by Lara Ann
“How are we going to see in there?”
“If you open the locket, I think you’ll find that will help.”
Intrigued I lifted out the locket and unfastened the catch. Soft light flowed out from the silver mirror part of the locket, illuminating the small tunnel. I bent down and entered the tunnel. It would have been easier to crawl, but no way was I crawling through that wet slimy sludge.
“Are you okay?” Wyn said from behind me.
“Yep, I’m fine, there aren’t going to be any sharp drops or anything though, are there?”
“No, we’ll be out in a minute. This used to be a lot easier when I was small.”
I laughed, trying to picture all six foot plus of Wyn trying to crouch down behind me. Wyn was right; I soon passed through another green hanging curtain to emerge in a lovely walled garden. I could see the walls of the castle looming through the trees. Everything took on an eerie appearance in the moonlight.
“What now? How do we get in?”
“I’m not sure. We will have to get closer so I can see if there are any guards.”
“Okay, lead the way, my prince,” I replied jokingly.
“Just a minute, you have some mud on your nose.” Wyn reached up to brush it off with his fingertips. “Oh no, I seem to have added more mud.” Wyn looked guiltily down at his muddy hands.
“Oh well, perhaps it will make me harder to spot,” I joked. “Don’t worry you have dirt on your face too. We’ll be in trouble if your mother doesn’t even recognise you.”
“We’ll have to be silent from here on,” Wyn said seriously. “I’ll lead the way.”
He caught my hand in his and led me through the treed garden. We reached the edge of the trees without seeing anyone. Wyn stood motionless for what seemed a long time. His eyes moved back and forth across the grounds, as he searched for any sign of the guards. Not seeing anyone, he pointed towards a small door set off to the side. We quickly ran across the open area. Wyn tried the door – it failed to open. I hadn’t really expected it to, who leaves their doors unlocked at night?
Wyn placed his palm against the lock and closed his eyes. I watched silently, wondering if this was more magic. There was a soft click and the door swung silently open. I wanted to ask what he had done, but I remained silent. Now wasn’t the time for questions.
We went in, there were dark wooden shelves reaching up to the ceiling. Large containers filled the shelves along with barrels full of potatoes and other vegetables. I figured we must be in the castle’s huge pantry. I wondered how many Elves actually lived here. Wyn pulled me silently onward. We entered a huge kitchen, there was a fire burning in a huge open fireplace, as well as several ovens. They all appeared to be wood-burning stoves; it was really warm compared to being outside. I was glad I didn’t have to work in here in summer.
I lost track of where we were, as Wyn let the way through too many rooms to remember. I was glad he knew where he was going. We eventually entered a large chamber; there was a fire burning here too, which gave the room a soft glow.
“My Mother’s room is across the other side of the throne room. If she’s still here,” Wyn whispered.
We walked quietly across the large room, to a door on the far side. Wyn pressed his ear against the door, listening for anyone on the other side. Not hearing anything, he slowly opened the door and entered the room. From out of the darkness a figure appeared, he had a wooden staff that was hurtling straight at Wyn’s head.
“Watch out!” I cried.
Wyn tried to duck, but the staff clipped the side of his head. He fell to the ground without making a sound.
“No!” I cried, just as another Dark Elf grabbed me from behind. I struggled and kicked, but his hold was too strong. I felt a blinding pain in my head and everything went dark.
Chapter 11
I woke up on a cold hard stone floor. My head was throbbing; I felt around and discovered a large painful lump underneath my braid. I slowly sat up; it took a moment for the room to stop spinning. I looked around. I appeared to be in some sort of small prison cell. Three of the walls were a dull grey stone. The forth was more open, with steel bars and a door with a large padlock.
“Wyn,” I whispered. There was only silence. I crawled towards the bars, the corridor was a bit lighter than the cell, but it was still fairly dim. The light source seemed to be further along out of sight. I didn’t want to attract the guards, or whoever was down here.
