TAKEN BY HIM

CHAPTER 1

"Gemariah!" Her father called out harshly, drawing her from her girlish daydream.

"You would do well to pay rapt attention to this sparing session or I will dump you in the basket weaving section." He threatened which seemed to snap her out of her restless mind wandering.

"Bleh!" She said making a disgruntled sound.  "The basket weaving session!" She said appalled, "I would rather swallow fireweed than be caught dead down there," she winced as the memory of the incident flashed through her mind, a memory of when she was eight.

  She had escaped from the palace with the help of her criminal friend(pashur), and she had gotten herself invariably lost.

After walking around for over three hours she became overcome with insatiable hunger and had stared at the fireweed which looked very much like the sweet poppy, another plant that tasted like sugar.

Overcome with the need to eat, she had cut out of the plant and stuffed it down her throat before screaming loudly like a banshee and running around like a dog whose tail was on fire.

This enabled the search party that had been put out to look for her to become aware of her location. She was rushed to the palace healer 'Getulda' who had saved her before her tongue burnt itself off.

"Now you and I both know that you would never down that again, the fact that you cried like the little girl you are and that I nearly lost you tells me otherwise, now focus!" Her father chided her.

"Jin ja," He shouted in their native tongue which meant 'stance ready'.

"Yes sir" Gemariah said bracing herself. Her feet were slightly apart with her left foot in front and right foot behind, shoulders straightened up and wooden sword held firmly in both hands.

"And fight!" He boomed before swiftly aiming for her head, she blocked it with her wooden sword, feigning a shocked look.

"Why father a blow to the head," she mused, "that! Is definitely ladylike," she retorted, aiming for his legs which he deftly blocked before head butting her. She fell to the floor and he wasted no time crouching down and uprooting a handful of grass before shoving some down her throat.

"Ahhh!" She screamed spitting up grass before scowling up at her father who was laughing his eyes away, doubled over at her predicament.

"Why you!?" She fumed before pushing him to the floor with her leg, hitting his chest and then pulling up two handfuls of grass and throwing it on his face.

"Gem," He whined spitting out some that got into his mouth as she stood up, trying to make a hasty retreat, knowing what was coming next. But she could not get away fast enough.

"Ahn ahn," he smirked mischievously before scrambling up and chasing her around, a full on grass war.

They soon were both covered in dirt, mud and a whole lot of grass, making them look like a masquerade on new yams festival.

After running around for about ten minutes he managed to catch her and swiped her off her feet before putting her over His shoulders and twirling her around.

"Father! No, father! Please, father, no! Help please, help!" She screamed already getting dizzy as the blood rushed to her head, "helpp!" She slurred as the world shifted around her, almost melding into one giant mass of colours.

"Jehucal! Put our offspring down this instant," her mother said sternly from behind and they both stopped abruptly, he groaned out knowing fully that she was going to scold the both of them.

"Why Jehudi? Your daughter-" he stated pointing at gem who was still slouched over his shoulder, "-shoved grass down my throat like a barbarian, just so you know." He said with a smile before clumsily dropping a very drowsy gem on the ground.