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The chain mail-clad guard behind me shoved me through the streets by the tip of his sword as my confusion grew.
Swords, chain mail, castles. I hit my head harder than I thought. I pinched my arm a few times as we walked, progressively squeezing harder and harder, hoping it would jolt my body awake. But it was no use.
For now, it would seem I was awake. Just in a strange, crazy town somehow.
We walked through the streets of the village, the looming castle peeking through the hustle and bustle even if it was fairly far in the distance. It didn’t tower over the village we were in, but it was close enough to walk to. The people here milled about around me as if seeing a woman held at knife point was no big deal. A few who were closest to us scampered with their heads down, eyes trained on their task at hand; they weren’t going to interfere.
Cops must not be liked very much here. If they all treated people the way this one had treated me, I could see why.
The guard shoved me with his non-weapon-wielding hand toward a stone archway perched in front of a stone building. I glanced around to find that many of the buildings were straw or other dirt-like materials. Only a few beyond the castle had any substance to them. Of course the one I was being led to was more fortified. Escaping in a run seemed unlikely.
A wooden door barricaded the entrance and the guard at my side pounded his fist firmly against it. He still hadn’t read me my rights, a fact that I would make sure my lawyer heard to hopefully get my sentence down. Though, I hadn’t actually done anything wrong in the first place that would deserve punishment, so I wasn’t sure what the sentence could be.
The door swung open so quickly that I jumped. The guard blocked me from moving too far and wordlessly shoved me inside. Before I could grunt out a retort, he disappeared and the door shut behind me. The room was dark with only small glowing lights around the upper parts of the walls. I squinted. No, not lights. Lanterns. Lit with fire along the stone wall.
“Hello?” I called.
I moved forward slowly, unsure of what to expect. The room I was in narrowed into a hallway.
“Only one way to go,” I mumbled to myself as I moved forward.
I ran my hands along the cold stone on my right and finally saw additional light up ahead. As I approached, I noticed another looming archway leading to a large room filled with people. There was a desk blocking my entrance to the room and an older woman sitting at it. She didn’t look up at me as I approached, standing directly before her.
A large book and some scattered papers seemingly strewn haphazardly lay in front of her. That was when I noticed she held a quill. A freaking quill.
She seemed in some sort of position of authority. Obviously this was booking, or something like it, but she wasn’t dressed in a uniform of any kind.
She pushed her tiny glasses down her face and curled her lip in a sneer at me.
Now what have I done?
“You want to give me your name, or are you going to waste my time standing here gawking all day?” she asked.
I put my hands on my hips, prepared to give her a piece of my mind because I was at my wits’ end. What’s the worst that could happen now anyway?
Before I could open my mouth, she spoke again, this time snarling. “Name and race.”
“Race? What is this a census?” I asked.
She pushed away from her table and rose. The woman was a good foot and a half taller than me, and that was saying something since I was almost six feet myself. I regretted my tone immediately as she stood to her full height and pressed her shoulders back.
“Watch your little mouth and answer my questions.” She articulated her words with a force that was beyond a doubt a threat, even if she didn’t say it specifically.
I didn’t want to cower. But her sheer height alone was terrifying. How on earth could anyone be that tall?
“Coraline Fray,” I answered. I couldn’t help being a smart-ass in my own way though. “And I’m human.” There, figure out my race on your own, I chuckled.
The woman wrote my answers, completely unfazed by the fact that I hadn’t actually told her my race. I frowned as she scribbled into her book without giving me another verbal lashing.
“Gerard!” she shouted.
She picked up some of the papers and stamped an odd-shaped waxy figure onto the documents a few times, watching my confused expression the entire time.
My eyes widened at her venomous glare.
Another man decked in chain mail appeared. He stood with his arms crossed behind the crotchety, gargantuan woman in front of me. She leaned to the side and opened the metal gate next to her that had extended out past her desk, unblocking the way inside.
