Hey guys! sorry this took so long! I was on vacation and the place we stayed at had no WiFi at all so I am writing this on the plane on my cell phone, as we speak or as you read and I write haha. So to thank you all for being so fantastically great I will be dedicating a chapter to whoever has the best comment! Also I will be updating every weekend at least and if I have time during the week as well but definitely every Sunday! Happy reading everyone!!
Incendia hesitantly takes Teo's hand and moves away from the gray boulder covered in an earthly moss. She looks up into his blue eyes gleaming in determination. Her mind is still reeling from the tragic story he just told her.....And yet, despite her thoughts still whirling about as she attempts to process everything; looking into his eyes so full of determination, power and promise; Incendia can't help but feel empowered herself. She finds herself giving Teo a small smile surprising herself at how close she is to agreeing with him. But it seems to easy to agree when surrounded by the deep green trees, encased in this field, away from the troubles of the world. As a soft breeze begins to pick up, drifting the smell of fresh flowers towards them, Incendia opens her mouth to reply, when a panicked shout coming from the direction of camp sends them craving back to hard reality.
Without another word Teo takes off through the woods, splattering mud all along his back calves and upon Incendia's front as she follows close on his heels. Teo swears profanities under his breath as their makeshift camp comes into view. A golden blaze engulfs part of the camp crackling merrily in contrast the chaps surrounding it. At first all Incendia can see is a hazy smoke creating a fog like wall, straining her eyes she can make out what is causing the ruckus. Men dressed completely in a blood red from head to toe have entered the camp with their swords drawn, holding them high above their heads. The only parts of their body not covered by the red cloth is their eyes which are narrowed in disgust at Teo's men and their mouths scowling as they look about them.
"Stay here. Don't move an inch I don't want to go looking for you." Teo barks at her over his shoulder as he runs into the smoky mist.
Incendia scoffs, she couldn't believe she almost agreed with that insufferable man, the whole story was probably an act, made up to get her on their side. She waits a few more beats till she is sure he isn't making his way back before turning on her heel in the other direction to find Vidar. If this past year has taught her one thing it's that she doesn't have a lot of friends to trust or to count on and she can't afford to lose the ones she has.
"Vidar....can you hear me?" Incendia calls with her mind still feeling foolish about talking to her panther through her mind.
"Yes." The reply is small, almost inaudible but it is enough to cause Incendia to sigh in relief as she she goes to reply.
Her relief, however is shortlisted, when a hand roughly jerks her backwards into the smoke infested part of camp. Her shout of surprise is cut off when a foul smelling, callousness hand clamps over her mouth and covering her nose All she can smell is sweat, rusted metal and decay, immediately her stomach turns, wanting to empty itself of the small meal of dried meat they'd eaten earlier. Involuntary Incendia begins gagging against the hands covering her face. As if sensing if her need and want to throw up upon her captors, the hand covering her mouth disappears to grab a fist full of her wild curls. The hands painfully pull on her curls till her head is facing up towards the sky while they kick her legs out from underneath her so she is in a kneeling position. The men laugh at the painful gasp she lets out as her knees make contact with the hard ground. Despite the pain, Incendia can't help but feel relieved to be rid of the putrid smell, as she inhales the smoky air as it burns her chest.
A man with sunken black eyes and a crooked nose appears above her, obscuring her view of the sky. "Looks like I got me a tasty present!" The man squeaks in a voice that reminds Incendia of the birds that let out a shrill squawk whenever Vidar chased them about the gardens.
Incendia looks this man up and down and wrinkles her nose in disgust. She immediately recoils backwards as his skeleton like hand touches her hair and moves down her neck slowly moving towards her chest. He was sure to continue downward if his hands hadn't brushed against the pendant Incendia always keeps hidden under her dress, it must have come undone in the struggle.
"Well lookie what we have here! Oh Greer is just going to love this." The man leers at her with a toothless grin. "Greer come take a look at this one! We found you something real nice'" He shouts gleefully to someone in the distant while still smiling down at her. As Incendia attempts to struggle against him, his smile only grows showing off his black gums.
Incendia feels the ground begin to shudder as a large hulking figure comes into her view, this must be the infamous Greer she decides.
