Beyond The Realms

Chapter 2: Strange Trees and Sunshine

With the unsettling discovery of a half - buried skeleton and a few other random bones, I knew this area hadn't been documented, and I needed to get out of there quickly. I rushed back down the hall, but instead of finding the arch, ran into a flat, cold stone wall. There were similar runes on this wall, but the doorway was gone.

"Oh, I got turned around again," I huffed and turned sharply. Slowly, I retraced my steps back the way I came. There were no other halls. No other doorways with runes.

"This is strange," I mumbled. I spent the next several minutes going up and down through the heavy air in the dark, damp tunnel, becoming more and more confused, and more and more anxious as I went. I finally had enough and decided if it was against company protocol or not, I was going to walk through the undocumented section and go out the other entrance Sarah spoke of.

I had to climb over some fallen rocks, and squeeze between two large slabs of stone, but easily made it to the other entrance or exit in my situation. I climbed a set of half - buried stairs and came into the sunlight once again.

The aroma of earth and spruce trees overpowered all other senses, and the temperature had dropped several degrees. I let my eyes get accustomed to the sunlight and tried to focus on my surroundings. The sun shone down on beautiful, deep green coniferous trees, and moss - covered stones poked through a spruce needle blanket on the ground.

"Randal? Where are you," I called. "Sarah? Dr. Alderson?"

There was some quick movement from the top of a nearby hill. I exhaled deeply with relief but caught my breath when I saw who answered my call.

Three figures climbed the hill into my view. Rays of the sun reflected off magnificent, ancient, silver armour. Squeezing my eyes shut, I opened them slowly. I did it again. I wasn't going crazy. I was looking at three figures dressed in what I would call "old - fashioned " knights armour.

This must be a joke, I thought to myself. My hands rested on my hips and tilting my head to the side, I smiled.

The silver trio approached and one spoke, thick with an accent I couldn't place.

"My Lady," he said. "We were sent for you."

Rolling my eyes, I scoffed, "Were you now?"

The young man on the left shook his head slightly, but all stood motionless. Looking around, I tried to find something to tell me I was being pranked.

"This is a joke," I laughed, a little too hard and loud for the situation, but my mind was swirling. Where did these trees come from? I didn't recognize this forest, these hills, these people. Where were my co - workers? Where was I? How did they know about me? My frantic gaze rested on the three armoured men before me.

"We were sent to retrieve you," the tallest man repeated steadily as he bowed, removing his helmet and hood. He must have thought removing his helmet would calm me, but I could only take in the sharp angle of his jaw, his soft, caramel coloured eyes, and pointed ears. I stared. I blinked. I coughed. This was real. Pointed ears, not like in the movies, but smaller. All three of my greeters removed their helmets to reveal delicately pointed ears. I swayed on my feet. The knights began to cast uncertain glances between each other.

Now the world was spinning, I braced myself against a tree and gasped for air. My kids, my work, my life...what was going on?

"This is not funny!" I yelled, backing up and stumbling. "I need to go home, I need to get to my children."

The men came closer, looks of concern creeping over their faces.

"Sit," the red - bearded Knight spoke softly, motioning to the ground with his hand. "Sit down, dear lady."

He reached forward and took my elbow, gently guiding me into a seated position. The broad - shouldered, tallest knight kneeled and handed me what looked like a narrow, soft bag. It contained water, and I tried to stop my shaking hands so I could take a sip.

"We are Fae. My name is Breeard," the red - bearded knight introduced himself. "This is Sieren, the muscle of our group." Smiling, he motioned to the tall, broad, brown - eyed knight, then turned to the smaller, slender, blond Fae fiddling with the hilt of his sword.

"And this young buck is Glendrig. We are the knights sent to retrieve you from the portal. You are disorientated and confused, and I am sorry for that. We must, however, get you to safety, and quickly."

I paused, "Fae? Like Elves, or Fairies?"

"No," came the rather flat and emotionless reply from Sieren. "We may look similar, but are very different in culture and other things."

I acknowledged him with a nod and tried to take a steady breath. I whispered, "My name is Thea."

I stood, "Where am I and how did I get here. What is this place?"

It was Glendrig who spoke, "We are on the edge of the Autumn and Winter kingdom. You seem to have come through a portal...."

"We must go," Breeard interrupted glancing up at the sky. "Please, my lady, come with us."

With nothing to lose and nowhere to go, I turned to follow my new companions. The sun seemed to be setting, and I wondered where the hours had gone. I hadn't been here for a full day already, had I? We climbed the small hill, and I could see fog starting to roll in through a low lying clearing. It was quite a large forest, a mixture of greens and browns, and I could see a narrow river running through the one side of it with small clearings here and there. The sky was deepening into a mixture of colours navy blue, violet and gold.

Movement coming from the other side of the clearing caught Breeard's attention immediately. Almost protectively he brought an arm across my chest and pushed me behind him. A rhythmic pounding reached my ears and horses in black armour burst through the trees before us, beside us, and to my new companions' dismay, behind us.