“Wyn,” I whispered again, slightly louder this time. I heard a groan, coming from the cell next to mine.
“Argh, Ash is that you? Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m alright. I wouldn’t mind some aspirin though.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
“The guards were waiting for us in your Mum’s room. It was a trap.”
“I should have figured it out, when there were no guards anywhere.”
“But how did they know we were even coming?” I asked.
“I have no idea, unless they have some skill I know not of.”
“What are we going to do now?”
“Well as soon as you can sleep, you are going to go back home.”
“What! I’m not just going to leave you here.”
“Yes you are, I’ve put you in too much danger already. I have no idea what they are planning to do with me, but I am not putting your life at risk. I couldn’t stand to lose you Ashlee.”
“I feel the same,” I said simply.
“You don’t have a choice, as soon as you sleep, you will return home.”
“How come when I got knocked out, I didn’t return home?”
“Unconsciousness is not the same as sleeping. It is a different state of being.”
“Maybe if we reach our arms through the bars, I can grab your hand and take you with me?”
“It’s worth a try. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” I pushed my arm through the bars and stretched it out towards Wyn’s cell. I felt Wyn’s fingers touch mine, but we couldn’t get any closer. The position was uncomfortable; I could already feel a cramp in my shoulder. It still felt reassuring to be able to make contact.
“It’s not going to work,” said Wyn withdrawing his hand. “There’s no way we could sleep in that position.”
“Maybe I could go and come back for you?”
“Absolutely not. I forbid you to try anything so risky.”
“You ‘forbid me’! You can’t stop me from doing anything.”
“No I cannot,” Wyn agreed softly. “But I love you Ash and I cannot bear the thought of you putting your life at risk for me.”
I sat in stunned silence. Had Wyn really just said that he loved me? Was this really happening?
“I feel the same, so just know that I will always return for you. I’m sorry if it will be hard for you to accept, but I cannot do anything else.”
I heard Wyn sigh as he considered my words. “You don’t even know how close to me you’ll end up. What if you end up in another cell? You could be risking yourself for nothing?”
“Maybe, but I took us pretty close to Thunder, when I was thinking of him. So maybe, if I am thinking about being close to you, that is where I’ll end up. It’s worth a try anyway.”
Over the next few hours, Wyn continued to try and talk me out of my plan. He thought of all the ways it might not work, all the dangerous possibilities. Wyn had yet to learn how stubborn I was. Once my mind was made up about something, it was almost impossible for someone to change it. In all that time, no one came to see us; perhaps they had just left us here to die slowly of thirst? At last, I finally began to get tired; I lay down on the hard floor, as close to Wyn’s cell as possible. He began to sing to me, it was a sweet song of love and hope. I felt my body relaxing as my eyelids slowly drifted shut.
I woke up feeling confused and disoriented. I was in my bed at home, but something felt off. I sat up slowly. My head was aching. Of course! It all came flooding back, being captured, hours in that dark cell,
leaving Wyn behind...
I rushed to Wyn’s room, of course it was empty. I ran downstairs, the house was quiet. There was a note on the kitchen bench.
Dear Ash and Wyn,
Gone fishing for the day, I may not be in mobile range. Will see you tonight for dinner - hopefully fish! If not we can order pizza. Have a great day - don’t forget your homework.
Love
Dad
I crumpled slowly to the floor, feeling totally alone. My shoulders hunched inwards as sobs racked my body. I wanted so badly to be able to have one more hug from my Mum. I felt like my life was spiralling out of control. My Mum was gone, Wyn was trapped, who knows what they might be doing to him. I couldn’t lose Wyn too. Even though I hadn’t known him that long, he’d become so crucial in my life. I cried for a long time, until all my tears finally dried up. I got slowly to my feet, feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to save Wyn. I racked my brain trying to think of a way of getting to Wyn faster. Maybe I could take a sleeping tablet? Would that even work? I didn’t really want to do that, not knowing what would happen. If it didn’t work, I would waste hours of precious time and then I wouldn’t sleep tonight. No, I had to do something that would make me naturally tired and definitely no caffeine.
