Chapter 6

Marak pulled on the reins to slow his mount to a reasonable gallop through the caverns and walls. Marak's mount started to slow more into a walk then stopped at a door which swung slowly on its hinges to let us pass.

Through the door was a room filled with mirrors. I looked at my many reflections, but the effort to try and focus on one made my head spin. It was like looking through a kaleidoscope! Scratch that, I felt like I was living inside a kaleidoscope! Shaking my head I just sat in the saddle like a good little girl and concentrated on my breathing. I felt Marak shake slightly against my back; I guess he was laughing at me. I don't blame him for laughing at me, seeing as I look pretty vulnerable right now, but I do blame him for everything else; the plane landing suddenly to this small little town; the car not starting for us to leave; and for this horrible, absolutely terrible day. And I think I'll keep blaming him for things for the rest of my life.

"Here, Jane. We have to dismount now." Opening my eyes I saw that we were now in some kind of stable filled with the biggest and most beautiful horses I've ever seen. I was so concentrated on my breathing that I hadn't even noticed that we stopped and Marak had already dismounted. I then realized that Marak had his hand and paw around my waist, waiting for me to get down. Giving him a glare, I smacked him away and dismounted myself. Marak gave his reins to an usher near one of the stables, the usher I saw was a very pale looking thing with feathers sticking to one side of his face the other with scales. His eyes were completely black save for a few gold specks. Looking at him I felt a wave of nervous nausea sweep over me I closed my eyes quickly, holding my spinning head. I then felt Marak pull me into his arms and felt the pad of his paw on my forehead. It was very warm and soft; I wanted to nuzzle my face into it but quickly stopped myself. The nausea passed very quickly but I still kept my eyes shut feeling like I should annoy Marak still. I smiled when I heard him sigh.

"Jane. That's not going to make the situation any better." Nonetheless he took my hand in his and started to lead me away.

I heard another creak of a door being opened and felt a gush of air blowing my hair around. We stepped through the portal and Marak let go of my hand.

"Jane, you can open your eyes now." I shook my head, hearing Margret's voice echoing throughout my head "The poor little girls would be taken into the depths of the dark, damp caves, never to see the light of day again. All of them growing claws and fangs and developing red eyes too used to the darkness to go into the light again and nursing their screaming goblin brats…" I shuddered. I didn't dare open my eyes.

"What will I see?" I asked, not daring to raise my voice above a whisper. I knew it would falter if I did.

"Your new home." I knew he was grinning with his weird teeth showing, it made me tremble with anger. How dare he say such a thing! But, regrettably, curiosity got the better of me and I looked, and did I ever receive a shock! I certainly wasn't expecting lovely cavern walls filled with all kinds of gems, or lovely metal trees caressing a little stream filled with curious little stones. In fact it was absolutely stunning that it took my breath away. Although it was much better than what I thought it would be, it still didn't make me feel better about anything. In fact, it just made it worse.

"Do you like what you see?" Marak asked me. I felt my eyes sting as tears were forming. I can't live here! I can't! I can't live here! Mind racing like a racing track I turned and ran for the door as fast as I could, barely noticing the deep sigh Marak took. I slammed the palms of my hands onto the cold iron trying to make it move, but it wouldn't. Getting frantic I tried prying it open by using my fingers as claws over the outline of the door. I was crying and babbling things like "I can't be here! Mama! Daddy! Gilly! Gilbert! Please! Let me out! Please let me out! Oh John! John, Katie! Help me, please!" I sank to the floor, leaning my forehead against the cool metal and cried. I knew it was hopeless, I knew I couldn't leave, Margret even said that to me; once I was inside I could never get out again.

"Jane. Oh my little bird." I flinched. I felt his fingers, or paw, rubbing against my cheek catching the running tears so tenderly that I about hurled myself in his arms to cry. But I didn't. Instead I glared at him through my red tear brimmed eyes.

"Why?" I growled as best I could through the lump in my throat. He sighed and made a move to pick me up, but I swatted him away. "Why?!" I demanded more forcefully.

"I'll explain on the way, Jane-" He tried to help me up but I swatted him away again.

"Don't." I hissed through my teeth trying not to sob anymore. "Just. Don't. I don't- I can't- I!" But I couldn't speak anymore. I didn't protest anymore when he picked me up bridal style, instead I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried against his shoulder. I didn't dare look around anymore.

