A Glint of Shadoewynne: Book 1 of the Shadoewynne Series Page 7

  “You are a threat to me and mine. You will remain imprisoned here for the rest of your life, which will be short. The body cannot long survive without the spirit.”

  “You didn’t answer me! Who are you?” I was getting angry now. There was a long pause. I started to think they were not going to answer me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement behind a giant throne that shone even more than the rest of the room. I ran forward, and tripped over a chair that had blended in. I skidded on my knees for a moment. “You know what, I have had enough. I am done with this place and not knowing what is going on! I am leaving now.” The deep voice laughed at me, but I was pissed. I closed my eyes and envisioned the throne room around me cracking apart, and me flying toward my body. There was an odd gasp from the deep voice, then a loud crack and a gut-wrenching feeling like I had left my stomach behind, then the familiar scents of David’s house filled my nose. I opened my eyes, and I was finally where I was supposed to be.

  Sibhre glared at me. “Why did you not follow me back?”

  I shrugged. “I was briefly abducted.”

  As I spoke, she got even angrier. Her blue-black hair was standing on end by the time I was done, and her light eyes flashed blue fire. “I told you I did not want you there without me! You should have returned when I did!” She was screaming at me, her voice seeming to pierce my eardrums.

  Wincing, I said, “Sibhre, I forgot to ask you how to return. I don’t know what I did to come back the first time. So, I closed my eyes and pictured returning to my body. It felt like I had, but when I opened my eyes I was in a gold throne room. A deep voice that seemed to come from everywhere told me they had brought me there and I would be imprisoned for the rest of my life because I was a threat. I got mad, and focused on the throne room cracking apart, and then I returned to my body the way I should have the first time.”

  The anger had slowly leeched from her as I spoke, and her hair had settled back to its usual perfection. She was staring at me with wide eyes by the time I was done. “You should not have been able to escape. Your training has not reached the point that you could have known what to do, or had the skill to execute it.” She pursed her lips. “Explain to me what happened when you thought about the throne room cracking.”

  “I closed my eyes. Then I visualized the throne room around me cracking apart, and me flying toward my body. There was a loud crack, I felt like I was in free-fall, and then I was here.” I watched her as I talked. By the time I finished explaining she looked confused.

  Frowning, she said, “Was there anything else? Anything at all that you did not tell me, even as small as a feeling?”

  “No, why? I opened my eyes when I could tell I was here.” I stopped talking when she looked baffled.

  “How could you tell you were here?” She was staring at me oddly.

  “The room feels different, plus the house smells a certain way.” She still looked confused. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? I did what you asked, but now you are acting like something is wrong.”

  “You should not have been able to break free merely by thinking it. This is most disturbing.”

  “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.” I started braiding sections of my hair again. “What do we do now?”

  “I was able to collect enough data on the door that I think I can start to formulate a plan to break through. I am going to take my notes home with me and start working on that. I will also think on your encounter. Mayhap something will occur to me.” She gathered her things and walked toward the front door. “I suggest you get some rest. Although it may not seem like it at the time, using your powers can be exhausting, especially when you have not used them before.”

  I shook my head. I was too wired to think about sleep. The encounter, as she called it, still had adrenaline coursing through my body, and my mind was racing with all the information. I decided to go upstairs and work on my coursework. I also needed to run back to my apartment for some more items that I had forgotten to ask Travis to pick up, and I should probably take Travis or David with me. They would not be happy if I was running around town all by myself if they found out about what had happened.

  I walked her to the front door. “Thank you.”

  “It is my pleasure. I will let you know when I am ready to continue.” I shut the door behind her, locking it just in case, not that I thought that would stop magical creatures.

  I ran upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. Going into the room I was using, I dug through my backpack to find my phone and keys. I texted Travis and asked him to come to David’s. He replied that he would be there as soon as he was done with his math coursework. I chuckled to myself and retrieved that from my bag as well. Might as well work on mine as well while I waited. I sat down at the desk and began the arduous task that was calculus.