"What is it? Would ya stop ya talking! Ya sound like a damn broken whistle!" The man rasps with a scowl.
Incendia can't help but smirk at these two mean, seemingly polar opposite- one high pitched and scrawny while the other one is clearly giant with shrewd bettie eyes. Looking at them it may be hard to see any similarities between the two, but Incendia easily can. In the short amount if time she has known them, it is vividly clear that they are both equally revolting and incredibly dimwitted, one more so than the other.
"Something funny there dearie? " Greer patronizing asks referring to the smile upon her face.
"Who me? Oh my apologies kind sir! I was just sitting here racking my little brain put trying to figure out why I've been bestowed such an immense honor!" Incendia innocently says while widening her gray eyes.
"Whatchu ramblin' on about girl? What honors this? Greer snaps obviously bewildered. "Oi any of ya pathetic excuses for men know what she's blabberin' on 'bout?" His raspy voice shouts as he looks around at his red clad men all of whom shake their head in response, all equally confused.
"Oh silly me! What a fool I must be making myself out to be!" She sweetly says with a girlish giggle. "I was talking, of course. about the honor of meeting the two stupidest men alive!" She simply states flashing a simpler smile.
Greer and Toothless are the only expressions Incendia can make out as her head is still being held back, but their expressions are quite enough. Both men stand their with open mouths attempting to comprehend what she just said. Greer is the first to understand the insulting his dark eyes narrow into slits. Toothless, however stands there, mouth still open looking similarly to a fish with a nonplussed look upon his swallow face.
Greer moves towards her with a thunderous look taking over his face causing Incendia's stomach to clench.
"AYE! She called us stupid!" Toothless shrieks out suddenly comprehending her earlier remark.
At that comment, Greer shoves Toothless away from Incendia, freeing her hair from his grasp. She seizes this opportunity to take account of her surroundings. As she looks about her, she quickly realizes that the smoky base has lifted and the deafening sounds of the battle have also ceases. The eerie quiet filling the air affirms Incendia's suspicions that she is indeed alone in this. Another realization quickly dawns upon her-the realization of her impending death. Incendia scans the crowd surrounding her and counts with a sinking heart at least thirty men, twice her size (with the exception of Toothless) and all thirty of them are armed with some sort of weapon.
"Vidar?" She calls out in her mind.
Silence.
"Vidar, please answer me. I need you....like now!" She calls again this time with a hint of desperation creeping in her tone.
When she is met with silence yet again, her heart begins to pound while she struggles to keep a collected compulsive in front of Greer and his men. While she's been attempting to calm herself, she realizes that Greer has been ranting at her. She opens her eyes to find him inches away from her face.
"I am sorry would you mind repeating that?" She asks in a faux bored haughty tone, grateful her voice didn't betray her.
Despite her current situation, Incendia finds herself taking comfort in the fact that Greer's face has steadily grown to an unpleasant shade of purple while a vein twitches violently on his neck.
Greer lets out an outraged roar as his large, meaty paws enclose around her neck.
Toothless lets out a high pitch squeal before angrily saying, "No Greer Stop!"
Greer's shocked, incredulous look mirrors Incendia's own. Unlike hers however, his quickly turns to fury. He releases Incendia's neck, who mercifully gasps for air as he turns to face Toothless.
"And why tell me, should I do what you say?" Greer's raspy voice demands in a deathly, quiet voice as he moves closer to Toothless, towering over him.
Toothless nervously wets his lips before stammering out, "I...well...er. .just just look at her neck!" At the word neck his voice rises to a high pitch squeak.
Greer turns upon Incendia once more as his glaring eyes sweep over her small frame. His cold eyes quickly light up when they reach the amber pendant resting upon her collarbone.
"It's you." He exclaims greedily with a smile that did anything but reassure Incendia.
So everyone I can not tell you how glad I am to have the support of you all! If it wasn't for you guys I wouldn't have forced myself to type this all out on a phone in an airplane!
Remember the best comment or advice or suggestion gets the chapter dedicated to them.
You all know the drill read,vote, comment and share!!!
Till next time everyone!!
PS I've had people asking if I can include what our lovely ice princess looks like so I have attached a picture and I think the dress works well with the theme! Enjoy lovely readers