HELLO! For all those who read this story a little bit ago and it was just coding I am eternally sorry, at the time I was writing with google docs. And those aren't compatible with apparently, so I attempted to copy and paste it but that failed, obviously. So here is the actual chapter and again I'm so sorry please forgive me! Enjoy!
"Grr! since when do you get to force me into something like this!" i growl out.
"Since i am your mother and you do as i say!" grimora yells back.
"You aren't my mother! I refuse to marry him!" i yell.
"How dare you child! I AM your mother and you WILL do as i say! Go to your room!" she yells pointing. I growl but storm to my room.
let me recap for you, i am alexiel, the adopted daughter of duchess grimora and duke Harold, i was their prized toy, i did as i was told when i was told but when they forced me into an arranged marriage with some very old and apparently powerful duke, and by old I mean OLD he is having his 11,279th birthday in two weeks and grimora plans to give me to him as a birthday gift! A birthday gift! Like i was an object not a living thing! I'm done with this!
"Adella!? Adella! We're leaving, come now!" i enter my room and see adella, my maid and best friend almost sister, sitting on my bed.
"My lady are you alright?" she asks.
"Once we get out of here, yes." i said grabbing a duffle bag and beginning to fill it with travel clothes, completely ignoring my dresses.
"Yes my lady" she fluttered up off the bed and began to help me.
you see she's a dragon, about the size of husky, and a very rare one at that, she was a water dragon and there weren't any of them left, it was common for people of power to have dragons as servants but usually they were none gifted, brown dragons, my adella is a glistening ocean blue, gifted with powers over water.
"What did IT do?" she asks, IT being grimora.
"Grr! she arranged a marriage!" i yell punching an innocent unsuspecting wall.
"My! Well we better hurry" something we both agree on is our hate for grimora and the need to be free, I just turned 2560 and we planned to leave next month, then This happened and we have to speed things along.
"Yes we better! You go pack some of your things ill finish here." i say pulling open another drawer.
"Alright, but when we leave, am i still permitted to be your servant?" she asks hopefully.
"You are more than a servant adella! You always have been and always will be, you are free to do as you wish" i say giving her a hug and shooing her to her room adjourning mine.
i finished packing my travel clothes, leggings, tunics and the like, then pack up some essentials like flint, throwing knives, daggers and my katana's.
"Are you packed?" adella asks flying in with a miniature version of my duffle on her back.
"yes i am all packed we just need to grab some supplies and my bow, then we get Ed and Ned, after that we are out of here, as the humans say 'let's blow this popsicle stand'!" i grin and she rolls her onyx eyes.
we rush out of the room and on silent feet we easily make it to the kitchens were we grab lots and lots of dried meats, dried fruits and regular fruits along with eight canteens of water and two canteens of wine. (Upon Ned's request, for a damn horse he is a drunkard I swear!)
"Just my bow now, it's in repairs" i say rushing out of the kitchen, dragging adella behind me.
"Alright, adella, go saddle up Ed and Ned, I'll get my bow" i say rushing off in the opposite direction as her.
I easily and silently slinked down the hallway, it wasn't long before i see the weapons repair room.
"Alexiel? Is everything alright? Why are you dressed that way? You know your mother will through a fit if she sees you" i spin around to see father standing not four feet to my left. Unlike with grimora, i saw the duke as a father figure and beloved family member.
"Father!" i exclaim with a smile and run up to hug him, he had been gone for two months now and i had missed him.
"my dear, my questions still stand." he was right, my outfit wasn't anywhere near a dress, i was wearing all black, steady travel leggings, a tight tunic, and for defense, a thick leather corset, and a thick long hooded cloak, clasped with my father's seal. I had daggers hidden in spots on my corsets, in my thick black leather travel boots, attached to my thighs and upper arms. My hair was in a braid and woven into the braid was a strip of black leather with very sharp spikes attached to it, just in case we were attacked and someone gripped my hair. Then i had my katana's strapped to my waist, i was decked out for war. Yes grimora would blow a gasket if she saw me in this! I beam at him.
"oh i know she will, that just means i have to be sure she can't see me now don't i?" i grin, he beams at me with pride.
"My devious little girl, i love you, im going to miss you" he says giving me a knowing look.
"How did you know?" i ask, although it's not to surprising since how well he knows me and how he ALWAYS knows EVERYTHING! It's fun sometimes, and sometimes it ruins the fun.
"because, i found out about what she did, and knowing you, you wouldn't like it to well, and i also knew the only way to get out of it is to leave, i give you my blessing that way you're not running away, I love you and will miss you, remember, you will always be my little girl." i squeeze him tight and run down the hall towards the weapons room.
"I recommend south to your Aunt Lucinda's, she hates grimora and will happily hide you from her" he calls when i look back at the turn.
I burn my father's form into my memory because i wasn't sure i would ever see him again. Without another word i dash into the weapons room down the hall. As i expected my bow was hung up with the utmost care on the far wall, it was a beautiful dark brown very detailed Japanese cherry blossom flowers painstakingly carved into it, along with my name in Japanese, i was always rather fond of that country and language.
"Hello my lady" i heard the gravely whisper of our weapons specialist call out form the other side of the room.
"hello marigold, i am going to miss you very much!" i give her a hug, you see the entire staff loved me and my father but most despised grimora, they were sad that she drove me away but i happy i could finally leave her behind and live the way i was supposed to! I was a wood nymph! Not a fairy! I wasn't supposed to live this way!
