Chapter 2

Zame contemplates whether to kill the main character or not. We meet Trint.

“Zame!” I called out for what seemed like the hundredth time. My voice was starting to break, and I was thirsty. Surely she wouldn’t keep me tied to this chair until I died from dehydration or starvation, would she?

Yes, she would, my rather annoying pessimistic mind answered. I wasn’t even sure why she kept me alive at all. Darklings were ordered by their queen to capture and bring all high elves found on their territory to the presence of the queen. If for some reason that could not happen, they were supposed to just kill us. Because of this law, it’s extremely rare for high elves to trespass unto Ohrog. My horrible sense of direction will probably cost me my life.

I sighed as I sank back into my chair. Humoring myself, I tried once again to free my wrists from the ropes Zame had bound me to. I pushed with all my might, stopping when a searing pain from the tension against the ropes flared up. I sighed, knowing it was pointless. I wasn’t getting out of here unless someone untied me.

A second option suddenly popped in my head, and I instinctively suppressed it. No. Look what happened to Iris. I flinched when I thought of that name, reinforcing my loathing towards the unmentionable second option. I couldn’t believe the thought even crossed my mind. I banished it back with hatred and tried to think of something else.

After about an hour of sitting aimlessly in the wooden chair, I started to feel sleepy. I didn’t like to fall asleep in front of others; it made me feel vulnerable and nervous. If I had to sleep, I preferred to do it now and out of Zame’s view. Hopefully I’d wake up before she would come back. I blinked a couple of times, trying to stay awake and alert. My fatigue finally took over as I let myself drift into a deep slumber.

“You weren’t joking!” A loud voice suddenly said. “I’ve never seen one close up before. How did you even know what she was? She looks like a wood elf to me.” Something cold touched my arm, and I immediately opened my eyes.

“You sound moronic, Trint.” Someone sighed loudly.

I took in my environment, trying to shake off the sleep induced confusion. Zame stood in front of me, looking as intimidating as ever. She still wore the large bow over her shoulders, but had changed outfits since the last time I saw her. She wore a green shirt and tight black leather pants today. Her sardonic smile appeared when we made eye contact. A male drow stood beside of her. He was the one who had touched me.

“Good morning high elf,” the male said in a chipper voice. “Welcome to Ohrog!” He bowed, gesturing towards the walls of the stone cave. “I’d shake your hand, but I don’t think Zame would like that.” Beside of him, Zame snorted.

“She’s not going anywhere,” the darkling said smugly.

“What do you want from me?” I finally spoke. I stared hard into her eyes, refusing to show her how afraid I truly was. I hated that my life was in the hands of a darkling. I didn’t want my big escape to be for nothing, and I was foolish to think that I could ever succeed at this. I was actually surprised I had lasted as long as I did without being captured.

The male drow glanced down at Zame, waiting for her answer. I could definitely feel the leadership roles here. Zame was clearly the dominate one. I had almost forgotten that most darklings held on to the tradition than females reigned dominate over males. They followed the example of their cruel queen.

My own kind was almost completely opposite. Female high elves were supposed to be gentle and kind. The males fought for protection, whereas the females raised and nurtured their families.

“Not sure yet,” she finally answered. She turned towards the male drow. “What do you think we should do with her?” The male threw me a sympathetic look before he answered. I wasn’t sure if it was sincere or not.

“Well, the obvious answer is to take her to Zephyr. You could get in big trouble for housing her here.”

             “I know that,” she said, annoyed. Zame started to pace around the room with her arms folded. Her brow was deep in thought.

             “Zame.” The male gently grabbed her arm, stopping her frantic pacing. “I know that look. You’re already under the queen’s radar. You don’t need this to anger her even more.” The male gestured towards me.

             “Trint, how often do high elves come around these parts? Almost never! I’m not letting this opportunity slip by me,” Zame said with determination.

             “Opportunity for what? What use could she have against Queen Zephyr? Just kill the poor girl already.”

             “I’m right here,” I interjected. It really irked me that they talked about me like I wasn’t even there.

              “Maybe,” Zame told Trint, not acknowledging my existence. “Seems kind of wasteful though.”

              “Yeah, very wasteful if Zephyr finds out what you are keeping here.” Trint shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I will be really mad at you if you die for this.” A small smile formed on Trint’s lips at his statement, but I could hear a hint of true worry underneath his joking attitude.

