King of Darkness and The White Flame

Chapter 9

Before I have a chance to open my eyes, I feel bony hands pick me up by my shoulders. I’m flung and the front of my body lands on something hard.  My eyes shoot open and I’m staring at the back of a head with very long thick hair. I want to pull away and run but the grip this creature has on me is deadly. He has one hand holding onto my shoulder and he’s wearing me like a backpack. If I pull away I will lose my arm. He’s running so fast that the trees are a blur and his hair keeps whipping my face.

We reach our destination in less time than I would have expected. He walks slowly into the mouth of a cave. This one is much colder than the one we were inhabiting. I try to look around but all I hear are low growls around me. I’m too high up on the creatures back and my face is too buried in his mane to be able to see how many creatures I’m surrounded by. White Flame, please help me. I beg, in my head. To my dismay, I received no answer. I know I’m about to die. The creature keeps walking to the back, deeper into the cave. I hear the same drip, dripping that was in the cave we had. I wonder for a minute if the two connect. If I’m not mistaken, it felt like we were running in the opposite direction from the cave we had come from. 

This cave seems to be going on forever and I feel us declining, as if going down a steep slope. Chubacca lands with a loud thud, his grip still as tightly on my shoulder as if my weight made no difference to him. I feel the same pull in this place that I did in the other cave, that led me to the toxic water. It makes me wonder now if I was mistaken in thinking it was The White Flame who led me there. My mind had been so flooded with trying to figure out all these supernatural occurrences that I hadn’t stopped to think that it might not be the same force. I feel the difference now, however, this pull is much colder and upsettingly, much more familiar. 

“Well, well, well,” Chubacca swings me over his shoulder and places me on the ground in front of him. I’m nothing but a ragdoll to him as he lifts one hand and locks it into a chained cuff, I still can’t see the person who speaks. Chubacca’s huge torso blocks my view. He lifts my other hand and locks it into the other cuff. The chains are attached to the wall behind me. My struggling is pointless, but I try to kick Chubacca anyway and pull at the chains, which clearly don’t budge. “You’re only tiring yourself out.” I hear the voice again. I remain still, trying to decide if I recognize the voice or not.

Chubacca finally moves out of the way and I can see that the voice doesn’t belong to a man after all. It was in fact, another beast. The beast with the yellow eyes. I didn’t even know they could talk, I’ve only ever heard them growl before now. 

"What do you want? I demand you let me go right now." Yellow eyes laughs hysterically. A low, groaning laugh that causes my hair to stand on end. His face is not like the others. He looks slightly older than the rest. His eyes seem to glow differently. 

"You're not going anywhere, young King." His smile is vicious "Not until we come to a very clear understanding." A different beast walks in, he whispers in Yellow eyes' ear then walks back out. Yellow eyes' smiles a little broader, he slowly walks toward me and reaches his hand out to my face. "Oh, young King, you have no idea the kind of fun I'm going to have with you." I pull away quickly. I back up till my back hits the stone wall behind me. I don't like the way he's looking at me. He remains in place but his smile never diminishes. 

"Just as a little insurance policy, I've taken the liberty to show you something I think you might find very interesting." He suddenly has a device in his hand I had never noticed before. It's smaller than his palm and has some sort of glass window. He brings it to my face and I see there are moving pictures on the little box. I'm wondering how it's possible that this monstrous beast has something similar to ancient technology that we've learned about it schools. We were told it had never been replicated to keep from distraction. What is disturbing is not the device however, what disturbs me most is the moving picture, because it is a moving picture of Lilith. She's still sitting on the log with Bear. Lilith seems to keep looking in the direction of the forest where I had gone by myself. She gets up and heads in that direction. Bear follows her, and I've never felt more grateful. 

"How?" I ask "How are you able to see this?"

"It's called camera's. It's a device used to capture moving images." He takes the device away from my face and places it on a shelf I hadn't noticed before, coming out of the cave wall. 

My stomach drops as something dawns on me. If they are able to watch Lilith, this means they were watching me this whole time. No amount of hiding would have helped me. "Why did you show that to me?" I ask. I am half afraid to hear the answer.

"I need you to understand how serious this is. I need you to understand that if you do not comply, there will be serious consequences. I want you to know that we are able to track and watch your every move and if you do not obey, she will die." His smile is gone. His eyes are hard. A cold shudder goes through my spine. 

"Rule number one, young King. Always obey me. If you do not, we will make sure she feels every ounce of pain before she dies." From his tone I can tell how serious he is about this and the last thing I'd ever want is for something to happen to Lilith. So, before I even know what it is, I already find myself agreeing to everything. When I get my first mission, my stomach does a flip and I'm about to refuse when I remember Lilith and protecting her. I can't let her down.