The gift of Fae

The Dungeon

Curled up on the floor in the corner of this cold and dark concrete dungeon I eventually nod off to sleep out of exhaustion, only realizing that I had fallen asleep when the sounds of morning birds hit my ears. Opening my eyes I notice I can see a little bit more inside the cell I am in, not that there is much to see, four grey walls, uneven floor full of holes with wet spots of dark murky water. The door out of the cell has a large padlock on the outside of the bars out of my reach it seems. 

Standing up I wonder if any of the other people I caught a glimpse of last night would talk to me. Making my way to the door "Hello is anyone there?" I ask. I can hear some noises coming from up the corridor, someone must have heard me. "Mum?" I ask full of hope, but am met with no response at all, just some muffled noises of people moving around. 

About to give up on finding out anything from these people I turn away from the door when "Hello, I'm Gabriella what's your name?" comes from the cell next to mine in a quiet but sweet voice, I can make out a girls figure behind the bars on the side of my cell. 

Walking over to that side of the cell I sit down next to a young girl around my age that I can see quite clearly now, she has dark matted hair, torn, dirty and blood stained clothes. She seems kind and caring though and I can see lovely yellows, pinks and light blues radiating from her, as if she is both happy and sad but not fully committed to either feeling. As if she is lost within herself. 

"Hello, I'm Felicity, how long have you been down here?" I ask. 

"I'm not sure, it's all blurring together, maybe six months" Gabriella sighs with a look of defeat. 

Six months in this cell, surely not, that's just barbaric! What kind of place is this!?

"All that time down in this cell? How are you alive?" I inquisitively ask. 

"Oh during the day we are made to go down in the mines to dig for the Queen's precious jewels and if we co operate we get fed... You don't want to know what happens if we don't co operate" She replies and stares at the ground sadly. 

"Digging in mines? This place just got a whole lot stranger" I say, confusion on a whole other level setting in now. 

"Yeah the Queen is insane about her jewels, I've heard rumor that she believes they amplify her power, but I don't know if that's true" Gabriella tells me. "It wont be long now and her henchmen will be in to gather us up to take us down to work."

"This is really not what I thought would happen when me and my mum arrived her yesterday, I thought we would be protected here from the werewolves... But obviously not.. Did you see an older woman come down here yesterday before me?" I ask.

"Protection? From Queen Liana, whoever told you that would be the case obviously hasn't been a part of this community for a very long time, it's been this way for as long as I can remember... And no there wasn't anyone else brought down here other than you yesterday, sorry" Gabriella responded in her sweet comforting voice. 

What has this evil Queen done with my mum. Then it hit me, the bounty. The Queen has sent my mum back to the Edon pack... Where she will no doubt be executed.. I'm not hit with panic though, this is different, I feel determined. 

I MUST find a way out of here and save my mum. 

"We need to leave this place Gabriella, do you know of any way to escape or has anyone escaped this dungeon before?" I ask full of hope. 

"I've never known anyone to escape, I've seen a few who have tried, and they paid for their attempts dearly, with their lives... The Queen is cold hearted and she will not give it a second thought to end a fairies life if they have displeased her" Gabriella heavy heartedly explains to me. 

Shattering the determination I had just built up for escaping this place. 

"What about while down in the mines? Is there a way out of there?" My hope beginning to climb back up with that thought.

"You can see for yourself soon" Gabriella quickly responds while standing to her feet and scurrying to the front of her cell, arms out stretched in front of her and hands held together. What on earth is she doing? 

Then I hear the large door to the dungeon down the hall open and several footsteps can be heard, there must be a few henchmen that come...

Gabriella looks over to me and gives me a nod and shakes her hands at me, to indicate I should do what she is doing if I know what is good for me. I decide to copy her actions and ready myself at the door of my cell for whatever is going to come next. 

About 10 large men walk in and one walks right up to my cell, while my heart is racing and I am scared out of my mind, I am forced to notice this big rugged man is hot as hell.  Dark slick back short hair, piercing green eyes, five o'clock shadow on his chiseled jaw line, tight black modern day armor so all of his muscles can be seen.. This strange feeling of excitement shoots through me, I need to remind myself of the situation I am in and that this man, no matter how sexy, is most likely not going to be my savior.

I am pretty sure this man can sense my arousal by his appearance, as he lands his green eyes on mine with a smirk and a hum of approval comes from him. I look away.. 

He unlocks the padlock and opens the door, I just stand there frozen, unsure what I am supposed to do, I forgot to pay attention to Gabriella while she was taken because I was too focused on the god like man in front of me.. Ugh female hormones why now?

He steps into my cell and I all of a sudden realize we are all alone, everyone else from the other cells seem to be gone and there is silence...

I revert my eyes back to his, which he seems to approve of with another hum. 

"The Queen has sent me as your keeper, you will be put to work in the mines because you are a half breed and the Queen doesn't want your filthy blood in our community" he says in a cocky tone of authority. while grabbing a piece of rope from his back pocket and wrapping it around my wrists. 

Wasn't until this moment I realized I haven't actually moved from the same position Gabriella was in. I don't know if I should say anything or just keep silent. I choose to stay silent, that way I can't get in trouble...Yet.. 

Turning his back to me, this man tugs on the rope and I follow, just before we reach the door out of the dungeon, he turns to me, places his hand under my chin firmly and lifts my head to meet his eyes once again and says "you will do well to continue to be a good girl, although you might like my punishment" with a wink he lets go of my chin and looks up and down my body with yet another hum of approval. 

Holy f**k I feel my cheeks going red and my body being turned on by this man. All of a sudden I'm thinking maybe I should get into just a little bit of trouble, what is wrong with me?

I need to focus on getting out of here and finding my mum, not getting it on with my 'keeper' whatever that is. But then my eyes can't help but be directed to his perfectly sculpted behind as he walks me out of the dungeon and out the back of the palace where I can see a large group of people, at least forty other people being led out to the mines.