My hands shook, but I had no choice as he started pulling on the rope; I had to get up or risk being dragged along behind him all the way. I tried to calm my galloping heart and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.
After an eternity of walking, I had already fallen countless times, and my hands and knees were bleeding. Aching all over, I struggled to keep up.
I followed Oblek down the hill and into the valley. I could see well enough because of the full moon, but the shrubs and bushes snagged and tore at my clothes as he led me along a muddy path that skirted the edge of the woods.
“Please, can’t you at least tell me where we’re going?”
He shot one dark eye toward me. “Tonight we will stop at my castle, and at daybreak tomorrow we will ride for Nerenor. The queen will be eager to see you.”
“Will we be riding . . . horses?” I asked, understanding slowly dawning.
“Yes, of course.” He looked momentarily bewildered. “Why would you ask such a stupid question? Ah yes, in your world you have, what do you call them . . .” He snapped his fingers as if trying to remember. “. . . Those funny carriages you call cars to get around.”
He yanked the rope and pulled me along again. “Never really liked your world. And I seldom go there; that’s why I get people like your uncle to do my work for me.”
I glared at him at him as the bitter realities of this world started seeping into my sleep-deprived brain. There were no cars here, probably no electricity or running water, and it was ruled by a queen who sounded like a tyrant. How would I survive here, even if I did manage to get away from Oblek?
We walked the rest of the way in silence, my brain in overdrive. I was exhausted and had abandoned my wet, muddy slippers somewhere along the way. My feet were cut all over and bleeding, but Oblek didn’t care. He pulled me along like a dog on a leash.
It was still dark when we finally reached his castle. The moon had decided to hide itself and the shadows followed us like bloodhounds looking for their next kill.
High stone walls surrounded the main tower, and a dirty, moss-covered moat encircled the castle on all sides. The keep was flat, squat, and covered in blackened vines and creepers. A thick, gnarled forest stretched out behind it, and numerous guards were posted on the battlements.
It was nothing like Redstone Manor or even the surrounding countryside I had seen when I came into this world through the tapestry. This castle looked bleak and sinister, like a charred, ash-covered rock amidst a green, flowering valley.
Lightning crackled overhead, lighting up the eerie gray structure with a sinister glow. I shuddered as he led me closer to it, not sure what to expect now. I wiped my face with my sleeve as best I could. My feet burned, and I wished for a warm bed and some food, but both seemed quite unlikely.
A big wooden drawbridge swung down in front of us. The guards, recognizing Lord Oblek, had signaled the gatekeeper to lower the bridge.
We entered a walled courtyard, and I stumbled to a stop behind Oblek. A big stone fountain of a goat-like creature spouting water dominated the cobblestone enclosure. Looking up, I could see people peering out of the windows that surrounded the courtyard. I wondered if there was anyone there I could ask for help, but I doubted it.
“Guards!” commanded Oblek, without looking at me. “Take her to the dungeons. No one is to speak to this prisoner, or it will cost them their head. Is that understood?”
The guards nodded and scurried to catch hold of my arms, one on each side. There was no use struggling—even if I did get free, where could I go?
“All the cells are full, my lord,” said one scrawny guard with long, matted black hair, whose filthy hand was wrapped around my arm.
A cold smile curled Oblek’s lips. “Just put her in the pit. The prisoners down there are to be executed at dawn, so anything she says will go with them to their grave.”
The guards took me down the gray stone corridors and dark steps that led under the castle. They shoved and pushed me the whole way, even though I wasn’t resisting.
It was damp and sinister down in the dungeons, where the air reeked of rotting food and other things that I didn’t even want to know about. I could hear moans and strange screeching noises coming from some of the cells as we walked past them. I tried to ignore the sounds as the guards unlocked another door, which led still deeper underground.
As I passed one of the iron-barred cells, a thin, wrinkled hand shot out from between the bars and grabbed me. Shooting pain lanced through my arm as the hand clutched at me, digging long, dirty, black fingernails into my skin.
I was horrified as I stared down at my arm and tried to wrench myself free. A shriek of laughter forced me to look up. The weathered hand belonged to a gnarled, white-haired woman. Her face was brown and wrinkled like old leather, and her eyes were completely white. “Finally, she has come!” she screeched.
“Shut up, old woman,” the guard snapped, leaning over and prying her fingers off me.
Stunned and shaken, I was dragged off to my own cell.
The old woman didn’t stop; she went on screaming, “She has come! And she will destroy you all.”
Shrieks of cackling laughter followed me as I was led deeper down into the pit, the lowest and most horrific part of the dungeons. Obviously the old woman was mad. She couldn’t
