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The champagne had been a bad idea.
He watched over me with disgust, his mask gone from his face- revealing his features, the sharpness of his jaw and high cheekbones. I straightened my posture, taking a moment to survey the area around us. It wasn't until a few seconds had passed that I recognized our location. Dread washed over me, but I couldn't help but ask the question as fear coursed through my body, “Where are we?”
“The Ebony Woods.” He said it with such ease, as if he wasn’t bothered and was unafraid of what lived within these trees.
“W-what? Why are we here?” I could not stop the panic that coated my words. Not as my heart continued to race in my chest, not as my body began to tremble and shake.
“You have to pass through the Ebony Woods, Princess. The game has started. You have four days to find your way to the castle. Make it there- alive. And I will give back what I've stolen.” He was not cruel, but he was not kind as he spoke. A hint of indifference coated his words.
“And if I don’t?”
“Then you die and I keep what I took.”
I blinked once, twice. Making sure that I had heard him correctly. I pulled my own mask from my face and tossed it to the ground. “Die?”
“Stay on your guard. Make it to the castle in four days, Serra. That is all the time you have, all the time I can give you.” He turned away from me, about to disappear.
“Wait. What do you mean I die? How am I supposed to know the way?” I asked, watching him turn back to face me again. His eyes narrowed as he regarded me, his lip peaked as a smile formed. For some reason, he found this humorous.
I sure didn’t.
“As I said, if you can make it to the castle beyond the Ebony Wood, cross the Realm to get there I promise to return what I took from you. You have my word. I am nothing but bound to it. I assure you.” He said turning away from me again.
The Goblin King’s words swirled around me as he disappeared, darkness and shadow engulfed him first before a light flared.
“I’ll be seeing you again, Serra.”
A raven took off above the trees, its black feathers gleamed in the moonlight. Abandoning where he’d once stood- leaving me alone in the Ebony Woods. Surrounded by the black barked trees and the sounds of the wind as it whistled through the brush and leaves.
Calling.“Serra…”
His game has started. I had four days. . .
And I had to stay alive
ChapterEleven
SERRA
The wind whistled through the trees causing them to creak and groan. I was left in the Ebony Woods, with no direction from the Goblin King on which way to go. Fear crept over me as I imagined getting lost and never finding my way out, leaving the Goblin King to claim victory and keep whatever he had stolen. It was well past midnight and the darkness of the forest only added to my unease.
The Ebony Woods were a sight to behold though even in the dark. With the dark bark glistening in the moonlight and the white leaves glowing in its beams. Although brighter than I had anticipated, the forest was still dark enough to limit my visibility to just a hundred yards in any direction. And I couldn't help but wonder what creatures were watching me from the shadows.
The mist and fog spread across the ground, and the sounds of nocturnal animals filled the air, seemingly indifferent to my presence. I knew that my home and Rothnia were to the southeast beyond the Glenmer Mountains which bordered the Ebony Woods.
The barrier between the Lands and the Realms.
The Castle, the only one on our tiny continent- the only one that I had seen was located in Inirea. It was not a place I wanted to go. Not really and it was not because of the warning I had seen as a young girl.
I remembered the old map, once hanging in another tavern that sat at the edge of the shipping docks. Nona and I had stopped in once to deliver a basket of vegetables to the cook- a bargain she had made for some extra coin. The map was faded and worn, but it showed Rothnia and the Adrid Seas, Elliner to the south, and all the way up to the Duval Sea to the northeast.
The map showed all the cities and villages- from the human settlements, to the abandoned isles in the far north. Inirea was nestled on the edge of our landmass, to the northeast of Rothnia. On the edge of the Banheim Strait- the body of water that separated the two northern continents.
It had been crossed out by someone with a scribbling across it that read;Do Not Tread Here.The problem was I had no idea where the Goblin King brought me. How far north, south, or even east or west. For someone who had been raised with the tales of the Lost Fae and the Goblin King, this was truly terrifying. What had I gotten myself into?
Inirea was certainly not where I wanted to go.
But if I lingered too long, who knew what was going to jump out and eat me alive. A low whistle and a soft breeze blew past me, the same call I always heard ringing.“Come home.”