  A light rubbing as something brushed against my back woke me up. I sat up quickly, rubbing the drool from my face. Oh, I bet that was a pretty sight! I blushed as I turned to whoever woke me up. I assumed it was Travis, but as I turned, I caught the bright green color of a Lorgaire Scath out of the corner of my eye. I opened my mouth to scream, felt a sharp pain in my neck and the world went dark.

  Chapter 8

  Returning to consciousness was not fun. My head pounded with the worst migraine ever, and my mouth tasted foul, like rotten fruit. What the hell?? I tried to open my eyes, but the room was too bright. The lights felt like daggers that went directly to my brain. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. Easing them open went a little easier the second time around. I was able to squint and get an idea of what my surroundings looked like. Oh shit, I was definitely not on earth anymore. The sky outside the barred window was a light lavender, and the sunlight streaming in had a pinkish tinge. From what I could see, it was not the sunrise or sunset, it seemed to be because the sun was rose colored. The room was more normal by earth standards, with a metal table (that I was currently somehow attached to), and a couch across from it. The colors were odd, and the fabric on the couch was like nothing I had ever seen before and couldn’t even describe, but it was better than looking outside. Unfortunately, I have been in worse positions. I got through that, and I can get through this.

  “Ahhh. Our prisoner is awake.” The voice had an odd, snake-like hiss to it. My head swiveled around, looking for the source of the voice. Eventually, my eyes settled on an unnaturally dark corner of the room. Just like back home, when this nightmare began, the darkness just seemed off. The Lorgaire Scath stepped out of the inky blackness, and ran his tongue over his sharp teeth. “It took you long enough to wake up. This room is warded to keep you in. You will remain a prisoner until we are done with you.” He was speaking very slowly, like he either thought I was an idiot, or I couldn’t understand him.

  “I kind of figured that out, since I am currently tied to a table. Friends don’t usually do that to each other, at least not the first time they meet.” I mentally kicked myself. My mouth had gotten me in trouble back then, too. I really need to learn to think about things before I say them, especially to someone who just kidnapped me. I licked my lips nervously. “So, why am I here?”

  “A bounty was announced, to be paid to whomever returned you to Shadoewynne.”

  Um, okay. “Did the announcement say why?” Hopefully, he was not familiar with Earths mannerisms and he wouldn’t realize how much sass was in my words.

  He stared at me for a moment. “No, and if you continue giving me attitude, I will gag you.” I stared back, but his eyes were flat, unfriendly and utterly alien.

  I dropped my eyes and swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. On top of being kidnapped, I woke up with a massive headache, the light hurts my eyes, and my mouth tastes horrible. Forgive me a little sarcasm. I don’t suppose I can have some water? Or something for this headache? What did you give me?”

  Ignoring my questions, he said, “I have warned you. Watch your attitude. When He speaks with you, He will not want you to be surly.” He spun on his heel and left the
room, and I heard a click as he locked the door.

  That was weird. I could actually hear the capital letter when he said, “He”. Who talks like that? I mean, really. My thoughts were going in every direction but the way they should. I should be thinking about how to escape, not the weird way the guy was talking. Mentally shaking my head, I forced myself to focus.

  I looked around the room again. Nothing really to help me. My hands were held out to the side with invisible bonds and it felt like my ankles were bound as well, this time together. I wiggled my butt. It didn’t feel like my phone was in my back pocket, not that I had any hope of it actually working. With the sky outside, it was obvious I was not on earth, and therefore couldn’t count on earth technology. So, no phone, can’t use my hands. I briefly wondered if anyone even knew I was gone, but I cut that line of thought off quickly. All the time I was thinking, I had been moving my wrists around, trying to gain some slack, but the bonds just got tighter and bit into my wrists.

