Whispers of Willow

Chapter 42

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Luke exclaimed from the roof of a shop as he watched two men holding her and forcefully taking her away while she protested. They dragged her until she was in front of a wagon and pushed her in.

Two guards sat on either side of her to make sure she wouldn't be able to escape.

Willow sat perfectly still for a moment, trying to console herself with the thought that she could not have seen this coming. Things go wrong all the time. This is nothing she can't fix, right? She tried to calm herself, but eventually, her façade crumbled. She fiddled her thumbs, repeatedly tapped her foot on the floor of the wagon, and looked from side to side. There was no way out. She couldn't use her magic because she was convinced it would be stupid to do so in a realm of magical creatures who had way more experience and power than her.

"Where are you taking me?"

None of the guards responded.

"I'm innocent! I didn't do anything!"

Casual lying was hardly a punishable offense.

The guard on her right yanked her handcuffs and made her look at him.

"You can plead your case to the queen. Now sit quietly if you don't want me to gag you."

That shut her up.

The wagon moved and she noticed that they were going upwards. Her breathing quickened when she saw the palace. It was so high up that it was touching the clouds. She would have paused to admire its beauty under any other circumstances.

The wagon swayed to the left side of the palace, to a white-colored building beside it.

She tried taking her hands out of the cuffs but it only caused angry red marks to appear on her skin.

The wagon stopped and the guards stepped down. The one on the right roughly pulled Willow out.

"Ow!" She cried in pain.

"What?" The guard yelled. "You want to be treated nicely, little girl? Straighten up, this is how prisoners are treated."

He dragged her inside the building and down a flight of stairs into the basement, all while she was glaring at him.

"Innocent until proven guilty," she stated.

The stone-cold basement made her shiver. He took her to a metal door and yanked it open to reveal four adjacent prison cells. He took her in and pushed her inside the second cell, locking the door.

With a smug smile on his face, he said, "we'll see," and walked out, locking the metal door too.

***

"Find the other one!" Byron roared at the royal guards.

Luke watched them from the roof as they fanned out and searched for him in all directions. He saw two guards standing on the street right below him and whistled at them.

The guards looked up at him.

"There he is!" They yelled. "Surround the area! Don't let him escape!"

The guards saw him disappear on the roof and surrounded all sides and corners of the shop.

Luke jumped off in the back alley, right in the middle of two guards. They stepped forward to restrain him but he scared them away with his fangs. Luke lunged forward and caught hold of the guard that had cut off his exit. He was about to bite him when Byron entered the alley and began casting a spell.

Luke yelped in pain. He saw black spots in front of his eyes before falling unconscious to the ground.

"Filthy piece of shit," Byron sneered. "Take him!"