Into Dragon's Fire (Book 1)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I stumbled as I was led through the trees, fingers digging tightly into my arm as I was yanked forward. My nameless companion was gone, her body left for the creatures in the forest behind us. There had been nothing I could do for her, but I swore that if I ever got back, I would find her brother. The trees gave way to a bridge, leading to a pair of large double doors. The hand left my arm as we started across the bridge, and I had the inkling suspicion that my captors would not hesitate to push me off if I tried to resist.

Once through the doors, we crossed another bridge and I took the opportunity to glance up at what I thought was a large cavern, but was actually the innerworkings of a very large tree. Just what was this place? This was definitely not New York, or anything close to it.

I was prodded roughly in the back, and I turned my attention away from the sight before me, as I was led further and higher into the tree. Just when I thought that we would never reach our destination, we came to a sudden halt and I was yanked back so hard I thought my shoulder was going to be pulled from its socket. The rest of the group disappeared, leaving me with the blonde knife thrower, but when I caught movement above me, my eyes met a pair of cold grey-blue eyes.

He said something to the knife thrower, who responded quickly, the only word I understood of their conversation was my name. The one above me was quiet for a moment, his eyes boring into me as if I were a puzzle he was trying to put together, then he spoke again, this time in a way I could understand. " My son tells me, that you appeared in the middle of the forest, in a bright light."

His son? 

My gaze flickered to the knife thrower before returning to his father as he stood from...

Is that a throne?

" Tell me, Alicia Stevens, what magic allowed you to bypass our borders?" He questioned, descending the stairs that led to the platform where he sat. " Magic?" I questioned, confused.

" We don't take kindly to trespassers in Mirkwood, but if you answer truthfully, mercy will be granted."

" Look, I had no idea that I was trespassing, if you just point me back to New York-"

" Silence." He snapped cutting me off.  He stood over me now, trying to use his towering height to intimidate me. He was just over 6ft, an entire foot above my own miniscule 5ft. Instead of cowering, like he wanted, I glared back at him. When I didn't falter, he turned away from me, and motioned toward me as if dismissing me. " A week of solitude should do you some good. Farewell, Alicia Stevens." He said, as hands latched onto my arms and I was dragged away.

I was led down several staircases, over several bridges, and around several corners; with each turn the light streaming in from outside became less and less, until endless turns became replaced with metal doors. Reality sank in when I found myself shoved inside, the door slamming closed behind me. The cell was just big enough for me to stand up.

" You can't do this, I have rights." I screamed, pounding my fist on the metal door.

I slid to the floor as I pressed my back to the wall behind me. I buried my head in my knees, but refused to shed a single tear, not when they might be watching my every move. I wanted to wake up from this awful nightmare, but I knew that no matter how much I willed it, I would still be sitting in the darkness of a cell when I opened my eyes. There was still the question of how I even ended up in those woods. Did I really, as he had said, use magic?

I looked my hands with a frown, before shaking my head at the thought. Magic wasn't real, just something to occupy the minds of children, even if there were those that were foolish enough to believe in it. Illusions and cheap tricks, that's all it was.

My dad believed in magic, so much in fact that the first date my parents went on had been to a magic show, it was how he had proposed to my mom to, a simple coin behind the ear trick, but after mom left, he had distanced himself from anything close to it. He even went as far as breaking it to me at a young age.

I closed my eyes as I leaned my head against the wall, only to open them when something hit me in the foot. " Eat it sparingly." A voice said from other side of the door, and I frowned in confusion as I picked the leaf wrapped package. Inside was some sort of bread. I glanced through the barred window, but it was too dark outside the cell even with the torchlight.

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- ElizabethUnderwood7