"Oh dear," He sighed; I could tell he was smiling. "What a Kings Wife you'll be, Jane. You'll definitely be a handful, but then again, all the other Kings Wives were." I hate him. He then made that rumbling sound in his chest, it seemed almost….comforting. I hate him. I leaned my head against his chest to get closer to the rumble. It almost sounded like a purr. I heard faint whisperings around us as Marak walked. I guess he was walking through a crowd because the whispers were getting excited. Marak said something in that language I didn't recognize, making his chest rumble even more and I started to relax again. Why? I have no idea.

Soon Marak stopped walking but kept talking in the weird language, a woman's voice cooed as it answered his and almost seemed excited. I opened my eyes to look at the woman. Goodness! She was a very short old woman, with braided black hair that reached the floor, which didn't seem like such a feat quite honestly. Her face glowed with excitement and ushered us inside a room where Marak placed me on my feet. Marak nodded towards the little woman, she bowed and left the room through another door, leaving me alone with Marak. I looked around the room in an almost earnest curiosity. Thankfully it wasn't a bedroom, least I hoped it wasn't. A loud clank made me jump nearly five feet in the air squeaking making Marak laugh. "Sorry, sorry! I just had to lock the door so no one would be able to come in." Or out. I gave him a withering stare; he wasn't sorry at all! I looked around again since I was so rudely interrupted. There was a stone chair standing near a table that held a goblet and four gold rings, there was a wooden door at the other end of the room and the stone door of which we entered through. Marak took my hand in his tiger paw to lead me towards the chair and table.

"What's this for?" I asked pointing at the goblet and the rings.

"I'll tell you soon." He said cryptically. "Here, sit down." I looked skeptically at the chair but I sat down anyway, wiping the tear trails on the back of my hand and sleeve. I then noticed that I still had on Marak's cloak from the lake, it was a navy, almost black, blue and was very soft and warm to the touch. I rubbed the fabric between my pointer finger and thumb, enjoying the soft feel of it on my skin.

"I think you're being a little too dramatic about all of this, Jane." He began to wave his paw around the top of the goblet, whispering and muttering. When he finished he lifted his head to meet my gaze, his green silvery eyes bearing into me like a warming ember. "I'm sorry that it had to come to this, Jane," I scoffed, he didn't sound very sorry at all! "but a King's Wife is always a captured bride. Kicking, screaming, crying, and sometimes even some spell weaving if we're lucky, but all the same: captured. This ceremony is based on powerful desperate girls trying to escape, during the ceremony she is shackled both magically and physically. She is taken to a place where everything is strange, she can't talk to anyone and no one talks to her. She is taken where we want her to go and she has absolutely no control over the situation."

"I'm not magical. I can't even do a simple card trick!"

He grinned. "Either way, it doesn't make any sort of difference, the ceremony's the same. The precautions are just that, precautions. If we never need them we'll never know and when we do they're already in place. Make sense?" I slowly nodded. "Good."

He held the goblet up to my lip and I got a good look at the dark liquid inside it, it didn't smell all that pleasant either and I refused to drink it.

"Honestly, Jane. Must you make this difficult?"

"Yes. I don't know you so I'm not letting you try and put anything in my mouth." I didn't open my mouth wide enough for him to slip any into it. "The heck is it anyway?"

"It's a potion to take away your lovely voice temporarily, little bird. It's not really necessary; it was made mostly for elves who know some pretty nasty spells. It's not harmful at all, but if you prove to be difficult I'll have to grab you by the hair and force it down your throat. And you don't want that to happen, do you?"

"You don't have to sound so darn happy about it!" I snapped. Darn his face! he was smiling cheerfully the whole time. I took another glance at the goblet, it had what looked like a whistle at the lip of it, it seemed like it was for the poor girl to drink through clenched teeth. How horrible, I grimaced. But I'm not going to give in so easily.

"Actually, I do. It's been almost fifty years since the last King and Kings Wife, Jane. You are going to help the goblin kingdom survive. Now please, Jane. Don't make me force this down your throat." He brought it back to my lips and I tried biting his fingers. "Jane." He growled warningly at me.

