Two Worlds; The Collision

Chapter 11

3rd Person Pov-Amari/Rhett

It took only two days to get to the dark land on the other side of the sea, and Rhett was overcome with excitement. It was a good thing Rhett had chosen to go to the dark land from the port of the dragon kingdom, because the sailing was smooth and easy. But if they were to leave from the docks at the shipping town they’d be met with a rough course, a few whirlpools, and choppy fast water. There was something about this dark land that made him feel eager. He knew from conversations with his mother that fairy magic couldn’t touch it. He overheard conversations of the humans as they talked about Jaelyn and Ashe trying to portal to the dark land, and even Aislyn tried to add in with her witch magic, but to no avail. There was a shroud of a ward covering the land, so no one could portal or teleport into it. Truthfully, Rhett was worried they wouldn’t be able to step foot on the land themselves, but as they pulled the ship as close to the land as they could, since it didn’t have a dock, and started to row the boats towards the land, Rhett could do nothing more than smile. He hadn’t bothered to try and see Ana the whole time they were on the ship, and left her to the crew to carry towards the land. Rhett and Amari were on the first boat to the land, and as they stepped out on the black sand, the dark of the night illuminated only by the half-moon floating in the sky, all he could do was smile. There was magic in the air, magic that Rhett wasn’t familiar with, but Amari simply tilted her head back and breathed in deeply, a smile on her lips as she recognized the magic. It reminded her of the dark magic Dani had done when she was under her thumb, and Dani’s father as well, before Amari had killed him. The land was thick with magic, good and dark, as if a balance waiting for someone with either a good or bad soul to find it and claim it as theirs.

Boat full after boat full was unloaded, filled with Rhett’s humans and Amari’s vampires. The humans that Amari had mind-controlled to come with her were on a boat filled with the vampires' blood bags, staggering around despondently as they swayed back and forth. Almost instantly, the blood bags were put to work, searching the terrain for caves, buildings, anything. It wasn’t quite morning yet, but if they don’t find something before the sun starts to rise, the vampires will have to go back onto the boat for the day, and none of them are keen on going back. While Rhett’s humans start to unload the supplies that were already loaded onto the ship before he had stolen it, Amari’s vampires very easily dragged the woman out of the cage, now fully awake, and placed her on the boat to be brought to shore. Rhett’s people found witch chains down below, the chains that even a werewolf or a dragon couldn’t pull out of, and Rhett had made his humans place a band of iron around the woman’s ankle as well, knowing how fairies work. However, when the boat was brought to shore, he was surprised and aghast to see it wasn’t Ana that was sitting in the boat, but a frightened, beautiful little fifteen-year-old girl. While he hadn’t really seen the girl before, he recognized her instantly, because of her piercing amber-colored eyes and her dark brown hair, he knew exactly who she was. Falyn stared up at Rhett with wide scared eyes, her small body quivering as the vampires hauled her from the boat and set her down on the sand at his feet. Rhett was speechless in his anger, but before he could say anything, Amari spoke. “I thought you said she was an older woman that acted like a child?” Amari asked, tilting her head to the side.

Almost instantly, Rhett had called over the four men that were tasked to capture Ana, questioning them. “We thought you said a young woman who was mature,” the men tried to explain.