I went for a long run on the beach, not stopping until I was physically exhausted. I then made myself eat lunch, it was hard to choke down the food, but I needed all my strength if I was going to rescue Wyn. After that I decided to go out on the deck to read a book, to see if that would make me sleepy. I randomly picked one of Dad’s books off the bookshelf and lay down on the sun lounge. I was finding it hard to concentrate, even though the story was well written. My mind kept returning to Wyn and what might be happening to him. Eventually the story sucked me in, and I got caught up in the lives of the characters. After a couple of hours I began to feel a bit tired, it was nice lying in the sun. I let my eyes slowly drift closed and I thought of Wyn and being close to him.
It worked! I thought triumphantly, as I awoke on the hard stone. Wyn was asleep next to me. He looked terrible, his face was deathly pale and his eyes had dark circles underneath them. He was muttering as he moved restlessly in his sleep. I wasn’t sure if I should wake him up, or let him sleep. I decided to let him sleep, as I didn’t have any way to help him yet. He looked vulnerable lying there on the bare stone floor of the prison cell. I wished I had brought some water with me, if that was even possible. It seemed like my clothes came with me, but my bed stayed behind. I was un-sure what I could bring with me and how exactly the whole thing worked. I needed to find out more. Finnan had seemed to know more about traveling between dimensions than the others. Even if I could find him, I’m not sure how helpful he would be, as he hadn’t wanted either of us to return until Wyn turned eighteen.
“Ash? Are you really here, or is this a dream? No, scrap that, all my dreams have been more like nightmares,” Wyn said croakily.
“How long was I gone?”
“I’m not sure – it’s hard to tell down here. I would guess only about twelve hours or so.”
“Have you seen anyone else?”
“No, no one’s been here, unless they came while I was sleeping.”
“I wish I could have brought you some water or something.”
“Is that even possible?” Wyn asked hopefully.
“I have no idea, I was hoping you might know. Or maybe Finnan, would he know?”
“Probably. That doesn’t help us much now.”
Wyn looked more defeated than I’d ever seen him. Usually he was so full of life and optimistic. I took hold of his hands, the way he usually did to make me feel better.
“At least we can get out of here now, and then we can plan what to do next. I’m sure we can come up with something.”
“You’re right, I just feel so stupid for falling right into Rothlyn’s trap.”
“I’m surprised he hasn’t come to see you yet.”
“I am too actually. Perhaps he’s waiting until I am too weak to resist him. I do not think he will need to wait much longer. My mind is starting to play tricks on me, I really need some water.”
“How long do you think we should wait, before I try to sleep us out of here?” I said trying to lighten the moment. I was pleased to be rewarded with a small smile from Wyn.
“Did you wait until night to return?”
“No it was afternoon at home, I fell asleep on the deck.”
“You what!” Wyn exclaimed. “How do you know you will be safe outside?”
“Really? I think you’re overreacting just a tad, what could happen to me in the middle of no-where?”
“Anyone could come along and find you, you would be totally vulnerable. You know you don’t cross over immediately,” Wyn said softly, gently running his fingertips along the back of my hand. “It takes time to enter the dream sleep.”
The feel of his fingers was so amazing, it sent tingles up my spine. It felt so good I was totally losing focus on our conversation.
“We’ll I’m here safely, so obviously nothing bad happened. Anyway,” I said trying to remember what we had been talking about. “What difference does it make when and where I fell asleep.”
“If you fell asleep in the afternoon that means you probably won’t sleep for very long. That means it will be easier for you to go to sleep here. At least I think that’s the theory. I wish I had known I was going to need to understand all this one day, I would have paid more attention to Fin-nan’s lessons.”
“That’s the best news I’ve had all day,” I said excitedly.
