Part 8-
Chloe opened her eyes slowly. She saw a bundle of red curls in her eyes and tucked them behind her ears. She sat up quickly and felt a satin red sheet slide down her front. The left side of her head, still slightly sore from fainting in the hot air balloon, throbbed again. She looked around the room and couldn't believe her eyes. The walls were cold, gray stone and she was lying in a humongous bed with four tall mahogany poles holding up a long strand of white material that reached down to curtains, which at the moment were drawn back with golden tassels. She had at least ten duck down pillows at her head and she watched as the candles cast eerie shadows on the walls. She slung her legs over the side of the bed and felt a cold, scaly body climbed up her ankle. She screamed as a long green snake wrapped itself around her leg. She shook it off into the floor. Chloe looked down and realized the floor was moving. But she was wrong, it was all snakes slithering around in huge piles, they covered the entirety of the room. Chloe curled up in a ball in the bed with the sheets still clinging to her body. Then the door opened.
"Ah, my dear you have woken up." Said a voice. There was a bright shining light behind him and wth the way the shadows cast, she couldn't see his face. He began to step down off the stone platform that was in front of the door.
"I wouldn't come down here; it's covered in snakes!" She exclaimed. He laughed and continued to walk. As if it were Moses, parting the Red Sea, the snakes went to two sides and cleared a path for the man to walk. Chloe's jaw dropped. "How'd you do that?" She sputtered. He came closer to her bed and Chloe leaned back and started moving her legs and rolled onto the opposite side. Her hair dangled over the side of the bed as he sat down.
"Would you like something to drink?" He asked. She could see his face now as the light flicked on it. She didn't know what wind was moving it; there were no windows. She shook her head and eased up a bit.
"Where am I?" She asked him. He traced his finger down the pattern of waves on her red sheets and smiled up at her.
"What is your name my love?"
"Your love?" She asked and looked around again. She tried to think if maybe she'd missed something along the way but she had not. She had no idea who this was. "My name is Chloe. Who are you?"
"Chloe? Chloe, what a beautiful name. It just rolls off the tongue. Queen Chloe. Ah, I like it." He smiled again.
"I'm really confused here."
"Is there anything you need, anything at all?"
"An explanation would be nice."
"We will talk about that tonight at dinner. Until then," He leaned over and kissed her. Chloe kept her eyes open and tried to get him off of her. After he finally got off he smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Farewell."
***
"The wheels and hove tracks go this way!" Veronica shouted. They'd been following tire and horse tracks for forty-five minetes now and not found where they led. Malone called for Marguerite, Roxton and Challenger as they went towards Veronica. She stood by the path they were on and looked bewildered.
"What is it, Veronica?" Marguerite asked.
"They just stop. They don't go behind a stone wall, or into the ocean or up a tree. Hell, they don't even go on and lead us to a village. They just stop!" She walked around the spot were the tracks abruptly stopped. John crouched very far down on the ground and looked down and onward.
"I don't know what to do now. Ned, what do you think? Ned? Ned, where'd you go?" Veronica asked.
"Over here! I found some more tracks." He shouted. They ran through a huge area of trees to Malone who was standing over a set of tracks that were identical to the ones they had encountered previously.
"Do you think they were the same buggies?" Marguerite asked.
"Yes, the other one was obviously hand made and it would be hard to make wheels exactly the same for two different buggies." Challenger observed.
"Then how did this happen? The trail doesn't go in any sort of a circle." She answered back.
"I don't know. But these tracks should lead to the place where Chloe is." He said "so, if that is the case. Let's go."
***
"Would you rather wear green or red?" Said the short plump brunette in front of Chloe. She was holding the two dresses in front of her bed. She had made the snakes clear a path for her as well.
"Red, what is this whole dinner thing about?" Chloe asked as the woman laid the red dress on Chloe's bed. She herself was dressed all in black, like the man who'd come in earlier.
"It's for you and your groom to get to know each another." The woman nodded and bowed to Chloe. She then walked out of the room and the snakes separated. Chloe didn't take her chances of changing on the ground and she got up in her bed and pulled the dress on. It was long and very low in the front. There were black gloves that went with it and Chloe pulled them on her hands. Chloe slipped on the shoes and sat cross-legged on her bed waiting for someone to come in and help her out of the room. She didn't wait long. The door cracked and a man dressed all in black came in. He was short and ugly.
