Intertwining Destinies

Chapter 17

She was exhausted; her sides about to explode, but she kept her legs moving. It was all she could do to escape him. She ran through a dark tunnel but every time she looked behind, the cold topaz eyes kept following her. Her bare feet scraped over rough ground but she had to keep moving. Had to get away from the eyes that promised nothing but pain and punishment. Her heart beat frantically when she felt a hand grip her arm forcefully. The arm exploded in agony and blood flowed once more- warm and wet...

Dr. Emerald Bruttenholm woke up with a start. She breathed heavily and broke out in cold sweat, jerking her head in all directions. It took a few seconds of frantic searching to realise that she was not in a dark underground cavern. Instead, she was lying on a squashy sofa in a sun-washed strange room of glittering blue painted walls. Her painfully throbbing arm had wakened her, and looking down, she saw that it was wrapped in clean bandages. Heaving the heavy flower-patterned duvet off from her, she sat up and found that her feet were smeared with some thick orange paste, which had dried and cracked in some places. Only her injuries indicated to her that the last few days had not simply been a nightmare. Prince Nuada was very real; hated humans with unrivalled passion, and he knew of her secret.

"Hey! You're up!" cried a voice, and Emerald looked up so fast that she cricked her neck. Massaging the twinge, she saw the familiar green face of Carol Evans, grinning at her in a relieved sort of way.

"Carol? How'd I get here? And where am I?"

Carol lost a bit of her grin and looked concerned. "You don't remember anything?"

Emerald wished she could have forgotten about the prince and the leering mob surrounding her at the troll market.

"I remember escaping and running through the market. I was so drained out that most of it is hazy. I remember walking through tunnels but nothing concrete. How did I get here?"

"I brought you here. I found you wandering in one of the alleys in the troll market. You could barely stand. You didn't seem yourself and kept asking me to get you away from there."

"You were at the troll market?" asked Emerald, a realisation blossoming in her mind. Carol nodded.

"You're not completely human, are you?" she questioned further as she regarded Carol's green face.

"Not really."

"But then why did you help me? Don't you hate me and rather I rot away somewhere?"

Carol sighed. "I guess you got taken by one of those crazy trolls who think that their lives are shit cuz of the humans. Believe me, not all are like that. Besides, I'm part human. You're safe here. Don't worry."

However, Emerald continued to look anxious.

"Look, if I wanted to hurt you, I would have done so already. You've been out for almost two days."

"Two days?!"

"Yeah. You look a hell lot better than when I first got you here. You must be hungry, right?"

At the mention of hunger, Emerald suddenly felt ravenous. "Could you get me something to eat, please?"

"Sure! Just stay put!" Carol raced away from the room.

Thankfully, Emerald didn't have too long to wait. Carol came in bearing a large tray and set it on the coffee table in front of the sofa. It contained a bowl of pears, a milk jug, a hunk of cheese and a large bowl of creamy-looking porridge.

"Sorry, there's no meat in the house," Carol advised, as she handed her the tray.

Emerald was so famished that she waved her hand, forgot all her manners and hastily snatched a pear and started eating it hungrily. Carol watched her taking bites out of the pear even though her mouth was already full. Emerald didn't look up before she had finished five of them. She reached for the porridge bowl and started gulping it down so fast, that she choked. Taking pity on her, Carol patted her on the back and handed her a glass of milk to wash the porridge down.