“Shhh, you need to calm down if you are to have any chance of sleeping,” Wyn said soothingly.
“You’re right, I actually do feel tired. If only this floor was a bit softer,” I sighed.
“Lie down with your back to me and rest your head on my chest.”
I lay back down, pressing my back against Wyn, as I lay my head down gently. It wasn’t quite as comfortable as a pillow, but I wouldn’t trade the feeling of Wyn lying with me for the softest most luxurious bed in the world. I think I made some sort of embarrassing contented sigh, but Wyn only chuckled softly and began to brush my hair with his fingertips.
“Will it help you sleep if I sing?” Wyn whispered in my ear, his hair tickling my face.
“Yes please,” I said, trying not to sound too desperate. Wyn surprised me when he started to sing the Beatles classic, ‘Yesterday.’ I wondered vaguely where he had heard it. Probably in my Dad’s music collection, I guess he picked it for its appropriate lyrics.
‘Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though there here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday.’
Paul McCartney had nothing on my beautiful Elf, his voice was so hauntingly beautiful. I was asleep before he even finished the song.
Chapter 12
There was something sticking into my back. I felt like I was slowly being suffocated and my skin felt hot and too tight. I prised my eyes open. I was lying on the lounge outside. One of the wooden armrests was digging painfully into my back. This lounge was only designed for one, Wyn’s weight was pressing down on me making it hard to breathe. I tried to manoeuvre myself out from underneath him, without pushing him off the seat. He woke up then, making it much easier to get up.
“Water,” Wyn croaked, sounding even worse than before.
“Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” I ran into the house and grabbed a glass from the kitchen. As I filled it up under the tap, I couldn’t help noticing how red the skin on my arms looked. It was painful too. Perhaps lying in the sun for goodness knows how long, wasn’t my best plan. Seems like a nasty case of sunburn would be my reward. I ran back out to the deck, where Wyn was half sit-ting, propped up by the couch cushions. I knelt down beside him and held the glass of water up to his cracked lips. He sipped it at first, then took the glass out of my hand and gulped down the rest.
“More please.”
“Should you drink it so fast?”
�
��I don’t know, but I still feel desperately thirsty.”
I ran back to the kitchen and refilled the glass. I grabbed my phone off the table on my way back out the door. After I gave the water to Wyn, I googled ‘dehydration’ on my phone.
“It says you should rest in the shade and drink slowly. There’s a recipe for making an electrolyte drink to help rehydrate quicker. Do you feel nauseous, weak, confused or dizzy?” I asked reading out a list of symptoms to be concerned about.
“Your phone can tell you all that?” Wyn asked incredulously.
“Yes, I can access the internet with it,” I answered impatiently. “How are you feeling?”
“A bit weak perhaps, but fine other than that.”
“Okay, let me help you inside.” The sun was getting low in the sky, but I still thought it would be best to get Wyn inside.
“I think I can manage,” said Wyn standing. He began to tilt alarmingly to one side. I rushed over and put his arm around my neck.
“Uh, thanks. I guess I’m weaker than I realised.” Wyn looked down at my arm. “What happened? Your skin looks really burnt,” concern clouded his features.
“I’m fine, just a little sunburn. I won’t be napping out here without sunscreen again,” I answered lightly.
“Am I hurting you?” Wyn asked, as we shuffled slowly towards the door.
“No, its fine, my back and shoulders were covered by my shirt at least.”
I helped Wyn to the lounge room and he lay down on the long couch. I was glad Dad had such comfortable furniture. I went into the kitchen to mix up the electrolyte drink. Luckily it was all stuff we had. I found a glass pitcher and carried it back to the lounge room.
“Do you want to try some of this drink, it’s supposed to help you rehydrate quicker.”
“Thank you Ashlee,” Wyn answered seriously.
“It’s nothing really...”
“I was not referring to just the drink – thank you for coming back to rescue me. I was foolish to rush in, with no more thought than a small child.”