Chapter Five
Jada found herself back in the fire-lit cave with the princes and the shaman. The woman had a massive grin on her face and she winked at her with a suggestive look, the ethereal glow around her growing brighter. Jada blushed and looked away, still feeling the evidence of their coupling between her legs. A clear path blazed to the second door, indicating that they were to continue on in their journey.
“Congratulations on clearing the first trial, human, but I’ve designed these tests so that each one gets progressively harder than the last. First, I tested your ability to submit and to love your men, next I shall test your mind, and finally, I’m going to evaluate your heart,” the fire shaman explained in an excited tone. “Good luck.”
The fire around them blazed upward, the flames at their back growing taller and hotter, forcing them toward the second portal. Bruddis and Draego took her hands in theirs and they entered the second trial together.
Jada was blinded for a moment by the brilliant white light and she blinked multiple times when the brightness finally faded away. When her eyes finally focused on the dim light, she gasped upon seeing massive trees surrounding them.
They were in a forest. The canopy above was so thick that it blocked the majority of the sunlight so that it didn’t reach the ground. The tree trunks around them were the largest that she had ever seen. Dark green moss smothered the bark of the trees and large bushes of leaves grew unabated around them.
She looked at her feet, realizing that they were on a well-worn dirt path.
“Should we follow the trail?” she asked, looking up at Draego and Bruddis, who both exchanged a look with one another. Looking off into the distance, she saw a bright white light.
“I think so,” Draego replied thoughtfully. “Don’t wander off the path though. We have no idea what sorts of monsters may plague these woods. I don’t even think we could shift into our dragon forms either. There’s no room between the trees. We couldn’t even get through the treetops without burning them all away.”
Bruddis nodded.
“Do you know anything about this trial?” Jada asked as she walked forward toward the light. She followed the footpath, her leather slippers leaving small footprints in the dirt as she walked.
The three of them walked for what felt like hours, the bright light always a great distance away. It felt like they weren’t getting any closer.
They paused by a giant boulder to catch their breath. Bruddis pulled out some jerky from a pouch on his belt and they each enjoyed a piece. A nearby river provided them with a fresh drink of water. Sitting by the water along the sandy beach that ran along its edge, she took off her slippers and dipped her toes in the cool liquid. Moaning with a sigh of relief, she giggled as the current tickled her skin.
“Why the trials? Why not just the bride of your choice?” she asked Bruddis when he sat down beside her.
He glanced back at her, smiling at her curiosity.
“I imagine magical things like this aren’t common back on Earth, huh?”
She shook her head.
“No, not at all. Magic is simply something in a fairy tale. A myth. It isn’t real,” she answered. “It might be pretty dangerous if it was, I suppose.”
“I suppose that you’d probably be right,” he paused as Draego sat down beside them.
Bruddis glanced at his brother before turning back to her.
“Long ago, queens and kings married without any sort of trial or magical test. Sons would age and rule, choosing brides as they wished since ancient times. Usually good matches based on true love, but a few times, those marriages were ill fated and untrue from the start. Centuries past, a situation rose similar to our own, where two brothers were fated to take the throne. They chose a bride, only she wasn’t their perfect mate, in fact, she was in love with another. The stories we mentioned before, where brother fought brother causing mass devastation and death across the land, were because they didn’t find their perfect mate. Their blood rejected the match,” Bruddis began.
“The war lasted for years and our world cowered in a dark age like had never been seen before. Eventually, the brothers fought so hard that they eventually killed each other, freeing Draegira from their wicked rule. Sorceresses, wizards, and shamans came together then and devised a system where they could test the king’s mate aptitude to the match, to see if they’re a fated pair. Ever since the trials have been implemented, we haven’t seen a situation like that one rise ever again. Draegira has been safe. If a match isn’t meant to be, the marriage is nullified and the king quests to find another,” Draego continued.
“There’s a chance I won’t be your bride,” she said softly, unable to hide her sadness in her voice. Both Bruddis and Draego watched her with a sense of reluctant acceptance.
“It is our way,” Bruddis said, a soft smile gracing his lips.
Looking off into the water, she sighed, trying to come to terms that she wasn’t guaranteed to be with the brothers, even though she was pretty sure she wanted to be theirs.
But forever was a long time.
A child’s scream pierced the air and Jada started in surprise. Another series of screams followed and she jumped to her feet, quickly pulling on her shoes and running toward the source of the sound. Into the trees she sprinted, the echoes of the screaming child growing closer. She tore through the bushes, thorns scratching her arms as she ran by until she reached a clearing with a small form in the center.
The form stood, its face hidden as it started to laugh. Its hair was green and soft, interwoven with flowers and leaves so that it looked like it was part of the forest floor. It lifted its head and Jada realized it took on the form of a young, adolescent woman with skin the color of moss. A wreath made of vines and multi-colored blossoms sat atop her head. Dressed in an emerald green gown, she grinned, eyes sparkling with humor.
Her piercing jade-colored eyes studied Jada and she giggled, tossing her long hair over her shoulders. She hazarded that the being was a woodland creature, a nymph of some sort.
“Shouldn’t have left the path,” the creature giggled and she began to dance.
“Who are you?” Jada asked.
