"I told you we should have waited until after midnight!" A male voice snapped in a harsh tone.
"What are you?... Fucking Cinderella?!" A female voice retorted, letting out a tut. "It's not like we could have predicted the time she would actually be asleep or not!"
"Ugh!"
"Stop whining! We got her out of the palace, didn't we?" The woman's voice came with a hint of annoyance.
"Easy for you to say," The man scoffed. "It wasn't you who struggled with a woman whose strength matches a man!"
"I always knew you were a weak man!"
"Hey!!"
"Oh shut up!"
Sylteena's brows furrowed slightly to the constant chatter that pierced her eardrums from above, squeezing her eyelids before opening her eyes.
The dim orange lights from the lantern above caused her eyes to squirt slightly, feeling her body being dragged on a hard surface.
Her blurry gaze lowered as she tried to move herself; a certain restraint strapped over her upper body and legs. She groaned softly, shaking her head as she tried moving once more.
"Huh?!"
The force pulling her suddenly stopped as it seemed the attention of her kidnappers turned to her.
"She's awake already?" The man stated.
"You weak ass! You couldn't even hit a woman's head hard enough!" The woman snapped.
Sylteena's hazy gaze lifted to meet theirs, confusion flickering in her eyes as she took in their dark, shadowy attire, the fabric wrapped around their faces lending an air of mystery.
The man then responded, "Hey!"
Hearing the woman tut in response, Sylteena then felt the force resume to drag her forward — As her senses gradually emerged from the haze of delirium, Sylteena's awareness sharpened. She blinked away the remnants of confusion and wrestled with the reality of her situation; she was bound to a rugged wooden sled, the harsh texture of the wood a reminder of her predicament.
She roamed her weighing eyes to grasp their surroundings — the dark looming figures of trees, the scent of decaying leaves, and the ruffling sounds of wind made it clear that they were in the forest — one she knew nothing of its proximity to the castle.
She then heard the woman speak again. "We're lucky she can't use sorcery."
"Honestly... Or this trip would have been more difficult than expected."
About to force a voice through her sore throat, the fabric gag lodged between her jaws kept her sounds muffled.
She tried shaking her head.
Her captors proceeded down what felt like a sloppy landscape through the forest for moments longer, with only the lantern above them as an illuminating source.
Strained to the bounds restraining her, Sylteena endured their journey through the unknown forest until they finally came to a halt. Her captors gingerly raised her sled to lean against a tree before securing the gag in her mouth.
Sylteena struggled to speak, muffling through the fabric gag.
Her captors then stepped back with one holding the lantern above their heads and the other pulling out a hide pouch from their belt strap.
"Are you sure this works?" The man, who stood as the tallest, asked the smaller frame holding the pouch.
The woman shrugged, "The witch said it would..."
"Yeah, but this one isn't like the others. It is supposed to get her consumed, right?"
"We'll confirm tomorrow morning."
She uncapped the pouch before turning it to empty the dark watery content at Sylteena's feet as she remained latched to the woodwork. Still trying to free herself of the tight ropes, the woman continued to stain the wood around Sylteena before tossing some of the content on Sylteena's nightdress as well.
She immediately cringed at the foul scent, seeming to be that of rotten broth.
The two strangers finally took a long stride behind, watching Sylteena grunt in her struggle. She looked at them with dilated eyes, pleading in her heart for them to let her go as she muffled through the cloth.
"Let's get out of here before it comes after us as well." Stated the man.
"Best words you've said in weeks."
"Hey!!"
The woman then grasped his arm, jerking him in the opposite direction. "Come on! Let's go!"
They jogged away hurryingly, letting the darkness creep nearer to Sylteena's figure as the lantern's light dimmed in the distance.
The chilling sense of fear crawled down her spine.
It? What did they mean by 'it'?
Sylteena gulped, gnawing her teeth on fabric lodged between her jaws.
She was finally left surrounded in the complete darkness of the woeful forest, hearing not a single sound of animalistic life amongst the trees, nor a sense of living aside tall timbers.
