Chapter 2- Nightmares

Clary didn't remember falling asleep. She usually didn't given how tired she was after a long day of walking. The capital was 200 miles away from the capital city. About a day's travel time by horse but walking was much slower. Especially given the rough wooded terrain one had to pass through. The dark woods were mysterious and eerie. There was a magical presence about them and they were dangerous. Many who got lost in its depths. Were never seen again. The forest was massive and went on for hundreds of miles. It's thinnest part was ahead of us. The woods marked the halfway point from Ignis to the capital city of Idris. They would reach the woods tomorrow. Clary shivered at the thought of getting closer to the king and his son. Tonight they made camp on the outskirts of the city of Seelie. Clary had been so tired that she fell asleep as soon as her head hit her makeshift pillow. She fell through the darkness before a light suddenly appeared engulfing her as most dreams did.

Clary watched the king rose to stand on stage as the crowd waited with bated breath for him to speak. They had been working long and hard to serve his majesty; hoping to be worthy of his grace. Though to be honest they just wanted to keep their heads attached to their bodies. A difficult feat from those who found themselves in the King's presence. The Dark King was mad and his wrath deadly. He slaughtered all those who opposed him. The people knew this as did their Lord and they worked together to please him. The sky was clear since the fires had not been lit for the last few days in preparation for the crown's arrival. Things had gotten worse in Ignis the last few years as the demons grew more ruthless. They were now requiring special sacrifices in order to work and with a larger demand from the king they had to work. The city knew and would arrange hunting parties to collect the adequate number of animal sacrifices to please them. Still something had been bothering them. Simon, a worker and one of her best friends had been keeping an eye on things by the pit. One night he snuck a small sack away while the guards made the foolish decision to venture too close to the pit opening. Once he opened the sack he was horrified to find not an animal but a human child's body. The child had been dead but it was still disturbing. He had told Isabelle and Clary at once about it. They had notified Lord Blackthorn immediately. The lord was unaware of the situation completely. They had been working together since then to stop the sacrifices. This, in turn, slowed down production and drew the king's notice. This was going to be his version of a pep talk to increase production once again.

King Valentine began speaking. She had never seen the king before and her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Feel secure in a large crowd Clary lowered her hood in order to see him better. King Valentine was tall, masculine and commanding. He had white-blonde hair, a defined jaw, and dark eyes. Those dark eyes seemed so familiar to her though she had never met him before in her life. Imogen would scream at her if she could see her right now. Even if she was in the crowd. She was still so close to him but Clary didn't care. It had been almost five years since the Wayland wars and since Isabelle had come to live with them. She had grown up so much since then. The king had only visited the city a handful of times since the wars. In those five short years, Clary's body had grown and developed into a young woman's. She had just turned 17 and was old enough now to make her own decisions. Something that Imogen reminded her often. She was free to make up her own mind on matters except when it came to this. Lady Herondale still forbade her from seeing or being in the presence of the crown, yet, refused to disclose the reason why.

Isabelle although was not banned from seeing royalty. The young lady was free to attend any ball she chose. However, Lady Imogene had always seemed to come down with some sickness or another requiring the Isabelle to remain home during balls that the crown was present. Izzy had told Clary before that she wasn't missing anything and that it was a relief not to attend. The king was hard and cruel; his son no different. Izzy hated them with a passion. She didn't often speak of the month she was confined to the castle but from the short pieces of information Clary was given, it was not a pleasant experience. She was at least fortunate enough to not be in the castle while the prince was there. Prince Jonathan was away after the wars traveling about the kingdom. Now he was the right hand of his father and never left his side. Maybe Imogen thought the prince might fancy one of the girls and thus persuaded them to keep their distance. She wouldn't date the prince if he was the most handsome man in the world. Which he very well might be, she wouldn't know.