              Trint’s tall frame and lean muscles reminded me sadly of Aelrah. Except Aelrah most definitely did not look like a darkling. Aelrah had light green eyes and dark blonde hair. A very sharp contrast to Trint’s startling white hair and scarlet eyes. It wasn’t unjust to believe that drow were evil. Those malicious red eyes just seemed so unnatural. It was unsettling and disturbing. Zame’s violet irises were much less sinister.

             “Yeah me too.”

             “I’m serious Zame!” Trint suddenly shouted. His sudden hostility literally came out of nowhere. It made me jump in my seat, but Zame didn’t react. “I’m not just going to sit around and let you die for housing a high elf.”

             Trint reached inside of his cloak and pulled something out that made my heart sink. A long black dagger was revealed in his hand as he approached me.

            “Be reasonable,” Zame snapped. “You don’t even like killing animals. You aren’t going to do it.”

I gulped in my chair, readying myself for Trint’s next move. Watching the determination and resolve solidify in Trint’s blood red eyes made me believe that he really would kill me. He stared at me with blazing determination as his eyes pooled fiery red. This wasn’t just about a kill. Trint’s actions seemed personal and rash. It made sense now. Trint loved Zame. He would kill me to protect her.

           This was not looking good for me. Trint suddenly reared back his dagger, intent on stabbing me. I screamed and shut my eyes.

           “Easy kid!” Zame suddenly knocked the dagger out of his hand and took it. “You could hurt somebody with that.”

           “Zame,” he growled. Trint folded his arms against his chest and looked pointedly at me.

           “What?” she asked him innocently. After a few malicious glares from Trint, she finally sighed in defeat. “Alright, alright.” The relief I felt when Zame took the dagger from Trint was very short lived. The fear of dying came rushing back, crushing me even.

          “Finally.” Trint sounded relieved.

          I gripped my chair tightly. “Please don’t,” I whimpered. I didn’t really care who wanted to kill me. If it was going to happen, I’d rather them get it over with. The building anticipation was horrible and made me anxious.

“I’ll get rid of her, okay?” She held up her hands in a surrender. “Before I go back to the Human World. Happy?” She raised her eyebrows as she stared at Trint. He simply shook his head, feeling defeated.

            “Human World?” I asked incredulously, suddenly forgetting about my imminent death. “You have been there before?”

            I couldn’t believe it. The answer to my problems was standing right in front of me with cruel violet eyes.

           Zame turned to face me. Her harsh gaze met levelly with mine as she tilted her head to the side. “Yes,” she said carefully. “What’s it to you?”

           Both Zame and Trint were quiet as they stared at me. I swallowed. “Nothing. It’s just interesting.”

          “That didn’t sound like ‘nothing’.” Zame quoted me. She started to slowly approach me like a predator moving in on its prey. She suddenly narrowed her eyes as she studied me. “What do you know?”

         “What do you mean?” I asked.

         “About the Human World. You seemed very eager about it.”

         “No, I didn’t.”

         “Stop lying to me,” Zame said, suddenly pulling Trint’s dagger out and pressing it against my throat. “Why are you interested?”

         “I'm not!” I cried out, my eyes zooming in on the deadly dagger against my throat. It was getting hard to breathe. “It’s taboo!”

         Zame suddenly paused. She immediately removed the knife from my neck. She started to study the blade very carefully. She traced over the edge with her index finger.

         “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way,” she said slowly, emphasizing each word. Her eyes were still directed on the blade. “I’m very good at telling when someone is lying to me.”

         Zame slowly lifted her violet irises in my direction. “And right now sweetheart, you are trying my patience. Keep in mind that you are nothing to me. The only reason you are alive right now is because I thought you might be useful somehow. If that proves to be false, then, no harm done, right? I’ll do my job and kill you.” A sadistic grin formed on her face. “So I’m going to ask you one more time. Why are you interested in the Human World?”

         I swallowed, my brain frantically searching for an excuse that she would believe. My confidence in Zame holding me prisoner felt slimmer and slimmer. I didn’t doubt that she would actually kill me when the time came. If I wanted a chance to live, I would have to be honest with her. I didn’t have to tell her the whole truth, just enough for her to maybe let me live. Could her curiosity save my life? Or just anger her further? Time to find out.

        “I want to go there.”