"No!" I snapped. "I've had the most stressful day in probably the history of stressful days! I walked through a blizzard, fell through a frozen lake, nearly drowned and froze to death, been captured by you being told I have no control over this situation and to never ever see my family or friends ever again! This is completely unfair to me, Marak! I was grateful to you for saving my life before, but now I'm beginning to wish that you left me for dead! At least that way my family would know what had happened to me!" I was panting when I finished.

"Are you done?" He asked. I cried in indignation! "If you're blaming me for the actions you had made, such as walking into a snow storm, I won't apologize for it. I will admit that the storm was mine, but I only meant for you to turn around until I came to collect you. Not for you to dive head first into it!" He sighed again, putting the goblet down to rub his temples. "You are either the most stubborn girl that I have ever cared to know, or maybe the craziest. I'm not sorry for anything else that has happened today, Jane, because they were essentially your fault. But," He looked at me with very serious eyes. He spoke slower, wanting me to know that he was saying was what he felt. "I will apologize for putting you in such terrible danger, and I also apologize that I wasn't there sooner." The sincerity in his voice and eyes were enough to put my guard down a little making me feel a little ashamed for my behavior.

His words made me rethink today a bit more. Yes, he made that storm, so it was his fault, but I was too stubborn and arrogant to turn around to try again another time, and had essentially put myself in a great deal of danger. Marak came as soon as he was able to and had helped me when I had almost given myself up. The least I could do for him, I guess, was to drink that retched potion. Who knows? If I play along to this wedding thing like a good captured bride then maybe he might grant me a couple favors. With that set in mind I gently picked up the cup and started drinking the liquid. I guess you could say Marak and I came to a silent understanding. He nodded as I finished the last of the horridly tasting drink and shifted into a more comfortable position on his chair. Once I had put the goblet down with a very disgusted look on my face, he grabbed one of the golden rings from the table. I tried asking him about them but quickly found out that I couldn't, already forgetting that the potion took away my voice. I started to panic when Marak gently rubbed my cheek, speaking softly.

"These aren't going to hurt you. They're the shackles I told you about. They're a necessary, but they do prove their uses. Hand me your wrist." He held his paw out to receive my wrist while holding the ring in the other hand. I still felt a bit rebellious but I forced myself to swallow it down and gave him my wrist. He smiled. "Much better."

He made the ring open, slipped it over my wrist and closed it. I inspected the ring closely, it didn't look like it opened at all, and it fit quite snuggly on my wrist. He put the remaining rings around my other wrist and around my ankles and I inspected these too.

"I shall see you at the ceremony, Jane." He stood up from his chair and made for the door. Marak opened the stone door letting the strangest women I have ever seen into the room each bowing respectfully to their King while giggling in excitement. I screamed, if you call opening my mouth in fright a scream. These women were so strange like the one goblin in the stables. Almost all the women had the same grey skin as Marak and some of them had fur or feathers. One woman had bluish grey skin and eyes that seemed to swallow me in blackness with golden dust under her eyes. Then I spotted the incredibly short woman from earlier, looking even more excited than earlier. While I was studying these women, they were discussing something amongst themselves while, it seemed, they were studying me. Some of them were fussing about my wet hair while others were fussing about the state of my clothes and such. All and all, they were fussing about all sorts of things before they tittered with each other while getting me to the other side of the wooden door.

Holy, I mouthed. It was the biggest bathroom I had ever seen in my life. The bathroom mirror stretched from one side of the room to the other going from above the Jacuzzi of a tub to above the bathtub of a sink counter, leaving plenty of room to walk around. The women talked to themselves in their strange language still while they filled the tub up with steaming water and motioned me to take off my cold, damp clothes. As I did so they tittered disapprovingly at them shaking their heads and urged me to get into the warm bath. I shook my head and rubbed my arms, emphasizing that I was still pretty cold and that the warm water would burn me. I slowly put my foot in the water and immediately took it out; the supposedly warm water was hot to my cold skin! Some of the women cooed in sympathy and made no further attempt to hurry me in the water, they knew I had to get used to it before they could do anything. I nodded my thanks and tested the water with both feet. It took a little bit but my body finally got used to the temperature so I started to slowly sink into the water. The goblin girls cooed their approval and went to get their cleaning tools.