Regardless it didn't matter now. Clary had snuck out of the house while Izzy watched the old women nap. This speech was too important and she wanted to hear it first hand. The people hated him for bringing the demons here. She wanted to see how the King twisted his words as he was famous for his gift of persuasion. She was going to stop the mad king from hurting her city and would need all the information she could get. The King started off boastfully praising the city of Ignis on it's hard work and dedication to the crown for all of these years. Clary contained the laugh that threatened to escape from her lips. The man behind her apparently was as capable of such restraint. The King's cold eyes shot up and locked down into the old man's. The man who had some sense of self-preservation quickly looked away. A small smile danced on the king's lips before he stopped mid-sentence. She looked up at him to find him staring back at her. Her heart raced and her body froze in fear under his gaze. Why? Why was he staring at her like that?

His once calm demeanor was wild, as if not believing what he was seeing. They locked eyes for a moment before he composed himself and grinned down at her. It was a cold smile that promised nothing but wickedness. Another shiver ran down her back as her mind shouted that coming here had been a bad idea. By the angel, she should have listened to Imogen. The King began speaking once more but his eyes always fell back to her making sure he kept her in his sights. "Allow me to bring one of you up here so I can ask a local personally what is wrong with their city?" he announced. Clary didn't need to think twice about who he was going to call up. What on Earth the king wanted with a scrawny mouse like her she couldn't fathom but she knew in her gut that it couldn't have been anything good. He had pointed to her and had turned to call his guard to escort her up when a loud explosion erupted.

The crowd screamed as sparks of fire and smoke went everywhere. Everyone began to run as Clary quickly put on her hood and took the opportunity to escape. She practically sprinted away with the others as the king began screaming orders to the guards to put out the fire. She had jumped behind the last cart in the square before she heard him yell out orders to find the girl, clearly just realizing she was missing. Her heart was beating frantically as she rushed towards the market. Once she had safely turned another corner she busted out into a full run. She felt herself slipping as the earth gave out beneath her.

She could hear someone calling her name before she finally bolted up from the small blanket that she had used as a bed. Her eyes wide open looking around frantically. She finally saw Gertrude beside her and began to calm down. "My dear, you were having a nightmare." The old women spoke. She placed a comforting hand on her forehead, checking her for a fever. Clary's heart pounded and palms sweated; she was scared. It had been awhile ago since she had last seen the king. He had kept his guard on alert throughout the entire city that week. Imogen had been so livid she had not left her out of the house for the entire time. A punishment Clary happily complied with. The redhead looked at the old women, still drenched in sweat. "No, not a dream Gertrude." She gasped trying to catch her breath. "A memory."

She wasn't able to fall back to sleep after that. So much had happened and her mind kept jumping from one thought to another. Her heart wrenched thinking about her friends. The plan had gone wrong. They were all supposed to get out and travel back to the Lovelace kingdom with Simon. He promised that they would be safe there but things had gone wrong at the last second. The water explosives had gone off killing most of the demons but one had gotten free in the confusion. The building was collapsing and the beast had blocked her way separating her from the others. She shivered remembering the fire demon's black eyes boring down into hers. She remembered the feel of the flame and the sharp cut of the creatures claws on her skin. What she couldn't remember was how she escape. One minute the creature was on top of her and the next it was dead. All she remembered was waking up outside the collapsed building surrounded by imperial guards. If it had been Ignis guards, they would have taken her back to Imogen and hide her. Imperial guards were not so lenient especially since she matched the description of the girl that the king was looking for.

Clary heard the horn sound alerted the others to wake up. She sighed and rolled up off of the makeshift bed. It was going to be a long day. They were two days from the palace at best and she felt nervous the closer they got. After getting packed they began walking in a group back down the road. After a few hours, the hot sun was taking its toll on all of them, including the guards. Clary knew better than to complain and kept her head down walking. The afternoon sun shone down and was burning her pale skin. They had been walking in silence for hours and she was exhausted. "This wall is so odd? Who would build such a wall out in the middle of nowhere?" the guard asked. Clary and the others kept their heads down but listened quietly. There were many myths and legends about the wall that lay in the middle of the forest. It was too tall to climb and bad things happened to those who tried to cross it. There were also no doors. The tall brick enclosure was covered with vines and there was something different yet oddly alluring about it.