        Both drow fell completely silent for a couple of seconds and then chaotically broke out into laughter. Trint covered his stomach as he bent over, trying to control his spasms of giggles.

        “Did you hear that?” Zame managed to say between bursts of laughter. “She wants to go to the Human World.”

        “Poor girl,” Trint said, slowly shaking his head. “You don’t actually expect us to believe that a prestigious high elf--”

         “Is telling the truth?” Zame interrupted. She threw me a smile. “I do actually.”

           Trint turned to face Zame, shock crossing his features. “You can’t be serious.”

            “My intuition never lies. One might suggest I inherited magi abilities from my mother,” she said sarcastically. Again that word made me cringe.

Magi elves were extremely rare and incredibly taboo. Any high elf, darkling, or wood elf caught practicing magic would suffer cruel punishments based on their race. I wasn’t sure what kinds of punishments wood elves had against the forbidden act, but for drow the punishment is death. As for my own kind, the punishment varied as King Darion saw fit. Solitary confinement and death were most common. These actions would seem pretty extreme to an outsider, but we have known from previous experience that magi elves were unparalleled with power.

In our history, elven armies were turned to dust from one single magi elf. The rest of the magi elves were feared and hated for the crimes one particular magi elf committed. From the stories I used to hear as a little girl, the most feared magi elf in our history was a drow, and his name was Muntor. Muntor would go on murderous rampages and wipe out entire villages at once. So many innocent families were murdered in cold blood. It was a horrible time in our history.

The story goes on about how Muntor fell in love with a young high elf. She alone had the power to stop him, for he would never harm such an innocent, fair lover of his. He refused to stop the killings when she would ask him, which ultimately led to his demise. The lone high elf shot a single arrow through his heart, finally ending Muntor’s reign. Muntor was too blind with love to even realize she could kill him. For this reason, many drow believe love is a weakness.

The monarchs of each race agreed that this kind of atrocity could not remain unchecked. A decree was sentenced that any evidence of magic would be forbidden. The monarchs of the time hunted the magi elves into extinction. These elves would be eliminated before they could reach their maximum potential in power, forever preventing this heinous act from repeating itself.

For Zame to joke around that she had magi abilities was astonishing. It made me extremely uncomfortable for a lot of reasons.

“Tell you what,” Zame started to say. “I’ll let you--”

Zame suddenly paused as she cocked her head to the side. She held out her hand, motioning for us to remain silent. Her eyes grew wide as she flew to my side. She pulled the dagger out once more, slashing through my ropes. I glanced at her in confusion. Why was she setting me free?

“Hide,” she hissed. She suddenly shoved me into the direction of her kitchen. A small door was nestled in the corner. I obeyed as I ran towards the door. I pulled it open and spotted a bed. A few more glances around the room told me that I was out of options for hiding. I quickly got on my hands and knees and crawled under the bed, holding my breath and listening to sounds in the next room.

“Who did you tell?” Zame whispered.

“No one! I swear,” Trint whispered back.

“Someone must have followed you then. I can hear them outside. It won’t be long before they bust down the--”

A loud crackling sound, similar to boulders smashing against each other, filled the room. I could hear a few grumbling voices in the distance, growing louder with each passing step. I also could hear the sound of footsteps in the next room pacing around frantically.

“Stop that,” Zame whispered. “Don’t look suspicious,” she said even lower. I covered my mouth with my hand, terrified that my breathing would give me away. Whoever was approaching wouldn’t stop to ask questions like Zame did if I was found. I would be killed, and I knew there was really no way around that. I wouldn’t doubt that the same fate would rest upon Trint and Zame for treason against their queen.

I heard two heavy footsteps enter the room next to mine. From the sounds of their heavy grunts and hefty breathing, they sounded male.

“Good evening,” Trint said politely. “What can we help you both with today?”

“Are you Zamyrla?” A deep voice asked, ignoring Trint’s greeting.

“Zame,” she corrected. “What do you want?”

It was silent before anyone answered her.

“Your home isn’t registered on our list. Do you know that?” A different voice, still male, asked.

“I’ll have to get right on that,” Zame said bitterly. “How did you find this place?”

“No need for inappropriate questions Zamyrla,” the voice neatly dodged. “We are here on behalf of Queen Zephyr.”

