Gate ways

Gate Ways

The Gilded Cage – series part 5-

Jane squeezed the knotted makeshift rope tightly in her hands as she silently waited for the attack she knew was coming. The air had intensified to the point that even the fairy warriors riding with them began to shift uncomfortably in their saddles. The entire group seemed to have fallen silent, and an uneasy began to ripple through the atmosphere.

Even though she was anticipating the sudden attack, when it happened, she screamed and dove across the cage to get away from the howling that echoed on the side she was on. Squeezing her eyes shut, she mentally begged the powers that be, that she didn’t die this night. She didn’t want to see the blood and violence either although she could hear it. The clanging of swords against claws, the snarling and growling of wolves, the sounds of bones crushing under the powerful jaws of the massive beast. The gurgling of blood as throats was being torn out. It turned her stomach and nausea had begun to creep into her gut.

She screamed when the cage toppled onto its side, from the force of one of the large wolves hitting it full force. There was the sickening thud of its body against the bars and a yelp of pain as he bounced off to land on all fours once again. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as the contraption tipped, falling against the frozen ground. She was a little dazed and could only curl up into a ball as the enchanted bars exploded outward on impact. The next thing she knew she was getting jerked to her feet by strong hands and instinct kicked it. Using the momentum and her weight she swung her makeshift rope whipping her captor across the face with the end full of Wall-nuts.

Surprised the man’s face was snapped to the side, and a gash began to bleed on his cheek. A little stunned he reached up and touched the tender wound with his fingertips, giving her enough time to scream and run away, without thinking she threw the rope down and hiked up her skirt enough to prevent it from hindering her movements.

“You did not just hit me with a wall-nut.” She heard him growl as she stumbled in the snow and quickly got back to her feet. Once again holding up her skirt so that she could run faster. She sure in the heck did hit him with some wall-nuts.

Seeing that she wasn’t going to stop, the guy growled and shot off after her. She could hear his heavy footsteps crunching in the snow as they closed the distance between them. She could feel the heat of his arms reaching out toward her and gasped, ducking she cut sharply to the right, and he narrowly missed her, as he went rolling headfirst into the snow, having been thrown off balance by the maneuver.

“Stay away.” She shouted catching herself with one hand as she lost her footing as well, but at least she didn’t keep rolling. She was able to right herself before she face-planted into the frozen snow.

“I’m trying to help you.” the guy called after her getting back to his feet and racing after her once again.

“I need your help like I need the help of an angry badger.” She sternly stated, knowing that he was closing the distance again.

Suddenly a man on a horse came riding towards her, cutting off her retreat. She gasped and abruptly stopped, stumbling backward into the snow, only to slam into the chest of the man who was chasing her, to begin with. He seemed just as surprised by the sudden interruption and was knocked backward by the force of her weight directly hitting against him, which landed them both in the snow.

“I am sure you’ll be placing her into my custody.” The man on the horse evenly stated, Jane, scrambled to her feet and looked around for another escape. An enemy in front of her and an enemy behind her didn’t bode well for her situation.

“No, I don’t think I will be.” The man she landed on top of said and instantly flipped back up onto his feet. He took a hold of her arm and pulled her back behind him. “I’ll be taking her to the seat of power, myself. So, you can be on your way.”

The man rolled his eyes and lifted his hand into the air, motioning for something with the elegant gesture and they were suddenly surrounded by several men that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Jane gasped looking around at them all with wide disbelieving eyes.

“It seems to me that you are outnumbered wolf. We, don’t want to harm you, so do the intelligent thing and hand her over.” The man spoke to them once again.

“Seems, the intelligent thing to me; would be to keep her since she’s the seed to the seat of power.” The Wolf smirked, holding onto her tighter as he stepped back keeping his narrowed eyes glued to the man on the horse. “It would be wiser if you turned around and left.”

“Both of you should be ashamed of yourselves.” Jane scolded jerking her arm away free. “I am a human being, and can make up my own mind, thank you!” She hissed picking up her skirts and turning to walk away, only to be stopped by several smiling men with fangs. Gasping she took a step back and squared her shoulders. This couldn’t be real, there was no such thing as Vampires. Who was she kidding? She had landed in some alternate reality and had no idea the type of myths and legends that lived in it. She had already seen several things that shouldn’t exist and there always seemed to be something new.