“Now you’ve earned the forest’s wrath,” the nymph laughed.
Her laugh echoed and she jumped up into the air, disappearing into a pretty green light that took a long time to fade away.
What the fuck?
Jada looked around and was alarmed to find herself completely alone. She didn’t hear the brothers behind her and the woods were strangely silent. There wasn’t even the chirping of birds or bugs. It was eerily quiet.
A vine snaked forward and curled around her ankle. Trying to shake it off, she kicked her foot, but it tightened too quickly. The plant lifted her up into the air, feet first and Jada screamed, but no one came. Where were Bruddis and Draego?
Another vine snaked around her other ankle, lifting her higher into the air.
Her dress fell around her waist, revealing her ass to the open air.
A loud swish hurtled by her ears and an explosion of pain tore across her backside. Again and again, the vine whipped her, until she was sobbing from the ache. She could feel the welts rising on her skin.
All at once, the vines released her and she fell to the ground, her shoulder smacking into the dirt in the process. She cried out and the vines receded, leaving her lonely and afraid and quite sore. Slowly, she pushed herself back up to her feet and reached back to rub the welts on her backside. Looking around, she realized she should get away from this place as quickly as possible. Rotating her shoulder back and forth, she crept out of the clearing.
Turning back the way she came, she tried to follow her footprints but she felt like she was wondering for hours. It felt like she was traveling much farther than she had to get to the small clearing. She noticed a strange tree to her right, noting that the pattern in the bark made it seem as though a face was watching her. Keeping the river on her left, she ventured her way into the woods, hoping to find her princes soon.
Before she knew it, nothing seemed to look familiar. The water flowing beside her was the only sound she heard in the forest. She kept wandering forward, feeling more and more lost until she came upon the same strange tree she had stopped and looked at before, the same face carved in the bark.
She sat down on the riverbank and sighed, feeling dejected and lost. The forest seemed to darken with each passing moment, every silent second feeling more sinister than the last. She tried to figure out how she was traveling in circles, especially when she had kept the river on her left side the entire time. Her feet hurt, her ass burned from the whipping vine, and her body ached. Wishing for the soft bed back in the brothers’ chambers, she sighed.
Laughter filled the air, echoing around her and she whirled around, only no one was there.
“Show yourself!” she demanded, quickly becoming more and more worried about what was happening and why she couldn’t find her way back.
“Are you lost, little dove?” the nymph’s voice sounded. “Would you like to find your way back to your loves?”
“Yes, please! What do I have to do?” Jada answered desperately.
“Why, you’ll have to solve a riddle, otherwise your love is fated to dwindle.”
“Just tell me what to do,” Jada demanded, quickly becoming frustrated with the nymph’s games and silly rhymes. Unconsciously, her hand reached back and rubbed her punished backside.
The nymph laughed and disappeared for a long moment, clearly finding pleasure in Jada’s annoyance. She reappeared before her, smiling with glee at the prospect of a new diversion and began to speak.
“Silver thread falling from land
Can never be caught by a mortal hand
Surrounded by a bed of rocks and sand
Speak my name is my command
For I will show you the way, do you understand?”
When she finished telling the riddle, she giggled with excitement. “Solve the puzzle with haste, there’s no time to waste!”
She disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Jada alone once again. Standing there, she racked her mind for what the riddle could mean. Looking around, she saw nothing that reminded her of any clues. Sticking to the river bank, she strolled along, listening to the quiet noise of the water flowing through the rocks.
Far away, she heard what sounded like a waterfall and she decided to head in that general direction.
“A silver thread, never caught by a mortal hand,” she muttered, running the lines of the riddle through her mind. Chewing her lip, she stared at the river, watching as the water swirled around an outcropping of small rocks.
“It can’t be,” she whispered in disbelief.
Running along the river bank, she raced toward the sound of the falls. In no time at all, she found herself in a wooded grove, a waterfall rising up before her several stories in the air. The water, the foretold thread of silver, crashed onto a group of rocks and sand below, flowing downstream. The water was the answer, the silver thread that fell from land. No matter how hard you tried, water couldn’t be caught in your hand. It had to be the right answer.
Taking off her shoes, she waded into the water, lifting her dress as to not get it wet.
Standing before the cascade of water, she smiled.
“Waterfall. The answer to your riddle is a waterfall,” Jada yelled out.
The sound of stone scraping against stone filled the air and the woodland nymph appeared before her, her eyes crinkling with delight and triumph.
“You win. Let your journey back home begin,” she murmured, her voice light and musical like a song.
She raised her arms to the sky and a bundle of vines began to curl down around the edges of the waterfall. The plants ebbed and twirled, parting the waters of the cascade and revealing a tunnel behind the falls. Jada walked forward and gave the nymph a little wave, before venturing into the dark rock tunnel.
She had solved the riddle! Her happiness rose unabated and she rushed inside.
The cave was dark and the rock was slick, but she meandered slowly down the tunnel, her steps careful as to not fall until she saw a soft glow emanating further down the corridor. When she turned a corner, she gasped with delight when she found a fiery door, marking the exit to the never-ending forest. She surged forward and the fire shaman’s portal swallowed her up. She had passed the second trial and she squealed with glee.