Forced into Fantasy
Chapter 12 - Reunited

Ivy;

The carriage ride takes such a long time.

I manage to fall asleep throughout the duration of it and am only woken as we pull up at our secretive destination.

I have no idea of how long we’ve been travelling since falling asleep, or of where we are now but what I am certain of is that I am far from Adomis’ castle... and Adomis.

My heart sinks at the last part, though I don’t yet know why.

Suddenly the carriage door opens outwards and the first soldier who kidnapped me is standing there, nodding towards the second soldier across from me.

With a nod of his head, the one in the carriage stands and leans across to grab me.

I panic and go into fight or flight mode.

Wherever we are now I’m not getting out of this carriage with them.

They’ll have to drag me out of here kicking and screaming!

I’ll take these fuckers with me!

“Mmmph!” my words are nothing but muffled sounds.

My legs kick wildly in the closest soldier’s direction as I continuously grunt from beneath the gag meant to silence me.

I try screaming but it only comes out as a muffled moan, hardly loud enough for anyone to hear it and come to my aid.

The soldier in the carriage, I’ll call him B1, grits his teeth together as he tries reaching for me amidst my wild kicks.

His gloved hands try desperately to dodge the majority of my kicks, some manage to graze him.

The other soldier standing outside the carriage, yeah he’s B2, begins to grow impatient and lets out a sigh as he rolls his eyes.

“Come on, just grab her already Damion!” he commands his companion accidentally revealing the bastard’s name.

“We don’t have time for this! We’re already late!”

‘Late? Late for what?’ I wonder.

So now I know B1’s name is Damion.

Good to know…

Eventually after I put up one hell of a fight Damion manages to grab a hold of my right leg and quickly pulls me off of the carriage seat, my back hitting the floor of the carriage hard along with my arms which are tied behind me.

I grunt loudly as pain shoots up through my back.

“Mmph...”

“Careful man, try not to hurt her too much!” B2 warns as the two of them begin pulling me out of the carriage by my upper arms.

“If she’d… just… stop fucking struggling!” Damion snaps at me with frustration.

Once I am placed with my feet on the damp grassy floor beneath me they then proceed to pull me along between the two of them, into where the large trees surrounding us are at their tallest and thickest.

They loom overhead as if eerily watching as we head toward a large open clearing right in the centre of all of the trees that I can only assume are part of a large forest.

It's night and this place is far too dark to see anything clearly enough to make any kind of identification.

I wonder if we are in the forest neighbouring Adomis’ castle; the one I saw when trying to escape his clutches when I first arrived here.

As we step in through the treeline I am stunned to see a large village standing before me, with several dozen houses made of wood and other various wooden buildings much larger located in the centre.

Fire torches are alight and roaring brightly in the darkness of the night, the only form of light in such a dark and isolated place.

There are no people roaming about the village, though it is late at night and I could only assume that the villagers would be in their homes or in bed at such an hour.

There are however several soldiers marching around the outskirts of the village, armed and on guard with flame torches in their gloved hands, hoods over their heads.

I am promptly dragged in through the centre of the village towards one of the larger buildings made of thick wood and stone.

Whoever these people are, they must have been living here for years!

The building looks incredibly old and worn away.

As soon as we enter I notice that the large room I am in is very dark with only a few rows of flame torches lining the walls for visual lighting.

I am promptly escorted across to where a singular chair sits before a large long table, then forced down into the seat by Damion.

Both men stand on either side of me, facing forward towards a long oak table as we appear to be waiting in silence for something to happen.

My eyes roam the length of the room, trying to figure out where I am now.

We wait for a minute in silence.

After two minutes and with nothing happening I look around the room once more, roll my eyes and let out a muffled sigh of frustration.

Then a sudden ‘creaking’ sound can be heard, echoing throughout the large room and it draws my immediate attention.

I look across and see several figures appearing through a shadowed doorway, each wearing silver robes with large hoods up covering their heads.

Around each of their necks are silver pendants in the shape of a crescent moon, they appear to glisten in the torch light as the figures move in to be seated at the long table before me, one after the other.

There are six of them in total and I stare between them until they are all seated.

The chair in the middle remains empty and I wonder why.

I notice that the figure sitting to the right of the empty chair is an older man, with a long grey beard that reaches down towards his chest.

He has gentle eyes as he stares back at me.

I admire the way that his beard has been decorated with intricate silver beads, each entwined throughout his long grey beard hair and giving him a mystical wizard kind of appeal that I have not yet seen in my time.

