Caged

Auril walked out of the villa once again under the cover of the night that rode on the dark horse over a velvety sky, that was bespeckled by stars and moon, whose shimmer was dimmed by the gray clouds, which drifted across. Auril was walking through the quiet village, trading the ground carefully. It took him no more than an hour to cross the wooden bridge that marked the border of Zelena.

It was freezing cold outside and the tension was building as Auril took each step away from Zelena. He set foot on the rolling hills and open plains and the weather turned grayer. It had gotten so cold that Auril pulled his cloak together and buttoned it till his waist. Against the darkness, the winter trees stood like nude forms, starkly against the snow or poking out needles of pine. A wave of bitter cold wind swept across and the naked branches adorned with snow appeared to shiver. As he walked, crunching the cluster of twigs and dried leaves, he wondered if his mother had come to know of his escape. This time, he knew that she was going to give him a very harsh punishment if he got caught. But… He tipped his head up as he let out an exasperated sigh, as the white drifts of snow fell on his face. His mother knew the reason as to why he didn't want to marry Orla, but she was so against him. "Kingdom before personal choices!" she had said repeatedly to him ever since he had revealed his reason.

All of a sudden, a frustrated scream echoed in the forest and the birds nestled in the hollows of the trees stirred a little, giving back angry trills for disturbing them in the dead of the midnight. Auril stopped, his eyes narrowing. A cool, icy wave of surprise and shock flooded him. He looked in the direction of the sound. It was definitely from a female. Who could that be? Curious and slightly perturbed at the thought that someone might be torturing the woman, he increased his pace. Before leaving Fulshire forest, he had to save this girl. Auril broke into a sprint through the labyrinth of trees and snow. He had barely run for hundred meters, when all of a sudden, a flash of light came and struck him, blasting him into the snow some twenty feet behind.

"Fuck!" he rasped, as scrambled up to his feet. His mother had found him. His face tightened as he looked at his right. His shoulders tensed and there was a tightness in his chest as his pulse quickened. He was not going to get caught. Seeing two dark forms coming towards him, he swiveled to his left and started running. His mother would not force him to do something he wouldn't ever do!

However, he must have run fifty meters, when he saw half a dozen soldiers coming towards him with spears in their hands. He wanted to stop all of them but didn't want to kill them. Auril's arctic blue eyes flickered an intense green. He looked at the branches of the trees and they started growing, stretching, and twisting. Soon, they formed a mesh and trapped the soldiers. Auril let out a short laugh and dashed past them when the same mesh of branches started entwining around him. "Motherrr!" he roared.

Over the branches of the trees, a green sparkly light started dancing and Shalia appeared over a branch overhead. The ground beneath Auril cracked and formed a huge pit. Auril slipped right into it. He grunted as he fell, trying to hold the gnarled roots of the trees that were now exposed, but he kept slipping until he fell on the wet ground with a loud thud. Panting and breathless, he got up from his place, muttering curses. "Mother, you don't know what you are doing!" he shouted at her, his chest rumbling with a roar.

Shalia was sitting on a branch next to the cage she had formed for him to prevent him from running. Green shimmery lights danced around her fingers as she appeared to play with them. Her arctic blue eyes were now burning with the eather making them glow a silver, which formed a streak on the sides. "You do have the audacity to run away again, after I told you how serious the situation is? Fenir is threatening me that she would withdraw the treaty, if you don't marry her daughter in a month's time! Otherwise—" she said in a low, dangerous voice, as her chest rose and fell in anger. "Otherwise, the blight will return to our lands with full force!"

From the pit, he craned his head to see her through the mesh of branches. The trees, the birds, everything in the forest obeyed the commands of their queen, their ruler. So, the branches with which he had caged the soldiers, the very same wood, was directed at him and he got caged by them instead. "I will not succumb to your order!" he growled.

"Then have fun in this cage till you think otherwise! You will not be able to come out until you fall in line. And when you do, send a message to me and I will come to free you," said Shalia. With the deftness of a mountain cat, she jumped on the branch and her light green chiffon gown flapped at her ankles in the cold breeze. "I am giving you another two days only!"

"And I will never concede to it!" he retorted.

"Then you stay like this," Shalia said in a calm, cold and lethal voice, throwing her braid over her shoulder. With one last look at him, she jumped from the tree to the ground in one graceful movement and was gone with her battalion of guards.

---

When Elize woke up, she was feeling too well, too healthy. Her face became lovelier, her skin healed beautifully and she felt better overall. Since she couldn't get out during the day, she went back to sleep, tossing and turning all the time. He had kidnapped her. He had caged her. She had to get out. But where was she? That night when she wandered out of her cabin, something weird occurred.