The crash that sounded behind her scared the last shred of nerve out of her. She turned jumped and screamed . Something round rolled down the now broken stonework stairs and out into the water. Her eyes followed the round thing for a few seconds then looked up as she heard someone splashing toward her. He was maybe three feet tall and at first she thought it was a child. As he drew closer she could see what looked like very large hairy feet.
‘’Alright,’ she thought, ‘’Not a kid, a very small adult.’
She watched as he picked up the round thing that had shattered the stair and realized it was the glass ball she had seen inside on the pedestal.
‘It’s strange,’, she mused, ‘the things I thinks of when I am at the end of my wits.’
The little man dressed like he was headed to a costume party was saying something to her. She couldn’t understand a word again, but it did not really matter because she had given up and was now babbling incoherently to herself.
"This is unreal! My plane crashes in the middle of nowhere. Not a soul comes to look for the survivors. A Michael Jackson reject ape clunks me over the head. An old man with one hell of a right cross belts me across the face so hard my jaw feels like it’s going to explode. Crystal balls almost fall on my head as if it did not ache enough already. No one in this place speaks anything close to English or anything I even vaguely recognize. I am seeing things and babbling to myself like an idiot. This is the most vivid dream I have ever had in my life, so if I am in the hospital high on pain meds then whatever they gave me is sure good stuff. Forget it. I give up!"
The little man looked over his shoulder, as Old Beardy’s twin brother rode up. The old man on the horse held out his hand while talking to the little man and took the glass ball away from him. He wrapped it carefully in his cloak and then turned his attention toward her. He was speaking to her or at least at her and his voice sounded like he was a reasonable guy. Anna was way past the point of reason though she sank down on her knees and started to cry. She felt the little man’s hand on her shoulder. It was obvious from his tone he was trying to comfort her and she sniffed and wiped her eyes on the edge of her sleeve. It was then that her eyes were drawn to the large hairy feet once more.
" Don’t tell me,", she laughed softly. "Let me guess. You are late for a very important date?"
She could hear her head humming again. The voices around her sounded very far away. Bright white lights danced in front of her eyes. The world spun and she passed out again.
She slipped in and out of consciousness during the entire ride from the tower to the place where they stopped to camp. In the moments while she was awake she knew she was on top of a horse. In her few moments of lucidity she thought
‘’Don’t they have nine-one-one in Europe? Are we really so far out in the middle of nowhere that we have to travel by horseback?’ Damn, my backside is numb.’
Once or twice when she came to, whoever was behind her holding her on the horse would reach around without stopping and offer her a canteen filled with some sort of drink. She did not recognize the flavor but at least she wasn’t thirsty any more. She was sore all over, but at least they were on their way back to civilization, so she did her best to be a good patient and guest and hope that when they got where they were going they gave her the padded cell with a view. By the time they stopped to camp for the night Anna had fallen into an exausted but fitful sleep.
Anna was having a nightmare.
"This is your captain speaking; we are experiencing some turbulence. Please put your trays and chairs in their upright positions and fasten your seat belts."
A few seconds passed and then the same voice asked them to put their heads between their knees. A huge ape like creature came running out of the captain’s cabin brandishing a sword at her. Behind him the white rabbit hopped up and started singing to her. The timber of his voice rose and fell like a bell chorus. It was beautiful. The apelike creature in dirty clothes started throwing glass balls at her and she kept trying to dodge them. An old man raised a huge sword and swung it towards her neck yelling
"off with your head".
Something loud and shrill screamed in her ear. It ran shivers of terror up her spine. She woke startled and screaming.
A tall slender blonde male put his arms around her and whispered softly to her. She had no idea what he was saying but she could listen to that soft, musical, masculine voice for hours. She turned around to get a look at his face. Handsome did not even begin to describe it. This was the kind of drop dead gorgeous man that made all women do a double take. She took every feature of him in until her gaze landed on his ears.
" Man if I am still dreaming I hope I don’t wake up because this has finally started to get good" she mumbled to herself.
The male before her cocked one brow at her and tilted his head while smiling. He said something to her and by the tone in his voice she knew he was asking her something.
"I have not got a clue what you just said, hon, but if it means you will stay here and let me ogle you then please by all means continue and if anyone up there gives a heck about me I won’t wake up for a good long while."
Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.