“Quick, to the window,” I point and Marissa nods and runs over. She tries to push it up but it seems stuck so I get my hands on it to help her push.
“Hey, maid! What’s taking so long?” I can hear the varg guard call from what sounds like the top of the stairs as we finally get the window pushed up. My heart starts pounding as I look out the window and down to the cobblestone alleyway, three stories down.
That would for sure break some bones.I look around for other solutions. To the left, the adjacent room has a balcony and the room below it also has a balcony. There is a small ledge just outside the window that I hope we can grab ahold of to help us inch our way over.
“You first Mar,” I say, giving her an encouraging nod. She has always been brave and doesn’t think twice before shimmying through the window and grabbing onto the ledge. When she is nearly halfway to the balcony I can see Oleander creeping her way up the alleyway from behind the Inn, I give her a big wave. She looks up and smiles waving back. I start to pull myself through the window when the door behind me whips open. Two vargs growl and run in after me.
I am only half way out of the window before one of them grabs my feet. I only have a moment to look into Marissa’s panicked eyes before I am yanked back into the room.
I tumble to the ground and mentally curse Oleander for taking my sword but I still have the speed I use in fencing on myside. I quickly roll out of the way of the slashing hand of one of the vargs and kick out my legs to trip up the other. He falls with a loud crash, hitting his head on the wooden frame of the bed and doesn’t get up.
Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead!
I am still down on the ground when the first varg lunges at me, both hands grasping forward. He is met with my foot in his stomach, sending him sprawling backwards. I jump up onto my feet and dive towards the window, getting my head outside in time to see Marissa jump down from the second balcony into the alley way. She pauses and looks up at me with worry written on her face and I can see Oleander run up behind her and whack her on the back of the head with the pommel of my sword. She catches Marissa and tosses her over her shoulder, giving me one backward glance while mouthing, “I’m sorry,” before she slinks away, into the dark alley.
My moment of stunned shock from the betrayal is enough for the still conscious varg to grab me from behind and smash my head into the wall, making me see spots as I slump to my knees before him.
“I told you I would destroy you!” he roars as he lifts a sharp clawed hand into the air, gearing towards slicing me in two.
“Wait… I’m her sister!” I yell as I lift my arms to shield my face, not knowing whether that information would be valuable enough to save my life.Please be valuable enough!
“Her sister eh? Hmmm… interesting. All right then, you’re coming with me!” the varg grumbles as he lowers his hand and pulls out a thick handled knife from the belt around his waist and knocks me on the head, like Oleander had just done to my sister. My vision goes dark.
Chapter Nine
Icome back into consciousness, gasping. My eyes flutter open but my vision is blurry and shaded. I can taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth and it takes me a few moments to realize that there is a dark sack over my head. I wiggle and feel that my arms and legs are bound tightly and judging by the sharp thing jabbing me in the gut and the jostling up and down I am guessing that I am slung over the shoulder of a varg.
“She’s awake. We will be there soon enough, sweet thing, quit wriggling.” The varg laughs at my grunt and gives me an extra hard jostle for good measure. I can hear the snicker of a few more vargs around us.
How long have I been out? Oleander betrayed me… Did they make it out of the village? Why did she do it? Where am I being taken? Why am I not dead? They only had orders to not harm Marissa… thinking she was me. Do they know I’m the one they were supposed to kidnap... Oleander betrayed me!Thoughts are endlessly racing through my head as I helplessly hang over the varg’s shoulder, unable to move or fight back. The anger and shame I feel for trusting Oleander makes me want to lash out but I know fighting back would be fruitless. Imust bide my time until they inevitably let me down at our next destination. That is, if they aren’t taking me directly to The Wolf.
Don’t panic, don’t panic…
After a while, I wish I was still unconscious because all the blood is now pooled in my head and my feet are tingling from being suspended for so long. The sharp pain in my stomach from the varg’s boney shoulder has long since eased into a dull throb but I know I will have a particularly nasty bruise there tomorrow.
I hear a few of the vargs call out what seems to be a signal before I am flopped down onto the ground. My teeth clang in my head at the impact and I groan as I roll into a seat. I try to get my bearings by using my remaining senses. It smells damp, a bit like the rotting leaves of a forest floor and I hear water running nearby.
The hood is ripped off my face and it takes me a moment to register my surroundings. We are indeed in a forest that looks similar to the Wildwood Forest behind my house back in Easthelm and, for a moment, I am confused as to whether all my encounters in the fae realm have been a dream and I am back in the human realm. Then I see all the vargs milling about, and the happy illusion is crushed.
The sky is that purplish grey that could mean it is either dawn or dusk and I have no idea what day it is or how long I was unconscious. The sound of the water consumes my attention as I feel how dry and acrid tasting my mouth is, it also feels like there is crusted blood on my face and the spot where the varg hit me is horribly itchy.
“Please… water,” I croak, feeling my throat burn at the lack of use.I must have been out for a while.
A shaggy, grey coated varg comes up to me with his canteen and grabs my chin to open my mouth, pouring some water in. He pours it too fast and I choke and sputter, rolling over to theside to spit it out. He just laughs and places the open canteen down beside me, leaving me to figure out how to drink it with my hands tied behind my back. I manage to lean down and wrap my mouth around the opening to lift the bottle up with my teeth and take a few deep gulps before I let it drop back down to the ground.
“Look fellas, she’s good with her mouth,” one of them snickers, and the others look at me and snicker. All their eyes are giving me a predatory once over that thoroughly disgusts me. I spit at their feet in defiance.
“You’ll regret that!” I hear one of the vargs say from behind me as I feel its claw slice deeply into my shoulder. The feel of my skin ripping apart elicits a blood-curdling scream from my lips.
“Now you’ve done it Garr! We weren’t supposed to hurt her!” one of the vargs exclaims, and I sense a note of actual fear in his trembling voice.
“We were ordered to not hurt hersisterfellas, we can do what we want with this one,” the one named Garr snarls. The terror I feel at the thought of what they might do is bigger than anything I have ever felt before.
Fuck, I can’t defend myself. Why am I here! Someone help me!
“I would advise against that,dogs,” the drawl of a posh male voice cautions the vargs but cannot see who is speaking.
“Oh! Uh… we were just joking around, Adviser Nerius. It won’t happen again. Please don’t report us to the Master!” Garr pleads to the man that I cannot see.