"Come with me." He grunted. She followed him daintily and heard the snakes hissing behind her. Chloe looked and the snakes were closing their path as she walked. She swallowed hard and followed the man down a hallway. It was brightly lit. She saw people in the same outfits as the man and woman had been wearing but only a few were in black most of them were in red robes doing their, what Chloe assumed, daily reutine. As she walked past an open window she had her first taste of sunlight in over a day. The people around her smiled and bowed as she past. Chloe nodded at them and kept following the short man in front of her. They reached a set of gigantic double doors. They were a deep mahogony, it matched the four poster she slept in. The engraving on it was ornate and beautiful. The short man grabbed the golden knob and opened the door. Inside a man sat at a long table with food all over it. A warm fire kindled in the corner and in another corner a string quartet played softly. She looked around and realized the room was taller then the tree the treehouse sat on. She gulped and nodded at the short man. He put his nose up and nodded as well. The man flicked his hand and the short man bowed and shut the door. Chloe stood in the doorway and looked on the ground, it was real marble floors.
"Won't you have a seat dear?" He said and stood. Chloe pulled out the chair that was up to her shoulders out and sat down. The ornate carvings of the chair matched the doors. "Why, Chloe, you seem so amazed by all of my things, like you've never seen such a place.
"Oh I have." Chloe said trying not to brag. "I've been in Buckingham Palace, and Edmunson Castle and a few other Castles in Brittan. But I doubted I'd see something like this on the plateau."
"Yes, the plateau. You haven't been on it long have you?"
"How'd you guess?" She asked as she seated herself. She listened to the quartet play a nice slow song as they spoke.
"I don't need to. I've been watching your friends for quite some time now." Chloe gasped loudly.
"I know who you are! You're the man who sent those letters to Marguerite! You're disgusting." She pointed an acusing finger at him across the table.
"Guilty as charged." He chuckled.
"You think this is funny? This has scared the living daylights out of all of my friends and I."
"It's hilarious if you look at it from my point of view."
"Well, I think you see behind rose colored glasses then, because this isn't funny at all!"
"You're right. It's romantic isn't it? Sweeping you away from that horrible excuse for a house."
"That horrible excuse for a house had people in it that were wonderful. Where are they? Did you kidnap them as well?" She asked angrily.
"No, there'd be no reason to take them."
"What kind of a man are you? You sicken me! I'm taken prisoner in the dead of night, held in a room full of snakes and then you insult my friends!"
"First of all, you aren't a prisoner. You can leave whenever you wish."
"I wish to leave now."
"You didn't let me finish; you can leave whenever you wish, to take the chance with my pets, palace guards and villagers who need a queen."
"A queen?"
"Yes, you see, I am Prince Liam Rienquest. These people are mine. I am their good leader." He laughed. Obviously, his villagers were sorely mistaken about the good part. "But I do not have all the power I crave. I wish to be king, and according to law I cannot do so until I have a bride. This is where you come in my dear."
"Find someone who loves you, your highness."
"No need to call me that, we'll be married soon enough. I think we should start thinking of pet names! How about I call you pumpkin and...."
"How about you shut the hell up! I'm not marriing you! I don't know who you are!" She shouted. The quartet still played. Liam pounded his fist on the table. All the dinner wear shook.
"I will ask you this," he said through gritted teeth. "Would you rather stay in that pile of wood up in a tree, or in a castle as a queen?" Chloe looked at him down her nose.
"I'd rather go to the treehouse." Liam closed his eyes and clenched his fist agrily. Suddenly she felt her arm twist back around her. She screamed in pain about how it was going to break and Liam opened his fist. Chloe's arm dangled at her side and she raised it and laid it in her other hand.
"I will ask you again. Would you rather stay in the tree house or here?"
"Treehouse." She said. She felt his hand around her neck. But he was at least six feet away at the other end of the table with his eyes closed. She started gagging and he waved his hand and he let go of her neck, though she wasn't quite sure how he had a hold of it.
"This is the last time. Tree house?" Chloe looked down at the finger marks on her arm and felt the heat of an Indian burn on her neck and sighed.
"No." She muttered.
"Well, I'm glad you've decided." He smiled as if he had nothing to do with it. "Pass the potatoes please."
