Chapter 3

Kara was still in total shock as May, walking rather close to her, led her along the strange hard path towards whatever dwelling she lived in. In fact, the pure ferret was so surprised that she could hardly focus on putting one footpaw in front of the other. It was just so…horrible. She had no idea where she was, what had happened, or how she had gotten into this predicament.

And she had no idea how to get back.

But then there was another thought nagging at the back of her mind: what would she do once she got back, if she ever did? She had nowhere to go, no one to help her, and the Haera might still be after her. However, even that seemed better than this alien world.

Suddenly, a thought struck her. What had happened to Tirreg and his vermin? They had all been near each other when the white light had flashed – what if they had been taken here, too? What if they were somewhere nearby, in the same state of mind that she was in? Kara reasoned that she would rather not think about it – she had her own problems at the moment.

"See," May muttered, pointing to the oddly-dressed creatures around them, "you reallyshould have thought about putting on a new wardrobe – everyone's staring at you."

Indeed, the creatures all did seem to be focusing their attention on Kara as she walked by, even slowing their pace to stare at her, giving her odd looks and looking at her arm. The pure ferret ignored them – she didn't really care what these strange beasts thought of her, because she doubted – and hoped – she would never see them again, anyway. However, their contemptuous glances were slightly unnerving; she forced herself to stare back, in the same contemptuous manner.

"Here, turn right." May pointed down another strange pathway, leading to a slightly more deserted pathway. Kara followed her, staring at all of the houses around them. They were huge, and seemed to be made of reddish brick, with windows high up that had either strange bright lights or voids of blackness around them. There actually was grass on the ground at the end of strange, black things, but it was not the same bright grass she had been used to – it was browner, more unhealthy-looking. To Kara, it seemed that it was dying, that the life had somehow been choked out of it. It took her a moment to realize that there were some of those car things standing in the black pathways. She jumped slightly – they were so big, and after she had almost been killed by one, they were also indimidating. However, they made no growling noises as the two beasts passed in front of them, and they were completely still. Their bright surfaces flashed oddly as the sun hit them.

"Here we are." May smiled, pointing to one of the largest houses Kara had seen so far. However, unlike most of the others, there was no "car" standing in front of it – the black pathway was bare. The squirrel led the pure ferret up the pathway and onto another one, only this time it was grey. In front of the large building there were lots of little plants Kara had never seen before; they appeared to be flowers, but there sprouted oddly and the were yellow, with what looked like another flower sprouting in the middle of them. The pure ferret blinked, and looked away – it was too strange to look at.

May led her up two large steps to an elaborate door, with a strange shiny thing with a button in the middle. However, the squirrel payed this no attention; she reached into her bag and pulled out a silver key, sticking it in the keyhole and turning it. There was a small click, and she reached forward, turning the doorknob and opening the door.

It was the strangest place Kara had ever been in – and one of the most well-kept, second only to Fortress Krott. It was dark, as there were no torches or candles lit at all, but there was light streaming in front a window, and she could see well enough to get more than a hint at her surroundings.

There were silk purple drapes next to the window, which was so pure it looked like it was made of crystal. The window was also outlined in some sort of odd shiny wood, like it had been mixed with metal or something. However, that was not it – next to the door was an a huge object made out of the same wood as the outline of the window, and there was a large thing curving up from it. There were long white things on it, as well as shorter black things on top of them – and there were many different colored buttons as well. On the wall – which was a lightish blue color – there were many square and rectangle pictures, depicting creatures playing in the grass and do other strange, pointless-looking things. There was an open doorway close by, which led into a huge room with a soft-looking long grey things with many lace-fringed pillows on it, and a large grey chair that looked to be made of the same material. However, that was not the oddest thing – near the two large soft things was a big square box, which was outlined with the shiny wood, but the middle was totally black – but there were strange-shaped buttons on the side of it.

"Whew, it's darker in here than I remembered it." May reached up, putting her paw on an odd switch thing that Kara hadn't noticed before. "Mind if I put the light on?"

Kara opened her mouth, about to ask her what she meant, but the squirrel didn't wait for a reply – she flicked the switch up, and suddenly the place was engulfed in a horribly bright light that seemed to be glaring down from the sky itself. It happened so suddenly and unexpectedly that the pure ferret screamed, throwing herself flat on the ground with her paws on her head.

"Holy hell!" May shrieked. "What is the matter with you?"

Kara felt every single sense in her body tingling – her mouth suddenly began totally dry. "W…what happened? What in hellsteeth is going on?"

May stared down at the pure ferret, her eyes full of shock. "I turn the light on," she said simply. "What else is there to know?"

Kara took her trembling paws off her head and sat up slowly – squinting, she looked up at the ceiling. On it was a square-shaped thing decorated with symbols of flowers, and coming from inside of it was that horribly bright light. It was scalding, and she had expected powerful heat to be radiated down on her from it, like the sun; but strangely there was no heat at all, and that made her even more concerned.

"This isn't right," she said, her voice shaking. "This is just…wrong."

May shook her head, raising one eye. "Clearly, you've never heard of electricity."

