A Stolen Crown, page 29
“I am called Keira,” the woman told her. “This is yours.”
The elven woman reached into a pocket that was sewn into her leather corset and she produced the jeweled dagger that had belonged to Ariana's mother. Keira walked over to the small table where Ariana's clothes lay folded and she placed the dagger atop them.
“You may not carry such a knife, not yet, nor may you wear the clothes of an outsider, but they are yours and they will be safe in this place.”
“You tell me I am not a prisoner, but you say I cannot wear my own clothes nor can I carry my own knife. What will happen to me if I decide not to follow your rules? I am hardly defenseless.”
Ariana focused some of her power onto her fingertips, calling forth magical flames. Keira moved so quickly Ariana could barely see her. A long dagger was at her throat and she found herself slammed hard up against the hard wooden wall behind her. She felt a power rising from the woman and a strange sensation as the wall behind her began to move and change. The flames she had called forth had been extinguished by the sudden impact, her focus lost and her power along with it. The elven woman stepped back, and put her blade, a curved dagger that was almost a sword, back in a sheath that hung from her waist and was almost unnoticeable against the folds of leather. Ariana found that she could not move. Her hands were covered in some kind of sticky substance and it was as though the tree itself had grown around her, imprisoning her.
“Let me go!” Ariana told the woman.
“Fire is forbidden in this forest, child. When you learn proper care, you will be released.”
“You lied. I am a prisoner!”
“I did not lie. A moment ago, you were a child. Now you are a prisoner, but you are not my prisoner. If you wish to be free, then ask the tree.”
Ariana stared at the woman, confused at her words. She tried to call forth her power, but found that every time she willed fire into her hands, her energy was pulled from her. She pulled again, trying to free herself from the grip of the tree.
“What magic is this?”
“Magic?” the woman asked. “Ah, yes. I have heard it called such in the human languages. It is no magic. It is merely life.”
“You make no sense,” Ariana told her.
“You do not understand, because you are a child,” the woman responded. “I will return later. If you wish to be free, then ask the tree.”
And with that, the woman, Keira took a step toward the doorway, pulled the cloth aside and leapt from the opening, leaving Ariana alone, trapped inside a living tree.
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Jordan Baker, A Stolen Crown