{I was sitting on FF.N and I thought to myself, I said, Myself, what would be a good next chapter and Myself replyed, It should be about Liam and I smiled at Myself and the two of us, along with Me (Myself's cousin from Detriot) went to the mall and bought giant cinnamon-sugar pretzels from the PretzelMaker. After I wrote the chapeter of course! Love Ya! R&R please!}
Chloe opened her eyes slowly. She saw a bundle of red curls in her eyes and tucked them behind her ears. She sat up quickly and felt a satin red sheet slide down her front. The left side of her head, still slightly sore from fainting in the hot air balloon, throbbed again. She looked around the room and couldn't believe her eyes. The walls were cold, gray stone and she was lying in a humongous bed with four tall mahogany poles holding up a long strand of white material that reached down to curtains, which at the moment were drawn back with golden tassels. She had at least ten duck down pillows at her head and she watched as the candles cast eerie shadows on the walls. She slung her legs over the side of the bed and felt a cold, scaly body climbed up her ankle. She screamed as a long green snake wrapped itself around her leg. She shook it off into the floor. Chloe looked down and realized the floor was moving. But she was wrong, it was all snakes slithering around in huge piles, they covered the entirety of the room. Chloe curled up in a ball in the bed with the sheets still clinging to her body. Then the door opened.
"Ah, my dear you have woken up." Said a voice. There was a bright shining light behind him and wth the way the shadows cast, she couldn't see his face. He began to step down off the stone platform that was in front of the door.
"I wouldn't come down here; it's covered in snakes!" She exclaimed. He laughed and continued to walk. As if it were Moses, parting the Red Sea, the snakes went to two sides and cleared a path for the man to walk. Chloe's jaw dropped. "How'd you do that?" She sputtered. He came closer to her bed and Chloe leaned back and started moving her legs and rolled onto the opposite side. Her hair dangled over the side of the bed as he sat down.
"Would you like something to drink?" He asked. She could see his face now as the light flicked on it. She didn't know what wind was moving it; there were no windows. She shook her head and eased up a bit.
"Where am I?" She asked him. He traced his finger down the pattern of waves on her red sheets and smiled up at her.
"What is your name my love?"
"Your love?" She asked and looked around again. She tried to think if maybe she'd missed something along the way but she had not. She had no idea who this was. "My name is Chloe. Who are you?"
"Chloe? Chloe, what a beautiful name. It just rolls off the tongue. Queen Chloe. Ah, I like it." He smiled again.
"I'm really confused here."
"Is there anything you need, anything at all?"
"An explanation would be nice."
"We will talk about that tonight at dinner. Until then," He leaned over and kissed her. Chloe kept her eyes open and tried to get him off of her. After he finally got off he smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Farewell."
***
"The wheels and hove tracks go this way!" Veronica shouted. They'd been following tire and horse tracks for forty-five minetes now and not found where they led. Malone called for Marguerite, Roxton and Challenger as they went towards Veronica. She stood by the path they were on and looked bewildered.
"What is it, Veronica?" Marguerite asked.
"They just stop. They don't go behind a stone wall, or into the ocean or up a tree. Hell, they don't even go on and lead us to a village. They just stop!" She walked around the spot were the tracks abruptly stopped. John crouched very far down on the ground and looked down and onward.
"I don't know what to do now. Ned, what do you think? Ned? Ned, where'd you go?" Veronica asked.
"Over here! I found some more tracks." He shouted. They ran through a huge area of trees to Malone who was standing over a set of tracks that were identical to the ones they had encountered previously.
"Do you think they were the same buggies?" Marguerite asked.
"Yes, the other one was obviously hand made and it would be hard to make wheels exactly the same for two different buggies." Challenger observed.
"Then how did this happen? The trail doesn't go in any sort of a circle." She answered back.
"I don't know. But these tracks should lead to the place where Chloe is." He said "so, if that is the case. Let's go."
***
"Would you rather wear green or red?" Said the short plump brunette in front of Chloe. She was holding the two dresses in front of her bed. She had made the snakes clear a path for her as well.
"Red, what is this whole dinner thing about?" Chloe asked as the woman laid the red dress on Chloe's bed. She herself was dressed all in black, like the man who'd come in earlier.
"It's for you and your groom to get to know each another." The woman nodded and bowed to Chloe. She then walked out of the room and the snakes separated. Chloe didn't take her chances of changing on the ground and she got up in her bed and pulled the dress on. It was long and very low in the front. There were black gloves that went with it and Chloe pulled them on her hands. Chloe slipped on the shoes and sat cross-legged on her bed waiting for someone to come in and help her out of the room. She didn't wait long. The door cracked and a man dressed all in black came in. He was short and ugly.
