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CHAPTER 3

“What is Virkaith?” she ventured to keep herself from freaking out. She was at the cusp of a panic attack and he had already been clear that such a thing would see her subdued.

“Our city,” the blond answered.

“Or what's left of it,” the man next to her muttered. Despite the tear-trail markings, his face had a more open quality than the blond, and Mia got the impression that he was younger, less jaded. She thought he would continue, too.

“Morkuth.” the blond man snapped a warning, and the speaker closed his mouth.

Ok. Blondie was the leader. Good information to have. Good information to know. Mia raised her brows at him. To her surprise, he relented.

“It is nearly three days walk to the north. We will be on foot and the trail is long and hard.” He palmed his light tool and tucked it away into one of the armor pockets. “We will do our best to make things as easy as we can for you, but I will not lie and promise you an easy journey.”

Morkuth gestured toward her with the plate. Mia frowned and shook her head. Even if she wanted to, there was no way she could eat right now.

“Why bother?” she demanded. “You've taken me...us, because I assume you kidnapped these other women as well, away from everything we know and love for some terrible purpose. Why bother making things easy?”

The leader frowned at her. “Your purpose is a necessary one, but rest assured you will be as safe and cared for as we can manage. We are not in the habit of tormenting our women.”

“What purpose exactly?”

He looked away. “You will have an orientation when we reach Virkaith. It will be explained to you there.”

Mia turned to Morkuth, who remained in the same place, though the other men were making similar preparations as their leader. Their weird armor was sliding around on their chests like a living thing.

“I don't suppose you will tell me?”

“Kenahi is right, that is a worry for later. For now, you really should eat,” he tried an affable smile, one of his fangs poked over his full bottom lip.

Mia stepped backward.

“Leave it,” the leader, Kenahi, commanded, “it is time to go. We need to make the next camp by sundown. Come ladies, Gorth will be your guide. Stay on the trail and watch for root tangles and snakes, there are a few that are poisonous here.”

The sisters rose on the command, snuffling, fat tears rolling down from their wide eyes. For a moment, they looked at each other and then they passed Mia, moving off in the direction Kenahi had indicated. A man stood there, waiting for them. Gorth, Mia assumed. He was dark skinned, his markings barely visible, but one she did notice reminded her of a leopard. The other men were ridiculously broad, but Gorth put them to shame. He was frighteningly large, though his face was reasonably handsome, especially with the warm whiskey color of his eyes.

The blond woman followed them, not meeting anyone's gaze.

Would they all just follow along like little sheep? Mia glanced back at the clearing where the group had been gathered. The last woman still sat there, her head buried in her arms.

“What about her?” she asked Morkuth.

“She is taking the transition hard. Hasn't said a word. If she doesn't rise, then I will carry her,” he gestured to a pocket where she could see the top of another light tool peeking out. It seemed completely unfair that they would grab women from who knew where, drag them into the middle of some god forsaken forest with wild looking cat-men, and expect them to act like rational human beings and not lose their minds. Mia stepped around Morkuth and made her way to the girl. She flinched when Mia knelt down beside her.

“Hey,” Mia whispered, “this is really messed up.”

The woman huffed into her arms.

“Come on, I'm not going to let them knock you out. If there's any way out of this, we won’t find it while unconscious.”

The chestnut hair parted and a pair of brown eyes met Mia's. A dark bruise lined one high cheekbone and her lip was swollen and split, though it looked as if it had been healing for a few days. Mia ground her teeth together.

“Did they do this?” she gestured subtly so none of the men could see her.

“No,” the girl shook her head slightly. “It was from...before. Do you really think there's a way out of this? A way home?”

Mia studied the woman. Something about the way she asked the question wasn't quite right. Did she want to go home or not? Her tone didn't sound as eager as Mia would expect. But then, if the bruising was from before, maybe home wasn't a place she wanted to go.

“I don't know about that, but for now I think the best option is to play nice and observe these...men. They got us here somehow, there has to be a way out.”

She took a shuddering breath.

“I'm Mia,” she introduced herself, holding out a hand to heft the woman upright.

“Becky,” she stood and Mia was surprised to find the woman was taller than her. She wasn't short, either. Becky had looked a lot smaller huddled on the ground.

“Come on, these guys are really impatient.” Mia started toward the little group, watching warily for the men, but most of them had disappeared. Gorth stood at the head of the line, scowling toward them, and Kenahi leaned casually against the tree, his blade resting across his left forearm. He raised his eyebrows at Mia as they passed but said nothing.

Gorth grunted when they joined the group at last and then turned and pushed forward into the forest.

“It's not even a trail,” Mia muttered when she realized what they would be hiking through. Roots and grass and even small shrubs tangled around her feet as she walked. She grunted as she stumbled along, keeping an eye out for the aforementioned snakes. The other women ahead of her weren't having any better time with it.

Mia looked back to Kenahi, who seemed to have no troubles traversing the foliage.

“Where are we, exactly? This isn't like anything I've ever seen, even on tv. I don't think there's anywhere on Earth like this.”

“No, not Earth. This is Callaphria.”

Mia tried to wrap her head around that. Not Earth. She stumbled forward. It was like a bad dream, except the details were far too clear to hope she would be waking up. She pinched her arm, just in case. Ouch.

“Did you just injure yourself?”

Mia ignored Kenahi and studied the forest, looking for an anchor for her sanity.

“How did we get here...from Earth, I mean? It felt as though I fell asleep one moment and woke up here the next.”

He was silent for a long moment. She risked a look back at him.

He sighed. “I suppose there's no harm in explaining. Our shared ancestors discovered the doors, passages between our worlds. Several of them, actually, and to other worlds, as well. Earth has forgotten about theirs, but the knowledge was kept safe, though well-guarded here on Callaphria. You traveled through one when we brought you here.”

Doors. She imagined a physical door opening to Earth. No. Surely it was more of a metaphor. She wished she had been awake to see the passage, but hope flared within her anyway. A door opened two ways, after all. If she got here through one, then she might return home through one. Suddenly, she found herself much more interested in her surroundings. As though if she memorized specific trees and shrubs, she might be able to find her way back. Logically, the little hut she awoke in was somewhere close to this passage.

That hope faded quickly as they traveled. Sweat beaded along her skin and pooled against her back, the tangles of bush were getting on her already frayed nerves. Tiny scratches from wayward branches and leaves littered her arms and the salt from her sweat made them sting mildly.

“Careful!” Kenahi called for the third time in less than an hour. She wanted to snap at him, but instead she dug down deep into the well of her patience and practiced not entering a murderous rage. She slowed and caught the tail end of a vibrant green and blue snake slithering off the trail from where she had been about to trod.

“I hate this place,” she muttered, her bad mood intensifying. It didn't help that anxiety had been stirring in her gut, teasing her with all the terrible possibilities that awaited her. Plus, though she was loath to admit it, she was starving. She hadn't eaten in more than a day and it didn't look as though they would stop, or even slow down for lunch.

“Like your world, there are dangers here, but there is also beauty,” Kenahi encouraged from behind. He sounded a little sad, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

Six hours later, they finally rounded a bend that hugged a huge craggy cliff. Mia nearly fainted with relief when the source of the sound she had been listening to for the last hour was finally revealed. A long thin waterfall shot out of the cliffside above them, draining into a deep looking pool. It took all of her effort not to race into the water and let it wash away her aches and pains. Better yet, tucked away beneath a stoney outcropping was another hut. She swore to herself when she got back home she would never complain about a hard day again.

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