Their Promised Queen

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

            “Do we really have to tell HER that we have the little queen?” that voice again…the one who was talking to me before everything went black. 

            Where am I? What is going on? And then it all starts flooding back to me. Ruby?! What happened to her? Oh, I hope she’s ok. And Zeke…last I saw, someone hit him pretty hard. But, it didn’t look like they killed anyone. Odd.

            “Yes, that was her specific request. She said that she MUST have the girl.” That’s the guy that was holding me before. 

            Something touches my ankle and I recoil from the touch. Bad move. 

            “She’s awake! HAHA!” The big mans voice said. He yanks at my leg, pulling me towards him. I shriek, opening my eyes. There are two men immediately in front of me with a few others milling about some cages down away from us. The big man starts to move his hands farther up my legs to get a better grip on me. This gives me a slight advantage because when he lets go to grab me again, I kick him in the face, jump up and try to run away. 

            “Grab her!” the first man yells. “We cannot let her get away!”

            “Yes sir!” the big man yells. Next thing I know, those big arms are around me again. He throws me to the ground, knocking the air out of my chest and starts to pull me by my hair. The searing pain hurts my head and when he yanks my hair to try to pull me over a stump, I can feel some of the hair come out of my scalp. 

            “Stop! Please!” I cry. The hot tears rolling freely down my face. “You’re hurting me. Please!”

            “I will do what I want with you girl!” says the big man. “And if I want to touch you in all the wrong places, I will do that. If I want to pull you by your hair, I will do that too.”

            We finally come to a stop where the other man was sitting. 

            “Let’s not try that again, alright?” he asks. I nod his way. I don’t really want to be here but I don’t want to feel that pain again either. “Good. Now be a decent queen and just sit down.”

            The giant man made me sit down on a tree stump near a fire and gave me some weird smelling soup. At first I thought I would tell them I wasn’t hungry and I wasn’t going to eat anything. But by the way my stomach was growling, I had been knocked out for more than a few hours, possibly a few days. I decided to take a few bites of it and even though it was bitter and cold, it stopped my stomachs protest. It didn’t take long for me to fall back asleep after that all the while remembering that I forgot to speak with Aunt Claire the day I was taken. Darn it. 

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            “How did you let this happen? How could you let this happen to HER?! You’re one of the strongest Fae we have and yet you were taken down!” Ruby shouts at Zeke. “We have to send people after her!”

            “I have already sent some of my best men after her. You need to calm down,” Zeke snaps back at Ruby. “I also didn’t ‘let’ anything happen. They had some fairly large men. They looked like fairies but had no wings and something was wrong with their eyes.” 

            While Zeke was describing what had happened, Ruby paced back and forth along the room that Elora had just been in a few days ago. It had taken Zeke two full days to get over the concussion that the warriors gave him. He still had some nasty bruises, but the infirmary had let him out, so he must be fine. 

            “I can’t just sit here and do nothing. I’m going to go out looking for her,” Ruby states as she turns and heads for her room. 

            “You will do nothing of the sort! Your powers failed you because you were overly emotional. This is why we told you that it wouldn’t be a good idea for you to be so close to her!” Zeke informed her.

            “Well, I’m the only one who could protect her and keep her hidden in the mortal realm. If it wasn’t for me and my parents moving to the mortal realm after Matthew and Jason died, I’m not sure what would have happened.” Ruby looked down at her hands. “Not that I wouldn’t have gone anyways, but at least I had a chance to see her every day and take care of her.”

            “Problem with that is, now you have become too attached and can no longer do your duties. This is why we told you that you could never tell her about the soul mate pull that you two have. Your power is only given once every several thousands of years. You are a powerful fairy. But, you aren’t supposed to be attached to anyone. No fairy with your power has ever had a soul mate pull and that has been a blessing. I’m unsure of why you received one now.” Zeke firmly put Ruby in her place. “Not only that, but all it has done is confused her.” He muttered.

            “I explained to her that some powerful fairies have more than one soul mate pull!” Ruby argued with him. “I hadn’t even told her yet about my pull. But I sense that she can already tell something is there. Now that we’re back in the realm it’s….heightened things.”

            “You can say that again. I was fine spending hundreds of years away from her, when she wasn’t here. I missed her yes, but I can’t even imagine what it felt like for you all of this time and then being back here and having the Magick so much stronger than before.” The look he gave Ruby was one of sympathy. 

