The Dragon Kings Witch

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

We finally reached the lower level of the mountain. I was sure I was going to have a bruise on my abdomen by the time he put me down. I heard a scanner of some sort before a door slid open. I whipped my head up at the sound of birds chirping.

Oh my God, are we outside?

There was no way I could possibly get this lucky. When the man holding me finally set me down, I almost burst with excitement when my butt landed on soft grass. My dreams of freedom were effectively squashed when I noticed that this place had the appearance of being outside, but the entire area was covered in a huge glass dome.

“Alright, should we get started?” One of the guards asked. I hoped he wasn’t waiting for a response from me, even if I did respond it wouldn’t be kind. The chains around my feet were suddenly slack and I was able to kick them away, as two of the guards helped me to my feet. One went to work cutting through the thick ropes, but no one moved to uncuff me.

The intimidating man from the throne room approached me with something in his hands. I felt my body immediately tense, my mind wandering to the worst case scenario. When he held it up in front of me, I frowned at the beautiful necklace. What the hell is happening? Is this the Twilight Zone? The necklace itself was beautiful and obviously very expensive. The chain was a sterling silver that glinted in the faux sunlight, at the end was a heart shaped amethyst stone with black diamonds outlining the amethyst. As he brought it closer to me, I could feel a powerful magic emanating from it. I tried to take a step back but the guards held me firm. He clasped the jewelry around my neck and it instantly shrank to become a fitted choker. I stretched my neck, uncomfortable at having what was essentially a diamond noose around my neck. I wasn’t big on jewelry anyway, the most I wore was a gold band on my thumb, and that is only because it was a gift from a dear friend.

The power radiating from the necklace was almost overwhelming as it smothered me. I wanted it off! I was so overwhelmed by the necklace, I hadn’t noticed my cuffs come off. I immediately reached up to remove the damn thing from my neck, only to notice there is no clasp! It was now just a continuous chain. I began pulling on the chain hoping to break it, and maybe not strangle myself in the process.

Strong hands gripped mine and pulled them away from my neck. “You’re wasting your time and if you keep going you’re just going to hurt yourself.” Mr. Intimidating stated. I could feel the blood drain from my face as his words sank in. Won’t come off? No, no, no, no, no, no!!! I began pulling harder at the chain, desperate to get it off. I knew I would have some bruises from yanking it so hard, before Mr. Intimidating gripped my wrists hard.

“I said stop!” He growled at me. I glared at him with all the hate I could muster. “Don’t give me that look. I’ll remove it when we’re done.”

Huh? ‘When we’re done’? Does that mean he’ll remove it from my corpse, or is he actually implying that once he’s finished with me he’ll actually let me go?

“I can’t risk you running off before I’m done with you.” He tapped the heavy stone with his finger. “This has tracking magic in it, even if you run, I’ll easily be able to find you while you wear this.” My vision became spotty as what he said rang in my ears. Tracking magic? Last I’d heard dragons couldn’t wield that kind of magic. Did that mean that he has a witch in his ranks supplying him with these charms?

What have I just been thrown into? My mind was racing as all kinds of scenarios went through my head. Was this like a s*x dungeon kind of thing? Was he hunting witches for sport? Training? Each idea seemed just as improbable as the last.

I continued to glare at him as I wrenched my wrists out of his borderline painful grip and started rubbing my sore wrists. Looking down at them I could see that the cuffs had rubbed them a little raw, but nothing extreme.

“Now, let me explain the rules to you,” He waited until I looked up at him before he continued. “I’ve hidden something here of mine, I want you to find it.” My eyebrow arched at this strange demand. His lips twitched in what could only be described as a hint of a smirk. “You have two hours to find it, or you fail.”

“What happens if I fail?” I interrupted.

He narrowed his eyes at me, obviously not pleased that I cut him off. He cleared his throat before continuing. “You can use anything in this room that you need. We will be vacating the room once the task begins so you will be on your own for this.” He started walking to the glass wall of the dome, which now that I gave it a proper look, I realized it was a projection of the outside world. He tapped on the wall and a panel flipped over revealing what looked to be an intercom. “If you find what I’ve hidden, hit this button and I will personally come and verify that you’ve found the correct item.” Pointing upwards towards the makeshift sky, a digital clock displayed a timer of 02:00. “We’ve put a timer up in the sky so you know how much time you have left. Good luck.”

