The Queen of the Elves

Chapter 7

Caroline slowly awoke to pitch blackness. She let out a low moan and slowly reached up to rub her head. She ached all over, like she had a fever or something. She didn't realize that she did actually have a fever, an after affect of the goblins "enchanted sleep". It would soon wear off, but in the meantime she curled herself up and groaned.

Finally her head stopped swimming and she became fearfully aware of the dirt beneath her. She sat up. Everywhere she felt was dirt. Dirt and darkness. She let out a little gasp and pulled back, drawing her knees up to her chest. She remained like that for awhile, but finally gathered enough courage to venture an exploring hand out again. This time she felt all around, not missing a single inch, and this time she found a black, gaping emptiness just to her right. She sucked in her breath and bent to her hands and knees. Therefore she started her journey, for, as she figured it, if she just kept going forward she would eventually come to somewhere, and somewhere was better than where she was. So she went on, one hand, one knee, one hand, one knee. She went at a slow pace, but a steady one, never slowing, and never speeding up.

The dark earth stank around her, cold and moist, soft in some parts, terribly sharp stones sticking out of other sections. She pushed on wearily, her head throbbing still, her knees getting rubbed raw and her hands being jabbed. She reached to brush the hair from her face, not to see, but just out of habit. She pulled her hand down and waved it in front of her face. She couldn't see it at all. She let out a sigh, and a weak sob escaped her lips. She firmly shut her mouth after that and didn't open it again for a long time in fear of letting out a cry and being discovered by whatever had grabbed her in the first place.

She went on like that for some time, wincing, and moaning between clinched teeth. Her mind raced. Fear shook her whole body, but she put that aside with great effort telling herself that if she just kept going she would find something. It would simply take time, she told herself. Time can fix the vast majority of things, she thought; then she corrected herself: Time brings up more problems and puts the old ones out of mind.

She went on for a long, long, long while, never finding anything but dirt. Occasionally she came to a branch in the tunnel, but ignored them for fear of heading in circles. She had a right to be afraid, she was in the most confusing tunnels of any goblin, the tunnels of Magnus. They were designed specifically to keep prisoners lost if ever any escaped. Caroline was trapped beyond her knowledge. She didn't realize it, but she was steadily going down. Down, down, down. She realized that she was going down an incline, but she thought that she was just going down a hill, or something like. She was trying very hard not to think actually. There really wasn't anything else to do, she had come this far, she might as well keep going.

Her hand hit a root and got caught. She tripped and fell forward. She cried out then, without meaning, a kind of scream/sob filled the air then she was crying. She didn't know why, she tried as hard as she could never to cry, but at this moment she didn't care. She choked and sobbed and cried until she very near passed out from lack of regular breathing.

Just then a loud roaring came to her ears. She opened her mouth, she didn't care anymore, and let out a scream. Not an angry one like the one that had woken the Iras, but a terrified one.

"Help me!" she screamed, "Oh, someone, HELP ME!!!"

She felt something move around her wrist. She looked down in horror as the root she had stumbled on slowly began to grow, then fast as lightning it whipped around her wrist. Another scream from Caroline. She dragged back with all her might and snapped the root, yet another flew out of nowhere and wound itself around her leg. She too broke this one, but no sooner was she free from that one than another three shot out and had her hair, arm, and ankle. She pulled violently at these, but before they could be broken another one shot out and wound around her waist. Then another was around her throat. They just kept coming and coming. They wrapped her legs and arms and torso, then slowly, as if reluctant, reached up her neck. One last scream pierced the air and then Caroline was completely wrapped in tree roots.