His future mate

6 Where am I

Nahla

  I woke up with the biggest headache of all time. I tried to open my eyes but immediately closed them again. There was this blinding light that blinded me and was making my headache worse. I tried again, blinking fast against the light. When I wasn’t blinded anymore I saw I was laying in a cage. I slowly sat up cautious to not make my head hurt more than it already does. That is what you get when you drink so much whiskey, I thought by myself. 

  The cage I was in was moving. Pulled forward by horses. Two men sat outside the cage, their back to me. I had no idea how I got here. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Alex had pushed me. I could vaguely remember the fight but he had pushed me and after that everything went black. And now I was here.

  Alex could push people to other places. He had probably pushed me to a place I shouldn’t be, and these people had found me. And now they were bringing me somewhere.

  It wasn’t Alex’s fault though. He never had control over his pushes when he was angry, upset, sad, or any other negative emotion. He was angry then. So when he pushed me behind him, he had accidentally pushed me here.

  “Where are we going?” I asked with a hoarse voice.

  “Good your awake. Well, you were in the swamp. You know no one is allowed there. So we are bringing you to where every person goes who breaks the rules.” He said in a duh voice. At least he spoke in the same language as me. That means I’m still in Walten.

  The swamp, I wonder what that means. Unless Alex pushed me into the past. I heart stories from the older members of my family. They called it the deadly swamp. It was a forbidden place. Nobody was allowed in there. Maybe Alex could push people in time and space. That would be a disaster though. If that was the case I would be going to a horrible place probably. Over the years there were different punishments for going to the swamp. 

  One was to the arena. That was the oldest and most horrible one. Barely anyone survived that. You had to fight monsters or other prisoners. You had to fight and win until the high families thought you had given them enough entertainment for the crime you had done. And going to the swamp mend that that would never happen. Nothing could compensate that crime.

  Then there was prison. For the rest of your life. Or you would be a slave. Serve the high in whatever they needed. Or there was beheading. No matter what, it would be horrible.

  “Do you mean the deadly swamp?” Please say no. Please, just say no.

  “Yes, that one.” Oh boy. Not good. Now it’s only hoping my punishment isn't that bad. Although it all sounds bad. I was really in the past. And Alex had pushed me to the most horrible spot possible. I have to find out how to get back. And not die before that. Probably an impossible task.

  We suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere. Everywhere you looked were grass fields. The guards jumped to the ground. The horses started to graze the grass. One of the men threw some bread and a bottle of water.

  “Here eat up.” He said. I grabbed it and first took some water. The bread was hard and dry. Disgusting but all I had right now. And probably for a while also. Seeing the situation is was in right now. So I ate it all. And then I drank the bottle empty. I started to listen to the guards then.

  “I heart commander Leon Mooren found his mate in Tracy Willard. I hope with that he doesn’t let us fall. He is the best commander we have ever head.” So I was in the time my great grandfather had met my great grandmother. The arena time. Not good.

  “Yeah, hope that too. The rest just doesn’t know how to lead.” 

  “Yeah, I agree. He can take a couple of days to get to know her. Everyone would get that. It is normal if he would do that. As long as he doesn’t let us fall.”

  “I heart Cathan restless this morning. Juniper probably walked away again.”

  “That girl just doesn’t know how good her life is. I don’t get why she wants those adventures of hers.” I know Juniper is the sister of Cathan. 

  “And he always follows her. He should let her have her adventures. At some point she will learn, you would think. And then she would come back with the thought of never doing it again.”

  “I totally agree with you.” I didn’t know men could gossip too. But I guess they need to talk about things too. I also didn’t know Juniper liked adventures in her young years. I had seen her a couple of times on parties or lunches at my family's place. She was always the perfect lady. I would have never thought she had a wild side.

  They said grandad Leon was here right. Yes, maybe he could help me. He could also push people thru time. But he just met grandma Tracy. After they met they were on a trip of two months. I had to survive in the arena for two months before I could speak to him. That if I could find a way to speak to someone at all. But there was hope. Kind of.

  The guards were on the cage again and we started moving again. Just then I started looking at myself. I was dirty. My beautiful green dress was smudged with mud. But it was only the underside of my dress. I had presumably laid half in the swamp. The rest on solid ground.

  After some time I saw a big building coming into sight. My headache subsided into something bearable. The food and water had done it I think. I held the iron bars and pushed my head as far between them as possible, to get a better look at the impressive building. 

  The Arena, I thought by myself. It was much bigger and scarier as I had imagined from the stories I had heard about it. It was made from black stones. Tall and imposing. We came to a stop in front of it and an older lady came out to greet us. She rushed to open my cage. The thing she said as welcome scared me more than anything.

  “Welcome to hell.”