He turned and started heading for the exit. “Wait!” I shouted. He paused and turned to look at me. “Aren’t you going to tell me what I’m looking for? Or at least the size, shape or color of this object? Anything?” His cheek twitched in another barely there smirk, before turning his back to me and exiting with his lackeys in tow. The sound of the door shutting was deafening. To me, it sounded like the guillotine coming down on my head.

Standing there, stunned stupid, my mind went blank. I suddenly couldn’t remember anything, not even my own name. It was like my brain was trying to work overtime, got stressed, and decided to shut down. Shaking my head to clear it, I began looking around the….greenhouse? Yeah, we’ll go with that. The greenhouse was absolutely ginormous. I’d guess it’s close to three acres big. There were trees, shrubbery, flowers and even some wildlife roaming around. I had no idea what this mysterious object was that I should be looking for. It could be anything. A rock, an animal, a plant, who the hell knows. Well I’m not going to find it just standing around. Glancing up at the timer and watching the seconds tick by filled me with a feeling of dread. Who knew what was going to happen to me should I fail this test! Granted, I wasn’t totally convinced that finding this mysterious item would be anymore beneficial. Feeling the weight of the amethyst on my neck was enough to have me pooling all of my magic, concentrating it all in my core. Before sending it out in a thin layer over the entire area. It gave me a general idea of what was around. I could see all the trees, boulders, even the small stream connecting to a pond that was about two acres away from me.

As great as this was, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Everything looked like it would be out in the wilderness. Since I didn’t know what I was looking for I spent longer than I’d have liked getting the feel of the land. Looking for anything that held even a faint feeling of magic. Assuming that this thing was in fact Mr. Intimidating’s item it should hold his magical signature on it. Sounded great in theory, but I wasn’t detecting any magical signature besides my own.

If it wasn’t above ground, whatever this item was, maybe it was underground. Bringing my magic back to me, I stretched my neck muscles, and kneeled down placing my hand on the grass. With all the magic I could muster, I sent it flowing into the ground to spread out across the area. Using Earth magic was a bit trickier, it had many more obstacles it had to push through. Taking up more energy to cover the entire place. I also sent it down as deep as I could manage. I figured if this ass wipe was willing to dig to bury an item for me to find, it was very unlikely he’d place it in a shallow hole.

I wasn’t getting a lot of feedback and nothing with a magical hint to it. I was about to pull my magic back and take to the air to see if I could find anything that might give me a clue as to where this thing was. Just as I was about to call my magic back to me, I felt something. Pushing my magic further I found the slightest hint of a magical disturbance in the ground. Releasing my hold on my magic, I bolted for the direction I felt the magic come from.

In no time I found myself standing at the pond. The air smelled damp, like just after the first autumn rain after an excruciatingly hot summer. The sound of the water was calming, and I allowed myself to take a moment to admire the simple beauty of the moment. Taking a deep breath I once again forced my magic into the ground, concentrating all of the energy within a one hundred fifty foot radius around the pond. The magic didn’t have to go far before it hit something. Opening my eyes I glanced in the direction I felt the object.

Of freaking course it’d be there.

The damn thing, whatever the hell it was, was buried under muck at the bottom of the damn pond. I grumbled low under my breath, as I looked around for something, anything I could use to maybe get the thing out from under there. The water was murky and filled with gunk. I didn’t want to go in there if I could avoid it. I tried a few branches but none were long enough to reach the center.

I plopped my butt down on the grass as I glared all of my frustration and anger and annoyance at the stupid pond. I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my forehead atop them. I didn’t really have many options left. Time was running out. Glancing up at the clock in the sky I saw I’d already wasted over an hour looking for the item. I could go into the pond and retrieve the thing, but I didn’t want to crawl through all that crap. On the other hand, if I failed this test, who knows what would happen to me. Carefully weighing my options, I kicked off my boots and socks, shrugged out of my jacket, and removed my shirt, leaving me in my jeans and a sports bra. I didn’t care. There was no one around anyway.

