than pissing off the enemy, and well, as for this one, she most certainly deserved it.
After this she demanded that I go with her, and knowing the strength of her powers, I decided it was best to try and get there with my strength and body intact. I had a feeling that I was going to need both for the fight that was to come.
So, after having only moments awake in the cell to get my bearings, I was walking out of the solid door that had been used to lock me in. I followed the witch who silently led the way and instead of provoking her further, I too remained silent. We looked to be in some kind of remnants of a Castle, very similar to the one that I remembered being in after I was kidnapped by the harpies.
I had so many questions, the main one being, where in Hell was I this time? But the witch was hardly the one I wanted answering them.
I was led down a stone corridor before the witch was pushing open one of the doors, and instead of being led out into a bailey which would have been my first guess, I was led out to that same barren wasteland that I had seen when first stepping through the portal. A vast sand coloured field where only long thick blades of grass grew and nothing else. No trees, no bushes, nothing more than a light orange grass and the crumbling stone remains of the building I walked from.
I turned and looked behind me to see that it had indeed been a Castle, but one long abandoned, for only pieces of it were left, one of which had been the prison that I had been locked in. However, this sight only held my interest for a moment, and that was until I heard Matthias’ voice as the witch walked me around the side of the ruins. He emerged from behind what looked like some kind of sacrificial stone, a large slab stood upright that was the height of a house.
Just past this, were tall giant rocks that looked as if they had fallen from the sky and landed in a perfect circle surrounded another rock, only this one had fallen on its side resembling an altar. Each upright rock stood like stone sentinel's with no features, reminding me of Stonehenge, without the slabs across that bridged two stood close together.
Matthias now walked to the centre altar and, with a grin on his face, gestured for me to come forward.
“I must say you are looking well rested, my dear,” he said in a smooth tone, unnerving me with the strength of it. Once again, I didn't know what to say, so I decided to say nothing at all. But because I didn't want him thinking that my silence was a sign of weakness or that I feared him, I did as he asked and stepped closer. Once there, he lifted a familiar looking bag from behind the altar where it had been hidden and lay it on top of the stone. Of course, the instant I saw it, I knew what it was…
The Eye.
This was when I decided to speak.
“I don't know what you're planning or think you will get me to do, but if it's to help you in any way by touching that Eye, I’m telling you now, it’s not going to happen.”
“Is that so?” he said with a smirk, and I wished I had the power to punch it off his arrogant face.
“You're going to have to kill me,” I stated in a firm tone, knowing this was no idle threat. And as much as I hated the idea of never seeing Lucius again, breaking my heart at just the thought, there was no way I was going to put his life, or that of my mother’s, in jeopardy. At this, he clapped and laughed the once like it was all very amusing to him.
“Ah, but such spirit, such courage, I'm starting to understand and see what it is my brother finds appealing in you and well, after that impressive show of power back in the temple, I most definitely know of the good uses he must get out of you…” He then paused to drag his gaze up and down my body, making me feel sick and nauseated. His eyes homed in at the rips at my legs, as if he had the power to tear them open further with