As I sank further into the water I realized it started to smell like apricots then changed to pineapples then strawberries and all sorts of other different scents before settling into apple blossoms and Shea butter. All the while I was smelling the water, the short older woman started to scrub my hair while the other girls were scrubbing every inch of my skin. I blushed furiously when they got to some more private areas so I tried to take my mind off of the hands and the scrubbing and started to enjoy the heat of the water working its magic on my aching muscles. After they rinsed me off they hurriedly urged me to get out.

When I got out, a couple of the girls started drying me off and guided me to the mirror to have me sit on a little chair. The short older woman, I decided to call her Molly, started to play with my still damp hair putting it up in all sorts of designs and I noticed there was a strip of hair that she left alone. I picked up the little strand and tried giving it to her in case she just couldn't see it or something but she merely patted my hand clucking affectionately but left the piece alone so I shrugged and let her do whatever she was planning. I then realized it was just me, Molly and a few of the women in the bathroom. I tried to ask Molly where the rest went but then remembered that I couldn't talk and couldn't understand their language anyway so I closed my mouth and almost immediately the missing women burst into the room holding a dress. It was an aquatic blue sleeveless that reached down to my knees. I admit that I kind of liked it; it looked like the designs were swimming around me. They had me sit down next to a vanity to do my hair. Molly was putting it in the designs she was doing earlier and this time was putting all sorts of ribbons in while the others were writing symbols on my skin. I watched in fascination as the black ink began to change into gold, it must have been a good thing because the girls were beside themselves with glee.

Finally Molly had my hair in a French braid that rapped around the back of my head with a strip of hair flowing down my shoulder. We all turned when there was a knock at the door and the women looked at me a final time before they left. Molly looked up at me with a smile on her face and I couldn't help but smile back at her, even if it was small and sad. She gave my cheek a reassuring pat then left the room herself. I was alone for the space of a minute before two strange goblin men dressed in gold armor came in with golden chains. Standing perfectly still I let them click the chains onto my shackles. They both looked at me from their armor and tugged gently on the chains, encouraging me to follow.

Like I have a choice I thought grimly. And on that cheerful note, I followed them out of the room.

We were walking down a tunnel, I knew that much but I didn't dare look up. I kept watching my bare feet and hearing the soft thumps and taps of our feet hitting the ground and the soft clinking of metal. While we were walking I was thinking of all the books I've read, all the stories I had heard and all the movies I watched. How the two protagonists loved and adored each other, how they loved each other and how much they cared. They cared, and loved each other enough to get married, to start a family of their own, to spend the rest of their lives together. I have always longed for something more than just the boring typical life in Virginia, reading all of those manga books and chapter books, but I guess I never knew what I was going to do when my wish was granted. Now I've been kidnapped in a strange country by an even stranger person and being forced to marry said person never to see my family again without ever saying goodbye to them. Well, they always said 'Be careful what you wished for' I thought bitterly. At least Belle could go outside in the sunlight as much as she pleased. She wasn't forced to marry the Beast! Just to stay with him forever. And at least she got to see her family in a mirror and they knew where she was and such!

A low rolling sound, kind of like waves broke me out of my bitter ironic thoughts. Are we near the ocean? It was getting louder the closer we were getting to the end of the tunnel. Here we go then. Gulping down whatever tried to come up from my nervous stomach I held my head high as we neared the end and gasped.

The room we entered didn't seem like a room but a huge stadium full of strange people of all shapes and sizes, fur, feathers, scales or just really pale skin. It was bigger than any football stadium I'd ever seen. In the middle of the large stadium was a platform of stone with two stone tables on it, Marak was standing on the platform smiling and just watching me. I took the time to have a look at him, as I was very sure he was doing the very same. Marak was wearing clothes that seemed to have come from the 1800's, a simple black cotton shirt with the sleeves folded at the elbows, and simple leather brown pants. He had his hair tied in a low pony tail with a loose black bow. If he weren't a total jerk and the Goblin King and I wasn't being forced to do anything, I would have squealed in delight at his clothes. But I only glared at him with a sort of anger I didn't particularly feel.

