Daybreak

Chapter 6 - Taken

Cara awoke in darkness. A pounding headache drilled into the back of her skull, prolonging the time it normally took for her eyes to adjust to her surroundings. While she waited for the shadows to sharpen into visible details, memories began to trickle back to her one by one.

A sea of writhing night creatures. Intense violet eyes. Taunting words uttered through a mask. A handsome face. Raining fire. The scent of jasmine.

Cara squeezed her eyes shut, fisting her hands into a something soft and warm that had been draped over her. She had been on the battlefield at the base of the Lerros mountains, fighting the Demon King. No... not fighting him. She had won, but had decided not to kill him. Then the Scorchers had descended and she'd blacked out.

Groaning, Cara forced herself into a sitting position. A soft blanket slid off her torso, bringing her attention to the details of her surroundings that she could finally make out. It was a bedroom, elegant in a way she had never seen before. Gauzy sweeps of fabric created a delicate canopy over her head. Curtains made of the same material fell across the multiple windows around the room, filtering sweet smelling air through the thin fabric. A dresser peaked out between two floor to ceiling windows on the opposite side of the room, a darkened lamp perched on top of it.

Cara searched for anything familiar, but came up empty. Where was she? This wasn't the healers tent or her personal tent in the Arathean war camp. It certainly wasn't her quarters back at the palace. She had always preferred smaller spaces as opposed to the large opulent chambers some of the Lords and Ladies insisted on. They had always felt more manageable to her, safer and quieter. But something about the airy beauty of this room made her appreciate how open it was.

A slight breeze shifted the filmy material draped over the window just to her left. The motion caught her eye. Maybe she could determine where she was from the view just outside? There were a few towns near the Lerros mountains, perhaps the army had taken her to one to heal before journeying back to the palace.

A grimace twisted her lips as Cara swung her legs out from underneath the covers and attempted to stand. Her wounded leg screamed in protest, nearly collapsing under her weight. She grit her teeth as she looked down to inspect the damage. Only then did she realize she was no longer wearing her armor, or even the heavy protective tunic that went underneath the metal. Instead, a thin, long sleeved night shirt fell to just below her navel. Fur lined pants kept her legs as warm as though she were still wrapped in a blanket. She couldn't quite make out the color of her shirt in the darkness, but thought it might have been a pale pink?

Wrinkling her nose, Cara took a tentative step forward. The carpet was soft beneath her toes, even more so than the fur that lined the inside of her pants. Trying not to get distracted by the simple elegance, Cara limped her way toward the window and threw the curtain back.

Snow swept mountains greeted her as far as the eye could see. Cara had never been this high up in the mountains before. It felt like she was soaring over miles of snow and stone. Wind howled in the distance, startling her into taking a step back. She couldn't feel any wind powerful enough to scream like that. The window must be spelled to keep the worst of it out.

It was then that she realized where she was. Anxiety and dread saturated her system in tandem, systematically locking her muscles up one by one. The Demon King. Somehow... he had taken her back to Damnation, the demon's stolen city in the mountains. Cara reached out to her magic by instinct, seeking comfort in the familiar heat...only to taste nothing but smoke and ash.

Heart thundering, Cara scrambled to beat back the panic that was threatening to overwhelm her. Her magic was gone, depleted in a way she had never felt before. She was stuck in Damnation, a city so unreachable that her ancestors hadn't managed to even see it in 500 years of trying. She was injured, alone, surrounded by enemies.