Both her captor and the man on the horse stared at her in surprise for a moment, before the man on the horse let out a small, amused laugh, which seemed to shock everyone else around her. But she pretended not to notice as she pulled her arm out of the reach of one of the men who tried to grab ahold of her.

“Take him but try not to kill him.” The man on the horse ordered in a flat even tone and several of the men surrounded the wolf, separating them in the process. While another one walked towards her, she gasped unsure what to do. Stumbling back, she slammed into the chest of the man on the horse, when had he gotten down? His arm circled her waist holding her fast as he caught her under her jaw tilting her head to the side to expose her neck. Panic set in and she found it hard to breathe as she struggled to break his hold, to no avail. It was as if she wasn’t struggling at all against his unshakeable hold and she was forced to watch his men pounce the wolf relentlessly. Although the guy fought valiantly, he was no match for so many attackers and was soon beaten to the ground.

“Stop please.” She pleaded and the man tightened his hold on her.

“You beg for the life of the man who sought to capture you for his own twisted desires?” The man purred out the question. She could feel his breath on the tender flesh of her throat, and it frightened her, but she pushed down those fears.

“You have already beaten him. It’s barbaric to continue.” She squeaked, her heart racing from the fear that was coiling within her. “Just let him go. Why must you kill him?”

“Well, like you, we have the right to choose what we want.” He casually stated. “But I am not without a heart that listens to the pleas of a fair maiden in distress. I’ll make you a deal, and we can end this right now.”

“You’re a brute.” She hissed and he shifted her around so she could see what was happening better. The wolf was coughing up blood now and didn’t get a chance to react to the vicious attacks that were striking him.

“My lady, you haven’t even heard my deal.” He purred his lips next to her cheek and she twisted her face away from him the best that she could. “Come with us willingly and I will spare the wolf’s life, I personally will assure that no more harm comes to him as a gift to you. Fight us and your little pet will endure much more harm before he is granted the sweet release of death. Your choice my lady.”

She didn’t answer right away, and it earned the poor guy more beatings. She had read about what happens to those who go with Vampires willingly. They were turned into one of the creatures of the night or a thrall to one. Either way, their free will, and self-worth were taken from them. They essentially became slaves to their need for blood or their master’s blood and they would do unspeakable things to others just to please their thirst or their master.

The man they kept calling wolf grunted holding his ribs, with his forehead pressed in the snow as they continued to hurt him, and tears ran down her face. The brutality was too much for her to stand and she had the power to stop it.

“Stop, just stop please.” She gave in, “Stop hurting him and I’ll go with you.” She relented, and the man softly chuckled raising his hand. Within seconds the violence against the man in the snow ceased and he was granted a reprieve. She could tell he was still alive, by the shallow yet pain-filled rise and fall of his breathing.

“There see, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” The man softly said stroking some of her hair out of her face.

“Stupid girl.” The wolf quietly growled using one elbow to lift his upper body enough to bring his head out of the blood-stained snow.

“Easy pup, she just saved your life.” The man coldly stated and then started pulling Jane away from the scene.

She had just turned around to walk with the guy when there was a big commotion behind her. She whipped around to find several of the vampires dying. They were fighting somebody in the middle of the circle, but it wasn’t the wolf.

“Justin, No.” The wolf shouted trying to push himself up as another Vampire met its doom.

“Justin.” She breathed when she finally saw her fake brother slice off the head of another vamp and set it on fire. “JUSTIN!” She screamed and tried to escape once again.

“Unhand my sister Sir!” Justin demanded pointing his sword at the man who held her. He was breathing hard from the exertion of the fighting, but he still stood strong against the enemy.

“Your sister, well this is an interesting turn of events.” The man flatly stated never taking his eyes off the swordsman. “Usually, a Star seed is born in a different realm.” The man turned to Jane with a curious look. “If you were born in this realm, you must be something special indeed.”

