The Song Of The Wolf (Unedited)

Chapter Twelve

Time passed, and when Maebh awoke, her breathing evened out. Her head pounded like hoof beats galloping through a thunderstorm. Once she felt less faint, she opened her eyes and found herself seated in the back of a car, with the brown- and red-haired men sitting in the front.

Frowning, she moved her head and noticed it was perched against something hard? Nestling further into the tough surface, it took mere seconds to determine that it was, in fact, a shoulder. That was when everything came rushing back.

Words spoken by unknown sources rung through the car, but they came as slurs to her brain, with no form or meaning. Maebh felt dizzy and dislocated, and suspected it was because of whatever they had injected her with. The overload of memories passing through her head only worsened the pounding by her temple as she tried comprehending all that had taken place.

Remembering the shoulder, she quickly lifted her head to see who it belonged to and had to withhold a gasp as the stranger's amber eyes filled her vision. Two brilliant orbs that glowed like flint. Her heart stammered and not a single coherent thought popped up as a turbulence of emotions swirled through her veins. His eyes were narrowed into slits, challenging her, daring her to look away. But no matter how hard she tried to do just that, she felt hypnotised.

When he finally averted his gaze, Maebh swiftly opted to do the same and tried to scoot away, creating an invisible wall between herself and the stranger. Peeking at him from the corner of her eyes, she noticed him wearing a solemn expression.

Sceneries passed by, trees upon trees as far as the eye could see. Some had been stripped of their leaves by the wind and the cold, leaving them with dry skeletal-like branches and a layer of snow, while others such as pines maintained their green. Mountains loomed in the distance, ones with whom Maebh was familiar. It meant she wasn't far from home.

Convinced that she was prone to chaos, Maebh was determined to put on a brave face. What she really wanted to do was scream at the top of her lungs, kick things and preferably jump out of the car. But really, what was the point of that? She would surely break a leg at the speed they were going.

"Where are you taking me?"

The red-haired man turned around from the front seat and inspected her. "You'll know when we arrive."

There was no more conversation after that, and hours must have gone by before there was a change in backdrop. Everywhere she looked, the mountains were closing in on the car, only a narrow strip of land separating them. They were hemmed in by nature's structures; insurmountably obstructing the view of the sky. And then, there was another, more drastic change as the world went dark. The streaks of white coming from the headlights lit an unseen road that carried them further and further underground. Maebh's ears popped, a sign of how deep they were processing into the earth's crust.

Soon, the car made a steep climb back up and a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Nothing could have prepared her for the magnificence that greeted the SUV. The car had driven them to the heart of the mountains, where they stood high and mighty, surrounding a valley of lakes and smaller mountains. The sight took her breath away.

Only when they crossed an aqueduct bridge and passed the first two mountains, did she realise they weren't just mountains? Buildings had been carved from the rock, towers and jutting structures; like deconstructed beehives.

The third mountain was an entirely different story. It was where Maebh imagined the queen bee living. Fiction clashed with reality to produce an enormous stronghold. Upon the rugged landscape, a glorious colossus was built, defying the untamed, harsh land and forcing humanity upon the wilderness.

It was unlike anything her eyes had ever witnessed and appeared authentic. Not some reproduction that a billionaire with a penchant for dungeons and dragons tried to recreate.