Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters
Chapter 9
Artemis's mind couldn't compute anything right now. The dark colored décor flashed by in a blur as she was dragged along the corridors and pulled up sets of stairs to landings. The only thing that she could clearly remember at the moment was her friend dying and Sting going on a rampage. His body glowing was still something that Artemis's mind was picturing; blasts of light had erupted from his mouth as well. He was royalty which meant he was a dragon slayer, that was obvious but the brunette was still in shock from seeing it herself.
"Of all the times for you to not attract attention it had to be now, dammit Natsu-San." These words dripped out of the blonde's mouth making Artemis blink and flick her eyes in his direction.
His face showed anger; His eyes were burning with it. The grip he had on her wrist felt just as harsh as those cuffs that he had broken off of her not to long ago. He flicked his head to both sides trying to figure out which corridor was best to go down. Hoots and hollers came from all directions and the whole castle was probably caught up in what was happening so it probably included Natsu, his father, and Sting's father as well. Artemis wouldn't have been surprised if a small portion of the kingdom outside of the castle knew about it. Guards had been down almost every hall they had tried to go down which forced them to change direction, it was also the reason that Sting had no clue where to go to find what he was looking for anymore which was the other pink haired dragon slayer who had came with him and their fathers.
"Sting they're-"
"Be quiet! I can't hear if you're talking!" He hissed with a cruel tone that he probably hadn't intended.
Artemis shut her mouth as quick as she had opened it and continued to watch his head turn. She swore if he had turned it any faster it might've turned in a complete circle. She didn't understand what he was even listing for anyway and even if she did know she thought it'd be a little impossible to hear it with all of the shouting coming from all directions, or of course Sting probably had supersonic hearing or something that she didn't know about.
Turning her head she saw a group of guards turn the corner, all of them instantly spotting the two and charging for them. She gasped and found herself being tugged down one of the corridors. Either Sting had finally found what he had been listening for or he knew that was a vital time to just pick a direction and run. The brunette stumbled over her feet trying to keep up with Sting's extremely fast pace so she didn't have to feel like she was just being dragged throughout this whole place. Her lungs were having a hard time with the lack of air she was giving them as she ran and her feet were screaming for her to stop although she would if she had a choice to.
"S-Sting . . . I need . . . rest." The girl panted hoping he would let her stop for just a few seconds.
"If you'd rather die than go ahead and stop to catch your breath. We're almost where we need to be anyway so you can catch your breath there." The sapphire eyed teen replied.
Artemis groaned and pushed herself to keep going. Sting pulled her down a few short hallways before one of them put them in a large room, almost like the lobby of the whole castle. Two set of stairs led up to a second level of the lobby that had corridors waiting to lead you towards the core of the castle. Three groups of guards spilled out of those corridors and hurried down the stairs after Sting and Artemis. Tugging on the green eyed girl's wrist Sting rushed out the large double doors that were the main entrance to the castle. Artemis saw two carriages waiting outside, one red and gold and the other white and silver. The teen spotted the pinkette they had been looking for all this time standing in front of the red carriage, his onyx stoned eyes widened at the sight of her.
"Where the hell did you find her!?" He questioned pointing a finger at the girl.
"She was in some hidden execution room. It's the whole reason why this chaos started in the first place." The blonde replied final stopping so Artemis could catch her breath.
"Ok now I'll ask you, how did you end up here?" Natsu asked turning his attention to the emerald orbed girl.
"I . . . I came to see my cousin . . . and Gajeel and Levy came here with me. They told me to wait in a bar but . . . the bartender realized I wasn't from around here . . . and the two guards who were there that night took me away because I was an outsider." Artemis explained leaning on her knees panting.
"How long has Jose had you locked up?" Sting asked, his breathing a little off as well while he spoke.
"He locked me up two nights ago." She answered while slowly standing up straight.
"Two nights!? Man that guy, I swear when I become king I'm gonna-"
Natsu's rambling was cut short by the castle doors being slammed open and those guards who had been shoving each other down the stairs came barreling out. They were shouting at each other, some shouting at the three to stay where they were. Artemis heard someone from inside the carriage to get in. Sting rushed over to the white one and climbed in, Natsu grabbed Artemis's wrist and yanked her into the carriage with him. He slammed the door shut and they were off in no more than three seconds. Artemis turned herself in her seat and watched the guards become smaller as the carriage pulled away, some of them had faces as red as apples for letting her get away. She sighed and slumped down in her seat a little relieved that they were away from that place.
"That was a close one wasn't it?" A rough voice muttered causing Artemis's eyes to fly open.
She was met with the man who eyes the color of firelight. He looked calm and didn't seem to mind Artemis being there at all. She knew that the man was Natsu's father which meant that he was the king of the Pyre kingdom. Artemis sat up straight and felt her heart beat faster, Natsu snickering at her sudden actions.
"No need to jump like that, you can relax I'm not like Jose I promise." The red haired male chuckled softly.
"This is my dad, Igneel. He's king of the Pyre kingdom!" Natsu explained, a proud ear to ear grin decorating his face.
"It's nice to meet you miss. . ."
"Artemis. . . Artemis Elise." The brunette whispered while slowly relaxing back into her seat.
"Artemis sounds like a name for a Magnolian. Is that where you are from?" Natsu's father asked her.
"Yes.", She answered,"Erm. . . Where are you taking me?"
"My kingdom!" Natsu exclaimed sitting forward in his seat.
"You're kingdom?" Artemis questioned.
"Yep! You're going to Pyre with me and my dad. Looks like I got to keep my promise to take you there after all huh?"