"And i will miss as well Yasei hana" she whispered kissing my forehead. She was the reason i loved Japanese so very much. (Yasei hana means wild flower)
"good bye" i ran off from the room and said good bye to all of grimora's personal servants because i knew they wouldn't be able to say good bye at the gate like i knew the rest of them would be doing, we had about twenty servants add on remoras personal ten, and my one and fathers four, we have thirty five servants in total, 24 will be there to see us off.
"Adella, Ed, Ned, are you ready?" i ask, after finishing good byes and strapping all my baggage to Ed, Ned was my ride.
"Were ready!" Ned brays.
"Alright, good bye everyone. I will miss you all, if grimora asks about me before ten hours from now, im in the library" i remind them, they all nod or give a 'yes. Most of them have tears in their eyes and are trying in vain to make it stop.
"Alright, let's go" i gracefully swing up on to Ned. Unlike the humans now a days the fae and nymphs don't like to use cars or any form of electronics it's like were caught in the medieval times, and with Grimoras marriage stunt, we are.
We had been travelling for three days, all was normal, i had felt at peace and tranquil the second we stepped into the forest, and that feeling stayed in my gut.
"Let's camp here for the night" i call when we reach a small meadow with a small creak running down the middle.
With practiced ease I un-tacked Ed and Ned, then I had Adella start a fire, we ate a small amount and quenched our thirst before we laid down to rest, we were surrounded by the tree's and I knew they would wake me immediately if danger came near so there was no need for a watch. Now I'm wondering if maybe we had a watch, what happened next, would have happened.
I stretched with a yawn when I woke up and sat for a moment enjoying the sounds of the wild as I woke.
But something was different, this wasn't the same wood I fell asleep in, the creek wasn't running through the middle, it was a river running parallel to our some meadow, the trees were thicker, taller and far older, wiser and way more intelligent.
"ALEX! Alex where are we!? What's happened to me!?" calls Adella.
I turn to see a woman about my age with ocean blue hair and silver eyes, like the moon reflecting of the ocean, she was pale and had dark red cupids bow lips with a button nose, she was tall and slim, lien, with nice curves and a good sized bust. She was wearing a similar outfit to mine but her tunic and corset wear a dark blue. She also had an unmistakable pair of dark ocean blue dragon wings perched on her back.
"Adella? I don't know what happened to you" I touched her face softly.
"Where are we?" she asks, trying to control her freak out.
"I don't know, let me ask" I walk up to a tree and place my hands on it.
A flurry of information reaches me and I have to take AA moment to catch myself before I loose myself in the tree. We were in middle-earth, as in Tolkien's middle-earth, she was once an Ent-wife but she long ago forgot, I think it's past time she remembered.
I placed my forehead against the tree and delved into her mind, oblivious to my surroundings and how long I sat there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~3rd POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alexiel sat there for two hours while Ed Ned and Adella sat and watched, they had started the fire and ate a small breakfast, it was now close to midday and she still hadn't come out.
Suddenly they were surrounded by tall men with bows pointed at them, they were all dressed in green and had pointed ears, were they fae? No, no they were elves! Adella had never met elves they were very few of them and preferred to stay hidden, but they were a pacifist race and didn't fight so these were obviously not their elves.
"Who and what are you?" someone calls in elvish, but they don't understand never having heard that language.
"you there, come over here" says another, also in elvish, when he starts to approach the trance Alex Adella stand sand waves her hands back and forth.
"NO! She can't be disturbed! She is a Dryad! She is merging with the tree! If she gets surprised or distracted she might be forever lost in its vast mind! Haven't you ever met a Dryad? Don't you at least know of them?" she says.
"You can speak" says the first elf, this time in English, or Weston.
"Why of course! Haven't you ever seen a service dragon? I mean I may look a little strange but the brand gives it away" and Adella was right, all dragons with a master had a brand on their neck, a special mark depending on the masters personality, Adella's was a tree on the upper most part of the left side of her neck, in the leaves was Alexiel's name written in Japanese, the roots went down her arm, side, part of her front, and part of her back, it reach her waist and her elbow.
"What non-sense do you speak beast?" asks the second elf.
"Non-sense? What non-sense?" Adella commands, unknowing that dragons are foul creatures here and nymphs along with the fae have long since been absent in this world.
"Who and what are you! Answer me foul thing or I shall shoot you now!" asked the second elf.
Adella stood tall and proud.
"I am Adella! Service dragon to the great lady alexiel, daughter of the duke and duchess of the seele court!" she exclaims proudly.
There was murmuring throughout the band of elves.
With fast paces one again attempted to approach the lady Alexiel, but Adella would have none of it! She ran and jumped in front of her, an arrow was shot at poor Adella but she used her strong wings to block it.
"I told you! You can't disrupt her! The lady Alexiel is conversing with the tree, if the she is so much as jostled she might permanently merge with the tree!" Adella exclaims exasperated.
Suddenly she was rushed and four elves held her wings, and two held her arms while one grabbed her legs and carried her away from her precious lady. Ed and Ned were also detained by being tied to a tree.
A blonde elf then approached Alexiel but before he could touch her she fell backwards, and into the elves arms.
Suddenly the tree she was pressed against grew a face and the eyes blinked open slowly, like they had been sleeping a long time.
"Thank you my darling girl for you have awoken me from a very long rest" the Ent-wife whispers kindly.
"It was my pleasure, I could never leave you there in such a state" Alex whispers in an exhausted voice slumped in the elves arms.
"Just, try not to sleep so deeply, that took a lot out of me," she laughs lightly.
"I will not, now I think it's time my sisters woke as well, I thank you lady Alexiel, us Ent's shall forever be in your debt" the Ent-wife thanks she one last time before departing and leaving behind a confused band of elves.