Her eyes darted in various directions and back at herself, scrunching her face in disgust at the strange liquid that was dripping down her legs.
What in the heavens' name was going on? Who were those people?! Why was she captured? And what exactly did they do to her to leave her stranded and abandoned in this forest?—
SNAP!
Sylteena's body stiffened as the air grew thick in tension. Her mismatched eyes peeled wider in the dark, her sight in complete blindness — not even a spec of light was adorned from the night sky.
She gulped.
Letting the deafening silence creep on longer, Sylteena then began hearing something move amongst the trees around her.
Something whose steps didn't sound anything humanlike.
With the sounds of crackling leaves and twigs with each brute step that echoed, Sylteena's eyes followed the direction of the steps as it seemed to be rounding her.
The thing lurking within the shadows suddenly let out a growl. The hair of her skin erected as her spine straightened to the chill — tears began to well up in her eyes, clutching her fists as she began moving in the bounds around her.
Obviously, that was useless...
The thing continued to round her like prey; her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, making out the silhouette of what looked like a four-legged canine creature the height of the trees around.
Sylteena's eyes leaked tears as her teeth ground into her gag.
The creature finally stopped moving.
Sylteena paused.
Her body trembled with innate fear... Was this how she was going to die? Was the first question she asked herself... In the middle of nowhere? Bound like a prey to a post?
The creature suddenly leaped forward, causing Sylteena to let out a muffled scream as she shut her eyes and looked away — the wooden sled she was strapped to then lifted off the ground.
Her eyes snapped wide
With the sled now turned horizontally, the slimy feel of what smelt like saliva drooled over her body as she raised her gaze to realize the wood was grasped between the teeth of whatever stood in the darkness with her.
Sighting not a hint of illuminating eyes like most canines, the creature's teeth were mere inches from her arm, clenched into the wooden sled as it began running in a certain direction.
Drowned in the confusion and fear, Sylteena sore her throat with muffled screams, as the thing ran with her at an inhumane speed. Lines of tears drew from the corners of her eyes with her lids shut.
The creature carried her further into the forest as various feels of branches and leaves slapped against her body due to its increasing speed and thickening vegetation.
Racing through the darkness at full velocity, Sylteena felt an abrupt halt as her body, along with the sled, plummeted to the ground.
The sled cracked in half, loosening the ropes around her as her body rolled over the grass to hit her back against a hard surface.
She grunted, falling flat on her face before pushing up to her knees. She immediately pulled out the gag in her mouth gasping for air before crackling a cough.
Her throat constricted to the series of coarse coughs as she reminded on her fours. She then took in a deep breath, raising her gaze to look in the direction she fell from — her brows quirked.
The enormous creature that had carried her, resembling a canine brute, appeared emaciated. Its hairless, blackish skin was tightly stretched over its skeleton. It lowered its head and took a step back, letting out a timid whine.
Sylteena's brows knitted.
Why was it backing away from her? It brought her here... Yet it suddenly seemed afraid.
The hound brute dropped its head to the ground as if bowing.
A cold liquid splattered on Sylteena's shoulder, causing her gaze to turn before stretching out to touch the mucus-like white goo that dripped off her skin.
Though the scent was of a strong, pungent, musky aroma, Sylteena's eyes then caught sight of the white tree trunk beside her.
A crease formed above her brows as her eyes narrowed to take note of the blood-chilling sight of the long feet extending from the trunk, ending with black tainted toes that bore claw-like nails.
It wasn't a tree trunk...
Sylteena felt the last drop of blood blanch from her face as her lungs shrunk of air — her eyes slowly trailed up the long pairs of legs till her neck was far flexed — she fell back on her behind.
Her eyes dilated with gaped lips. Her senses numbed in an instant as her mouth dried to the sense of immense dread of what was before her.
Sylteena's heart could no longer endure as her body suddenly slumped back involuntarily; her eyelids closed heavily, and her mind plunged into the depths of unconsciousness.