            Even though they both had a soul mate pull with the same fairy, Ruby and Zeke never really got along or liked each other for that matter. It didn’t help that now the same fairy they both loved, was missing. 

            “Has anyone heard anything yet?” Claire said, walking into the room. “Does anyone have a clue where Elora is?” 

            “My lady, we do not. But, we have our best men out looking for her,” Zeke defended.

            “Then why are you two just standing around? You two are the best option for getting her back to us! Chara cannot get her hands on Elora, especially not right now when her powers are so new to her,” Claire shook her head. “I should have told her about all of this sooner. I should have known better than to hide it all from her. This is all my fault.” 

            Claire put her face into her hands and started sobbing. They were silent tears but I could see her shoulders rising and falling deeply and could smell the distinct smell of rain.

            “Ruby and I will head out tonight my lady. We’ll we meet with my men and Ruby can create a perimeter. That should last for about two or three days, which should allow us enough time to find Elora and bring her back home.” He assured her.

            “Then do it.” With that, Claire left Ruby and Zeke alone again.

            “Zeke…I…” Ruby started. But, in that moment, a moment full of fear and sorrow, Ruby could not finish her sentence. Zeke walked over and embraced her. For one of the strongest men in the realm he sure gave soft hugs, she thought. Why is he giving me one? 

            “We will find her and we will bring her back home. I would not be able to live with myself if we didn’t. I’m sure it is the same for you. Go get ready,” he kissed Ruby quickly on the forehead and left the room. Not giving her much time to process what had just happened. 

            “Elora, we will find you. I promise. Zeke and I…you mean more to us than anything else in all the realms,” Ruby said looking up to the sky. The sky was just starting to get dark. The way the sun silhouetted the trees surrounding the city. Black fingers inching up towards the darkening sky. The yellow, orange, and red bleeding into the inky blue/black of the sky. It gave me a creepy feeling. Yet, there was one single star shining brighter than the light the sun was giving off. Which was odd, because no stars are usually out this early, and even if they are, they aren’t that bright. 

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            “Elora, we will find you. I promise. Zeke and I…you mean more to us than anything else in all the realms.”

            “Hello,” I yelled out. The darkness surrounding me was so thick that I could not see the moon and stars. Were my eyes covered with something or maybe I’m in some type of dungeon. It almost sounded like Ruby, but she had been up in the castle during the raid. I didn’t see her with the others in the cages when I was running. “Who’s there?” 

            When I started running, I realized that I didn’t know where I was going since I couldn’t see. I stopped, wishing I had some sort of light. Out of nowhere, a lamp appeared in my hands, lighting the way in front of me. I try looking around, but it’s just more of the same darkness. When I look down I see a glassy black surface. Almost like that of ice when you’re skating on a lake in the dead of winter. “I must be dreaming,” I whisper to myself. When I look back up there is a light shining bright right in front of me. It almost looks like Tinkerbell. You know, the one fairy from the movie Peter Pan. Well at least I know that movie didn’t have it right. When I lift my hand up to touch the light, the darkness shifts and shows me the room I had back at the castle. 

            I take a quick look around my room and my eyes land on Ruby. Her long blonde hair reaching almost to her hips. She has these tight fighting black leggings on with a thigh-length, red tunic on. The red accents her hair and skin tone just perfectly. I start walking her way. I’ve never dreamt about Ruby before, at least not like this. Maybe it’s in response to her telling me she loves me? Unsure of this dream, I reach the doors to the balcony, where Ruby is. Just as my foot reaches past the doorway to head out onto the balcony, Ruby turns around. 

            “Hello? Who’s there?” she asks towards me.

            “Ruby, it’s me! It’s Elora!” I yell, wanting to throw my arms around her. Yet, something is keeping me back. 

            “Hello?” Ruby asks again. She starts walking my way, when she reaches me, she comes to a dead stop and stares at me. No, stares through me, like I’m not there. “Elora? Is that you? Are you there? Are you ok?” 

            Ruby starts freaking out trying to search for me. No matter how hard I tried, she couldn’t hear me. 

            “Zeke! She was just here! Zeke!!!!!” Ruby yells, running out of my room and everything goes back to the glassy black that I saw before the bright Peter Pan light.