Chapter Three: Frinil and Fern
The monsters, which Emelia had tried her best to avoid making eye contact with, had kept her on lock and key for the greater part of the next three days. When she had woken up from passing out, she had hoped she had dreamed the entire ordeal. She had expected to be curled up in her bed, smothered by exorbitant layers of blankets, willing her mother to not come and wake her up for another family fishing trip. She had not expected to wake up covered in chains in a little hole in the ground, surrounded by smells that made her want to vomit.
In fact, despite not having eaten in a substantial amount of time, she did vomit down her front.
The feeling of waking up surrounded by decaying bones and grimy weapons made Emelia realize that she was not going to wake up and be back in her comfy bed. She wasn't going to magically appear back home, despite the fact that she had done so to get where she was.
She had not meant to vomit. Emelia was not proud of the fact that she couldn't even hold it in, allowing it to spill down her sore body without so much as a second thought.
The monsters had barely looked up from their spots across the space from her when they heard her retching.
At some point during the time that she had been sleeping, they had stripped her of all of her outer layer clothes, leaving her in nothing but her bra and underwear. She would have been embarrassed if she had been in any other situation. As it were, she just wanted to curl up and die.
It was obvious that the monsters didn't want her to get away, judging by the copious amount of chains and ties that were covering her body. They had tied her sock clad feet together by the ankles, as well as her wrists. They had chained her neck and waist to the wall of whatever space they inhabited for good measure, leaving her utterly and completely unable to move from her spot. When she had finally managed to calm herself down she had taken a good look around her.
She had been placed inside a cave, thrown haphazardly in a pile of something she would rather not think about once she had been chained to the cold stone of the wall. The monsters had left her alone once they were done stripping her of clothes. They had forced her to eat some concoction once during her time, but other than that, they had not even paid attention to her.
The entire situation baffled Emelia.
She didn't really understand what was happening to her. She didn't understand what those creatures were on the other side of the space. And she didn't really understand why she wasn't in Alaska anymore.
The monsters, which she had done her best to avoid entirely, had been sorting through her clothes when she had woken up. They had held up her pants, marveling at the small size of them, before throwing them into a pile of what appeared, at least from her position across the space, to be a pile of other people's clothes. They growled angrily when they discovered that she was in possession of nothing but the long forgotten outer layer of clothes and the much less substantial inner layer of clothes.
They had taken her shoes at some point, leaving her shivering as she struggled to keep herself warm and not in too much pain from her current position. She tried to ignore the fact that her own vomit was currently covering her chest and stomach.
"Why can' we just eat 'er?" One of the trolls asked suddenly, drawing Emelia's away from trying to make herself comfortable. "She squirms too much."
"Shut yer complainin'." The largest one snapped, delivering a loud smack to the back of the smallest one's head. He let out a startled yelp before falling silent.
"There was some farmer and his wife. We can cook 'em up tonight." The third one said. "Then we can cook 'er."
The largest one stood up from his spot. He lumbered across the cave, stepping and crunching on everything her passed before he stopped in front of her. She immediately scrambled backwards from him, hissing slightly as the chains cut into her skin, making the already raw spots bleed slightly. The chains were old and covered in rust which cut into her skin even more than the normal amount. She was amazed she could even move after being in the same position for so long.
"This little rabbit's wet herself." The monster said peering down at her. When he spoke he spit slightly, sending the spittle flying at her face. "Look at 'er."
Emelia felt her face heating up as the monster spoke about the hygiene situation that she currently found herself in. She had not showered in four days, not had she been able to move to go to the bathroom. The monsters had not even looked over at her when she had struggled not to wet herself like a baby. The fact that she hadn't been able to hold it in was more than a little embarrassing.
"She aren't so pretty now is she?" The smaller one said with a snorting laugh, following the larger one to come over to peer down at her.
He moved forward with his large hand outstretched, snickering the entire time, before he poked her stomach so painfully it caused her to cry out in surprise and hurt. She was quite positive that if the monster didn't eat her before it had a chance, her entire body would be black and blue with bruises. She was already covered in cuts and scrapes as well as marks from her little trip down the river, making her feel like her entire body was one giant injury.