I stepped into the murky water, relieved it wasn’t overly deep. My foot sank into the mud at the bottom of the pond, but I pushed on, until I’d reached the middle of the pond, the water here was a bit deeper. It almost came up to my waist, and I didn’t think I’d be able to find the item by just feeling around for it. Granted the water was so gross I doubted I’d be able to even see my hand in front of my face underwater.

Resigning myself to getting drenched in the dirty water. I took a deep breath and dove under the water, and started digging. I was suddenly thankful for all the time I spent swimming as a child. It allowed me to hold my breath longer than the average person. I kept digging but wasn’t finding anything. Only mud, twigs, grass, and was this a freaking shoe? Returning to the surface I saw that, yes, this was, in fact, a shoe. I pitied the poor fool that lost this in the water. I threw it onto the bank near the pond and resubmerged, painfully aware of the time limit. I started digging a wider hole, hoping to feel anything that didn’t feel like it belonged there. But again, I felt nothing. I opened my eyes and was shocked to see how clear the water was. I’d expected it to be gross, but it looked amazingly clear, the light from above even shined down through the water, which helped me find something shiny in the mud. I grabbed it and pushed off the bottom and came back to the surface.

I huffed my way back to the bank, and pulled myself up, and laid on the grass, taking a moment to catch my breath. I raised my hand to look at what this item was. I sat up and used the water from the pond to clean it off. It was long, skinny, and gold.

What the f**k is this thing? I wondered.

When I finally had all the mud rinsed off, I finally got a good look at this thing. Turning it over in my hands I saw it was a hairpin. Ornately decorated in a beautiful array of purple flowers. I used my magic to check for a magical signature on the hairpin, and was relieved to find it.

Yes! I quickly pulled my socks and shoes back on, and threw my shirt over my head, opting to just carry my jacket instead. I ran as fast as I could back to the starting point, and slammed my hand on the intercom, just a second before the timer clicked to 0:00. I fell to my knees trying to catch my breath, from both the swim and the sprint.

I’m taking a long hot bath after this, and having a strong drink.

I heard the door open and turned my head to see Mr. Intimidating enter the greenhouse. He had four guards flanking him. Two on each side. He approached me with a slow swagger that irritated me to no end. He stopped about a foot away from me and held his hand out expectantly. I slapped the stick in his hand, and forced myself to stand. On my feet he already towered over my 5’7 frame. My head barely reached his chest. I’d never felt particularly short but looking at this mountain of a man, I suddenly felt two feet tall.

I watched his face as he inspected the hairpin, looking for any sign at all that this was the item he wanted me to find. After a minute he nodded his head once, and looked at me with obvious surprise in his eyes. “Well done.” I took that as an affirmation that this was what he had hidden for me to find. I continued to glare at him, and pointed impatiently to the collar on my neck. Waiting for him to remove the damn thing.

He turned to one of his men and handed them the hairpin. “Show her to her room.” My stomach and heart both hit the floor. I was sure I’d misheard him even as his goons nodded to him and reached out to take my arms. I dogged them and grabbed the liar's arm, causing him to pause.

“Wait just a minute. That wasn’t the deal. I found your stupid hairstick! I stuck to my end of our bargain, now it’s your turn. Take. It. Off.” I could swear there was amusement dancing in his eyes. I could only imagine what I looked like, covered in mud and soaking wet. To him, I probably looked like a drowned puppy. Hardly intimidating.

“If you recall,” He stated “I said I’d take it off when we were done. We’re not done yet.” I opened my mouth to counter him when he held up a hand silencing me. “Go to your room and get dried off. Rest. I’ll call upon you later.”

With that he shrugged me off and walked away. I was too stunned to do anything other than gape at him like a fish out of water. My mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to think if I’ve ever heard of a spell that could remove enchanted jewelry, but nothing came to mind. He’s got me. Worse of all, he knows it too.

I felt a large hand land on my shoulder and turned to find the dragon with the black hair and green eyes looking down at me with something akin to pity. The last thing I wanted was this minions' pity.

“If you’d be so kind as to follow me. I’ll show you to your room.” I sighed and picked my jacket up off the ground from where I’d dropped it chasing after the liar. Swinging it over my arm I gestured for him to lead the way. I just hoped the “room” they were taking me to had a bed. I was exhausted. Not just from using my magic near constantly for the past two hours, but from the abduction, the stress, and the swim. I wanted nothing more in that moment than to lie down. Just for a minute. I’d focus on my escape after a quick power nap. For now, I followed the two dark haired dragons, while the other two fell in step behind me, effectively trapping me without even touching me. The dragons were wide enough I’d never be able to bolt past them, and even if I could, I just didn’t have the energy.