  I tried to look at the bindings on my legs, but I couldn’t see those either. Hmm. I tried to move my legs. Nope, they were bound to the table as well as to each other. I was trying to stay positive, but it was starting to look extremely hopeless. Even if I could get off the table, according to my kidnapper, I was still stuck in the room.

  After what seemed like an eternity, the door slowly opened. A small being who appeared to be made of golden liquid glided into the room. There was only the barest indication of limbs, and they didn’t seem to be moving, but somehow the creature was moving across the floor. It was leaving a slightly glowing trail behind it, but it evaporated quickly. It reminded me of a pillar of ginger ale. There was no discernible head, or anything else resembling human anatomy.

  It glided around the outside of the room, then approached me. Tentacles formed from its body, and suddenly wrapped around my head, covering my face and oozing into my mouth. It tasted awful. I couldn’t see or breathe. I tried to scream, but the tentacle merely absorbed every sound I made. I began to thrash as my lungs started to burn. Abruptly, my body was paralyzed.

  The appendage withdrew from over my mouth, but goo still clung to my face and the tentacle continued to cover my eyes. Slowly at first, I began remembering things, some from when I was really young. These were memories I didn’t even know I had. I remembered the first time I met my maternal grandmother. Memories of her and my grandfather flashed through my mind. When Grandpa taught me to fish, and when Grandma taught me to crochet. Vacations, Christmas’, Easters. The memories flashed faster and faster. Then, I remembered my paternal grandmother. Baking cookies, tutoring me in math, teaching me to read. Faster and faster the memories went through my mind. Then, the memories switched to my mom, my dad, David, Travis and Sibhre. The memories were flashing by so quickly now, they were just impressions. I realized the creature was sifting through my memories person by person and watching them with me.

  Then, all the bad memories began to play in my mind. It was dragging up everything I had buried deep. It slowly examined these memories, playing them in slow motion, torturing me with events that had happened years ago. Recollections of bullying, my father’s death and abuse that I refused to acknowledge played through my mind’s eye. Very quickly, I was reduced to a sobbing mess. After what seemed like hours, the creature withdrew and I was finally able to move again. Tears wet my face as well as whatever bodily fluid the creature secreted. It slinked out the door, closing it behind itself without touching it. I took a few deep breaths, wondering what the creature had been looking for, and if it had found it.

  I laid there for some time, still trying to work my wrists out of the bonds. They got tighter and tighter until I couldn’t feel my fingers. Eventually, I gave up. Soon after, the door opened again and a huge man ducked into the room. My mouth dropped open. I had never seen someone as tall as this guy. His bald head almost brushed the ceiling, which was at least eight feet high, and he was whip thin. His arms were unnaturally long, and his hands hung almost to his knees. However, his face , or I should say, lack of face, is what caught my attention. It only had the vaguest impression of features, with barely a dent where eyes should be, a slight bump in the general area of the nose, and not even a hint of a mouth.

  He came over to the table, and began to examine me, like a doctor would. He pushed gently on my stomach, and produced an odd-looking instrument that he held to my chest like he was listening to my heart. I tried to watch what he was doing, but unfortunately, I was having a hard time looking at his face. It was too unsettling. But when I glanced away, it looked like there was a transparent overlay of a leering face over his. A translucent forked tongue came out and licked its lips. I shuddered.

  With a movement of his finger, invisible bands wrapped around my forehead, holding my head in place. A thick band even forced itself into my mouth, holding it open and blocking the air, which made me have to breath through my nose. That was hard, since it was still clogged from crying earlier.

  He lifted my lips and examined my teeth. The bonds around my head loosened a little and the band in my mouth slithered out, leaving my mouth feeling like it had been stuffed with cotton. I drug in sweet air, filling my lungs which had begun to burn again. The bonds forced my head to turn first one way, then the other as he looked into my ears.

  I couldn’t stand the silence, so I tried to fill it. I cleared my throat, trying to work some moisture back into my mouth. “What are you doing? Why am I here?” My voice was a harsh croak.