"I wonder if that 'ill make 'er taste bette'?" The small one said moving closer to her, ignoring the fact that she was perpetually moving back from him.
He moved his hand forward and grasped her around her middle, pulling her with the chains still attached away from the wall. They strained against her body as he pulled her using his massive hand. He used his other hand to reach over to detach her from the wall, ignoring the squirming that she was doing in his hand. He gripped her middle, making her feel like every single rib she possessed was snapping under the unwanted pressure.
He pulled her up so that she was level with his face, sniffing her slightly causing her hair to puff out with gust of foul smelling air. She had been fortunate enough to avoid looking at them up close in the days that she had been with them.
They were repulsive up close. Their skin was covered in dirt, blood, and other unknown particulates that made her feel nauseous all over again. He smelled vile, and looked even worse.
"I bet she looked real nice…"
"Stop yer playin' around." The third monster said from the other side of the cave, drawing the attention of the other two over to him. "It's night now, and I aint sitting around here all night without some meat."
"So we ge' to eat 'er?" The youngest and smallest asked, squeezing Emelia even tighter in his hand.
"If we find another to go with 'er." He said, lumbering up to a standing position. "Now let's get a move on."
The youngest one lifted Emelia up even higher, pulling her close to his face for a moment before throwing her over his foul shoulder roughly. She slammed into the meaty surface, feeling her already blooming bruises worsening at the rough treatment. She felt her rib cage being compressed into the monsters shoulder as she was pushed down by its large, less than gentle hand. It kept patting her down, laughing loudly with the other two every time she let out another unintentional noise of discomfort and pain.
Her stomach, which had been rubbed raw by the extraneous chains, scrapped painfully against the creatures rough skin, making her feel like she was being hugged by sandpaper.
The three monsters lumbered out from their cave into the darkness of the night around them.
Emelia felt like she hadn't seen the night sky for a hundred years in all the time she had been kept in the grimy, noxious smelling cave. She had only been able to see the sunlight peeking in every once and while from her spot, making her feel like her days of captivity had run together in one giant blur.
The three creatures lumbered about for what felt like an eternity before they came to a small hill and paused. They peered out for a moment, still breathing in there wheezing fashion before the oldest one spoke.
"There's a farm house, look it." From her spot smushed into the shoulder of the youngest, Emelia could hear him lift up his massive paw of a hand and point, causing the thick rope he wore to make shuffling noises. "Let's get 'em."
They blundered down the hill, depositing her haphazardly onto the ground. They had kept her hands and legs bound making it impossible for her to run away if she was left alone for any substantial amount of time. She could hardly even feel her limbs, let alone use them to run away from the three substantially larger creatures that had made it their personal goal to make her life a living hell.
They had dropped her onto the mossy ground and thundered off, completely oblivious and unsympathetic to the fact that they had left her with her arms folded uncomfortably up against her dirty, sore chest. Her bra had started pressing into her skin from being worn for so long. Her underwear was sticking to her skin as well as her dismally filthy socks. All and all she had never felt of out of sorts and terrified in her life. She had never experienced those two emotions in concurrence with each other. It filled her stomach with hundreds of little knots, leaving her feeling like she was going to vomit all over again.
The monsters were going for what felt like hours before they came thundering back, laughing. In the time that they had been gone Emelia had heard the undeniable sounds of a struggle, consisting of the sound of rubble falling, people screaming, and wood breaking.
When they came back they weren't alone, however. Emelia could hear the sounds of people crying, causing her to look up from her face lying in the moist earth.
The people were a family. That much was obvious judging by the ages of the children that were struggling in the youngest monsters hands. They didn't look like they could be any older than ten and fifteen. The boy was punching the creature's hands with his own, shouting obscenities that would make even Emelia's father blush. The girl was bawling her large eyes out, crying out desperately for her mother and father. She was wearing a little white night dress, indicating that the family had been preparing themselves for bed.
