Spin Me Sweet Tales

Chapter Five

I'm too dazed to fight the women as they lead me out of the tower.

"What is your name?" The gold woman inquires as she removes a set of keys from her gown.

I remain silent, and the gold woman does not appear surprised that her question is left unanswered. She fiddles with the keys until she finds the correct one and then opens the door that formally introduces me to Oraxto. The woman glides out of the doorway and into the afternoon air, but I do not. One of the emerald women behind me pushes me a few feet, and I stumble into the doorway, but I halt again. I stand on the threshold between the tower and the unknown, and while my tears have dried, I feel deflated.

The gold woman waits for me outside, her rings clattering as she reaches her hand forward and invites me to her world. "Your highness," she says the words as the threat they are, and her dark eyes gleam amber when I flinch. "Do you enjoy the death clinging to your skin? Or the urine soaking your legs? Let us guide you to your royal chambers so that you may clean off today's mishaps from your body."

"Let me go home," I whisper. "Please, let me go home."

"But you've only just arrived," the gold woman hums, her mischievous grin growing.

There's nowhere I can run where I will not be found. If I turn around, the emerald women stand guard. Even if I could escape the three woman women, then I'd have nowhere to run. An endless expanse of grassy plains waits outside the tower, but the woman standing a foot away from me has golden magic swirling around her wrists and arms. She waits for me to run, to give her a chase we both know I'd lose.

I take the woman's hand in defeat, and the gold rings on her fingers are cold against my pale flesh as she guides me towards my unavoidable fate.

The emerald women behind me are barefoot, with bracelets around their ankles that chime with each step they make. Every time I take a step forward, so do they. Their movements are in unison with mine, and the realization sends an uncomfortable chill down my spine.

"Welcome to the Aenai," the gold woman says when both our eyes lock with the ivory castle half a mile from us. "It's not only the capital of the Land of Air, but this is the epicenter of Oraxto. Your future husband is not only the lord of the Land of Air, but he is also the king of Oraxto. You are gifted a fine husband, your highness."

The sunset is in the richest shades of oranges and reds and pinks, the colors gliding upon the grassy plains like spilled paint on a finished canvas. Hills obscure parts of the castle from my view, but the farther we walk through the stone-paved street and near the home of the wicked, the clearer my opulent prison becomes.

Ivory towers, gated doors, and arched windows remind me of medieval castles I learned about in high school. Guards stand in every corner, and a closed gate separates the rest of the world from the royal palace. The emerald women are a breath behind me, but when I see the two guards standing watch at the gate with eager expressions, I turn around and I try to run away. I get two steps away from my captors before green magic ensnares my ankles like the serpopard had earlier today. Their emerald mist shapes itself into claws and embeds itself in my skin, immobilizing me.

My screams are silenced by the magic, and my hope for freedom is ceased. I try to reach through the magic, to slip out like it's a cage, but it's not a prism I recognize. The magic conforms to my struggles, moving like an entity that expects my every move. Every action I make is futile, and by the time the magic dissipates, I collapse onto a smooth, cold ground without an inch of strength.

Without looking away from the alabaster floor, I know I'm inside the castle.

When I raise my gaze, the three witches stand in triangle formation around my depleted body, but the gold woman stands in front of my dirt and blood covered feet. She wears amusement as if it were a crown reserved for a queen. Then, in a plume of golden showers, she leaves, and the emerald women are lifting my exhausted body and guiding me to the bathroom.