Kara stared at her with a blank look, and the squirrel's mouth hung open. "Who are you?" she asked suddenly, her eye still raised. "I don't get it – why are you acting so weird? You've seriously never heard of electricity – or cars? Where do you come from?"

"I am Kara," she said, her voice quickly rising in impatience, "and I am from Kreel, in the Northlands. And I have never heard of cars or electri…elet…etec…"

"Electricity."

"Yes – and I don't understand what the News is, or why everything is so big, and bright, and why the ground is covered in…melted rock or something, or why everybeast is dressed so strange, or-"

"You," May said suddenly, her voice filled with sudden impassiveness.

"Me what?"

"You sound like you're from…the past."

Kara stared at her. "Me…from the past? I don't understand what you're talking about – what do you mean, the past?"

May's expression changed – her eyes became bright, and her voice was again quick and eager. "Tell me about what happened – with the flash of light and everything."

Kara stared at her for a moment, then began slowly. "I was running from the Haera – Tirreg's group – and I sort of…passed out from exhaustion." She didn't want to say that she had fallen asleep on the pathway; the squirrel already thought she was a madbeast. "When the Haera arrived, I guess I woke up, and I started to fight them – then one of them gashed my arm." The pure ferret pointed to her wound. "Then…I…I think I lost control of myself, and I started swinging my dagger, and attacking them…and Tirreg was screaming for them to kill me…and…there was this flash of white light. That's all I can remember…then I woke up here."

May gasped suddenly, her paw on her mouth. "Holy hell," she gasped. "What year are you from? The 1400's? Or the 1200's, maybe?"

"What are you talking about?" Kara snapped. She was starting to feel very angry – absolutely nothing was making sense to her anymore.

"What?" May stared at her. "You weren't keeping track of what year it was?"

"What's a year? And what do you mean, was I keeping track of it? I wasn't keeping track of anything – I was on the run!"

The squirrel shrugged. "Oh. I would've thought if you'd come from the past than at least you'd know from what year."

"I didn't come from the past," Kara snapped. "I came from the real world; which, in case you're wondering, is absolutely nothing like this place."

May chuckled. "Sorry to disappoint you," she said, in almost a mocking voice, "but this is the real world, so get used to it." The angry pure ferret opened her mouth to reply, but the squirrel overrode her. "Anyway, this really isn't the place for you to be – my parents could be home any minute, and they'd kill me if they realized I'd brought a madbeast to our house."

The insult was driven out of Kara's mind when she realized what May had just said. "You're parents would…kill you?" The pure ferret stared at her in shock. "I…they'd actually do that? They'd kill you?"

May snorted. "It's just an expression," she said casually – however, just as she was about to explain exactly what she meant, Kara suddenly cried out in pain and clutched at her arm.

"Argh!" The pure ferret was almost afraid to look at it; but when she did, she felt a sinking dread seep into her chest. "Hellsteeth," she snarled, pressing on it tightly, "it's bleeding like a waterfall!"

"Holy hell!" May said for the third time. "You weren't lying! Oh, what am I going to do…" Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Come on," she said, swiftly helping Kara to her footpaws. "There's some of those old white bandages down in the basement."

- - - - - - -

Evening was creeping in by the time Tirreg awoke, bruised and battered. His throat was dry, and he snarled in pain when he realized his arm was streaked in blood. But that wasn't it – he felt something warm dripping down his left leg – blood, as well. But, strangely, there was no pain to accompany it, even though his leg was obviously injured in some way. Tirreg blinked. That's impossible, he thought. Why is there no feeling in my leg? What's happening? However, he soon realized this, surprisingly, was the least of his worries.

The big fox's sharp eyes began to blink open gradually, and when they did, he felt himself freeze in shock.

He had no idea where he was.

The walls of the room – or at least he thought it was a room – that he was in was in were pure white, and he seemed to be lying in a bed or something that was high up above the ground; not very high, but higher than a normal bed. He wasn't dressed in his dark green tunic, or even his snakeskin sash – with a snarl of rage he realized his royal sword was gone, as well. Instead he was wearing a long, white thing that seemed to end near his footpaws, and there was a strange red bracelet thing around the wrist of his uninjured arm. His eyes scanned the room – beside his bed was a tall, thin thing, like a tree, but shiny; it was obviously made of metal or something. Near the top something stuck out of it, like the branch of a tree, except that it was straight – and from it hung a pouch that seemed to be filled with clear liquid, like water. From the pouch there was a clear rope-like thing, and it ran along the white floor; and it looked like it went right under the sheets of his bed, to…suddenly, he became aware of the strange numbness that went along with the unnatural painlessness in his obviously-injured leg.

The fox felt sudden shock.

They were actually putting something into him.

He didn't know how, or why, or even who "they" were, but he knew they were doing it.

Tirreg didn't remember much – only that he had finally cornered his archenemy, and she had gone completely crazy, wounding and killing the Haera…then there had been that flash of white light, and everything had disappeared.

And now he was here.

Another thing he didn't know: where here was.