Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 17648 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 88(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17648 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 88(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
The creature hauled me across the uneven ground, his claws and scales digging further into me with every step he made paired with scrapes and lashes of tree branches of the swamp vegetation hitting me as we moved. The other creatures followed behind, chittering in what sounded like laughter.
We walked a short distance. I was thrown into the back of a cart and locked in a steel cage that smelled of old blood and rot. The monsters spoke to each other in a strange, garbled language as they climbed upon the cart, took the reins of their horses, and ushered me away from the only home—horror house—I’d ever known.
The iron bars were cold and unforgiving as they pressed against my back, the cage so small that, although the air whipped through the bars, I felt claustrophobic inside.
I shifted, now on my knees as I gripped the bars, the metal bottom digging into my legs, but the pain was welcome because it reminded me I was alive. The cart lurched forward, the wheels grinding against the earth, the wood creaking beneath the weight of my captors and the cage.
The cart, for as large as it was, made easy work moving through the woods of Shadow Vale. The twisted, blackened trees loomed overhead like the bones of a skeleton forest, the moon was big and full, the silvery light brighter than it had been in so long. The air grew colder, the mist thicker, swirling around the cart until I tasted the water in the air.
I clutched the bars of my cage harder, trying to keep myself stabilized, my breath coming in sharp, panicked gasps, my heart beating frantically.
“Where are you taking me?” I yelled out. They ignored me, still talking in their strange language. “Let me go,” I screamed louder. One of the monsters looked over his shoulder and smiled, a row of sharp, discolored fangs flashing in the bright moonlight.
I screamed and cried and begged, but after long minutes of doing this, and my throat now raw, I shifted again and sat down, exhausted and feeling dead inside. That’s when I heard it. Blood-curdling screams and cries of dozens of women and a mix of laughter and conversations spoken in a foreign language. It all swirled around me in a dizzy, unbelievable haze.
I glanced to the side, dark shadows approaching closer until I could make out what I was looking at. Other monsters carting off women in cages looking as terrified as I probably did. They were all wide-eyed, their faces twisted in expressions of raw, unfiltered terror.
Time seemed to blur as we were taken deeper into the woods. I fell asleep a few times but was woken up abruptly by crying, screaming, or the cage rattling from the uneven ground. The cart bounced, the impact violently jarring me, sending sharp pain throughout my entire body.
My fingers were numb with cold, my nails digging into the rusted iron of the cart.
Hours passed, the cold seeping into my bones, my teeth chattering as we descended, the forest disappearing as we entered a cave. It was pitch-black, and even with time, my vision didn’t adjust.
As we descended into the depths of the cave, the colder it got. Suddenly, like a crack of lightning, this blinding light and confusing orientation took over me. I couldn't see anything but white. I couldn’t hear anything but a hum. I couldn’t feel anything but the surrounding cold.
I was disoriented and confused, and before I knew it, I pressed my face to the bars and threw up.
My eyes were closed when I felt everything start to right itself. It was after a long minute of waiting until my stomach settled that I opened my eyes. For a second, I didn’t know what I was looking at. No longer was I in a cave. I was now outside in another forest, the trees all around me black like onyx and polished so the blue moon above glistened off them.
In front of us stood a massive, gated entrance, its spires reaching into the pitch-black sky. The air here was thicker, oppressive. The very stones seemed to pulse with a dark, twisted life.
The gates towered above us, their iron spikes deadly and glistening with malice. It made my stomach turn.
Before I could catch my breath, the cart was moving forward again just as the gates opened. We stopped right inside, the gates creaking shut and sealing us in. The cage door was wrenched open, a gnarled, clawed hand gripping my arm and yanking me to the ground. I stumbled, my bare feet scraping against the dirt as I was shoved toward where the other women now stood.
Chains and shackles were put around our hands and ankles, and we were ushered into another building off to the side. For long minutes, we walked until finally I heard loud voices becoming even louder. A large, double-studded, wooden door was up ahead, and as if it knew we were here, it opened.