I followed Goone One up three flights of stairs. Has no one here heard of a freaking elevator, come on! My legs were starting to feel like jelly. It wasn’t just that I was already tired and climbing a never ending flight of stairs, but the steps were slightly taller than average steps, I had to focus a lot of my attention into not tripping and face planting into the next step. When we finally came up to a doorway with the number “4” carved into the stone wall along with some gibberish written under it, I almost sagged in relief when Goone One opened it..

We continued down the long barren hallway, before stopping at a huge set of double doors. Do dragons even use doors? I thought they could flash to wherever they wanted to be. And more than that, why not design doors fit for their human forms? I had so many questions but didn’t dare voice them. Goone One opened the double doors and stepped inside. “This is where you’ll be staying.” He gestured me inside with a hand on my lower back urging me forward. When I stepped into the room my jaw dropped. This wasn’t a room, this might as well have been a small apartment. To my right, was the living area. Lavishly decorated in deep purple and black color patterns. The room had a kind of victorian goth feel to it. The curtains partially obscuring another set of double doors were a black purple color while the curtain behind the main one was a light lavender color. The couch was black but embroidered with purple, and the coffee table was a beautiful lacquer of black, white, purple, blue and yellow creating an amazing galaxy effect on the table.

To the left was a small but elegant kitchen. My brows furrowed in a frown. I started to wonder if they left any sharp utensils in there. You know, for cooking. The countertops and stove were black, as well as the appliances, but the cabinets were a deep purple color. Facing forward, I saw a short hallway and assumed that was where I’d find a bedroom and a bathroom.

“You’ll find a change of clothes for you in the closet. Please leave your clothes outside the door and I’ll see to it that they’re washed. Rest for a while and I’ll send up some food in a couple hours.” The green eyed dragon stated, before turning on his heel towards the door. He paused once the three others had left. Turning to me he said “Please don't do anything stupid. I’d hate to have to give you a less desirable room during your stay.” With that, he left, closing the door softly behind him.

Once the door shut I hung my head in my hands. I heaved a large sigh, before once again glancing around the room. It was a very nice and lavish room, but all the same, I wasn’t about to get too comfortable. If I got my way I wouldn’t be here for long. I turned on my heel and made my way down the short hallway, and opened the first door on my left which was the bedroom. When I stepped into the room, my jaw dropped. There was an Alaskan King sized bed with dark purple sheets and a black and purple duvet. On either side of the bed were some black nightstands with lamps on both and two remote controls on the right hand side nightstand.

I turned and took a look at the rest of the room, there was a small unlit fireplace on the far side of the room, ornately carved into the mountain. There were a couple of lounge chairs placed in front of the fireplace, both purple. Okay, seriously? What the hell is up with all the purple? Don't get me wrong, I loved purple as much as the next girl, but this was a bit much. To the left of the fireplace was a door that looked suspiciously like a closet door. Opening it up, I indeed did find clothes within. It looked like there was an outfit for every type of occasion. There were simple T shirts, blouses, shawls, scarves, sweaters, and cardigans, and even a couple ballgowns lining one side. While on the other side held jeans, shorts, leggings, sweats and a couple pajama sets. On the back wall there was a huge shoe rack that lined the wall and every single inch of space was covered in shoes, neatly lined up in rows. Heels, boots, sneakers, converse, and everything in between was here.

This was beginning to feel more like a dream than reality. I went to the right first to grab a new shirt, before turning around and grabbing a pair of black leggings. As I looked down at the clothes I picked, I noticed some drawers. Crouching down I pulled one open and found a bunch of underwear in there, tags still on. I could feel my face flush slightly as I grabbed the first pair of panties my hands touched, and quickly shut the drawer. I pulled open the one beside it and found a line of sports bras. I quickly grabbed one and shut the drawer.

