Enchantingly Different

Chapter 17

Nobody moves for what seems like an eternity. I can hear my heart beating in my chest, sounding like the hooves of a hundred horses at full speed. The sound echoes up through my ears and makes it hard for me to hear anything else. I know what I must do. I need to be brave for Jules, and for the men, but my cowardly side doesn’t seem to fail to hinder my progress.

On cue, Shae’s hand squeezes my leg reassuringly and I turn to see her small smile growing on her face. She spreads warmth throughout my chest, which travels down to my extremities and gives me a sense of courage, even if it’s only fleeting. I give her a smile in return. I know it doesn’t reach my eyes as it should. This woman is amazing and I know it’s only a matter of time before she slips through my fingers. Nothing good sticks around in my world, especially when I can’t keep my anger in check.

I move Taric forward at a slow pace and feel Shae’s hand leave my leg, but hear her move a few paces behind me. The sound of our horse’s hooves on the drawbridge are loud and vibrate me to the core, but I tighten my grip on the reigns and push onward into the darkness.

The blackness engulfs us and it takes a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the lack of light. As we continue onward, I can see a soft glow ahead and the ground slopes down slightly. We must be heading down into the bowels of the castle. How strange, I think to myself, as I squint my eyes to try and make out what’s ahead in the golden light.

It looks to be the light of a fire, partially blocked by some object, which is why it’s so dim.

“It’s a chair,” Shae mutters to my left. Her voices bounces off the walls around us and the ground shakes. Taric’s ears swivel Shae’s mare shift in place anxiously.

The walls move in and out as if the tunnel itself were breathing; some kind of monster eating us alive. My fingers grip the reins so tight that my hands hurt and my knuckles are white. Bracing for my fate, I suck in a deep breath and close my eyes, preparing for the worst. The ground stops shaking and all goes quiet as quickly as it started. I open my eyes gingerly and then my jaw drops.   

 “Shae-“

“I know. We’ve just been teleported somewhere else,” she hisses.

The men are gone, as are our horses. We’re standing inside an adequately lit room, the chair we saw before in front of us. It feels cold, despite the roaring fire in the oversized hearth. As I look around the room, I find that I can see no exit or entrance. We’re trapped.

Shae points to the chair and I see a hand gripping the arm of the chair. It’s bony and white with long claws that look like they could tear through me in a heartbeat. The long, thin fingers tap rhythmically on the leather material and a deep voice penetrates the silence.

“What business does a white witch and the prince of Avonzia have here?”

I stand still as a statue, unsure what to respond with. He knows who we are. I wasn’t expecting that.

“It matters not if you stay silent. Your thoughts tell me everything I need to know,” he continues on.

The man gets up slowly from his seat and turns to look at us. He wears a long cloak, which falls away a little revealing a pale, thin body, but he by no means looks frail or fragile. His legs look powerful and are long, making him at least seven feet tall. His face is narrow, his cheek bones protruding, and his eyes are black as the night, looking at us from below a hood. They sparkle in the light of the fire and I can feel them peering into my soul.

“Who are you?” My voice has a slight shake to it, betraying the fear starting to take me over.

“I think you meant to ask what am I, but it matters not. Let’s just get straight to the point of why you are here shall we?”