It felt like an eternity since Kendra had been imprisoned in the damned cell.
She had no idea what time it was— what day it was, seeing as it was always dark, with light from one single torch being the only source of illumination in the small space.
The female beta had barely caught any sleep as well, fearing the huge rats that seemed to share the cell with her— vile rodents that nibbled at her feet as soon as they caught her dozing off. She generally hated the pests with a passion, so this was literally hell for her.
But even with all of that, that was honestly the least of her worries. She had no idea how many days she had been locked up in there, and she was so worried for Killian.
For him not to have come charging in here by now, ready to save her like he always did had to mean that something was seriously wrong, and her heart hurt just from overthinking— from imagining worst case scenarios.
She prayed to whoever cared to listen that he was okay— it was all she had been doing now that she had all the time in the world to herself to contemplate life.
She heard the now routine jingling of keys, and knew that the wiry soldier was back again with her second meal for the day. He always came two times, the first time to bring her the bowl of nasty oatmeal she now looked forward to, and the second time to bring her stale bread, water and an apple. It wasn’t exactly the food that she even looked forward to, just the fact that she got to see another face.
But this time was different.
This time she had a plan— one that she hoped was going to get her out of this godforsaken place.
And so when she felt him approaching, she pretended to have passed out, “Lady Artemis!” He called out, the fear in his voice apparent.
She didn’t respond.
She had passed out after all.
“Lady Artemis!” He tried again, breathing so loudly that even she could hear him. The female Beta almost got out of character— almost chuckled, when he hysterically began to pace in front her cell, muttering ‘What do I do? What do I do? The General’s gonna kill me’ over and over again. He disappeared for a moment, almost making her think her plan had failed, but then he returned, this time opening the door to her cell, and coming over to check if she was breathing.
Big mistake.
She flipped them over, straddling him, one hand pinning his two hands down, the other at his neck, squeezing the life out of him. “Where exactly are we?” She growled menacingly, her eyes a stormy blue. He had seen her partly shift before, and so he knew there and then that if he didn’t cooperate, he was good as dead. “I have no idea, milady,” He cried out,
“You’re lying,” She tightened her hold on his neck,
“I swear on my father’s grave, I tell you the truth… I was drugged and brought here, and I’ve been locked inside since. The General brings me supplies, and makes sure that I have everything I need to take care of any prisoners we have.”
He was telling the truth.
“So we’re the only people in here?” She pressed, catching it this time— the slight hesitation in his eyes. “Never mind, I’ll just find out myself.” She pulled the set of keys out of his pocket, shooting him a disgusted look, “I can’t believe you’re a soldier,” She spat at him and then exited the cell, locking him up inside despite his pleas for mercy. Grabbing the only torch lighting the whole place up, she shot him one last sorry look, “Sorry love, it’s nothing personal. Oh, and have fun with the rats.”
She left him behind screaming for her to come back, calling her all sort of names that would have made the true human tin blush a dark shade of red, but it rolled off her like water off a swan’s back. Surprisingly, she didn’t even feel a single drop of remorse.
The dungeons were bigger than she had estimated, and they seemed to be winding and tricky as hell too. She had been going round and round for quite a long time, but she seemed to somehow always end up at the same spot.
She suspected it had been enchanted, but she wasn’t going to give up. Not when she was so close she could almost taste her freedom. And so she persevered, walking and walking until she came across a large room with a group of soldiers playing cards, talking and laughing so loudly.
Why hadn’t he mentioned the other soldiers?
That sly bastard.
Kendra recognized what he had tried to do.
He had kept them from her, hoping they’d take her by surprise and catch her.
Well, he had failed.
She backtracked softly, not wanting to alert them of her escape. True, she could take them down if it came to it, but that wasn’t a chance she was willing to take.
Using another passageway she had not touched yet, she crossed her fingers in anticipation, praying to the heavens that this one would lead her out of the darned place. She came across a set of winding stairs that led downwards instead of upwards.
There was no way that led her out of here.
But nevertheless, she found her interest piqued. She wanted to see what was over there, and so she found herself climbing down the winding path.
One step,
And then another.
And then another, until finally she stepped into another large room, but this one was empty, not a single thing inside. Yet despite the discovery, the dark skinned, curvy woman still felt something off about the whole place— something she couldn’t quite figure out just yet.
She walked around the large room, one hand caressing the walls the walls in silent wonder.
What was it about this place that had drawn her so?
After almost fifteen minutes of going round, trying so survey the place, she realised that she was wasting time— valuable time. She needed to find a way out, but she had gotten occupied, and by nothing important too, nothing beneficial.
An empty room.
And so headed back the way she came, only that this time, there was no staircase in sight! The discovery confirmed her earlier fears;
The dungeons were enchanted.
Panic began to bubble in the she-wolf’s chest, and she did her best to quell it, but unfortunately, nothing she did seemed to be working.
She was so stupid.
Why had she fucking come here in the first place when it hadn’t even been in her way— when it had nothing to do with getting her out of here?
She had followed the desire to sate her curiosity, and now she was trapped. What was she going to now? There had to be another way out of the darned room, she had come too far to let some godforsaken room stop her now.
And so she went round, critically assessing the place, trying to find anything that could get her out of the place. She found something alright, after almost thirty minutes of searching— a hole… more like a tunnel actually. It was just perfect for her to fit through, but she couldn’t help but feel nervous anyway, and who could blame her really?
But she didn’t exactly have a choice, and so she began to prep herself. The cave was narrow, meaning if she wanted to go through it, she was going to have to leave the torch behind. All of that made her even more nervous. Placing the torch in one of the holders, she took a deep breath and crawled into the tunnel.
Kendra almost gagged at the foul smell of animal excrement that greeted her nostrils, everything heightening because of her wolf, but she continued on nevertheless. The female beta even bumped into a pile of bones at some point, the discovery making her shriek in surprise, but she still continued on. She had gone too far to give up and go back anyway.
Thankfully the tunnel opened up, becoming larger and larger until it finally opened up into what seemed to be a cave of sorts. Kendra heaved a huge sigh of relief, the slight panic attack she almost had because of her claustrophobic tendencies vanishing completely with each inhale of fresh air. She took in her surroundings, the cave was illuminated by some kind of golden light, with lots of books stacked in makeshift shelves of some sort, many tables teeming with all kinds of potions, and what looked like a typical witch’s hat. There was a large cauldron in the center of the cave, bubbling with some liquid that the she-wolf didn’t want to know about, and behind the cauldron stood a woman, softly stirring whatever contents were in there, a surprisingly beautiful, young woman with silver looking dreadlocks that seemed to reach up to her feet. If she took any notice of the intruder in her space, she didn’t show it.
“I have been expecting you, Beta Kendra Sullivan,” She finally said, her voice a surprising musical timbre.
Kendra gasped as the whole thing finally registered in her head.
She had found her.
After all her troubles, she had finally found the Silver Witch!