Chapter 3

When I woke up, my face was in a soft down bed and I was filthy. Leaves and twigs were caught in my hair and dirt was all over my face. I looked up to find myself in a completely different room than my own. It was made of stone, and two windows were placed on the wall with little light shining through. Long red velvet curtains were pulled back from the windows and on the floor was a huge red rug. The bedposts were decorated with leaves and vines and stood high above me.

A large fireplace was crackling and burning in the corner of the room and above it hung a magnificent tapestry showing a clearing in the woods, except all the leaves were orange, red, and brown. In the clearing were men and women dancing and playing music. Some were eating fruits, but what really caught my eye, was the woman in the center was a woman with white skin, and long wavy copper hair. In her hair was a golden crown of woven twigs and thorns. She was wearing a long red and gold silk dress and was laughing and being entertained by her dancing servants. She was beautiful, and captivating. It seemed that all the men around her were entranced, and in love. Next to her, was the boy from the meadow! His hair had braids in it, and he was wearing thin golden armor. He looked happy, but he also was looking at the woman with caring eyes, almost like she was all he wanted in life.

Under the picture, embodied in orange, was the word, "Morior." It was an extraordinary tapestry, and it was hard to take your eyes off it, but a knock at the large wooden door disturbed my thoughts. A satyr, this time a woman came inside the room.

"Little human child, you are completely foul! You smell like iron and dirt! Her majesty will not stand for this retched stench, you must change into these clothes immediately. Wash yourself in the bath behind that door, and report to the main chamber at once."

I nodded to her, and took the purple cloth from her hand. She turned to leave, but I suddenly remembered something.

"Where is my father?"

"Your father, child, is in the main chamber with Queen Tetra as we speak. He is resistant, and my guess is he won't be here for long," she said with a crackle. Terror struck me in my chest. What will happen to him!

"Um, one more thing. Where are we?"

"Why my child, we are in Never-Never, in the lands of the Unseelie. In Morior, the Autumn Court," with that, she left the room with the clicking of her hooves following her out. Unseelie? Autumn Court? It all started to come back to me.

Last night, my father and I were stolen from our home by creatures. By faeries. He was summoned by an Unseelie Queen, and we were taken to the entrance of the woods, which lead to Chaos, or Never-Never. One thing was for sure, however, I had to get my dad and I out of here, no matter what happens.

I walked to the bath and the water was already warm and bubbly. Just then, I noticed bandages covering my arm where those evil blue monsters mauled my arm. I took a bath and put up my freshly washed hair in a pony tail. After drying off, I walked back to the bed chamber and held the purple cloth again. It folded out to be a long purple dress with a gold rope as a belt and gold leaves sewn on the front. It had no sleeves except for another golden rope and the back was cut down and was bare until the small of my back. A knock came from the door, and a tiny blue girl with huge black eyes, pointy ears and green wings came in. She was wearing a pink dress made of rags and had bare feet.

She bowed low and came up to me with a long silver hair brush, and started to style my hair. After a couple of minutes, she finished and a long blonde braid fell down my back that was decorated with lavender flowers and dandelions. She bowed again to me and scurried out the door. I looked at myself in the mirror, and I looked sort of pretty. I left my bed chamber and started to walk around the corridors trying to find the main chamber. The ceilings were high in the halls, and everything was made of gray stone. The doors in the corridor were tall and strong, made of stone and wood, but the biggest door was at the end of the hall, decorated with huge spider webs. I quickly walked towards it, and opened the door. Waiting inside, was my father, dressed in silver robes, a guard of soldiers and servants, and Queen Tetra, the woman in the painting.

She sat on a throne made of autumn leaves and gold vines, and was talking to members of her guard quietly. She was waving her hands around, making her servants run around to serve her, but when she saw me, her eyes narrowed and she grinned.

"Ah, child, come hither. Nice of you to finally join us," she crackled. I walked forward and stood by my father, but from behind me came two huge men with long two handed silver swords stepped up close behind me.

"Your useless father does not wish to help my court in this indefinite war, so why don't we show him what's at stake?" she proposed, suddenly the two burly men grabbed me and picked me up.

"You see, I need to keep you here with me, and I would have no regrets taking your daughter into the Seelie lands and leaving her to dance with some kelpies. I heard that Sarlith was an ignorant fool and swore to not harm your child in the Unseelie lands, but she won't be, will she?" she laughed.

"I have concealed some information that this child is the offspring of you, a Walker, and the Spring Queen."

"Queen? She was the daughter of King Fanon, Lord of the Spring Court," my father said.

"I see you haven't been in Chaos anytime soon, Luke. You see, our armies killed him while raiding his city. Rhoslyn escaped before he died, so she was crowned queen. This ongoing war grows tiresome, Luke. Titania and Oberon, of the summer and Winter Courts never cease to stop fighting, and Spring and Autumn will never cease either. Now that I have you, Spring will finally collapse."

"Lady Rhoslyn will wither like the Autumn leaves if she knows her 'beloved' is in danger. Not to mention her child. So what will it be then? Watch your daughter die, or choose to help the Unseelie? Not like you have a choice, refuse, and you both die."

My father looked grave and resentful. He watched the mistress for a couple of moments, and then looked at me, and shook his head.

"Dad, don't do this," I whispered to him, but he just shook his head again.

"Fine, my lady, we will serve you. Just please, don't hurt my daughter," he said.

"DAD! NO!" I screamed, but it was too late. Lady Tetra had already motioned for the guards to take us away.

"Orin, my sweet, come hither." From behind the throne came the boy from the meadow. He was tall and shaped, with big green eyes and brown hair with small braids here and there. He was wearing golden armor like in the tapestry. He wasn't smiling like in the meadow, he looked tired.

"Yes, my lady?" he asked, politely.

"I want you to take the offspring to the Seelie Court, and throw her in Lake Shea, okay?" she grinned evilly. She betrayed her word, she lied!

"You liar!" I screamed at her.

"Hold your tongue, filthy child!" she waved her hand and my mouth wouldn't move. It was sealed shut!

"I never swore that you would not be harmed, and you wouldn't perish in the Unseelie lands! I am as true to my word as ever, and besides, I do not need to explain my commands to a pathetic child!" She flicked her wrist again and my mouth opened, but my chest grew tight and soon it was hard to breathe. Lady Tetra looked at me with malevolent eyes, and smirked at me. I was gasping on the floor; my chest burned and throbbed.

"No!" shouted Orin. She glared at him questioningly. "I-I mean um not, yet!"

She flicked her wrist for the last time and my chest stopped hurting.

Orin came over to me and picked me up by my arm and lifted me up. He looked at me for a moment and I thought I saw a smile. He was beautiful, strong and tall. His eyes were a bright green and his skin was a white that was paler than paper. He stared at me for just a moment before bowing to Lady Tetra and pulling me out the door. All I saw before leaving was my dad's face as he watched in horror as I was taken away.