Chapter 2

Alexis' mind reeled as she felt that falling feeling for longer than she had ever. It was like a roller coaster that lasted longer than the few minutes it should and when the man’s feet gracefully touched the floor, Alexis' head rolled over on the inside.

She groaned all to soon, because it seemed the man who bought her was also affected by the fall and dropped her sideways on a bed, thankfully. She continued to groan on the bed and tried to make sense of what had just happened.

'The floor opened up and we fell a few stories down didn't we? It would only make sense' she heard the man continue to also groan. ‘Why would the floor open up, though?’

"Your highness!" A loud screech pierced through her ears further confusing her. "I knew travelling like that would have a bad affect on you! Can you still breath? What about your sight? Is it blurry? And your bones?" The voice seemed to sprout endless concerns, until the sharp deep voice coming from her kidnapper snapped at him.

"Oh shut up Agathus! My heads in pain" he angrily groaned back making the voice quiet down and give a small murmur.

"I thought so".

She was glad her kidnapper shouted. Her own head seemed to feel like it would split open if it heard that high pitched voice that seemed to belong to neither genders.

' A Unisex voice?' She wondered despite the pain which seemed to gradually subside.

"The girl..." her kidnapper muttered.

"Is she the one? She looks pretty fragile, are you sure?" The voice once again questioned, but this time softer and more soothingly.

"Don't question my judgement" another angry outburst.

"Of course, your highness".

Her mind suddenly wondered why the person called her kidnapper his highness. It was as if he was a roy-

"Tie her up."

Her eyes shot open at the sudden demand and her head quickly turned to the cold voice only to be left stunned.

A face that looked to be sculpted by the finest sculptor, so perfect it blinded her. The blonde hair that sparkled from the light- she didn't question to think where it came from- looked so silky as light bounced off it. It draped the mans fine face until just above his eyes which snapped towards her in caution.

Bright red.

Red like roses. 

Her breath caught in her throat as she sat like a deer in headlights at the man who glared at her.

"Don't look at me." His icy voice aimed at her made her obey his command quickly and she looked down at her hands submissively. 

"I-where?- where am I?" She looked around the room. It was huge. 

Rooms the size of this where only ever found in Europe or the Middle East. A large tall window gave view to the bluest sky she had ever seen as birds of many colours looked to be flouting above them.

She squinted at them and suddenly gasped.

They didn't have wings!

She jumped off the bed and rushed towards the window, pressing her hands against the glass as she stared up at the colourful beaked creatures.

They were much bigger than pigeons and maybe even seagulls. With a body that slithered through the sky like a snake, but so much more enchanting. Misty coloured dust left behind them as they flew away.

"What are those?" She asked mostly to herself, but heard that gender-less voice answer.

"Birds. Have you never seen them before?"

She felt a laugh bubble in her throat, she turned as she began, "Oh I've seen birds and they don't-" her voice caught in her throat as she looked at a creature she had never seen before.

Her face paled, she hiccuped as she took in the thing that had moved to stand beside her. It was small, green skin covered it with a potato skin like texture. Two large black eyes peered at her. Black. Completely black. It's head held a crown of brown hair and otherwise, it had normal human like features.

Had he not have such bizarre features she would just assumed he had dwarfism.

The small thing squirmed under her gaze as if it somehow understood what her eyes conveyed.

"Don't you dare stare at my closest confidant like that!" Her kidnapper, whom she had completely forgot about, stepped forward looking ready to defend his... friend?

"No, your highness, it's okay. This girl must have realised that I'm a hybrid. She's merely shocked." The small thing seemed to argue but still looked uncomfortable.

"That's no reason to stare at you like that!" The man argued back.

"H-Hybrid?" Was the only thing Alexis' mind caught.

"Yes, an ogre and a dwarf hybrid. Please don't mind because I can't control how I look. Please look past it." He smiled at Alexis and held out a small green hand, "My name is Agathus, I'm his highness' chancellor and we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on".

Alexis took his hand instinctively and shook it despite her shock.

'This is the strangest dream ever...'

"So your a hybrid dwarf and ogre" she stared at him as it slowly dawned at her that he did look like a mix of the two.

"that's right".

"How fascinating" she realised that might sound rude and quickly corrected herself, "-fascinatingly rude of me to stare like that. I hope you don't let it bother you. It's just I've never met someone like you before." She awkwardly apologised, hoping that Agathus would forgive her.

"That's alright miss, but please give me your other hand as well" Alexis complied naively and place both hands before the hybrid.

Her hands suddenly belted together as they were clasped by a rope that appeared out of thin air. She gasped in shock so distracted she didn't realised that Agathus had bent down near her feet, until those as well came crashing together and were tightly secured by rope.

With nothing to balance with, naturally, she started falling, but familiar arms braced around her, once again swinging her over his shoulder.

"Oh not this again! Get me down!" She cried with a glare to Agathus who still stood near the window with an apologetic smile.

Traitor!