“I said unhand her,” Justin repeated himself as he stepped towards them.

“Kill him.” The man waved off the threat and Justin was surrounded once again locked in battle.

“No!” She screamed “No, no, please. Don’t kill my brother.” She cried out, tears streaking her face as the man held her fast. “Please, I beg you.”

“You, my lady, have an awful lot of demands.” The man rolled his eyes and looked at the fight that was happening. He hated to admit it, but her brother was really good, and now that the wolf had somehow managed to get up and join him in fighting. His men were the ones dying by the multitudes. If he allowed this to continue, his army would be destroyed in a matter of minutes. “Very well.” He sighed making it seem like he was doing what he was about to do for her instead of for the fact that they were losing this fight.

“STOP! PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER, OR I TURN HER RIGHT NOW!” He shouted over the sounds of fighting as he jerked her head to the side and bared his fangs against her flesh. She squeezed her eyes shut and tensed as the tiny razor-sharp tips started to enter her flesh.

Justin stood up straight and immediately dropped his weapons, to raise his hands in the air and the wolf stopped fighting as well. Then with a nod, they were bound, and being pulled away.

“Have the fairies repair the cage and toss those two inside of it. It seems our future queen is more compliant with them around.” The man stated and pulled her into a walk once again.

“Don’t harm them.” Jane looked at the man with a worried gaze.

“I have already met two of your demands my lady, I feel that is quite enough, for now. It’s your turn to meet our demands and just maybe after doing so, we can negotiate more of yours.” The guy flatly stated, lifting her onto his horse and then swinging up behind her.

She cast a look at Justin and the Wolf who was being dragged off and caught Justin’s apologetic gaze before he was shoved forward, and the eye contact was broken.

She faced forward and started running thoughts through her mind. She had given her word to go willingly, but she had not promised to stay willingly. Now it wasn’t just her that needed to escape, she had to save her fake brother too, and his stupid friend. She needed to be smart now, she needed to remember everything she had learned about Vampires through reading. She almost laughed when she realized that she going to fictional stories she had read as a child, for guidance now. Lewis would be tickled pink if he knew.

Dominic and Justin

“I had it under control,” Dominic growled at Justin as they were both thrown into the fairy cage, that Jane had been held captive in a short time earlier.

“If you and your family hadn’t tried to drug me, I could have found and rescued my sister before the vamps got her.” Justin hissed, still very angry at the fact that they had done what they did to him.

“It was for your own good. Fairy magic isn’t something you want to mess around with as a human.” Dominic explained for the umpteenth time. “I stood a better chance at saving her.”

“That’s rich, considering how it all turned out huh?” Justin countered.

“If you would have just stayed sedated, I would have handled it,” Dominic grumbled. “How the hell did you come out of that sedation anyway?”

“I’m full of mysteries,” Justin smirked. “How exactly; were you going to manage it, hmm? Pretel. Were you planning on bleeding your way to freeing her?”

“If I had to, yes! They can’t kill me, but I can kill them.” Dominic snapped. The truth was he didn’t know how he would have done it. But he sure in the heck wasn’t going to admit that to Justin.

“Fool, they are Vespasian. They're the intelligent night stalkers, they know more about killing your kind than you think. They are not the Ugora, who run on instinct.” Justin pointed out.

“What does it matter now? We’re trapped in a damn Fairy cage, that neither of us can break out of.” Dominic raised his voice in frustration. “And your damn sister is riding pretty on a pony with their leader. Like she’s the queen of the freaking world.”

“We don’t get her away from them, she will be,” Justin smirked, little did Dominic know that he hadn’t come alone, and he was prepared for a fairy jailbreak.

“What are you sitting over there all smug about?” Dominic coldly asked.

“I have it under control.” Justin shrugged and laid his head back against the bars of the now-moving cage. At least fairy prison had a steady temperature of 70 degrees inside of it. “You might as well sleep a little. Maybe heal up some of those flesh wounds you got in stupidity.”

“Your sister is about to become a vampire, and you want to sleep it off?” Dominic growled in disbelief as he looked at the completely relaxed Justin.