It intrigues me to say the least.

The woman sitting to the left of the empty chair is much younger, perhaps around my age but holds a void expression; one I am unable to pinpoint.

Is she happy, angry or tired?

I have no idea.

I can see the long black strands of her hair sticking out from beneath the hood’s cover and her eyes are a deep green, almost like two glistening emeralds staring back at me.

In my opinion, she is quite stunning... for a conspiritor to kidnapping, that is.

I don’t seem to notice the others as the older bearded man reaches forward with both of his arms held out in front of him.

The others around him do the same and then all six of them pull their arms in slowly, crossing them over their chest and lowering their heads as they chant together.

“We are but obedient followers of the ancient ways. Long live the Moonlit Guild. Hail to the creator, in all her glory.” they chant in perfect unison.

It sends chills across the surface of my skin. I feel like I am in some kind of a cult classic movie or something.

Suddenly my eyes dart towards the doorway as a seventh figure steps out through and makes his way across to the remaining empty chair.

He too wears a long silver robe, but his is slightly different from the others.

His robe has intricate black and silver patterns running down the length of it and his hood covers most of his facial features from my view.

His medallion is much larger with a glowing emerald embedded right in the centre of it.

It actually kind of reminds me of the amulet... that fucking thing has caused me so much trouble.

'Shit, where is it?' I wonder.

It is only then that I realise I haven't seen the amulet since I first arrived here.

Did it come into this strange make-believe world with me, or remain back in my time?

Would I need it to help me get back to my own world?

Nothing was making any sense and I was feeling overcome by a mixture of exhaustion and confusion that I hadn't yet noticed the seventh figure had taken his seat in the middle.

The newcomer looks down at me in silence for a moment before he finally opens his mouth to speak.

His voice surprises me, it is rather deep and gravly, and it causes me to shiver.

“Is this her?” he asks the two men standing either side of me.

The soldier I call B2 steps forward to speak.

“Yes my lord. This is the one alright. We took her from Adomis’ own chambers earlier on this evening. I might add that she put up quite a fight too.”

I look at B2 and frown before I look to the ground in front of me as their conversation continues and I am unable to add my part.

'This gag is really pissing me off!' I think to myself.

“Does she bear the mark?” the older grey-bearded man enquired with intrigue.

I flinch as Damion suddenly grabs onto both of my shoulders, holding me still while B2 comes around behind me and moves all of my hair over to cascade down over my right shoulder.

I am utterly confused as he then grabs a hold of the material at the back of my dress.

As he suddenly rips the material down the middle a couple of times I can’t help but scream out in fear, though my cries are muffled by the gag.

My nerves take over immediately as my heart begins to thud loudly over and over within my head.

'What the fuck are they doing to me?'

Furrowing my brows I can feel the tears beginning to prick at my eyes and I close them in an effort to prevent myself from crying in front of all these strangers.

I can’t see it but behind me B2 grins a wide, toothy grin of triumph as he looks up to the hooded figures seated at the table and nods his head.

“Yes, the rumours were true. She bears the mark.”

‘Oh shit… what the hell does that mean? What mark are they talking about?’

I can’t even ask and that’s what infuriates me the most!

“Excellent.” the hooded figure seated in the centre of the table announces with a smile.

“This is great news.”

The others around him seem shocked as they all stare back at me with disbelief.

I have no idea of what’s going on here or why they have brought me here.

And that’s the second time someone has mentioned a marking on my back.

What in the world is going on here?

“I have been waiting for this moment for such a long time.”

Their leader's eyes became fixated on mine now as he adds this next part; one that confuses me even more than I thought possible.

“After all this time you’ve come home to us... the Moon Princess has finally returned.”

‘I'm sorry... hat... the... actual... fuck?’

Adomis;

I needed to locate where Ivy’s kidnappers have taken her and the only way to do that was by means of magical tracking.

Of course, the Mage Zarkin was more than happy to assist with the challenge I had given him and before I knew it we were off on a new quest to track down Ivy and bring her back safely.

Travelling on horseback, the small group consisted of myself, Zarkin, Captain Khalan and twelve other soldiers.

We needed to move fast to cover as much ground as possible if we were ever hoping to catch up with the ones who took her. I needed her returned to me, alive and unharmed.

We were bonded for fuck sakes.

Without her I felt empty, as if my power had been drained and with every moment spent apart from her I felt that I was becoming more and more drained of energy and life.

I could not allow that to happen.

I would replace my bonded mate and return her to the castle with me safely, no matter the cost.