Rhett was furious, he had half a mind to give the men to Amari’s vampires to eat, but he didn’t have very many and didn’t want to lose any of them. As the blood bags came back, saying they had found a cave close by to stay in, Rhett stared down at the young woman and simply started to think. He was furious over the men's mistake, and when he questioned them further he found they never left the note behind as well, the note saying where they were and what they were wanting for her return. It meant once they found a place to stay here they’d have to send a messenger back across the sea, and he knew exactly which four men to send, not caring that they might be killed in the process. Suddenly, Rhett started to grin, laughing lightly under his breath as the supplies started to be loaded into the cave. Amari looked at Rhett like he was crazy, and she wasn’t in the mood right now for another crazy man, seeing as that she had finally left the last one behind. She was furious over the slip-up and was wondering if they could even go back to get the right woman, now that everyone would be searching for this one. However, Rhett had simply shrugged and laughed, infuriating her even more. “It’s fine, my love,” he said, wrapping her in his arms. “This is princess Falyn, the princess of the dragon kingdom. Yes, she’s not the seer, but she’s still very close to Jaelyn. Falyn’s parents and Jaelyn’s parents were always best friends, and the two girls grew up in each other’s houses. Their families are tied together by a string, and not only will Jaelyn and Ashe do everything we want for her safety, but maybe this gives us an advantage over the dragon kingdom as well. We could demand the fairy powers back, demand Jaelyn and Ashe step down for us, and we could demand the king and queen of the dragon kingdom step down as well. We’ll have two kingdoms to our advantage to help with the killing of the vampire royals for you. It might have been a mistake, but it’s a good one, if I say so myself.” He assured her, explaining what he was thinking.

Amari thought about it for a while as they made their way to the cave. Even as she settled down to sleep, she thought about what he had said. As she started to drift to sleep, Amari smiled, realizing he was right. It wasn’t what they were expecting would happen, but in the end, it did give a better result.

As the vampires slept, the blood bags watching over them, Rhett and his humans searched the land. He left marks for Amari and her vampires to find them once they awoke, as they had discussed before she had gone to sleep. The marks were easy to find, and Amari was to take them down once she followed them to him. Like a good lover, Rhett marked the caves he found along the way, just in case it took them too long to find him and it became nighttime again. They searched slowly, quietly, trying to avoid disturbing the terrain and the strange creatures he’d never seen before. There were giants, shaped out of rocks that roamed part of the island, and they had to patiently wait them out as the herd passed. Rhett wondered what other creatures existed on this land that they'd never seen before. They had made Falyn a fairly small wooden lift, her chains tied down to the bottom of the wooden boards as she sat on a small bench, four pegs for the four men who had disappointed Rhett to carry her. She was silent, even though every time Rhett looked at her she was crying, but she remained still and watchful, as if trying to memorize where they went. He had half a mind to blindfold her, but he was confident she wouldn’t get away. Even if she did, she couldn’t fly yet, and she was just one person. She wouldn’t be able to sail the ship back over the water. She was stuck here, and he could tell by the way she had sadness etched in her features that she realized it as well. He was glad she wasn’t stupid, because stupid prisoners were reckless and did nothing but get themselves killed. If she was killed, they wouldn’t have anything to bargain with. It was around noon when the men stopped, all of them hot and sticky, exhausted. The deeper they went into the woods the more lost they felt, unsure of where they were or where exactly they were going. The men didn’t know what to expect, but the wildness wasn’t exactly it. Overgrown grass and trees were taller than they’d ever seen before. Animals that weren’t scared of them, showing they’d never been hunted before. Truthfully, the men were used to animals like that, from when they used to be fairies. Their appetites changed, and they could eat meat now, but some of them were still hesitant to do so. However, when Rhett very easily slaughtered a few deer that had simply stood there and let him pet them while he wrapped his arm around their throat and suffocated them, the men were so hungry they accepted anything at this point.

The youngest of the group, Theon, was sent to search around the area for water while Rhett skinned the deer with the men and started a fire. They were sure this spot was safe, seeing as that they hadn’t seen any of the horrible rock giants, and waited there for Theon to return. The boy was strange, always keeping his hood over his face and a cloth against his mouth, to the point Falyn never really could see his features. She knew he was the youngest and wanted to try and talk to him, to see if she could get him to like her enough to let her go, but he stayed very far away from her as directed by Rhett. Rhett knew she wasn’t stupid and didn’t want her to try and sweet talk anyone into helping her out.

