Thirteen
I didn’t sleep that night. The ache forming around my wrists began to spread to my knees as they pressed into the iron floor of my cage. My fingers began turning blue from the lack of circulation. I tried to keep them moving, curling them into fists then spreading them wide, but that only caused more pain. My back was stiff from the constant position and felt as if little pins were being pushed in and out of my skin. I tried adjusting my positin, but that only made me scream out in agony as I pulled against the restraints.
And to top it all off, my nose itched. “Mother f-”
“Would you shut up?!” Corrigan exclaimed from beside me. “You’re not the only one in here, you know. There are plenty other’s in just as much pain.”
Through clenched teeth, I muttered, “I’m sorry.”
As the sun began to appear through the leaf-less trees, more and more people…fairies…were walking around the clearing in the woods, preparing for the day’s fun filled activities.
The two guards turned to me and began pulling my cage out of the hut. The blazing fall sun hit my eyes and I squinted against the light.
“Good morning, Fayette,” a chipper voice said.
It was Summer.
When I didn’t respond, she began talking. “You know, I really am doing you a favor. Why would you want to leave the life you’ve created in the human world to be here with us? You don’t even know us. You don’t belong here.”
“I’m starting to agree with you there. More and more each day.”
She laughed. “You’re a strong one, I’ll admit. I was expecting you to break during the night.”
“I’m not really the type to beg on my knees.” I looked down at my limp body. “Although, you’re a step ahead of me on that one.”
She paced in front of me. “It’s a pity though,” she sighed. “You could have been a wonderful asset to the rebellion. We like to recruit strong willed fairies. However, Warren was lacking on the job. You know nothing of our ways. We just didn’t have the time to teach you ourselves. So, we cannot use you to our advantage in that way.”
Summer was about to continue, but stopped herself as Foster walked up next to her. She smiled at him and he returned the gesture.
“Foster, love. I think we need to show our lovely prisoner here,” she pointed to me, “just how committed the rebellion is to me.”
He gave her a confused look. “Love, I want you to take her out of the cage.”
“But-”
“Now!”
He turned towards my cage and stepped closer. His face was angry and his violet eyes were ablaze. With a shaky hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a brass skeleton key. He placed it into the iron lock and turned it.
“Let’s go, Foster. We don’t have all day.”
He jumped at her voice. Quickly, he took off the lock and threw it to the ground and looked at his hands as if the lock had been on fire. Then, he did the same with the latch. The door swung open and he leaped out of the way just in time before it made contact with his body. Summer began to laugh.
“See how he obeys? We didn’t have the time to break you to such an extent.”
Foster leaned into the cage and took his key and placed it in the cuff on my left wrist. I hissed in pain as he moved it around against my broken skin. When it was free from my arm, my hand hit the floor and I screamed in pain. He did the same to my right wrist and the same strain rocked my body and I fell to the floor.
I tried to stretch out, but I was so cramped that I just curled into a ball.
“Pathetic human,” Summer spat. “Get up, we are leaving now.”
Just as she finished speaking, a giant creature came trotting into the clearing. At first glance, I thought it was a wolf, but I was greatly mistaken.
The face of the beast was distorted and the fangs cascaded from its mouth and dripped drool onto the dirt. It had a tall dark mane that was different from its lighter coat of fur. The muscles were clear and very toned.
Foster pulled me to my feet, much more gently then I expected. Then, I noticed that he didn’t want to hurt his now burnt hands that were wrapped in brown fabric.
As I stood, I realized that the beast was two times larger than me and it snarled when it saw me staring.
“Watch out,” Summer warned, “Wargs are very temperamental. Don’t tick him off.”
Foster motioned to the beast and it fell to the ground with a huff of disgusting breath. He then pushed me towards the Warg.
“What?” I said. “No freaking way!”
He scoffed and then easily lifted me up and put me on the creature. I straddled it as if I were riding a horse. He did the same and sat behind me. He took reins into his hands and the thing stood up. I screamed and grabbed onto the creatures fur.
Big mistake.
He turned his gargantuan head towards me and growled so loud. My hair whipped back and my face was hit with its saliva like a leather whip. I reached up to wipe it off. The yellowish liquid was tainted with a strip of my blood. I wiped it again on the back of my sweater.
More Wargs entered the clearing and fairies mounted them as if they really were their horses. Summer’s Warg was white and she led the group into the woods.
The pack walked for what seemed like hours before Foster said anything to me. His voice was hushed as if he didn’t want any of the others to catch him talking to the ‘prisoner’. “You were in there for a few days. How are you feeling?”
I hadn’t taken the time to really look myself over. I felt the stiffness, it was impossible to try and ignore it, but what was masked by that pain was the hunger, the lack of energy, and the fact that I hadn’t taken a shower in days. I raised my hand to my hair, definitely greasy.
“I feel disgusting,” I muttered.
He sighed. “I wanted to apologize to you.”
“Don’t bother,” I snapped. “Just leave me alone.”
His grip around my waist tightened. “If you’re wise, you’d be nice to me.”
I scoffed. “Why? So you can tell me that you’d talk her out of killing me or whatever it is she’s got planned for me? You have no sway over her. You’re just her little puppet. It’s really pathetic how you just do everything you’re told like a sad puppy. Be a man, won’t you?”
He moved one hand out from in front of me and before I could react in any way, he brought his hand back and everything went black.
I awoke, groggy and hunched over on the back of the Warg. Foster was still holding me and we were still moving. I had no idea how much time had past. I assumed not much since it was still bright and the bitter air was beginning to numb my limbs.
I stayed bent over for a while, just staring off into the woods. A few times, I thought I saw movement, but when I’d blink, whatever I saw was gone.
I could tell we were getting closer because the pack began moving faster with anticipation. Something in the woods caught my eye. It was a person. It was a girl, I could tell that clearly. There were green vines covering her body and her long green hair was tied in two pig tails and still reached past her waist. In her hands looked like green swords but I couldn’t be sure.
As we past her, I saw more fairies. I knew they were fairies because each had vibrant wings folded behind them. Some had blue hair, others green. There were two girls with white hair, they seemed vicious. Where they part of the rebellion? I couldn’t be sure.
Once we stopped walking, I sat up and immediately recognized where we were. It was the lake, the beautiful paradise Warren had showed me that day we went for our walk. It seemed like so long ago and made tears form in my eyes. Why wasn’t he saving me?
Summer dismounted her Warg and began walking into the water.
“What is she doing?” I asked Foster.
“We’re going to Breena.” His voice was harsh and made me almost regret what I had said to him before. Almost.
She parted her arms and raised them. The waterfall split in half with roaring wind, making an arch where we could enter. I stared in amazement. The Wargs continued their march through the water.
Suddenly, the wind stopped and it was dark. I looked at the sky, but we were surrounded by stars and darkness. I looked to my left and realized that the earth just stopped. As in, we were floating on an island in mid air. But that didn’t seem to be a problem for the water; it just flowed down the stream and right off the island into space.
I looked up at the castle at the top of the hill. It was white and beautiful despite it looking like a Roman ruin. It had tall white pillars at the entrance that we blocked. There were four thrones on the platform, where the four kings and queens would sit and watch the falling stars together.
“Omigod,” I said breathlessly.