“Sounds about right.” Justin casually said and then fell silent.

Dominic knew he wasn’t going to get any more conversation out of the guy and decided that he needed to come up with some way to get them all out of here soon. Preferably before the girl was turned into a creature of the night. He just couldn’t seem to get the fog out of his head though. Justin was right he would need to heal up some before he could think clearly.

Dominic was awakened by the sound of Justin talking to somebody, that he hadn’t been able to see just yet.

“You’re late. What took you so long?” Justin whispered over his shoulder at the boy who had accompanied him. “Where’s your sister?”

“We had to wait for the sun to come up.” A small boy said as the lock on the fairy cage began to click as the small boy covered from head to toe in camouflage worked at unlocking it. “My sister is trying to locate your sister.”

“Any luck so far?” Justin asked the boy.

“She hasn’t got back yet, but if she’s here then she’ll find her. Nobody is as sneaky as my sister and those bloodsuckers won’t even know she is there.” The boy grimaced a little as the lock clicked again. Dominic sat up and started watching the process with keen, penetrating eyes.

“How much longer?” Justin questioned the boy.

“Almost there.” The boy answered, with an arrogant little wink.

“How….” Dominic breathed; he never knew a fairy cages lock could be picked.

“He’s half-fairy.” Justin shrugged. “I told you it was handled.”

“Fairies got us into this, to begin with,” Dominic complained, throwing his hands in the air as he leaned his head back against the bars of the cage.

“No, you got us into this, because you thought that you would sedate me and keep me from retrieving my sister. Now you are going to shut up and let me handle this from here on in.” Justin scowled.

“He’s right you know, if he had been able to catch up to the fairies earlier, he would have been able to force them to give the girl back.” The boy grinned. “He knows their sacred command word.”

Justin kept a straight face and rolled his eyes. He didn’t know any command word, but he did know fairy law and how to use it to his advantage. He figured that he would just let the boy have a go at Dominic, besides it was a little funny to see the guy squirm a little.

“Next time I’ll make sure the double the freaking dosage,” Dominic grumbled under his breath, referring to putting Justin under.

“Do you really think that will work on me? You and your family are supernatural beings and the dosage you gave me should have knocked me out for days. Instead, here I am and only suffered unconsciousness for a few hours tops.” Justin smirked as the door creaked open and the boy dropped to the ground.

“That is because you're too damn stupid to stay under.” Dominic countered, and they crawled out of the cage. The boy pulled silver-tipped weapons out from underneath his cloak and handed them over to Justin who made sure they were ready to use.

“Silver tipped, were you going to use those on us?” Dominic asked and Justin looked at him with a blank expression.

“Yes.” He simply said. “You and anyone else, who may think they can use my fake sister to gain power over the realm. I told you once and I’ll tell you again. She is not a tool for power. She is a living intelligent being with emotions and thoughts of her own. I will kill every one of you, who try to treat her otherwise.” Justin finished and stalked around Dominic to head into the caves nearby where their enemy would be for the day.

“He’s great isn’t he.” The small boy quietly squealed, as he quickly followed Justin.

“He’s going to get himself killed.” Dominic hissed trying to decide whether to help or not. In the end, he couldn’t let his best friend face those odds alone. There was no sunlight in those caves. Which meant that the vamps might not be sleeping at all. “I should just let him die.” He grumbled as he jogged to catch up to them.

Jane

Jane silently sat against the stone wall of the cave, looking around. Some of the men who were keeping her hostage were sleeping like the dead a short distance away from her, but others were roaming through the caves on patrol. The man who had taken her captive in the first place and turned her over to his leader, who was more than happy to talk about himself as he was being fed blood berries by some females. She found him rather annoying and almost wished the wolves had torn her to shreds. She couldn’t slip away, since she was bound and tethered to the guy, by some specially made silver chains, that chaffed her skin.

“So, of course, being the brilliant and most handsome of my people, I accepted this task of marrying you and making you, our queen. I must admit that I was rather fearful, that you were something grotesque, but I am pleasantly surprised to admit, that although you aren’t the prettiest thing out there, I suppose you're not too dreadful on the eyes.” He was going on and on.

