Page 8 of Royal Captive
The heavens opened up, but it wasn’t rain. Large chunks of hail pelted noisily off the metal top of our prison wagon. The wind shifted and it came at us sideways. Those on the left side of the wagon cried out with pain and tried to push inwards. The horses shrieked and the drivers of the carriage cursed.
We huddled closer in the cage, trying to stay away from the edges and the sharp bits of ice, but just as soon as it began, it stopped. The wind died down, the sky cleared, and the pinkish sunlight crept back over the horizon as if the terrible weather had never happened.
Was fae weather always like this? It was as ever changing as my mood.
Hours went by, and thankfully no more severe weather dogged our wheel tracks.
We trundled down the road and as I contemplated stealing a nap, a manor rose in the distance. After crossing through alarge gate, the cart came to a stop, everyone getting to their feet and staring. I turned, only to be greeted with a large manor that looked as wide as the king’s palace had been, if not as tall or ornate. The stone had an orange hue, glittering with bits of gemstone dust where the sun struck it. An ornate fountain threw water up a hundred feet into the air, only for it to crash down artfully in a marble trough to be collected and thrown up again in an endless cycle. It was completely unnecessary and yet I couldn’t stop staring at it.
“New shipment! Present yourselves!”
I jerked as a single fae approached the cart. I tried to take comfort from the fact that none of them appeared to be heavily armed, but the fae didn’t need to be armed to be deadly, did they?
Everyone in the cart stood slowly as a fae with ash brown hair to his shoulders flung open the cage and stood back, hands on his hips.
The other men and women with us didn’t seem to be in any hurry to greet these new fae. I could tell they were all glancing at Ellis and I to see what we would do.
“Come on now. Let’s go. Don’t you want something to eat?” The first fae gestured with his arm over his head in the universal sign that meant ‘follow me.’
“Seems like a trap,” Anne muttered next to me, but her hands clutched her stomach desperately.
I elbowed Ellis and walked out of the cage. “Come on.”
The brown-haired fae looked delighted, shooting me a smile with his fangs. I shook off the shudder that ran through me.
“That’s it. All the new ones are always shy. You’d think we bite or something!” The brown-haired fae laughed at his own joke as I hopped down from the cage and onto grass that was more of a blue tone than green. Ellis was right behind me, and Anne poked her head out from the wagon.
“Did you say food?” she asked pathetically.
The brown-haired fae gave us a winning grin. I just wished it didn’t have so much fang involved. “Of course we have food! More than enough for all of you, since the new humans are always hungry.” He frowned a bit at this, then shook his head. “Where are my manners? I’m Rolf. I’ll be helping to get all of you settled and sorted at the manor.”
His voice was business-like: firm, but light. One by one, each of us exited the wagon until we stood in front of him, blinking in the odd sun like a bunch of frightened school children.
“Follow me. Welcome to the Laurel Manor.” He strode off toward the side of the manor, and I supposed he expected us to follow him. Ellis took my arm and off we went, the others following behind at a more sedate pace. The manor was large, so simply going ‘around the back’ would take us a while. I used the opportunity to gawk more.
The manor itself wasn’t the only thing to look at; there were flowers and gardens and long hedges and fruit trees every which way I looked, all precisely and meticulously manicured and maintained. Even as we walked, there were other humans tending to these plants, either trimming or cutting, or watering. All of them looked hale and healthy, though no one smiled or greeted us.
They simply looked busy.
Rounding the side of the manor took us under an elaborate trellis of vines and roses that stretched over our heads and pointed out the path ahead to the back of the manor. Thorns enclosed us on either side as we walked, but the tension was short-lived as we spilled out onto an open, vast lawn upon which a large tent was spread. And under that tent?
Oh, the food!
Chicken, fish, ham, pork … it was all there, laid out with sweet glazes covering the top, spices and sprigs of thyme androsemary, and complemented by platters of cheeses, breads, and vegetables and fruits that I’d never seen before and didn’t have names for.
The others didn’t need to wait to take their cues from Ellis or me this time. They raced forward, nearly knocking the pair of us over in their haste to reach the food. My lips parted in protest, but I closed them. What was the point? They were just as hungry as I was, perhaps even more so, since I knew Ellis ensured I always had something to eat while we’d been at the castle, even if I wasn’t hungry.
Without waiting for another word from our self-appointed guide, the humans dug in, no shame at all as they snatched and grabbed with their bare hands, stuffing it all right down their gullets.
I winced and shot a glance at Ellis, who was staring at his people with a hint of sadness in his eyes. The brown-haired fae paused by us, one eyebrow raised.
“You said the new humans are always like this. How often do you get new humans?” I asked him.
The fae’s other eyebrow rose. “Rarely. Only during the games, really. We breed most of our own, but it’s good to freshen the stock now and then.” He gave the feasting group a wistful look. “This might be the last group for a while until the barrier gets repaired.”
Ellis nodded toward the food. “Better get something to eat before it’s all gone,” he muttered darkly.
My irritation with him blossomed into fully fledged anger. He betrayed me with Viana, kept secrets, ignored me, then tried to act like an overbearing mother?
