Whispers of the Ancient Tree

The Captive

"Found her! Let's get her out of here, quick, before any of the locals spot us," she said coldly, waving her hand dismissively, as if to signal that there was no need to stand on ceremony.

I froze, realising the dire straits I was in. I found myself in a strange world, barely clothed, barefoot and hungry; night was falling, and I was in the clutches of some burly man. And it was hardly likely that these were decent people who wanted to feed and warm me. Well, perhaps I didn't put up a fight for the first couple of seconds, whilst I was processing the information in my mind, but that was because my brain refused to truly believe what was happening. And then – I saw her holding my shard. She'd pulled it out after all, the viper! She's looking at it, squinting, muttering something about integrity, about discharging, about how "it's useless now."

"There's the beacon," I thought. Of course, the shard turned out to be more than just a mirror. Whilst I was realising this, and the woman was distracted, the man decided to have a bit of fun.

He decided to take more aggressive action. The man, whose breath didn't exactly smell fresh, started groping me brazenly. His hand slid down my back, confidently and in the most brazen manner, and began to stroke my bottom intensely, whilst the face of this bristly bastard grinned smugly at my displeasure. I tried to break free, to step on his foot, but he gripped me even tighter. It started to hurt in my ribs, so I stopped resisting. His hand on my bottom, however, began to pinch and stroke me even more roughly.

"You're dressed far too provocatively," he muttered, meeting my indignant gaze. Burying his nose in my hair, he added: "Those trousers... they cling to your private parts, sparking some very pleasant, naughty thoughts. You're so sweet, little girl, so defenceless and accessible right now..."

I flinched, but it didn't help; if anything, it made things worse. That bastard pinched my bottom hard again and pulled me towards him. At the same time, he breathed heavily into my hair and suddenly lowered his head so that his face was right in front of mine.

His eyes burned with malicious anticipation and lust; he pulled me even closer, wrapped us both in his cloak, and with his other hand gripped the back of my neck firmly, trying to kiss me, pressing his lips against mine. I was held so tightly that I couldn't even move. But my legs were still free, and I kicked him in the shin. The man growled and licked my cheek, but didn't let go. How disgusting! His hands clamped down on me even tighter, like a trap. He pinched me again, harder this time – I'm sure it'll leave a bruise!

I wanted to scream, to call for help, until he silenced me again. I opened my mouth to yell that there was a fire, otherwise no one would respond to the screams—everyone knows that. But then his companion unexpectedly saved the situation.

The woman turned to us and quietly hissed at her partner: "Leave that girl alone, she wasn't promised to you!"

And he winced, reluctantly pulling away from me. Surprisingly, the man immediately assumed a neutral expression, and a glimmer of curiosity even flickered in his dull gray eyes as he looked at that very castle. As if he, too, had come to admire the beauty. As if he hadn't just committed vile acts against a young, unknown girl.

"What's going on?" I shouted. "Leave me alone immediately, or my husband will destroy you!"

His partner came over and scrutinised me from head to toe. As she looked at me, weighing things up in her mind, she seemed to be viewing me not so much as a person but as an object. I looked her over in return. No one was in any hurry to reply to me.

"Who are you and what do you want? I've got no money, there's nothing to steal," I decided to strike up a conversation with her, just in case, as there was no point in running away.

She didn't reply, but narrowed her eyes, raised her hand and, before I realised what she was up to and had a chance to flinch, her palm touched my forehead.

"Sleep," she said.

And I... obeyed. Everything before my eyes faded into a grey mist, as if someone had forcibly closed my eyelids. The last thing I managed to think about was the irony of fate. Perhaps next time I'll wake up in yet another new world?

☆─── ✦ ───☆

My consciousness returned slowly, as if through a thick, impenetrable mass of water. I could feel my own body, but it felt like someone else's: every movement took effort, my muscles trembled, and even opening my eyes was no easy task. At first, I sensed a heavy, oppressive darkness. It seemed muffled and dense, as if the whole world were hidden inside a sack.

A few seconds later, I felt a chill. It crept under my skin, clung to my spine and made my teeth chatter softly. I strained my eyes even harder, and yet still managed to open them.

The first thing I saw was thick, silvery-coloured bars! Rough, metallic, with a dull patina of rust. They were as thick as a wrist and ran from floor to ceiling. The floor and ceiling themselves turned out to be made of cold stone, and were also slightly damp and covered in brown stains. They smelled of mould and something musty, something rotten.

Marvellous, simply marvellous! What's going on this time!? I stirred and immediately felt a weight around my neck. I felt around with my fingers and found a metal collar: smooth, cool to the touch, with no locks or fastenings. Right, stay calm, don't panic—even if I can't manage to take it off, there must be an explanation for all this. Maybe I need it for protection? I need to get my wits about me first. And I'd have thought about masochists and perverts, that I'd stumbled straight into a room full of adult games, but... I realised I was feeling an unnatural lethargy, and clearly this collar has some kind of suppressing effect.