  He paused for a minute, moving so that unsettling face was right in mine. I could feel his breath on my face, but where was it coming from?

  He went back to what he was doing. I was trying to watch him, but on top of his weird-ass face, his limbs were disappearing mid-movement and reappearing somewhere else. It was making me sick.

  The door slowly opened, and Travis entered, levitating a massive wooden case before him. My heart almost stopped. I couldn’t believe that Travis was behind this. Once he was next to my table, he lowered his finger, which lowered the case to the floor. He glanced at me, and I realized with a start that this thing in front of me wasn’t Travis. Instead of his beautiful blue eyes, there were dark, bottomless holes where his eyes should be.

  The tall man went to the case and ran his thin fingers across it lovingly. He unhooked the latches holding it shut, opened the case and proceeded to pull shelf after shelf out of it, all of them connecting to the main case with hinges. I couldn’t understand how all the shelves had fit in the original case. When he was done, there were at least 20 shelves filled with different shaped beakers and one shelf was filled with shiny instruments that looked like they were made of brass. He picked one up, and put it in front of my face. It looked like wickedly sharp scissors with tips like scalpels and clamps toward the back. There were stains on the wood handles that looked like blood. He put it back and picked up a small beaker with his left hand. The Travis-thing crossed its arms and watched, with a wicked grin on its face.

  The tall-being reached forward with his right hand and set his fingers on my left forearm. They appeared to disappear into my skin, quickly vanishing to the first knuckle. A burning sensation sped up my forearm, quickly engulfing the whole thing. Suddenly, I heard a snap, and a white-hot pain shot up my arm. I screamed. He removed his fingers, bringing with them a red spongy material and a white sliver of what looked like bone. He put them in the beaker, put the stopper in and handed it to the blue assistant.

  I was breathing hard, but I tried to hide it. The pain was making my vision fade in and out with my heart beat. “Stop! Why are you doing this?” Travis-thing smiled, and shimmered. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, two Travis’ were staring at me, with identical depraved grins.

  The tall-being didn’t even pause this time. He pulled a stained, dirty looking needle with a hose attached out of the case, as well as another beaker.

  Panic had begun to take over my senses. I was trying not to look at the Travis-thing, but I couldn’t help it. T
his time, though, it was no longer two Travis’, but the entire bitch-squad from junior high. All 5 of them. Looking exactly like they had then. I forced my eyes away from them, determined not to give it the satisfaction of seeing the jolt of fear seeing them had given me.

  After putting the hose into the beaker, which the tall-man had set on the floor, he jabbed the needle painfully into my neck. The bitch-squad began hurling the same insults at me that they had then. I guess they really wanted a reaction from me. I could manage not looking at them, but I couldn’t help but hear all the vile, nasty things they said, which hurt just as much now as they did then. I tried not to watch as the tall-thing picked up the scalpel-like scissors in his left hand while reaching out with his right to squeeze right in front of my ears. He dug his nails in, and forced my mouth open, and ran the scissors over my tongue, pulling off that nasty gummy stuff. After scraping that off into a beaker, he stuck the scissors back in my mouth and twisted them, taking a chunk from the inside of my cheek. Blood coated the scissors, and began to run down the handle over his hand. The chunk and quite a bit of blood went into another beaker. By now, the beaker of blood on the floor was half-full. Then, he reached over and pulled the needle from my neck, spraying blood everywhere. Putting the needle to where his mouth should be, the blood disappeared as if he had licked it off. I turned my head away, but could still see his face. The barely visible overlay’s tongue darted out again, licked the needle again, then ran over its face. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t watch it anymore. He leaned in close and I felt a cold tongue run over my neck where the needle had been. The taunting from the bitch-squad just got worse, calling me every juvenile name they could think of. It shouldn’t hurt anymore, but for some reason, it made me feel like I was eleven again, and just moving back. I was a army-brat tom-boy and these were very image conscious young girls, who had never wanted for anything. Every insult hit the target, and I tried to shrink into myself.