Hehehe, haven't updated in a loooong time. Sooooorry! (speaking whale…just watched Finding Nemo in Spanish. Don't tell me I'm weird, I already know).
The first thing she felt on was the painful throbbing of her head. Attempting to raise a hand to feel, she realized she was tied up.
Thom! He must be frantic. She hoped he wouldn't do anything drastic. She could look after herself, but she didn't want to have to look after both of them.
The tall figure of…who was it?…Duke...Duke Roger towered over her as he entered in the peasant's shack she was prisoner in.
"Greetings, Lady Alanna," he said, smirking.
"Greetings, Coward," she returned, smiling just as icily.
He laughed, a high ringing laugh that sent shivers down her spine. It was probably the scariest thing he could do. She shuddered. "I'm a coward not to attack you in public? Not to attack you when you were with your 'darling prince' so he could save you? I think not. You are capable of taking care of yourself. Yes, I've been watching you, darling. Not the average court lady, are you?"
"What'd you want?"
He smiled. "You're a spirited one, aren't you? Once you've told me all you know about the prince - and don't play fool with me, I know the lovesick dolt told you everything - I think I just might keep you as my little…pet."
She spat on his face.
Smirking again, why did he have to do that?, he snapped his fingers and the temperature inside the hut dropped so that the beads of sweat on Alanna's forehead froze almost instantly. "I'll leave you to think on it awhile, shall I, sweetheart?"
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Gritting her teeth, Alanna scanned the hut. If he hadn't magicked the ropes tying her to make her gift non-accessible, she could have been out of here hours ago. Oh well, she told her tired and cold mind as it began to envision exactly how she could begin to kill the Duke, it's not as though he's stupid. Which only made her problems worse.
Provided that she could take off the ropes, there were surely guards outside the hut. Provided that she got past the guards, there was surely magic blocking her escape. Provided she snuck away completely, she had no idea where she was. Provided she knew where she was…well, that was never going to happen.
She could tell the Duke everything she knew and get away without freezing to death. She'd never forgive herself.
She could give wrong information, he would find out, either kill her or bring her back here until she was good and ready to tell him…
She could wait for the Prince to come rescue her…
She could…she could…Alanna's head fell back in the chair and she went back to sleep.
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"Whoever it is has strong magic," Thom announced to Jon, Gary, Raoul, Corram, George, and many others. "I can't get through to her. They've blocked her from all the spells I can think of.
"How helpful," said George dryly. "Stephan said she was last seen at the practice courts talking to the Duke."
"Where is the Duke, anyway," Thom asked, frowning at Jon.
"Said he had some business to attend to down in one of his towns. Something about a rebellion of peasants."
"Sure," said George sarcastically, ignoring the look Jon gave him. "His peasants are tamer than lambs. Actually, most of them left once he became the Duke. Apparently they find his magic a bit intimidating."
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Alanna shivered and clutched the ember-stone around her neck, the only thing that hadn't been effected by the cold. The Duke had placed a spell on her so that she was in freezing conditions but she couldn't die of hypothermia. Unfortunately, she thought.
The ember-stone! Desperately she slammed the stone down on the chains with all of her strength. The result was a small chinking noise as a tiny piece of metal chipped off. Her eyes widened and she slammed the chain down again and again. Within two hours she had cut the chain almost enough to unlock one of her hands from the wall.
Three days later, exhausted and cold, Alanna unlocked the last chain that bound her foot to the wall and cautiously opened the door, all reason driven out of her. No one was there. She stepped out of the hut and back into the thick trees in the forest. She was warm again! She started to run, realizing that the Duke wasn't a stupid man. Something was up. He wouldn't have left the hut unguarded without some reason.
Not looking where she was going, she crashed into a man. "I'm sorry, sir-" she said and stopped abruptly.