The man who was obviously the father had been knocked out, or worse, leaving him limp in the arms of the largest monster. From her spot on the ground Emelia could see a very large gash on his head, causing a very substantial amount of blood to be seeping out of his head.
The woman was the most alarming to look at. She was obviously already dead. She wasn't moving and her body was twisted at such and odd angle it would have been almost impossible for her to still be living.
The sight of the woman and her screaming child made Emelia feel fresh waves of nausea wash over her.
The oldest troll, who wasn't carrying anyone, came bobbling over to her, scratching himself rather ungracefully as he went, before scooping her up and following after the other two creature's.
The children were still crying as they moved farther and farther away from their little house that was nestled alone the side of the cliffs. The mother was still not moving and the father was still being squeezed impossibly tight in the largest monsters hand.
They walked for less than five minutes before they three the children and Emelia onto the ground in a gangly heap.
Emelia let out a cry of pain when she felt one of the boney elbows of the children collide with her hip. She struggled to get into a sitting position, ignoring the tenderness of her joints and looked over at the two kids that were laying on the ground next to her.
The little girl, upon further inspection, was much smaller than Emelia would have thought. She still had all of her baby fat and toddler like youth. Her eyes, much to Emelia's displeasure were the exact same shade of green as her younger brothers. The sight of them made involuntary tears spring up in her eyes before she turned her attention over to the boy. Her brother was still gangly and awkward looking, indicating his prepubescent age and maturity.
They looked over at her with tear filled eyes, taking in her completely disheveled attire. The boy averted his eyes when he saw that she was only wearing her bra and underwear causing Emelia to let out an involuntary eye roll.
It hardly seemed like the time to have some morals.
"Who are you?" Emelia hissed over to the kids, using her voice for the first time in days. It came out hoarse and weak, adding to her overall meek appearance.
"I am Frinil, and this is my sister Fern." The boy said cautiously. "Who are you?"
"Emelia Montgomery." Emelia said, noting how they frowned when she said her last name.
"How long have you been with the trolls Lady Emelia?" Frinil asked, pulling his little sister into his chest, shushing her with a stroke of his hand over her messy brown hair.
Emelia narrowed her eyes in confusion at the way he addressed her. His odd accent had not escaped her notice when he had first spoken to her. It was rather alarming when combined with his formal way of speaking, making Emelia feel even tenser. Emelia shook her head, refocusing her eyes onto the two trembling children.
Something wasn't right, but she didn't exactly have the time to ponder it.
Apparently the things that she had been forced to share quarters with for the past couple of days were not monsters at all; they were trolls.
"Four days give or take." Emelia said.
"And they didn't eat you?" Fern asked suddenly a little louder than was probably wise. Frinil immediately shushed her with a hand over her mouth, shooting her a warning look.
Emelia opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by the undeniable sounds of screams coming from the other side of the camp. She chanced a glance over her shoulder, only to immediately regret it. If the father wasn't dead before, he certainly was now. She felt the nausea come flooding back at the sight in front of her. She immediately turned back to the other two, feeling her body sweating and convulsing in revulsion at what was happening next to the fire.
"Don't look." She said in a shaky, stuttery voice. She felt her body shaking for a moment before she got her wits about her.
"Can you two run?" She asked, alarming the boy for a moment.
"We wouldn't make it ten feet before they noticed." He said in a harsh hiss.
"They are," Emelia paused, willing herself not to look over her shoulder. "Busy."
"What about Mama?" Fern said in her high pitched voice. Frinil immediately looked over by the fire, the horror sliding onto his face with the sight across the camp.
"She'll follow you later, Fern." Emelia said before she had even realized the words were coming out of her mouth. She knew she was lying, but she couldn't exactly tell the miniscule girl that. Especially when Fern's life was on the line if she made a scene at the news that her mother would not, in fact, be following them at all.
"We can run. We are not bound like you are." Frinil said, eyeing the thick chains and ropes that covered her arms and legs. "You cannot escape like that."