“How sweet of you. I confess I never thought such a charming man would be so gracious as to ask for my hand in marriage.” She sweetly said, subtly trying to slide her hands out of the cuffs. “I’m flattered, to say the least.”

“Of course, you are my lovely, go on tell me how charming I am.” He coaxed her liking his ego to be stroked.

“I couldn’t, my lord. That would be far too bold of behavior for a lady. It would be scandalous if I spoke of how I truly find your charms, so…. Well, we shouldn’t talk about that.” Jane politely whispered leaning towards him slightly.

“Oh, but we should my dear.” He purred leaning in, so the conversation was hushed a little more.

“It wouldn’t be wise to point out the king in pit vipers. A nest of venomous snakes is quite deadly, I am far too fragile for such adventure.” She sweetly said.

“Yes, of course, I almost forgot you were a mere weak little human girl.” He droned with a wave of his hand. “Perhaps it is best that we keep your words of infatuation to a minimum. At least until you become my queen and then I will expect to hear all about it.” He sighed and laid on his side, turning his back to her, so he could enjoy the berries being fed to him more, or the females feeding them to him. She couldn’t tell.

“Of course, my lord.” She politely said and shifted her attention to watching everything that was going on around her to figure out the best time to make a move.

Argo

Argo wasn’t sitting far from Valick and the human girl, as he kept silent and watched the shadows. On more than one occasion he found himself cracking a smile, or quietly chuckling at the girl’s quick wit. She had pretty much told Valick that he was a slimy serpent not worth her time. Except for her creative way of stating it made it sound like a beautiful thing, to Valick. Now his friend thought the girl was completely into him, but she was simply buying time. It was fascinating to watch a mere human get the better of his prince. She was so brilliantly intelligent that she had already figured out that the man liked his ego stroke, and how to make it seem like she was complimenting the man, with pretty insults. He knew he should probably be upset by the mere act of insulting Valick, but for some reason, he found it amusing and entertaining, so he pretended not to hear the conversation at all.

This Star Seed was very different than past Star Seeds. This one made him feel a little awkward with her sharp wit and ability to force a smile on his normally emotionless expressions. He had always prided himself on the fact that he had no emotions, yet here was amused, awkward, and bit off. He narrowed his eyes at the girl wondering if she was actually in possession of some magical abilities that could affect one's true nature. He would have to watch her closely, to make sure that she didn’t continue to use such abilities on him. Any powers she might have will vanish once she’s turned and she won't be able to use them anymore. Instead, she would be one of them and will have to learn how to use her new abilities. At least those abilities he knew how to handle, and if she chose to use them on him, he’d just brush it off like it was nothing. Until then though, he was going to have to be very alert and strong enough to fight whatever spells she was trying to cast on him. Maybe he should kill her brother and the wolf if she kept up her subtle antics.

Then again, he had to take into accounting that she was merely human, and she come from a nonmagical realm, where most humans come from. There might not be an ability after all, and there was just something strange about her. Well, all humans were strange anyway, but there was something that he couldn’t put his finger on. But she wasn’t going to be able to affect him, he’d fight it and overpower her human influence on his mind. She would not get the better of him. He had delivered her to Valick and that meant he no longer had to be within proximity of her.

With that thought, he quickly stood up deciding that he would go check on the prisoners and avoid being around her altogether. All spell abilities had a range, and even if it wasn’t a spell ability, then the more he avoided her the less likely he would fall victim to her games.

He walked to the entrance of the cave and looked out making sure to stay within the shadows to avoid unnecessary pain. He wasn’t like his brethren; he was born a night stalker and the sun only hurt his skin to the point of excruciating pain and it would take days before the sun would kill him. By then he would heal during the night so it would be like torture for him.

Coming out of his thoughts he looked around and everything seemed calm and peaceful. Nobody could break out of the fairy cage so; he was fairly sure that their guest was fine. Just as he turned to go back inside, a thick blanket dowsed in a special herb was tossed over him and he instantly dropped from the weakened state it caused.