The animals were the same as always, and at first, Rhett was slightly scared the beasts from his mother’s reign would pop out and attack them, but here there were the normal bunnies, the normal birds, deer, bears, and so on. They weren’t shifters, from what he could tell, and he wondered for the first time if the rest of the large world was bare. He knew from the destruction the bunkers were all placed fairly close together, so when it came time to come back to the surface they were all on the same very large strip of land. But because of the strange eerie feel of the dark land, none had ever really tried to explore what was beyond. However, this whole area seemed so empty, as if humans of any type had never ventured here before, and he wondered if it was like this on every corner of the earth with their land being the only pocket of human life. He wondered about this as he skinned the deer, slowly cutting it open and taking out the organs, as he was trained to do over the past few years of being a human. The food was cut up and placed on the fire, cooking steadily over the flame as some of the men walked around gathering berries. It was a habit for the people who used to be fairies, to want to find food that their stomachs would digest, despite the fact that their stomachs are human now. As the food cooked Rhett made his way to Falyn, and automatically the others gave him space to talk to her. “You must be scared, little one. I assure you, that this was a mistake. The men were supposed to kidnap Ana, not you. But that doesn’t mean we’re returning you quite yet. You’ll be an even bigger prize for us,” I said to her. She was quiet, staring stubbornly at her feet, refusing to look me in the eyes. “That being said, as long as you don’t try anything stupid you won’t be harmed. No man will touch you, I’ll see to it. Your body will remain yours, and when we find where to go you’ll be aided as a princess shall be to have a few of my women to help you. We’ll find proper clothes, and proper water for baths. I’m not a barbarian and I promise…I’m not going to place you in a room where you have no one to talk to but yourself.” He said softly, his breath catching in his throat. “I know what it’s like to live your life young and scared, trapped in a room with no one to talk to.” He added, shaking his head momentarily as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Anyway, I promise as long as everything goes according to plan, you’ll be brought back home safe and sound.” He said, nodding at her.

Falyn refused to look at him, her hands clenched tightly by her sides as she tried to reign in her anger. She was always so sweet and nice, but in the end, she was still a dragon, and dragons were known for their temper. Rhett turned his back on her, but before he could walk away, he was surprised to hear her talk. “My Sun will come for me, he’ll come.” She said, her voice filled with absolute certainty. Rhett turned to look at her, surprised by the anger and conviction in her voice. “My protector will come. And when he does, he’s going to kill all of you.” She said, nodding at him.

If Amari was here she’d be quivering in fear over the use of the word Protector, the word she had hoped to have to never hear again, but Rhett didn’t know it held any special meaning to her, or to Falyn, and he simply turned his back on her once more, considered her a child saying whatever she wanted to say to try and give herself strength during a scary time. Suddenly, a bright purple light washed over the land, like the sun, bright and warm, before fading away from view moments later. The humans were surprised, unsure of what happened, staring at each other and moving closer together. “Protect Falyn, I’ll be right back. I’m going to find the boy.” He said, worry filling his voice. Theon had lost his parents when he was little, and he used to be a Seelie fairy, good friends with Rhett, to the point he saw him as a big brother. It didn’t surprise Rhett one bit that Theon had chosen to follow Rhett to the human realm, even though at the time he was only ten. He was old enough to make his own choices, however, and while Jaelyn and Ashe had given the baby the immunity, there wasn’t any such choice for Theon. Another reason Theon was glad he had turned his back on them and their pretentious realm, he didn’t want to be part of them and their ways. Rhett moved in the path Theon had gone, leaving the markers he’d left behind there on purpose so he could find his way back once he found him. It was a good ten to twenty minutes before he found Theon, and the boy was lying on the ground next to a small pool of water convulsing in pain. The water was strange, with a black murky look to it, purple electricity running back and forth over the surface. “Theon! Are you okay?” He asked, falling to his knees in front of the boy and scooping him into his arms.

Theon looked at him, his face pasty and his body soaked with sweat, trails of black water evident on his mouth as he gasped in pain. His eyes, normally a chocolate color, were switching back and forth between his chocolate color and a purple. “I drank the water,” he choked out, his eyes wide as he gasped. Another shudder raced through his body as he gripped Rhett’s shirt once more, his eyes wide as they settled back to their normal brown color. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this powerful before,” he finally said, staring Rhett in the eyes. “The water is magic,”