Chapter 34
The sudden stillness in the air should have warned me. After Fenn used his strange power to chase away the ogres, the forest cleared, and the feral sounds of the unseelie creatures was replaced by chirping crickets, rustling leaves, and the occasional hooting of an owl. Sounds I wouldn’t normally think about.
Until they vanished.
Perhaps one ogre lingered after the rest. Or perhaps another tribe had come to investigate the commotion.
All I knew was, one moment I was gathering the horse’s reins, and the next, I was tackled to the ground, my arms and legs scraping on tree roots, my skull connecting with the hard earth. The foul odor of the beast filled my nose and mouth, making me gag.
I tried to strike out with my arm, but it pressed its thick and meaty body into mine, crushing me. One massive hand pressed hard on my nose and mouth, cutting off my air. I managed to bite down hard on one of his fingers, and the toxic blood and stench entered my mouth once more. The ogre roared, withdrawing for long enough for me to bash my head against its own.
That was a terrible idea.
The ogre’s skull seemed to be made of steel. A blinding pain rippled through my head, making my eyes water. Darkness pressed in on me, and I felt myself falling.
Fenn screamed my name nearby. But he was too winded, too weak. He couldn’t help me.
I was on my own.
The ogre’s thick arms surrounded me. I writhed in its grip, struggling to free myself even as the splitting ache in my skull continued to pound, to blind me. He was going to devour me, but I certainly wouldn’t make it easy for him. My dagger was sheathed at my thigh, but I couldn’t reach it.
I jerked my knee upward and heard a satisfying crack as it connected with flesh and bone. The ogre released me, and I tumbled and rolled along the forest floor, twigs and roots and leaves breaking my fall. My elbows were bleeding from the impact, and I tasted blood in my mouth.
But I had to get up. I had to move.
I reached for my dagger, but the ogre became a blur of movement, vanishing from several feet away and reappearing inches from my face. I staggered backward with a yelp, tripping on another root.
I waited for the hard, unyielding ground to meet me once more, for more pain to come, but to my surprise, the ogre caught me, its arms circling around me once more.
I stared up at the creature. It blinked back with its all-black eyes. Several large, block-shaped teeth were visible from underneath its thick, black lips. My chest heaved with my terrified breaths as I watched, waiting for the beast to lean in and take a bite out of my flesh.
But it didn’t.
Instead, it grunted, the sound low and unintelligible.
Within seconds, several blurred shapes appeared and solidified before us. Three more ogres loomed over me, then sniffed loudly. One of them grunted, pointing at me and looking expectantly at the beast who held me.
I squirmed, trying to free myself, but the three other ogres surrounded me, holding my limbs in place. They continued to communicate with one another until, at long last, the first one nodded, and he stomped forward, flanked by the other ogres.
“No, No !” I thrashed and bucked, desperate to free myself, but it was no use. The ogres were bigger and stronger, and I was vastly outnumbered. I tried to scream, to call for Fenn, but one of the beasts clamped a large hand over my mouth to silence me.
I was powerless as they dragged me from the forest .
But I continued to fight, kicking my legs and twisting around restlessly, hoping that one of them would get tired, that there would be an opening I could seize.
Then, the forest began to blur, and I froze, eyes wide. The tree trunks blended together, the sky became a sickening carousel of foggy stars.
The ogres were carrying me away with their super speed. My head swayed, and my stomach roiled from the movement. It was not a smooth ride. I felt each bump and jostle, and after several moments, I lurched, and I couldn’t keep myself from heaving up the contents of my last meal.
One of the ogres growled in irritation, jerking his hand away from my bile.
I took my opportunity and bit down on the hand that attempted to cover my mouth again.
The blurred motion stopped as the ogre roared, jerking his hand away from me. I kicked again, managing to free one foot, and slammed it into an ogre’s face. One arm was free, and I waved my arm frantically, trying to punch or strike any body part I could find.
One of the ogres grunted something, and a heavy object slammed into my skull. Then, everything went dark.
I awoke to the sound of chanting, though I couldn’t make out the words. With a groan, I tried turning my head, and a searing pain shot through my body. I tasted blood in my mouth. The air smelled of stone and embers and the lingering stench of ogre.
Slowly, my eyes opened and made out a low fire burning nearby, illuminating shadows on what looked like a massive boulder. As my eyes adjusted, taking in my surroundings, I realized it wasn’t a boulder but a cave. I tried to sit up, but restraints pulled at my arms and legs. I managed to lift my head enough to see I was strapped down to a huge slab of stone, my wrists and ankles tethered down.
Oh gods…
I screamed, fighting against the ropes, but they only dug further into my flesh, cutting into me.
The chanting grew nearer, and several ogres appeared, wearing strange brown cloaks, their clawed hands extended and pointing upward.
The ogre in front, a tall, lean beast with thick braids of black hair, drew a dagger from the folds of his cloak. I hadn’t seen this one before; he must not have been in the forest earlier. His eyes were keen and shrewd, and he seemed more… sentient than the others. Like he had a soul, an awareness the others did not.
He dragged the blade along his palm, and black blood dripped to the ground. I stared in horror as he approached, smearing his blood in streaks along my face. I spat at him, turning my head away, but he pinched my chin between two fingers to hold me still.
“What are you doing to me?” I shouted, my voice bouncing off the walls.
I hadn’t expected him to answer. He leaned in close, his breath like rotted meat as he growled, “Your power… will feed us.”
My mouth fell open as I gaped at him. He could speak? Whoever this was, he was more than just a wild unseelie creature.
But perhaps I could reason with him.
“Please,” I begged. “Please let me go. I can pay you. I can?—”
But the ogre shook his head. “No gold. Only power.”
Horror pooled in my stomach. These ogres weren’t going to feast on my flesh. They were going to feast on my magic.
Tyrone had said I was the most powerful fae in his castle. Did these ogres agree? Was that why I was tied down to this rock, as if in preparation for a ritual sacrifice?
In a flash, an image appeared in my mind of several figures in blood red cloaks, chanting in a foreign language as blood dripped down their palms. I was among them, my own cloak billowing in the wind as I uttered the ancient and powerful language of the gods. Power swelled around us, magnifying the spell.
Just as suddenly, the image vanished, and I was back on the stone, tied down, forced to accept my fate.
I was delirious. Delusional. Perhaps the ogres had fed me a drug that made me hallucinate.
It didn’t matter. I was going to die either way.
“ Please !” I screamed, my shrill voice echoing. Several ogres cringed, covering their ears from my outburst. I screamed again, hoping I could weaken them, cause them pain so I could escape. But the ogre who spoke to me shoved a putrid cloth in my mouth, cutting off my cries.
“Be silent,” he grunted. “Over soon.”
I shook my head, tears streaming down my face. My only hope was for Fenn to find me. But he had worn himself out. He was probably unconscious in the forest somewhere. Meanwhile, these ogres with their supernatural speed could be anywhere in all of Valora by now. They could have taken me all the way to the Shadow Court, for all I knew.
I was utterly and completely alone.
A muffled sob burned in my throat, and I crammed my eyes shut, waiting for the end.
“Let us begin,” said the ogre, and the chanting resumed.