" Alright, do it then," I repeated and stared down at the creature expectedly. It stared back at me with wide, yellow eyes.

"You trust me?" it asked, its face showing an open-mouthed expression of shock.

I backed away a bit and allowed it a chance to get up, which wasted no time in doing.

Once it was standing I shrugged, "Sure why not? Giving me back my brother is a fair trade for your life, so the deal seems pretty fair. Now let's shake on it." I held out my hand.

The creature looked at it confused, "You're supposed to take my hand and pump your arm up and down," I explained and demonstrated the motion.

The creature looked even more confused but slowly shuffled forward. It stared down at my outstretched hand like it was the beak of a Kraken, before finally taking it.

The second its hand touched mine I locked it in an iron grip before it could pull away. The creature panicked and tried to take it's hand back, but I had the advantage of size and weight. I was over two times its height and weighed about three times more than it did.

From behind me, I heard the soldier's footsteps approaching, and I prayed he wouldn't interfere before I could finish. "Do you swear to help return my brother to me and the others you took, speak only the truth, and do you swear not to dive for your weapon and the second I let go of you? Say it or I will break your hand," I said hurriedly, and squeezed a little harder, causing the monkey creature to hiss in pain.

"I swear," it gasped.

A bolt of lightning jumped between up, and it finally managed to rip its hand out of mine.

It flew back, in hissing in anger, and dove for its spear.

"Stupid human, what witchy was that!? I'll kill you filthy abomination, and take my place among the grown!" it roared, and then took maybe three steps towards me, before doubling over in pain.

I crouched down, so I was about eye leveled with the bent figure, "No I'm not a human, I think I'm an elf!" I turned to look towards the soldier who was standing directly behind me now, "Hey I used my elf magic to make a binding packed with it, so it has to help us or else it will die." I smiled triumphantly up at him, "Of course we should wait until the others catch up with us, but now we have the opportunity to save them!"

If I could just get Jasper back, then we would escape. I would heed mom's warnings and escape before they could drag us to the castle. We would go to mom's hometown, where she would surely meet us and-

The soldier stepped forward, a look of regret etched on his aged face "Sorry about this girl," he said and struck the back of my head.

When I came too I was surrounded by pink marble walls. My green, torn, the dress was gone, replaced by an elegant flowy silver gown embed with red and purple jewels and I no longer felt the stickiness of dried blood on my skin.

I bolted upright and looked around the carriage? Jasper, which could only mean one thing. A feeling of dread gripped the lining of my stomach.

"Son of a banshee!" I yelled turning to glare at Tinly who was sitting on the opposite side of the carriage from me. "Tell me this is a joke, and that solider guy didn't just knock me out and stuff me into this carriage. I made a bidding pack with one of them, and it could've helped save your brother and mine!"

Tinly sighed "Yeah I know, Kirk told me all about it. It wasn't an easy decision for me either, but you're too valuable to put in that kind of risk by trusting in some spell cast by someone with very little magic experience, that someone being you."

I turned so my entire body was now facing him, "Then I don't know how you think I'm going to cooperate with you now after you left my brother behind to die in that place! I'm going to fight you every step of the way unless you turn this carriage around right now and save them!"

Tinly looked at me remorsefully, "Then I'm afraid I'm going to have to do something that I've been trying to avoid doing this entire time." Tinly bowed his head and took out a silver ring from the sleeve of his robe and put it on, "Bin dos," he muttered, and the air around my hands began to slimmer with power. A pair of silver cuffs materialized around my wrists, and a long chain connecting them shimmered into exists.

"What the!?" I cried, reaching for one of the silver cusps.

"Don't touch them," Tinly said, and my hand stopped in mind reach without my permission. "Now put your hands down on your laps, and no more talking until we reach the castle."

My hands fell onto my lap, but it wasn't me who had moved them. I stared down at them, wondering why my body, my only ally left, was now betraying me "What did you do to me!?" I wanted to demand, but no sound came out of my mouth nor did my lips move.

As if reading my mind, "They're slave chains, they don't only bind your wrists but also your free will. Anything I tell you to do, you will obey and you will do it without hesitation." He looked directly into my eyes "They are the most disgusting and repulsive things on this earth in my personal opinion, and I'm sorry I had to use them on you Jade, but I can't risk you running away or doing something much more foolish."

I closed my eyes; my family, my brother, and even my own body had been taken away from me. Just great, what did I have left in this world anymore? I felt tears prick at my eyes and begin to roll down my cheeks, before sliding down my chin and onto my lap. It was then I felt a small tug on my dress.

I looked to my right to see that Rorris had planted himself next to me. He looked at me with wide, innocent eyes, "The castle isn't so bad, its very nice. They have lots of books, and a pool as big as a lake, so don't cry," he said, given me a slight smile and patted my hands.

