The Inner Kingdom: Quest One (Dragon Quest Book 1) (3 page)

The Confrontation

Location: Inner Kingdom

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Ashle
y
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I felt nothing but fear, as I passed through the liquid wall; it coursed through my entire body making me unable to scream.

I couldn’t open my eyes because of the force pressing down on my closed eyelids, due to the fact that I was moving at a very fast pace.

Just when I was beginning to go into a full blown anxiety attack, it suddenly ended as I hit something hard
.

The rich smell of grass and dirt wafted up my nose as I laid face down while wondering if I was still alive.

Pushing up slowly off what felt like grass, I pried my eyes open. To my relief, I saw April and Angie struggling to get up not too far away from me.

Viewing my surroundings, I noticed that we were underneath a stunning giant weeping willow tree. The leaves of the tree filtered the light between small openings, creating beautiful patterns all around.

“Where are we?” Angie asked bringing to my attention there was no snow anywhere and it felt more like spring than winter.

“I’m not sure, but I know we are no longer in North Carolina,” I replied as I pulled back a few hanging leaves to see what was outside.

“I think it's safe to say that we are no longer on Earth either,” Angie said, pointing up at something in the sky.

Following Angie’s gaze, I was mesmerized by what I saw. There were two suns blazing in the sky above.

“This is impossible. This can’t be real,” I murmured shaking my head.

“I know, like something out of the twilight zone.”

“Ouch!” I yelled. “Why did you pinch me?”

“I had to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.”

If I wasn’t so shocked by reality, I would have been upset, but my stinging arm from Angie’s pinch confirmed that this was all too real.

A little off in the distance, I noticed that behind us was a high wall made of stone, like the ones shown in history textbooks of Ancient Roman fortresses; it was so high that I had to squint to see the top. Following the wall's path with my eyes, I could not believe what I was seeing; not too far behind us was a castle.

Suspiciously, the gravel path at the foot of the tree appeared to lead straight to it; Angie pointed out, after walking around, not straying far from the tree.

I turned to look at Angie as she began to make frustrated noises at her cellphone as she tried to get a signal.

“I’m dreaming again,” A hysterical April said through laughing fits.

Angie and I just looked at each other at a loss for words as April continued.

“April, you are not dreaming,” I assured her going to where she was standing.

“Whatever is going on, at least you are not alone this time,” Angie said, grabbing April’s hand.

“So I am not dreaming? This is all, actually happening?” April asked, trying to regain her composure.

“Unfortunately, yes,” I replied. “We need to look and see if there is anyone here. If there is a castle, there is bound to be…”

“A benevolent, kind, and gracious king who will take us in and tell us how to get home,” Angie interrupted me sarcastically.

“Do you want us to just wait here for the vortex to suck us back in?” I retorted unable to think of anything else to do. “How long do you consider that is going to take? What are we supposed to survive on?”

“Ashley is right; maybe whoever lives there may help us,” April said with a hopeful expression on her face.

“Whatever. Have it your way,” Angie muttered after about a minute of silence. “Let’s hope that the person who lives in that castle is not a tyrannical dictator like Vlad the Impaler.”

“Thanks, Angie. That makes me feel a whole lot better,” April said with a hint of a smile.

“I guess that settles it. Let’s go exploring," Angie instructed, taking off her long snow coat. “What? I am not going anywhere with that heavy hot thing on my back."

She did have a point,
I thought as I began to remove my own scarf and coat.

“You’re not going to take off your coat?” I asked April when I saw she still had hers on.

“I think I am good. I want to keep anything that ties me closer to Earth, and my sanity."

Understanding exactly what she meant, we soon all agreed to stay on the path so we didn’t get lost.

For thirty minutes, all I could see was grass and many flowers. It was like a sea of many colors. The flowers varied from roses to daisies; some of them were in colors I had never seen before. It was breathtaking.

The sudden sound of footsteps alerted us to the fact, that we were no longer alone. Before we could react, a group of heavily armored people began to ambush us.

The glare coming off their shiny armor nearly blinded me as they surrounded us. My eyes quickly adjusted, allowing me to see that the men were carrying giant bows and arrows, which they were pointing directly at us.

“I hate being right,” Angie whispered shakily

“How did you get into the royal gardens?” said a deep booming voice coming from the tallest person in the group with the biggest bow.

These were telltale signs to me that this person had to be the one in charge.

I turned toward Angie and April, not sure what to do. Almost simultaneously, we slowly backed away from the armed people closest to us.

“Do not move, or we will be forced to harm you!” The one in charge announced aloud, signaling something to the others with him.

“We don’t want trouble; we just want to know how to get back home,” April explained, taking a step toward him with her hands up.

I was soon taken back to this morning’s dodge ball incident; I could hear the release of the arrow that was pointed at April, but unlike earlier, time did not stop.

April’s screaming awakened me from my déjà vu moment. Angie hurriedly removed April’s jacket to try to see the wound; the arrow had deeply grazed her side, staining red the lower right side of her Tweety bird shirt she was wearing. I attempted to slow down the bleeding by using the belt to April’s coat as a bandage.

“That was a warning shot,” the tall man said, putting another arrow in his bow. “Next time, I will not miss.”

“Are you all out of your minds?” Angie yelled at the steel-clad people, but her eyes were only on the one guy that had shot at April. “We only want to know how to get out of here, and you shoot at us!”

“Unless you want to meet the same fate as your friend, I suggest you stay where you are,” the man warned, aiming his bow and arrow at Angie.

