Destiny

Everything is a blur as I get shoved down in front of the man sitting on the throne. I feel a hand roughly grab my hair and rip my head back, aligning my eyes with the king. Hands chained behind my back, tired and weakened from the fight I had already given. I stare straight back at the eyes studying me. Black. Nothing but black. 

"She will do." He says with a gruff voice, more animal than human. He comes and stands in front of me, grabbing a strand of my hair, twirling it through his fingers. "I've never had a red head before." He smiles, a malicious smile, and whispers in my ear, "I bite, so be careful." He turns around and looks at the guards holding me. Looking past them he finds my seller. "What makes her so worth your price?" 

The seller looks at the king with terror, scared to answer.

 "She is nothing I've ever seen before. It took us 2 months to finally catch her, and when we did she killed 5 of my men. I don't know what she is, but keep her guarded. She is not one of us. I will take my payment now." The seller holds out his hand, shaking, waiting for the coin purse to land, glancing from the king to the door. The king looks at him and throws the purse at him. The seller left before so much as a thank you.

The king looks at me again, intrigued to hear what took place during my capture. 

"Take her to the room I've had prepared, see that she gets cleaned and dressed in new clothes. I want guards posted at the window and door to the room. When she's ready, bring her to me." With that he turned and walked away. 

The guards stand me up and I wobble, they yank my arms hard, shoving me forward and I stumble. As they drag me up a set of stairs, I look around. I wonder what place this is and where I am. My head throbs and legs ache, feeling as if we would never reach the top of these steps. I see pictures along the walls, pictures of men and wolves. 

"Where am I? Why was I brought here?" I ask breathlessly. The guards just ignore me. They stop at an open door, unchain my wrists, and shove me in, closing it behind me. 

"Get showered and dressed in the clothes on the bed. Knock when you are done." One Said as I lay on the floor of a small room with a trundle bed in the corner, a small window facing west toward the sunset, and a small table with a mirror.

I look out the window. I am 3 stories up, an easy jump for me, but 6 guards posted at the bottom paced with lanterns and large rifles. I look at the surroundings for anything familiar, but all I see is an unknown forest that stretches passed my eyeline.