I looked down at the little boy, envying his sweet innocence for a split second, before turning my head away from Rorris without answering; I instead fixed my gaze to a section of the pink walls on the carriage.

I'm not exactly sure how much time had elapsed after that, but it seemed like a lot of time had gone by I Tinly abruptly said, "Jade but this on like a gypsy so your eyes are covered and don't take it off until I say so," I looked up abruptly to see he had his arm extended to me with a piece of silver clothe, "And my hands jerked forward and grabbed and my hands made quick work of wounding it around my head and they finished it off by tying it the back in a knot at the base of my skull.

No sooner had I finished but the door opened, but the person who opened the door was not a solider this time. This man was dressed in a royal blue shirt over a white ruffled shirt and a pair of tight black pants. On his feet, he wore white boots bordered in gold, and on his head, he wore a matching cap.

"How was your journey master Tinly?" He asked, and his lips pulled up into, what can be described as a pleasant smile. The man's eyes then swept the interior of the carriage, pausing only momently on me, before finishing their sweep. "Where's master Givin?" he inquired.

Tinly's face filled with sadness, "I'm afraid he didn't make the journey home."

The man's face filled with sympathy, "I'm so sorry to hear that, we will have to make preparations for his funeral at once. Shall I notify his majesty of your presence and the great tragedy that has befallen this court?

Tinly bobbed his head up and down, "And please notify him that I request to see him immediately on...very important matters I think we should just go to the throne room." Tinly said.

The servant looked surprised and his eyes darted to me. He looked me up and down, and I could tell he was trying to figure out just what was so important about me, but he didn't ask any questions. Instead, he bowed and said, "Yes sir," and stepped out of the carriage, then paused and turned back towards me, "Come to Jade and Roris go to your chambers and don't come out till I send for you and speak to no one," he said, and held out his hand for me to take. My body automatically moved and I reached for his hand and placed mine in it. I stepped out of the carriage.

I squinted at the blinding sunlight that greeted me outside; it hadn't been nearly this bright inside the carriage. Once my eyes had adjusted enough to the light change, I was able to behold the beautiful, yet intimidating, structure in front of me.

The castle's exterior was made of pale blue stones, which glittered splendidly in the strong, unyielding sunlight that emanated from above. It's walls towered over a hundred feet high, and its numerous pointy towers spiraled upwards into the sky. The towers were so tall that it was hard to tell where they ended and the sky began. Two huge dragon statues carved out of the same blue crystal material as the castle stood guard in front of the castle's only visible entrance, and above them, stone gargoyles glared down at the passersby's on the ground.

Stretching around the blue, sparkling castle, manicured gardens filled with beautifully carved marble beasts stretched out for miles in both directions. Boarding them was what appeared to be a white stone wall, and beyond that wall laid a forest.

If this was a different time, under different circumstances, and I wasn't Jade Sliver, I would've marveled at its magnificence. Maybe if I knew this would be the last time I got to be outside in the open air I would've enjoyed it more. Instead, I lowered my eyes to the ground and let Tinly lead me forward, with the servant in blue trailing not too far in front of us. Roris ran in front of us and disappeared into the castle.

One we had walked through the main entrance, we entered into a small courtyard. The walls of the courtyard were lined with many different doors, about a hundred if I had to guess. We stopped in front of one made of gold with a carving of a demon on it. It was bigger than the other doors and seemed to be the central point of the courtyard.

The servant turned towards us again, "Wait here, and I will see if our majesty is ready to receive you," He said, and slipped through the golden door, and closed it behind him.

Tinly and I were left alone. We stood there in silence until the doors opened and the servant poked his head out.

"I'm afraid his majesty must take a moment to compose himself," he said, then moved away from the door, just as three girls rushed past him giggling. They ran to one of the many doors in the courtyard and disappeared through it.

I gave Tinly a questioning look, and he quickly looked away from me. A couple more minutes passed when the doors finally opened, and the man in blue motioned us forward.

We step through the door and into a spacious room. The walls were decorated with tapestries depicting battles, nights fighting terrifying monsters, and beautiful landscapes. The floors were made of smooth blue marble, and a giant stain glass window filtered in multicolored light. Our reflections reflected back up at us from the floor, while we slowly crossed the room.

Towards the far side of the room sat a golden throne with six nights clad in armor standing on either side of it, and on that throne sat a boy, who must be the king. He had to be only a couple of summers older of me. He wore a golden crown on his copper-colored head.

The boy frowned at Tinly and waved his hand. The door behind us swung shut and I jumped.

"Come in," the boy said, "My servant told me you need to see me for some reason, and that reason was important enough to demand a court without proper scheduling, so spit it out. Do not waste my time,"

Tinly bowed, "My apologies your grace, but she is the object of my urgency, "he said, motioning to me.

The king's eyes landed on me, and they widened.