I suddenly felt something prickling on my skin. I quickly glanced down to my arm, seeing a huge, terrifying spider. Startled, I shook it off of me, hitting my head on bottom of the bed on accident. The noise was loud, and I bit my lip. Shh, my mind scolded me.

“What was that?” The first male asked.

“It’s just my stupid cat,” Zame answered, putting a lot of emphasis on the word ‘stupid’. I had a feeling that she was talking about me and not her cat. I didn’t think Zame even had a cat. It was quick thinking on her part.

“Mind if we check it out?”

I bit my lip, fear suddenly swelling up inside of me. I’m going to die. My pessimistic thoughts were not as unrealistic this time. Stupid spider.

“Not at all,” Zame said smoothly. I couldn’t detect any hint of distress in her voice. If she was nervous about those men discovering me, she didn’t show it.

I could hear the heavy footsteps getting closer and closer to the door. My heart was pounding too loud in my ear, and I felt certain that my pulse alone would give me away. I heard the doorknob slowly turn and then the jarring of the door as they pulled it open.

No sooner after they pulled the door open, a crazed black cat hissed and scratched one of the men. Zame wasn’t joking! She really did have a cat.

“Get it off of me!” he screamed. The cat continued hissing. “Crazy thing bit me!” The man stopped screaming so I assumed Zame pulled the cat away from him.

“I told you he was stupid,” Zame said. “He doesn’t like males. Except for Trint.”

“Keep that thing locked in that room,” he commanded as Zame sat the cat down on the floor, shutting the door behind her. I sighed, fresh relief filling my body. I was still alive.

“You wanted to go in there,” she pointed out, voice muted from the closed door.

“We are getting off topic,” the man said, obviously flustered and aggravated.

“Queen Zephyr has asked that we notify each household about a potential runaway high elf princess in Ohrog.”

My heart sank in my chest, and I froze. Oh no.

“Runaway princess?” I heard Trint ask incredulously. “As in, Princess Aurelia?”

“There’s only one high elf princess alive. Of course he means Princess Aurelia,” Zame said to Trint.

“She’s been missing for nearly two weeks now,” the male voice informed them. “A couple of wood elves had spotted her not too long ago.”

The hunters with the arrows. I suddenly remembered. They must have been wood elves.

“Is that so?” Zame mused.

“She’s the only living daughter of King Darion, which makes for a valuable price. If you see her, or know of her whereabouts, bring that information straight to the queen. Am I clear?”

“Transparently so,” Zame said. I could just imagine the smirk on her face. “Any descriptions, just so we know what to look for?”

“Tall, slender. Probably fair skinned. Light blonde hair with pink hues.”

“Thank you. We’ll keep an eye out for her,” Trint said politely.

“That is all, then. Have a good day.” I could hear his footsteps along with the other man’s grow more and more faint. Finally they disappeared altogether as they moved the boulder back over the entrance.

The door to my room suddenly opened. Zame bent down to grab my wrists as she pulled me out from under the bed.

“Well, well, well,” she started to say. She grinned as she cocked her head to the side. “You have a lot of explaining to do, Princess Aurelia.”

Reviews

[Daydreamer54]

Well now we know who the run-away is...I'm starting to like Zame. Must be her sadistic nature. XP

[Strigoikillerr]

haha totally! xD

[hippityhoppitybippitybo..]

Would you look at that. I'm still reading this. At this rate, I might actually end up going through the entire thing. Almost feels like I'm reading a book. Disregarding the few complaints I discussed in the previous chapter that are still prevalent here and a couple minor details, I found this to be an enjoyable read. The story's unfolding quite nicely, I'm curious to see what comes of the three. Well, maybe one of them is not so fascinating compared to the other two *cough*Trint*cough.* And I swear this chapter had a major Tell-Tale Heart vibe to it, excluding all of that insanity business. Good times.

[Strigoikillerr]

Edgar Allen Poe? Interesting. Well, thanks for reading and your review! :) & I'm not a big fan of Trint either. lol

[hippityhoppitybippityboppity]

Well you know, the pair of authority figures, being paranoid that her heartbeat would be loud enough to hear. That stuff.

[Strigoikillerr]

Ah, ok I see what you mean. I kind of want to reread that story now.

[InsanityWriter]

O[]O oh my gosh!!!!!! Awesome plot twist...

100,000/100

[Strigoikillerr]

awww haha thank you so much!! :D