Chapter TWO

A baby girl, screaming until night fell. She was bound to draw attention.

Shadows glided soundlessly along the forest floor, creeping towards the machine that had crashed into one of their eldest trees. They had no idea what this machine was, nor any idea of whom the woman was, unconscious in the front of it. However, after peering into the back of the car at the screaming girl, they made a quick decision. This girl was disturbing their forest, and she had to be dealt with.

“Hannah…”

Cari murmured her daughter’s name as she began to wake up, the cold wind moving through the open windows, making her shiver. The memory of the car crash came back to her – the similarities between this one and the one three years ago evident within her mind. So much so, that she almost shouted Michael’s name, instead of her daughter’s. She almost became fearful that she would lose the baby that was growing within her…

It was only that she fully opened her eyes and was able to peer down at her stomach, and see a flat shape, that she realised where she was and what had happened. Immediately, she turned to console her daughter, who was sitting in the back seat.

Had been sitting in the back seat…

Cari looked at the empty baby seat in horror, her eyes wide, and her mouth ajar slightly. Hannah had been there when the crash had happened… oh, god… what if she’d been thrown from the car? Cari quickly threw open the car door and stood up, looking around. A sharp pain ran up her left leg, but she ignored it, gazing around at the area she was in for some sort of sign of her baby daughter. There was… nothing. Not a little pink sock… not a teddy… not a sound…

She was surrounded by an array of old trees – it looked as though she was in the middle of a forest, not a spread of country fields, like she should have been in. Cari shook her head, a dull ache settling in the back of her mind. She leant back against the wreckage of her car, holding her head in her hands… she couldn’t think properly. Where was her daughter? Where was she?

“Milady?”

A deep voice ran straight through her thoughts. Cari almost didn’t want to lift her head. After all… this was just turning out to be the worst day of her life… and Hannah going missing was just the icing on the cake. She couldn’t have gotten up and walked out… so where was she? Finally, with a gentle sigh, Cari looked up at the bearer of the voice… and immediately gasped and pressed herself further back against the car.

“Who…? What…?”

Stood around three metres in front of her was a young man with very light blonde hair and pale skin. His eyes were a piercing blue… this appearance alone would be perfectly acceptable… except for his outfit. He was dressed in rather… medieval clothing, in a green colour. If he were amidst the plantation, he would be almost indistinguishable. Perhaps that was why he was dressed like that. As well as the odd clothing, a large bow and quiver of arrows were attached to his back… and at a second glance; there was something unusual about his face too. Cari couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was… until she caught sight of his ears. There was a slight point to them, at the top…

“Okay. This is getting ridiculous now.” Cari said, causing a curious look from the stranger. “You’re dressed for some stupid fancy dress party, aren’t you? Or… this is all a dream!”

The pain in her leg and her headache said it wasn’t a dream. Cari peered at the stranger with suspicion in her eyes.

“What is a… fancy dress party…?”

The stranger looked genuinely confused at that. Cari just put her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. This was all too much… First the scenery had changed right in front of her eyes… then the road had disappeared, causing her to crash the car… then Hannah had disappeared, and now this…

Poor Hannah… she must be so scared…

“I have to find my daughter.” Cari said, opening her eyes and placing them on the stranger. She took a step from the car, limping slightly. The pain in her leg began to be unbearable… “She’s… two and a half years old… with blonde curls and big blue eyes… she’s wearing a pink outfit… you have to find her…”

At one last twitch from her leg, Cari couldn’t take the pain anymore, and did the only thing that her body could possibly do.

She fainted.