“Oh, are you going to shoot me, too?” Angie asked, walking forward with her hands out on either side of her as if asking him to shoot her.

She really needs to work on her anger issues.

“Angie! Get back here!” I yelled, trying to stop her before it was too late.

Once again, I heard the release of the arrow before I saw it. There was no time to blink, since it happened so fast.

As soon as the arrow became free from the bow, the air around Angie heated up and the arrow instantly caught on fire moments away from piercing Angie’s heart.

Everyone stared in amazement at the flaming arrow now lying on the ground at Angie’s feet. The once silent group surrounding us began to stir as they shouted words such as beasts, minions, and vixens.

Before long, they all started to release their arrows at all of us. The air around Angie became stifling once again as every arrow that came toward us burst into flames. Angie did not move or say a word, but we all knew that she was somehow responsible for what was happening.

The men finally stopped their firing as a giant shadow passed overhead. Seconds later, a giant bird swiftly landed in front of Angie, as if signaling them to stop their attack on us, and it wasn’t just any bird; it was the strange peacock that led us to this place.

“We need that bird to be able to go back home,” April exclaimed.

A commotion coming from the group of people surrounding us pulled my attention away from the creature that led us here.

I became a little confused when I saw a tiny old man wearing a long ragged robe with a black sash around his waist, swinging a gold crooked cane that was taller than him while pushing his way through the group toward us.

As the elderly man came closer, his face contorted with anger when he saw the makeshift binding I had made for April’s wound.

“What have you brutes done?” the elderly man exclaimed, hitting the tall guy in charge in the back of the head with his cane, surprising everyone, including the other armored men.

“Elder Nolin, you don’t understand. These females are intruders and could be in an alliance with the queen,” the tall man replied.

“I’m sorry, but we do not know anything about what’s going on here. We came here to find someone to help us return home,” I told the old man.

“Do not act innocent now. You should have told your friend there to control herself if you wanted us to believe that you have come here in peace,” the man accused, pointing his finger at Angie.

“You started it first. You tried to kill us. Did you forget about that?” Angie shouted, apparently ready for round two.

“Leo, you need to learn how to control that attitude of yours,” Nolin muttered hitting him again so hard that his helmet flew off of his head.

Being able to see Leo without the helmet made it clear that he could not be much older than I was. Standing over six feet tall, with thick eyebrows, long dark hair tied into a high ponytail, and intense almond-shaped brown eyes that hinted at an Asian descent, he looked every bit the part of a fierce warrior.

His one redeeming factor was the youthfulness in his eyes, which not even the scowl on his tan face could hide.

Leo’s abuse caused a few people in his group to laugh, which he quickly quieted with one paralyzing glance their way.

“I do apologize for the treatment you have received,” Nolin said before using his cane to get down on his knees to bow before us. “Please accept this old man’s apology.”

“What are you doing Nolin?” Leo asked, trying to lift the old man up. “Have you finally gone completely mad?”

“You should be showing your respects and apologizing also, Leo, or should I say captain? Don’t you realize that you are in the presence of the dragon warriors?” he replied, still on his knees bowed forward.

This announcement caused everyone around us to drop down to their knees, except for Leo, who just stared at us with suspicion… well, mostly Angie.

“What have you done to bewitch our elder?” Leo asked, glaring at Angie as if he wanted to attack her… again.

“Why do you blame me? I didn’t do anything! We only want to go home!” Angie countered loudly. “That bird over there led us here!”

A look of guilt quickly replaced the mask of anger on Leo’s face as we were witnesses to a red dragon shape tattoo appearing around Angie’s neck like a necklace for a moment, only to disappear again.

“Please forgive me,” Leo pleaded as he dropped down to his knees. “We were not expecting the dragon warriors to be...females.”

“Dragon warriors?” I asked, causing Leo to look up at us curiously.

“Everything will be explained at your celebration tonight,” Nolin replied walking toward the castle while motioning for us to follow him.

The group that was once attacking us was now scurrying to make a way for us to get through. Without any other plan, we huddled together and followed Nolin. Only Leo and two other guards began to walk behind us as we headed closer to the castle.

“I don’t trust him,” Angie whispered nodding her head back in Leo’s direction.

“Me neither,” April agreed holding her side as she walked.

“I don’t trust anyone here,” I confided low enough so only they could hear. “I just want to find a way for us to return home.”

Angie and April both grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently, just to let me know that we had each other

“Are you in a lot of pain?” I asked April after noticing the amount of blood on her shirt.

“That’s odd,” April replied, stopping in midstride. “Actually, it doesn’t hurt at all anymore.”

April began to undo the blood-soaked belt from around her waist hurriedly, only to reveal a green dragon shaped tattoo underneath, but unlike the one that appeared on Angie, April’s did not disappear immediately.

Angie and I were both amazed as we stood as witnesses as the wound on April’s side slowly closed up and then vanished altogether, taking the strange tattoo with it.

“Please tell me I didn’t see what I think I’ve seen,” April said in a small unsteady voice.

“I could say you were just hallucinating from the pain, but that wouldn’t explain what I just saw,” Angie replied with her eyes still fixated on April’s unmarred side.

“It was exactly what we saw appear on your neck when you were arguing with that Leo guy,” I told Angie.

“This is excellent. No incredible!” Nolin bellowed beside April. “That, my dears, is the power of the Dragon Warriors; it is still weak compared to what it will be.”