"No one knows who made it or for what purpose. Nor does anyone wish to lose their life finding out boy." The captain spat. The young guard brought his head down in shame. "My apologies Captain, I was just thinking out loud." He muttered. The woman beside Clary stopped walking and kneeled down in obvious pain. They had been walking for two days and the others were fading fast. "Get going you filth! The king is waiting for our arrival and it wouldn't do to try his patience being late." The captain yelled at the older woman. The captain was a cruel man who got pleasure from having the power over others. He treated the prisoners cruelly and had a healthy appetite for pretty girls. The king would often give him girls to sedate his hunger though none seemed to keep his interest for long.

Being given to him was comparable to being locked in the dungeons. Clary saw how the Captains eyes lingered on her for longer than necessary. She also noticed he complimented her on never complaining when the others voiced theirs. Although pure she knew that look in the man's eyes. A look of lust and the longer she spent in the woods with him the more his self-control seemed to be weakening. Clarissa had enough by that point. She would die either way at the hands of the king or these vultures. It made no difference to her. "Captain sir, may we please rest. We have been walking for hours and a rest would allow us to catch our breath and return to our proper speed. Right now with everyone tired we are not going much faster than a mile an hour." She pleaded sweetly looking down making sure to not meet his eyes. Looking him in the eye could be seen as a challenge and she needed to seem submissive.

The Captain smiled taking a look at his beautiful youthful redhead. "You do bring up a valid point my dear. The men and horses could use a break and nightfall is almost upon us. It wouldn't be wise to travel this part of the woods at night. Men let's make camp." He commanded. The Gertrude looked at Clary with gratitude. She returned the smile but was quickly glided to the side by the Captain's hand. "Tend to her Irene and see that she is taken care of. We wouldn't want her to fall behind." He warned darkly. Clary's skin crawled at his touch but she ignored it. She nodded her head and silently guided her friend away. Once she had tended to her friend she returned to the circle.

They had set up camp and now sat in front of the fire for their meal. Clary was quiet and ate her food in silence while the others spoke amongst themselves. She felt someone's gaze and noticed the Captain's eyes lingering on her hungrily. She looked away quickly blushing. She had to get out of here, now. She doubted his resolve not to take her would last the night. He had been growing bolder and bolder every day. Moving closer with the others she thought of a plan. All they needed to do was to get the keys to their shackles. Once those were off they would be able to run free into the forest. There were too many of them for the small group of shoulders to catch all of them. It was their only shot. Clary began whispering to Gertrude who gave her a weak smile and a small nod.

After dinner, the guards began to shackle the prisoners as they did nightly in order to ensure they wouldn't run away. It was then that Clary spoke up. "Permission to speak to the Captain?" she asked one of the younger shoulders. The young man looked at her with concern burning in his eyes. Her green eyes met his hazel eyes as he spoke. "That is not a wise decision Red. No matter what you think will come from speaking with him it will not be something you want. He doesn't give freedom away and, and he is not gentle. The last girl who went into his tent at night…" the young man trailed off. Clary looked at him with appreciation. Not all guards were bad. This one cared enough about her to give her warning. Still if she wanted to get out she needed those keys. "I appreciate your warning however I've already been instructed to meet him tonight. I think it is a little too late to back out now don't you think?" she lied. The boy looked sad but nodded his head. "Go, you know where his tent is and may the god of the forest be with you little one."

Clary nodded and quietly made her way over to the Captains tent. She took her time seeing the prisoners chained up and the guards heading into their own tents. "Who's out there. Come in already, I haven't got all night!" the older man hissed. Clarissa took in a silent breath and made her way into the tent. The man smiled wickedly upon seeing her; his eyes lingering on her frame. "Forgive the interruption Captain but I was informed that you wished to see me." She lied meekly. "Ah, I, in fact, did not request your presence but since you are here I don't see a reason to turn you away." He smiled taking a step forward. "Come sit down my dear. Let me take off those chains, they must be terribly uncomfortable." Clary blushed and did as she was told. The sooner this was over the better.