1A/N: I hopefully will be adding a chapter everyday (or every 2 days) to this story. Please read and review (constructively if you're planning to criticize on something.) There might be some bad grammar here and there, or some spelling typos that my spell check didn't pick up on, so please don't mind =)
Chapter 2
Queen Lara of Iria paced around the palace nervously, checking that everything was in order and was neat and tidy. She made everyone, even the servants, dress up formally for the King and Queen of Drandem. Meanwhile, her husband sat on a cushioned chair, looking at her bustle about.
"Relax, dear, everything is perfectly in place." The King said soothingly. A loud rap at the front palace doors was heard. Lara took one glance over everything, straightened her skirt, and hurried to the door. She opened the door, and saw a herd of horses tied up. A broad man with sea blue eyes mounted a cinnamon colored horse, and climbed off. He went to the 2nd lead horse, and let out his hand, helping the rider off her horse. The rider had golden hair, down to her shoulders, and wore an expensive sapphire necklace.
"Welcome to Iria. Please, come in," The Queen greeted, revealing a warm smile. "This is my husband, Darrel, I'm sure you met already, and this is my daughter, Serena, and my younger daughter will be here shortly." She introduced, slightly emphasizing 'younger daughter' to make sure Sarita hears.
"Where is Sarita?!" Queen Lara hissed sharply at a passing servant.
"I do not know, Your Majesty. Last time I saw her, she was eating breakfast." The servant replied, did a short bow, and walked away.
The Queen grimaced, and led the guests away from the lobby to the dining room. She looked over her shoulder. 'When I find that girl...' She thought.
~*~
Her eyes felt heavy, and she opened them slowly. "Where am I.?" She mumbled to herself, and then quickly recalled the happenings before. Every inch of her body ached. She slowly got up, wincing when sharp pains sliced though her body. Roika watched her, worried that his owner was hurt badly. He went over, and started licking her. Sarita patted Roika.
Her stomach growled loudly. It seemed like ages ago since Sarita had those strawberry muffins. She looked up towards the top, craning her neck. A pin light of sunrays shined through the small crack. Placing Roika on her shoulder, she started climbing up the narrow passage, ignoring the pain she was going through. A large cliff of serrated rock stuck out in front of Sarita's face. Sarita cautiously placed her hand on the cliff, and pushed up the wall, swinging her legs over to the cliff.
She missed, and started again. Her hands started slipping, and dragged down. They gave way, and she started to fell. Quickly gripping a nearby rock, she stopped herself, and breathed heavily, jumping off.
"I'll never get through the top, because of that jagged cliff poking out into my face!" She cried, groaning in frustration. Roika let out a whimper. Sitting down, she leaned against the smooth wall, and wiped her brow with her sleeve. She sparked up a fire, and took a plank of wood. She lit it, and burned out the fire, holding the torch up. Deciding to explore the tunnel and maybe find another exit, she walked down the tunnel, with Roika on near her heels.
After walking awhile, Sarita suddenly heard something. Her face lightened up, thinking that it was someone coming to search for her. She listened for the source of the direction, and went closer to it. Roika stopped, and started barking loudly. "What is it, boy?" Sarita asked. The black puppy barked wildly, yapping and going around in circles. A low growl came from the left of the pair. Sarita swung her torch to their left, revealing an animal covered in thick fur. The frame of its body was like a wolf or a dog, but not quite like it.
It moved swiftly towards them, and then lurched, letting out a sharp roar. "Run!" Sarita shouted at Roika, and they ran down through twists and turns, the creature hot on their heels. She was getting rather breathless, and looked over her shoulder. The creature was gaining ground and catching up very quickly. Sarita couldn't continue running and stopped, holding her torch out for her protection. The animal, catching sight of the red-orange flare, stopped, and gazed at the torch gripped tightly in her hand.
The creature, after analyzing it, let away its fear, and began chasing the 2 once more. Sarita, caught off guard, threw her torch at the approaching animal. The animal gave out a screamish bark, and ran the other way. Sarita gave a heavy sigh of relief, and slowly sat down, retrieving her torch from the ground. Clutching her cramp, she soon became very thirsty, and her mouth was dry. She licked her cracked lips, and started wishing she had a glass of cold spring water.
Roika laid sprawled beside Sarita, his head resting on his front paws. His tail wagged slowly. His eyelids were soon heavy, and he felt quite weary. He closed his eyes, and listened. Hearing wave currants, he suddenly snapped his eyes opened, and started digging at the wall. Sarita, exhausted from all the running, noticed the black puppy trying to tell her something. She scratched the puppy's chin. "What are you trying to tell me?"
The puppy struck at the wall at all his might. His nails was getting quite dull. Sarita, getting the idea, started hacking at the wall with a big rock. Soon some of the wall gave away, and the rest was in clumps of stone. Pulling one by one out, she realized what the puppy was trying to tell her. Picking up her pace, she took out rocks by the triple, and soon there was one last rock. She pried it out, revealing a hole to the outside world. Streaks of golden sunlight hit her by surprise, and she rubbed her eyes.
After half an hour of pulling rocks out, she soon had a big enough hole for her and Roika to get out of. 'Finally,' she thought. 'I'm free.'