"Come with me." He grunted. She followed him daintily and heard the snakes hissing behind her. Chloe looked and the snakes were closing their path as she walked. She swallowed hard and followed the man down a hallway. It was brightly lit. She saw people in the same outfits as the man and woman had been wearing but only a few were in black most of them were in red robes doing their, what Chloe assumed, daily reutine. As she walked past an open window she had her first taste of sunlight in over a day. The people around her smiled and bowed as she past. Chloe nodded at them and kept following the short man in front of her. They reached a set of gigantic double doors. They were a deep mahogony, it matched the four poster she slept in. The engraving on it was ornate and beautiful. The short man grabbed the golden knob and opened the door. Inside a man sat at a long table with food all over it. A warm fire kindled in the corner and in another corner a string quartet played softly. She looked around and realized the room was taller then the tree the treehouse sat on. She gulped and nodded at the short man. He put his nose up and nodded as well. The man flicked his hand and the short man bowed and shut the door. Chloe stood in the doorway and looked on the ground, it was real marble floors.
"Won't you have a seat dear?" He said and stood. Chloe pulled out the chair that was up to her shoulders out and sat down. The ornate carvings of the chair matched the doors. "Why, Chloe, you seem so amazed by all of my things, like you've never seen such a place.
"Oh I have." Chloe said trying not to brag. "I've been in Buckingham Palace, and Edmunson Castle and a few other Castles in Brittan. But I doubted I'd see something like this on the plateau."
"Yes, the plateau. You haven't been on it long have you?"
"How'd you guess?" She asked as she seated herself. She listened to the quartet play a nice slow song as they spoke.
"I don't need to. I've been watching your friends for quite some time now." Chloe gasped loudly.
"I know who you are! You're the man who sent those letters to Marguerite! You're disgusting." She pointed an acusing finger at him across the table.
"Guilty as charged." He chuckled.
"You think this is funny? This has scared the living daylights out of all of my friends and I."
"It's hilarious if you look at it from my point of view."
"Well, I think you see behind rose colored glasses then, because this isn't funny at all!"
"You're right. It's romantic isn't it? Sweeping you away from that horrible excuse for a house."
"That horrible excuse for a house had people in it that were wonderful. Where are they? Did you kidnap them as well?" She asked angrily.
"No, there'd be no reason to take them."
"What kind of a man are you? You sicken me! I'm taken prisoner in the dead of night, held in a room full of snakes and then you insult my friends!"
"First of all, you aren't a prisoner. You can leave whenever you wish."
"I wish to leave now."
"You didn't let me finish; you can leave whenever you wish, to take the chance with my pets, palace guards and villagers who need a queen."
"A queen?"
"Yes, you see, I am Prince Liam Rienquest. These people are mine. I am their good leader." He laughed. Obviously, his villagers were sorely mistaken about the good part. "But I do not have all the power I crave. I wish to be king, and according to law I cannot do so until I have a bride. This is where you come in my dear."
"Find someone who loves you, your highness."
"No need to call me that, we'll be married soon enough. I think we should start thinking of pet names! How about I call you pumpkin and...."
"How about you shut the hell up! I'm not marriing you! I don't know who you are!" She shouted. The quartet still played. Liam pounded his fist on the table. All the dinner wear shook.
"I will ask you this," he said through gritted teeth. "Would you rather stay in that pile of wood up in a tree, or in a castle as a queen?" Chloe looked at him down her nose.
"I'd rather go to the treehouse." Liam closed his eyes and clenched his fist agrily. Suddenly she felt her arm twist back around her. She screamed in pain about how it was going to break and Liam opened his fist. Chloe's arm dangled at her side and she raised it and laid it in her other hand.
"I will ask you again. Would you rather stay in the tree house or here?"
"Treehouse." She said. She felt his hand around her neck. But he was at least six feet away at the other end of the table with his eyes closed. She started gagging and he waved his hand and he let go of her neck, though she wasn't quite sure how he had a hold of it.
"This is the last time. Tree house?" Chloe looked down at the finger marks on her arm and felt the heat of an Indian burn on her neck and sighed.
"No." She muttered.
"Well, I'm glad you've decided." He smiled as if he had nothing to do with it. "Pass the potatoes please."
{I was sitting on FF.N and I thought to myself, I said, Myself, what would be a good next chapter and Myself replyed, It should be about Liam and I smiled at Myself and the two of us, along with Me (Myself's cousin from Detriot) went to the mall and bought giant cinnamon-sugar pretzels from the PretzelMaker. After I wrote the chapeter of course! Love Ya! R&R please!}