I left the closet door open as I made my way to the only other door in the room. Pushing the door open, the lights flickered on inside and once again my jaw hit the floor. The bathroom was huge! To the left was a double vanity sink laid in the most beautiful black top, the bowls of the sinks were both purple, shocker, and the faucet and handles were black. The mirror was easily six feet across and went all the way up to the ceiling. The sides of the mirror were built in with LED lights, giving the impression of luxury.

Turning around there was a huge walk in shower that could easily fit three people and still have room to spare. There were two shower heads, one on each side, in a his and hers fashion. On the ceiling was a rainfall shower head. The walls were lined in black tiles and there were more knobs than I’d ever seen in a shower before. I looked to my right to the far end of the bathroom and saw the most beautiful and more importantly huge clawfoot bathtub.

I’m in love! I thought to myself. I tossed the clothes in my arms on a chair sitting beside the bathtub and immediately began drawing a bath. Looking behind the door there was a linen closet with plenty of white fluffy extra large towels. I grabbed two and just as I was about to close the closet door, something on the lower level caught my eye. Bending down, I saw different shampoos, conditioners, bath salts, bath bombs, and loofahs.

I grabbed a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner and a lavender bath bomb, and shut the door. I hung the towels on the rack behind the tub and began to undress. I kicked off my shoes and socks and was about to take my shirt off when two thoughts occurred to me. One, I need to shut the door and lock it, thank god they had a lock on the bathroom door. And two, I had no clue if the clothes I’d picked were going to fit. I quickly checked the sizes and arched a brow to see they were all my size. Weird. I thought, but I was too tired to think too much into it.

I quickly finished undressing and sank my sore body into the amazing bathtub. I let out an embarrassing moan at how amazing the hot water felt on my aching body. The bath bomb had dissolved, filling the room with the soothing smell of lavender. I quickly washed all the dirt from my body and washed my hair. Once that was done I laid my head back and shut my eyes, enjoying the luxury of being in a bathtub that covered my knees and t**s at the same time. I have no idea how long I stayed in there for, and I must have dozed off. When I opened my eyes the bath water was cold and my hands were gross and wrinkly. I sat up and drained the tub, grabbing one of the towels I stood and climbed out of the tub, quickly drying off and getting dressed. Remembering what that dragon had told me about getting my clothes washed I gathered up my now heavily wrinkled outfit and went to the front door. I hesitated for a moment wondering if I was locked in here.

I turned the knob and was surprised when it opened. Awfully trusting. Touching my neck I felt the weight of the collar there and sighed. Of course they weren’t worried about me running. They’d find me easily. Shaking my head to clear these negative thoughts, I placed my clothes on the ground before slinking back into my room and closing the door. I was just about to go back to the bedroom to lie down properly when I noticed something sitting on the round dining room table. I lifted the lid off the tray and found a BLT sandwich, fresh fruit and a glass of what looked like wine. I sniffed the drink and got the distinct smell of alcohol. I scrunched my nose up at the drink but gratefully scarfed the food down in no time. I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was, but when I thought about it, it had been a couple of days since I’d eaten a full meal, so it made sense. Placing the lid back on the tray I opened the front door and set it down beside my clothes, and went back inside. Going into the bedroom, I looked at the clock on the nightstand and saw it was close to four in the afternoon. I didn’t have anything akin to a sleep schedule, thanks to being an insomniac, so the thought of napping properly this late in the day didn’t phase me in the slightest. Sitting on the bed, I let out a loud groan.

The bed was insanely soft. I imagined this is what sleeping on a cloud felt like. I took the remotes off the nightstand and hit a couple buttons on the smaller one and found that was the remote to the fireplace. I shut it off and set it aside. I began pushing buttons on the bigger remote just to see what it did, and after hitting a bigger button towards the top a huge flat screen appeared from inside the chest at the foot of the bed, and turned on.

Talk about opulence. I could never dream of owning something so luxurious. I scowled a bit at the thought before quickly channel scrolling. I found a murder show and lowered the volume to a soft background noise. I was about to crawl under the covers when a thought occurred to me. Climbing off the bed, I made my way toward the far end of the room, to where the curtains were hung, and opened them. To my surprise, it was a stone wall they were covering. Shaking my head in confusion I went back to the bed and climbed under the covers. The pillow was soft, cool and amazingly comfortable. In no time, I drifted off to sleep.