The guards brought me closer to the stage stairs and that's when I remembered John. My heart hiccupped at the thought of him, making my feet to turn tail, pulling slightly on the chains in protest. I will admit that I have thought of marrying someone like John, maybe even John. Heck, I would have married John on the spot if I knew were my life was leading me. I pulled more earnestly on the chains. I can't do this. What the heck is happening? The guards kept hold of the chains and started to gently pull me closer. Gulping again, I slowly followed them up the platform. It was way too late to turn back now. On the platform were four large squares of multicolored sand with some more symbols on them that led up to the first table. Walking on the sand toward the table must have been super exciting because the audience was going nuts over it. Chancing a look over my shoulder made me understand why; the symbols in the sand were disappearing. Must be some sort of magical voodoo challenge…thing. Voodoo? Who do? You do! Do what? Remind me of the—dang it! Finally we reached the first table; the guards took their chains off of my brackets and put on the ones from table to where my palms were faced up. My eyes darted back and forth between Marak's eyes for some sort of clue of what's going to happen next, I saw something gleam in his eye. I then noticed that the table between Marak and I had three knives, I didn't notice anything else. Then I understood what that gleam was as his hand inched toward the first golden knife; Mischief.

I stared at the knife in fear, clearly not understanding what the heck was going to happen next. Will he cut off a finger? Cut my hand off? Slit my wrist? Get it together, Jane. I thought to myself. He wouldn't save your life just to kill you. Think more logically. Come on Jane! I looked at Marak with a quizzical glance. He smiled and picked up a small paintbrush and a bowl filled with gold paint and wrote something on my forehead. The paint slightly burned my skin the moment he finished writing like sticking your finger in freshly melted candle wax; the burning sensation was there but subsided a moment later. Marak opened my clenched hands and started to trace his thumb over the lines of my hands which tickled. As I tried to move my hand to get him to stop, I quickly found out that I couldn't move my hand at all! Now was the part where Marak picked up two of the knives, his eyes concentrated and impassive. I tried to calm myself as much as I could thinking He's going to kill me. He's not going to kill me, he saved my life why would he? He'll maim me so much that he'd accidently kill me! He probably will! He has knives in his hands for Pete's sake! He's not here to cut a cold slice of ham samurai style! I screwed my eyes shut as he brought the knives down silencing my thoughts for the moment with a terrified scream! It was over before I could even gasp for a real scream. I opened my eyes and saw two long gashes that went from my wrist to the middle of my palm. Well that was anti climatic. Marak dropped the knives and quickly pulled my hands from the brackets and held them above an empty bowl that I didn't notice before, letting the blood from my wounds drip down into it. I wasn't one to get queasy at the sight of blood but with the excitement from before and the sound of the splats in bowl mixed with the smell of blood and the sudden pain of my hands was enough to make me lightheaded. It passed over quickly though as I got my thoughts in order. Marak, satisfied with the amount of blood in the bowl, pulled my hands to another bowl of liquid and plunged my hands into it. The searing pain I immediately felt was completely unexpected! The wounds on my hand felt like they were on fire! My vision nearly failed as he pulled my hands out of the fire water and wrapped them each in a cloth of their own then put them back in the brackets. I was shaking and was so very grateful for the support they gave as I tried to calm myself again.

I glared at Marak as he picked up the last knife, daring him to even try to cut me again, but this time he slashed his own arm over the blood filled bowl. His own cut dripped dark brown blood into the morbid bowl, his blood actually kind of fascinated me as it dripped. It just didn't look real, even though it was coming out of this living breathing creature, it was more like watching the fake blue blood come out of humanoid creatures in movies. After a short while of blood dripping Marak pulled his own arm away then threw in some powder from a nearby plate. Having regained a little strength, I watched the blood mix and swirl on its own and saw a red mist come from it and pour over the sides of the bowl and over the table like red dry ice mist at Halloween. I wanted to put my hand in the mist to see if it was like the dry ice, but remembered my restraints and sighed in slight disappointment. The red vapor made way for a tiny sliver of sparkling silver that rose through the air like a tiny needle fish in a red sea. The crowd behind me roared with delight and Marak started at it with a slight amazed look on his face and looked at me with a smile that showed off his teeth. As the silver line of mist and the red mist faded Marak dipped his finger into the bowl that came up with pink cake frosting. I looked at his finger and the bowl in confusion, where did the cake frosting come from?! He took my hands and smeared the frosting looking stuff on the gashes and the pain from before disappeared. Marak studied the wounds, which looked like they healed very nicely over the course of a minute, and shouted something in goblin to the crowd. The crowd cheered, clapped and made whatever noise possible.