“Put, him in the cage we’ll take him with us.” A female stated, and he was being dragged across the snow toward the captives in the cage, only there were no captives in it. His head was spinning, and he was trying to form words, but thanks to the herbs his voice couldn’t be heard. The next thing he knew he was being tossed into the enchanted cage and the dowsed blanket was jerked away, as the clanking of the gated bar closing echoed in his head. It would take him a minute to come to his senses enough to sound the alarm.

“Get him on the road, once I get my sister I’ll catch up.” Justin’s voice sounded, at the edge of Argo’s clouded vision.

He was almost amused to realize that Justin, the little human guy who had offed so many of his brethren, had come with a plan. Humans were fascinating and even though he had been outsmarted by one, he couldn’t help, but give credit where it was due. The kid was an excellent strategist thus far, having had predicted his capture, he had indeed planned for it.

His face remained impassive, hiding his impressed expression from their view, He had never thought a spoiled young lord, who had spent his life partying in some fashion, could be just as sly as any, opponent when it mattered. Despite himself, he found that he was looking forward to seeing how the guy got to the girl out.

“You are going to be helpful to us.” The wolf smirked staring into the cage at him. He slowly looked at the guy but kept silent. He might be interested in seeing how they got the girl out, but he wasn’t going to betray his friends to help them do it. Besides wouldn’t it be more interesting to see if they could figure it out themselves at this point. He didn’t care about taking the seat of power B.S, he just didn’t want the Ugora to get it. Life under the dwarfs hadn’t been all that bad, as far as he was concerned. He wouldn’t have even come on this venture if Valick’s father hadn’t insisted that he do it. He was never one to believe taking a being against their will should be their way. Every thrall he had come to him, begging to be his thrall. They enjoyed the high, they got from drinking Night Stalker blood. In return for his blood, he accepted theirs as payment. If they died with his blood in their system, that was on them, but he would still accept them into his home, like family.

After so many had come to him over the centuries, they had become known as a sub-clan under the rule of the Vesperan clan. His family was loyal to him, and he was loyal to Valick. Simple as that, and if this wolf thought he could turn him, he was dead wrong.

“No,” The wolf blankly shook his head and grinned arrogantly. “No, problem, I will find her without your help.”

“Then shut up and do it.” Justin interrupted with an edge to his voice, pushing the wolf away from the cage. “Leave him alone, he’s a being just like you. He only wants what's best for his people too.” Justin added, in sour sarcasm.

“You have got to be kidding me.” The wolf growled. “He was going to turn her remember.”

“Yeah, and what were you going to do, subdue her with your mother’s herbal tea, so she was compliant,” Justin growled. Then looked at the young woman who was climbing up onto the driver’s bench of the gilded wagon cage. “Get him out of here, take him through the pass and hold up in the abandoned barn off the road at the edge of the next village. I’ll meet you there, and don’t mess with him. He is still a living being, and I won’t have him tortured or hurt for no reason.”

“I’d never hurt your sister man.” Dominic hissed as he and Justin took off towards the cave entrance. The young woman who had come with Justin, and her brother immediately nodded and did as he told them to do.

“Fake sister! And am I supposed to believe that? We were best friends since childhood and what did you do to me?” Justin pointed out.

“I was trying to protect you.” Dominic quietly insisted.

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, because at this point you my friend are the only one who believes that load of….” His phrase was cut off by a patrol heading in their way, forcing them to dive behind a rock for cover.

“I thought I was very clear that you should bathe after playing with the dog.” One of the patrolmen wrinkled his nose as he kicked the bottom of another Night Stalkers foot to wake him up.

“I did.” The sleeper insisted as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Not good enough, I can still smell him on you.” The armed one growled and moved on with his group.

Justin looked at Dominic and rolled his eyes. He hadn’t thought about the night stalker’s keen sense of smell and the distinct odor of his ex-best friend. Not to mention that they had dove right behind the large boulder that the sleeper was leaning against.

In response, Dominic lifted his shirt to his nose and sniffed it, then shrugged. He couldn’t smell anything. Justin rolled his eyes again and evaluated the situation. He was going to need to get the sleeper out of the way before they could proceed further into the cave systems.

To be continued……...