"No, no, no, noooo, not now!"
"Is there no way to move them out of our way?"
"No! It is a dead-end. We have to follow through the castle."
If what they are saying is true then how on Mu are we going to get out of here alive? The only way out of this passageway is through this door but it had been blocked by a rumble of large rocks.
Maybe when the castle was set ablaze some parts of it collapsed and they oh so happen to have fallen in front of my secret passageway.
"Aadya, this is your goddamn castle anyway, so you should know if any of your family members have one in their room." Twist makes a very good suggestion there with his question; it causes me to think long and hard because out of everyone in my family I am the only one who disappears.
None of them knows about how I always manage to leave the castle without being seen by any of the guards and I never told anyone about it, only Dion knows because he caught me coming into my room through the door.
I search my mind for any memory of any of my family members disappearing off castle grounds without being seen, at least we can start from there.
We'd just do our best to sneak to their rooms and search there and maybe we will find one and we can use it to get out of here.
"Say something, we don't have time!"
"Calm down Twist can't you see that she's thinking?"
I do my best to ignore them both, with my eyes closed I think harder.
Then almost as if lightning struck me I remember something, around the time my uncle had taken the crown and throne, his wife had been missing from an event which I heard she had no liking for.
From what I remember everyone kept saying that they never saw her leave and someone as important as the queen can't leave castle grounds without any of the guards recognizing her.
Which could mean one thing out of these two, it's either she has a secret passage in her room as I have in mine or my uncle has one in his room and she used his.
"I think I got it! Let's go!"
We all begin to run back to the door we used to get here, I used my hand to brush the wall to guide me, so that I don't run into anything, after all, it has been years since I've been here.
We reach there in no time at all, before I could push the door open I feel someone grab my hand and pull me back into them. I hear him shush me with his hand over my mouth.
One should be afraid in my situation but I'm not afraid at all because I realized that Dion is the one that's holding me, when he sees I won't make any sudden movements he lets go of my mouth and pulls me back away from the door a bit.
He drops my arm and proceeds to whisper just loud enough for me and Twist to hear, "Let's wait a bit."
"Why?" I imitate his tone because I would rather play along for safety reasons even though I am confused, I thought we are trying to run for our lives, so how are we going to do that if we stay here?
"I think I heard something coming from your room. I think we should wait just a little bit, just in case they are already in your room." Although he tries to hide it I hear it as clear as day in his voice, he sounds frightened.
"I agree with him." Twist whispers come from behind me, while I feel Dion's presence at my side.
We all stay silent, I use the opportunity to listen closely and carefully to try to detect any sounds or signs of movements coming from my room but I hear absolutely nothing.
Did Dion really hear anything at all? Or was it his distress that made him paranoid?
Regardless of the deafening silence, we stay as still as we can, I think Dion and Twist are stopping themselves from breathing properly in fear of it making any sound so they don't alert any intruders of our whereabouts.
Oh, Boreas, please listen to my silent plea, we do not need more problems especially one that involves a strange cannibal tribe, I did not come all this way to die.
We stand there for what seems like forever then all of a sudden light hit my eyes before I heard the sound of the secret door being opened quickly.
My hands fly upwards to shield my eyes from the harsh light, as my eyes adjust to the light what I see arises an emotion in me that I never knew I would be capable of feeling towards the winter fairy before me.
Without much thought, I run towards him with my arms wide open, "Aadya, noooo!" I hear Twist shout out but it was too late because I ran into his arms.
At first, I didn't understand why he would be so afraid of Oliver but then when I look up expecting to see Oliver giving me a look of astonishment because why would I run to him like that? Even I surprised myself.
It was like I had been pulled to him or it because it is not Oliver that is holding me tightly in a death grip in his arms.
Fear strikes me in my very being, my chest feels like it's about to explode while my heart begins to run faster than I can keep up with and I begin to feel lightheaded.
I don't know which is worse, the fact that we've been caught or this horrible looking being is holding me tight to itself.
His face adds to my fear because, to begin with, it has no face only a mouth and one small hole at the top of his head or where his forehead should be, the strange part is the colour of its skin, it's orange, and it also has no smell and that is another very strange thing because every living being has a natural body scent.
Then their bodies are covered in wax and red unevenly mixed with white feathers and they are cold to the touch, I can tell because one is touching me and it feels like a dead being is holding me, I can't hear or feel its heartbeat and I am unsure if it's breathing.