I breathed in deeply, feeling extremely tired, I hoped that the ceremony was over but the goblin guards brought their gold chains to my brackets and led me to the next table. Marak gently helped me to sit down on a cushion by the table and adjusted these new brackets to make them cradle my elbows. It was strangely comfortable. I closed my eyes for a moment while Marak walked to the table. I sat there for a moment to try to see if I could fall asleep here, because something that had you can sit this comfortably would be an easy-less painful-procedure, so I tried to relax (I seriously could sleep anywhere if I was tired enough to try). Over the mumble of the crowd I heard Marak walk back to me, chuckle and felt his paw hold my hand and felt the familiar bend of my fingernail as it was snipped off. I opened my eyes in surprise as Marak clipped some more of my already short nails into a tiny bowl, added a few of his own fingernails then threw them to a small fire that he must have barely made. Then he cut the lock of hair that Molly left out and placed it into the fire with his own lock of stripped hair. He next picked up a rather large needle and a small plate. Marak brought the needle up to me, took one of my fingers, I squeezed my eyes shut remembering a trip to the doctor and thought this was only like that, and winced when the needle made contact with my skin. I opened my eyes again as he forced a few drops of more blood to fall onto the plate. Marak stabbed his own finger next. He took the plate to the fire and held the plate upside down so that the flames could reach the small pool of blood.

I looked at Marak in wonder, he looked like he was concentrating and looked very intimidating as the light from the fire cast shadows about his face. The fire suddenly vanished leaving a small pile of silver ash. Carefully, as if to pick up an injured animal, Marak took the ashes on his finger and rubbed it on a long and beautifully crafted sword. I stared at the sword in astonishment. Where did that come from?! From the sword came a musical tone that I've never heard any sword make before, I closed my eyes to listen to it. Then I realized with a start that this meant extreme danger! I looked at Marak as he gripped the hilt of the sword and walked toward me with a distant look. I panicked more than I have before! HE'S GOING TO KILL ME! Wedding ceremony my freakin eye, this is a sacrifice ritual! With one last look about the excited crowd and to Marak who whirled the weapon above his head, ready to strike, I quickly closed my eyes shut with a silent scream as he brought it down.

I felt the cold metal touch my head then slide down my neck and loop around my shoulder. Startled at the sensation of cold liquid metal and not the very solid looking blade going down my back, I opened my eyes to see a golden snake staring straight into my eyes. I started back into its emerald eyes as it considered me, swaying this way and that that I dared not make a move if it decided to strike. I didn't dare move or even blink as the snake turned away and looped itself around my upper arm a few times then curled itself around my neck somewhat loosely. I looked at my arm as the coils of snake skin started to flatten into my skin to leave a print that would have any tattoo artist glowing with pride. I stared at the coils with a petrified stare, then I screamed with everything that I had, but no one heard me over the deafening roar of the goblin crowd. They chanted, some were singing, others were screaming at the top of their heads. I glanced at Marak as I continued screaming, he looked extremely pleased with himself as he unlatched the brackets and held me in his arms. My mind clicked and I thought to myself with upmost relief and horror (as I still screamed) The King's Wife ceremony was over and done with. Now, I'm not a fainting person, I've never fainted in my life! But with all of the excitement of almost dying, losing my family forever, losing blood, the goblin crowd, the noise, Marak's closeness; I felt the sensation of falling and remembered nothing more.

A/N: I keep forgetting to add my author's note. :T oh well. So, the King's Wife Ceremony! Squee! I'm going to keep saying it but I am SOOOOOOO sorry for the long wait of a post. I've had this on my dash for a long while it's just my life is completely crazy and I'm not finding the time to write my stories Q^Q

I hope you guys like it though, it took forever!

Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful story arc of Clare B Dunkle's Hollow Hill, but I do own these characters! Any indication that they might be similar to other characters or real life people is strictly coincidental! I'm not making any sort of profit from this other than letting people read and (hopefully) appreciate it. I don't own any of the movie/comic/tv show/ or any media references in this story!