Caught By the Dragon: Maiden to the Dragon, Book 1, - [ebook reader with internet browser txt] 📗

rear flap was thrown aside. Blake revealed himself and his two compatriots. Their human faces, too, were gone and their snout-nosed true identities were revealed.

Blake stepped aside and jerked his head toward the road. “Climb out of there.” We hesitated and glanced at each other. “Climb out, or we drag you out.”

Cindy stood, and we others followed. One-by-one we shuffled out in single file. Stephanie was ahead of me. She hesitated at the edge of the bed. It was two feet to the ground, and our shackles didn’t help with climbing.

One of the men grabbed her arm and yanked her down. “Come on! We don’t have all day!”

Stephanie cried out and fell onto her side onto the ground. A flash of red blinded my vision. I screamed and lunged at the closest asshole. My shoulder connected with his face and we both toppled to the gravel.

Alex gave a war whoop and threw herself at the other henchman. Cindy charged Blake. He side-stepped her attack and smacked her on the back of her head. Cindy’s eyes rolled back in her head and she crumpled to the ground.

“Handle these wenches or you’re fired!” he snapped at the other two pig-men.

My victim wrapped me in a tight bear hug and stood. Alex, likewise, was subdued. Blake stalked over to us and glared first at Alex and then me.

His eyes narrowed at me. “You two are almost more trouble than you’re worth. One more stupid move like that and you’ll be thrown out into this world that you wouldn’t last five minutes in.” He turned to his henchmen and the other cowering girls, and swept his arm toward to his right. “Get them inside before they’re all sick and wasted.”

My eyes followed his arm. Before us not more than twenty feet stood a long, stone-built stable. The thatched gable roof and foggy, primitive windows bespoke a rustic lifestyle.

Beyond the stable stretched a hundred acres of open ground surrounded by the forest. The ground was level except the extreme right side where it sloped off into the forest and a glen.

A large castle occupied five front acres of the ground. Its tall battlements cast their long shadows over the smaller stable and our crowd. Six towers at the four corners and center of the long battlements accented the rectangular design of the stone structure. Soft lights lit up the tall, narrow windows that looked out on green fields and pastures. Cows and sheep grazed in their own fences, and a large fenced area was connected to the wall of the stables opposite where we stood.

The gravel road passed by the castle and dipped down a little on its journey back into the woods, but a part of it branched off to the front of the castle. The road traveled through an imposing stone arch with two massive doors. They were hewn from mighty trees, and on their surface were carved figures I couldn’t quite make out what.

I glanced over my shoulder. Behind us was a small village of stone huts with thatched roofs. The homes were nestled on both sides of the road, and from their stone chimneys poured forth smoke. Flickering lights behind the foggy window glass reflected long shadows of the occupants. A few of them were those who traveled in and out of the high castle.

“Get on with ya!” one of the henchman snapped.

I was shoved forward and made to fall in line with the other girls. Each of the men snatched an oil lantern from the cab of the truck and lit our path. We were marched into the large door of the stables and to three empty stalls at the end closest to the gate. Alex, Stephanie, and I were shoved into one stall and the other three were tossed into the other.

Blake stood between the stalls and sneered at us. “Take the manacles off all the girls except those two troublemakers, and then go check to see if they’re ready up there.”

One of his companions frowned. “But that’ll make ‘em look lame for the presentation.”

Blake grinned. “Some of our buyers like them bound.”

The three of them laughed at the crude joke as they unlocked the manacles, but the hands remained tied behind their backs. Alex and I were passed over, but I was glad when Stephanie’s ankles were freed. One of the pig-men disappeared through a door at the end of the stables.

Blake glanced from one stall to the other. “Now listen up. I won’t be repeating this. You lot are to be presented to some very influential-” he chuckled, “-we’ll call them men. Some of them will want to take you. You’d better hope they do, otherwise you’re discarded to the servant’s quarters of this castle and left there to fend for yourself.” He paced the floor between the straw of the stalls. “If you’re good girls you’ll be chosen and given a life of luxury in their homes.”

“But I want to go home!” Stephanie insisted.

He stopped his pacing and sneered at her. “Nobody gets back through the Portal. Nobody.” His sly grin slipped onto his lips. “At least not alive.”

“What the hell are you talking about? What portal?” Alex questioned him.

“That’s for you girls to find out, but after you’re presented to the Lords of the Air,” he replied.

“But we just want to go home!” one of the women yelled.

“Please take us home!” Stephanie pleaded.

“Let us go!” Alex demanded.

“Shut up!” Blake snapped. His pork snout flared in and out as he glared at each of us. “You’re staying here, so stop you’re whining and get used to it!”

The door opened a sliver and the henchman slipped inside. He moved to stand beside Blake and glanced over his shoulder before he spoke in a whispered voice. “We’ve got a problem.”

Blake narrowed his eyes. “What kind of problem?”

A soft female voice spoke up. “There is no problem.”