Emelia looked down at her own pitiful state, letting his words sink in. She wouldn't be able to follow after them. She couldn't even stand up, let alone sprint to safety. She thought that she would be left to face the brunt of the trolls' anger made her panic slightly. She felt her breathing rate increase for a moment before she finally managed to get a hold of herself. Maybe if they killed her, she would end back up in Alaska. Maybe that was the key. She did not relish the idea of dying, in fact it scared her to the point of tears, but she was to the point that she was so desperate to get home she was thinking of all of the possibilities.
She had drowned to get to wherever the hell she was, maybe it worked going the opposite way.
"I'll be fine." She said to them both, ignoring the raised eyebrows of the boy.
Frinil looked torn for a moment. He glanced back at Fern before gazing back over at Emelia. She knew that look very well. It was the same look she had when she had seen Edward fall through the ice. It was a mix between horror, panic, and above all else, fear. She knew Frinil would leave her with the trolls if it meant Fern would be safe. She would have down the same thing for Eddy if he had been unfortunate enough to fall through the rabbit hole with her.
The boy looked confused for a moment before he slowly began to inch away from her, pulling his sister with him. "Be careful Lady Emelia."
With those final words he pulled Fern into the underbrush as quietly as possible leaving Emelia watching them as they disappeared without being noticed by the three trolls who were currently preoccupied.
As quickly as she had encountered the two siblings they had disappeared. She was quite certain she wouldn't see them again. The trolls hadn't even noticed their absence.
Emelia watched the direction they had gone for a moment before she allowed herself to slump back into the dirt.
Maybe if she was lucky, the trolls would be dumb enough to think that she had passed out from the pain on her body. Maybe they wouldn't be so mad if they didn't think she had been involved in them losing part of their meal.
She tried her best to tune out the noises coming from over by the fire. They made her feel sick, but she had long ago exhausted all of the contents of her stomach. She pushed herself into the ground, hearing the metal of the chains clinking against her skin and each other as she tired to become as close to the ground as possible.
All of her energy was slowly leaving her body. She had been awake for what felt like hours. She needed food, water and sleep. She knew none of that was possible at the moment, so she settled on being able to close her eyes for just a moment.
She completely forgot the ridiculousness of her situation for just that moment. The thought of how absurd the entire thing was slowly drifted away from her consciousness as she allowed herself to sink further and further into the ground.
Maybe the trolls would forget she existed entirely while she slept.
She felt like her eyes had just barely begun to close when she was being hoisted up into the air for what felt like the thousandth time in the past couple of days.
"Where did those little rabbits go?" The troll asked loudly, swinging her wildly by her legs. She did her best to ignore the red that was on its cracked lips and dirty cheeks. "Where they go?"
Emelia struggled to focus on the words that were being hurled at her. Her eyes blinked blearily, trying desperately to come up with a response that would make the trolls less likely to kill her violently.
"I…" She trailed off as the troll gave her a particularly thorough shake to get her to talk.
"Tie 'er up for the night." The oldest troll said, lumbering over to the pair. "Dawn is comin'."
"We aint leavin' 'er are we?"
"She aint going nowhere." The oldest said.
Emelia felt another shake before she was swung around towards the nearest tree in the small clearing. The troll pulled the excess rope from her hand sup to the one of the taller branches. He tied her up roughly, not bothering to avoid hitting her injuries. She didn't even touch the ground with her feet as she swung by her already throbbing arms and wrists. The troll looked over her for a moment before smirking at her.
"Maybe you'll taste bette' after a night of stretchin'." He moved his hand up to her face, poking it excruciatingly. She tried to move back for a moment, squirming at the contact to her face. He sniffed her once before reaching his finger to the top of her head and flicking her, sending her head and neck backwards so painfully stars shot across her vision.
"Be good, lil' rabbit."
With those words, the three trolls trudged off, leaving her hanging in the tree.
Dwarves in the next chapter! Please leave a review or send me a PM. I love to hear feedback and ideas from my reader. Do not hesitate. I love to have discussions about what I'm planning.