There are more just like it too, about five or six of them, one holds a struggling Dion and I am sure Twist is even more afraid than I am because he knows what they are capable of, maybe it is a good thing that I don't know.
The one holding Twist screams or shrieks, it is so loud it feels like my ears are bleeding from its intensity. It makes more noises in a manner as if it were trying to communicate with its fellow tribe members, they all stay quiet and the more I listen the more it begins to sound like an eagle trying to speak the general language of Mu that every being on Mu communicates with.
I can't understand anything that it's screeching, the others begin to make similar sounds at random and then they all begin to run, I couldn't stop the scream that leaves my mouth from the sudden movements.
They are moving very fast and with ease and not as if three of them have full-grown adult beings in their arms.
I couldn't even recognize anything we passed by because everything is passing us by in a blur that is how fast they are moving.
It makes me feel very dizzy and nauseous.
Only Boreas knows when my eyes closed and I lost consciousness because the next time I open them it is night and I see a very big fire burning on wood that had been strategically arranged to keep the fire burning.
Where am I?
"Look Dion she's awake."
"Finally. Are you alright?"
"Alright? How can she or any of us be alright? We are about to be eaten by cannibals for Boreas sake!" I hear Twist as he tries to yell even though he is whispering.
Wait! What?! Eaten by what!?
Calm down Aadya, maybe you didn't hear him right, there has to be a simple or complicated reason to why you and your companions are sitting in the middle of the forest in the night tied to a tree.
I breathe in and then out in hopes of calming myself down enough to ask Dion, "Uh Dion? Please what did he just say?"
Maybe it is the fear in my eyes or the fear that has taken over my facial features that make him look away from me like he can't bear to tell me we are about to die.
I look up and with the last hope, I ask Twist, "Twist? Please tell me there is a way out of this."
After a long silence, a silence that I quickly begin to hate he finally answers me, "I'm afraid our only way out of this is if Oliver had seen them and gone to get help and let's hope he can get there on time before they make a meal out of us."
His tone alone is enough to break me a little more than I already am. He doesn't even believe what he is saying, it is almost as if he had said a prayer for Oliver to find help quickly.
Even if he did by some miracle done by any god he gets to where help is what are the possibilities that he would arrive here on time to save us? The fire is already available and ready.
I do not doubt in my heart that the fire is for us because there are two big sticks, one at each end of the fire, they are kept at a distance away from the fire and each has another stick's end in it, this makes the third stick run across and above the fire, one end of the stick above the fire has a handle.
And if I'm not mistaken this is exactly how ducks are roasted over a fire, it is obvious even to a blind wolfman that they intend to cook us over the fire.
How are we going to escape, I don't even know where they carried us to because my weak self fainted again!
"Argh! Boreas! Where the fuck are you?!" I quickly feel my fear shift to boiling- no, blazing anger as I yell angrily into the night's sky.
"Aadya!" I turn to my left to look at Dion, his condescending tone did not go unnoticed by me.
"What!? What is it?! Huh? Tell me!"
"You're disrespecting our god Aadya, it's an abomination and you of all wolfpeople know that!"
"Don't you dare raise your voice at me! And don't give me a damn lecture about gods! They are powerless! Fucking powerless you hear me?!"
"Aadya! Don't say that I beg you." The way his eyes plead with me to stop only edges me on as I release my frustration about everything and I just let everything pour out of me without withholding anything back.
"Oh, will you shut up? Gods?" I couldn't help the hysterical laugh that leaves my lips, "They don't fucking exist! Don't you see that? Even if they do, they have clearly shown us time and time again how meaningless our lives are to them."
I don't allow him to speak, "We have served those bastards since the day we could breathe and what do we get? Our entire kingdom had been ripped away from us destroyed, our people were slaughtered like mere ducks, my family is hiding somewhere with the remaining survivors of the attack. And don't let me get started on how many times I came so close to death, every single time we pray to get out of horrible situations bad things happen anyway, tell me Dion what has Boreas and Khione done for us?!"
"We are tied to a tree about to be eaten by fucking cannibals, a tribe I knew nothing of until a few nights ago, tell me Dion have they done anything gods should? Aren't we serving them so we can be protected from bad things? Yet they have done absolutely nothing to help us! Tell me I am waiting!"