She let out a pained moan as she felt her muscles finally stretch after that very uncomfortable ride, barely having the time to do so as those calloused hands once again grabbed her.

"Hey!" She shouted in protest as she felt herself being shoved forward, almost stumbling over her own feet as she was forced to walk on an uneven and rocky surface for a few minutes, before once again feeling that familiar damp coldness entering her lungs.

Her body gave out a visible tremor at the sudden icy feeling against her skin, unconsciously trying to cross her arms over her chest in order to preserve some heat but obviously failing since that annoying male was still tightly holding her by the wrists and pushing her around.

"Will you stop doing that? You are hurting me!" She whined out loud to the unseen male, digging the heels of her ballet pumps in the hard ground in an attempt of protest, only to suddenly feel herself being hoisted up and thrown over what felt like his shoulder.

"Ow! No! Stop! Put me down!" She cried, feeling his burly shoulder rather roughly digging into her stomach as he silently started walking, completely ignoring her.

"Please! Put me down! Please! Why are you doing this?"

Once again, her desperate pleas met complete silence as he simply ignored her and kept on walking.

Already feeling way too tired to even try and struggle some more she eventually let herself hang limp over his hard shoulder, slowly starting to feel dizzier and dizzier due to that unnatural position, failing to even acknowledge when he did take a halt.

And before she even knew it she found herself landing on her butt with a small "oof"over a hard and cold surface, seconds before finally getting to see the face of her captor as the dark material flew off her head.

A shaky breath escaped her slightly trembling lips as her gaze met the frightening darkness surrounding them, the only source of light consisting in a single torch stuck against the damp and weathered stone wall just a couple of steps away.

"W-what's going on? What is this place?" She fearfully asked the tall and scary soldier before her, only to receive the same response. Silence.

"Hey! Why am I here?" She tried yet again, this time trying to get up as well but before she even got to stand on her own two feet he had already turned his back and walked away, also closing an old and very heavy-looking wooden door behind him.

No...

No no no!

"No don't leave me here! Come back! Please come back!" She desperately started screaming at the closed door, feeling moisture starting to gather in her eyes as she relentlessly banged and banged, her chest starting to heave as deep panic rose within her.

They did it. They really did it. They've locked her into a freaking dungeon. A scary-looking, old and musty dungeon.

But why?

What did I do?

What did I ever do to deserve such thing?

She mentally asked herself, slowly breaking into a fit of desperate and loud crying as she clung against the old and dirty door like holding on for dear life.

And why the hell do they even have such place?

She wondered as she felt the weathered and musty wood beneath her fingers, her loud sobs and whimpers resonating against the cold and damp stone walls.

"Please...Don't leave me here...Please..." She begged out loud as hot tears trailed down her cold cheeks.

"Please...Please come back..."

She lastly fell on her knees, crying like a scared little child and afraid of the darkness, soon starting to feel colder and colder so she sat herself with her back against the door, tightly hugging her knees to her chest as inevitably, her eyelids started to droop and before she even realized it she was already drifting to dream-land.

But the sudden sounds of heavy footsteps fastly approaching woke her back up with a jolt, hazily gazing at her surroundings between still half-closed eyelids as she tried to remember where she was and how when she suddenly heard a lock twisting.

Her lips let out a small, surprised gasp, fastly moving to stand up and walk away from the door, warily eyeing it as she turned around.

Only the moment it finally opened she had to squint her eyes to get a better view since that torch on the hallway was now burning so brightly, noticing the outline of a very tall and intimidating male stepping inside, by that silvery blonde hair falling over his forehead and the raw power he exuded quickly realizing who it was. Him. The owner of the pendant.

"So you have came back, little intruder."

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