Chapter 3 Captured by the king

"Well, what do I see here?" A deep and sensual voice questioned from beneath that dark helmet. He took a step forward and I clambered back on my elbows as if I stood a chance at getting away. "Is this a little sun elf royal I've caught?"

The tone of his voice sent my blood boiling. As if he was a predator mocking his prey. Despite the fear wracking my nerves I managed to scrunch up my face into a sneer at him. It was harder for me to see in the dark but I'm sure the Shadow King could see me perfectly in the moonlight.

He sheathed his sword and crouched to the ground at my feet. I wanted to kick him, but my body was now frozen with fear and a cold sweat formed on my skin. "Now I wonder, what it is a little thing like you is doing this close to the border? Don't you know there are monsters out here?"

The growl in his voice mocked me and my heart dropped through my chest like it wanted to leave my body. "You're the monster!" I spat back.

"Hmm, a feisty one," his gloved hand reached out for me and on instinct I slapped him away. That only caused him to chuckle in response. Like he found my antics amusing.

But in the blink of an eye he snatched up my left wrist and pulled me up by my arm until I was sitting up and mere inches away from him. By the time I realized what he was doing it was too late to stop him. My wrist was in front of his face and those gleaming amber eyes were examining a white ink tattoo of a sun. The Solen family crest.

"A royal indeed," he stated before letting go of my arm. But now I was left awkwardly sitting forward on the cold ground and far too close to him. His proximity made terror clutch my heart with the fear of what was going to happen to me.

A few moments stretched too long as he crouched in front of me, perhaps studying me. I had my eyes closed now, not wanting to see this monster watching me. Hearing his steady breathing so close had chills running up and down my back.

If the Thanaten king was going to kill me I wanted him to get it over with quickly. But that didn't mean I wanted to watch as he did so.

After a brief sigh the king stood up and, in that moment, I opened one eye to peak up at him. His helmeted head was turned back in the direction he had chased me from. The carriage where my people had been slaughtered.

That thought had a new rush of white-hot rage flare up inside of me. We were still in Mithran lands and these shadow elf monsters had attacked us.

A wave of courage hit me and before I knew what I was doing I had kicked my foot out and knocked the king's leg out from under him. An 'oof' left him as his heavy metal clad body hit the ground. I nearly squeaked in surprise as he crashed but my body was already in motion.

Twisting from the ground I scrambled around the fabric of my dress to get to my feet. The shadow elf was groaning on the ground, but I knew he wouldn't stay down for long. I began running through the trees as fast as I could with my limited visibility.

I didn't get far before I heard him curse and shuffle back to his feet. It felt as though I was flying over the ground in my haste to get away, to escape and save my life. However, I didn't get far, and it wasn't long before I heard those heavy boots pounding on the ground after me.

But there was nowhere for me to escape to or hide. He would find me in the darkness no matter where I went. A breath later I could hear him right behind me.

When a hard hand grabbed my arm I screamed, but it was with fear not surprise. "Didn't your parents ever teach you not to run from a wolf on the hunt? I'll get excited and chase you down that much harder," he snarled and whipped me around grabbing me by my shoulders.

"You're right to compare yourself to a dog!" I shouted before spitting at his face plate. My spit landed on his armor and his head jerked back. Instead of anger I was met with deep laughter muffled by his metal faceplate while he threw his head back with mirth.

All while laughing he suddenly swept me up and tucked me underneath his arm. Before I knew it, I was facing the ground with my arms stuck at my sides as I was carried like a sack of potatoes.

"You've got quite the mouth on you for a royal," that throaty voice rumbled as he strode easily through the black woods. Each step sure in the dark.

Squirming and thrashing in his hold I yelled back at him, "Get your filthy hands off of me!" I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable in his hold and the position he carried me in.

"You're from the Solen family line," he started tonelessly, "But the capital is so very far from here. I wonder what a royal is doing out here with a small entourage. There's a city near here isn't there? Were you perhaps on your way there? Or leaving?" He seemed to muse to himself more than actually talking to me.

"Eat shit!" I yelled and squirmed with more fervor under his arm. I felt my face turning red with fury as he only began laughing again. Then without warning he paused.

"What is that?" I couldn't see what he was referring to as I was facing the ground behind him. Something about his sudden question had me going still in his hold, and a moment later the sound of yelling and fighting reached me once more.

A small part of me was hopeful that some of my guards remained alive and were still fighting. There was still the Thanaten soldier with the bow that I assumed shot Nadene as the shadow king had approached with only a sword.

Perhaps the Mithran guards were winning and the closer we got the scene of carnage around the carriage I could be saved.

But when I heard a thunderous growl and the sound of tearing flesh my gut churned and bile rose to my throat. No there was not going to be a rescue. Whatever was fighting wasn't anything I'd ever heard before. Some instinct told me it was a creature. Maybe one of the shadow monsters that thrived in the north.

A man started screaming in pain and then we were rushing over the ground in the direction of those horrid sounds. "Nine hells," the king cursed as he began hauling us towards the beast and its prey.

With a hard thud I was dropped unceremoniously onto the damp ground and once I shook my head to clear my unruly hair from my face, I noticed I had been carried back to the tree line at the edge of the road. I first saw the gilded carriage and the gas lamps along the roof, but my heart stopped when my eyes were again brought to the dead scattered about.

What I noticed next would haunt my dreams for years to come. A long feline shaped beast with corpse-like pale skin was tearing apart the body of a Thanaten soldier near the other bodies. The crunching and wet tearing sounds caused my last meal to rise in the back of my throat.

"What is that?" I whispered to myself. To my surprise the Thanaten king kneeled at my side and answered.

"It's a gods damned ghoulcat. They feast on corpses. This one must have been in the area and scented the blood." He cursed again but then I noticed the short length of thin rope in his hands in the same instant he began tying my wrists together.

"No, no, no!" I whimpered. "You can't do this to me. Please let me go!" My eyes flickered between the ghoulcat feasting on the intestines of a corpse and the hard-amber eyes glowering through the black helmet at me.

The king tilted his head to the side while he looked down at me for a second and I almost missed the sound of his soft sigh. "Stay here," he warned before standing and turning to the beast then drawing his sword.