Danger Grounds

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Chapter Two:

When Lace awoke a few hours later, he was curled up under some blankets, lying inside Lexi’s tent. He peered from under his covers and found he was alone, relief overwhelming him.

He found some clothes folded up next to him, and found it was a pair of flimsy, black shorts with gothic lace sewn over the soft cotton material. A long-sleeved top with the bottom half ripped away accompanied it, and he got dressed into them, still feeling completely exposed. He slipped his feet into a pair of lace-up boots and then sat back down amongst the blankets, pulling them around his shoulders, staring at the opening of the tent, wondering what would happen next.

A scream was not what he expected to happen next. It was a blood-curdling scream that set his nerves on edge, body freezing at the sound of the agony in that echoing sound. Running footsteps outside, loads of them, people shouting and crying out. He crawled over to the opening and gasped when he peeked through the gap and saw dark-winged beings sweeping down from above, setting fire to tents, shooting arrows and stabbing the pale-haired unprepared Elf-like men. Lace bit his lip to keep from making any noise as one of the winged figures landed near his tent. He was surprised to find it was a person, looking human except for the huge wings and long sharp tail that whipped about with  deadly accuracy at any attackers.

The man, like all his companions, had black hair, which was longish with spiky bangs falling into his eyes, casting shadows across his pale, beautiful face. He turned then, and Lace gasped when he saw the man had red eyes, slanted like a cats. The tall man came towards the tent and ripped it open just as Lace  backed up against the far side of the small space.

He squealed as the man approached with a quickness that frightened him into ducking under the lip of the tent and wriggling through to freedom. He ran through the trees, reminded of not too long ago when he’d ran through them away from the pale-haired monsters that had caught him. He glanced back to see the man was coming out of the tent and pursuing him. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? These guys looked worse than his captors, like demons risen from hell, their beauty deceiving. Lace willed his tiring legs to keep going, and glanced back again, only to find the man gone. His heart nearly jumped out of his throat when he heard a loud beating of wings above, and he didn’t need to look to know the man was flying rapidly towards him.

Lace cried out when strong arms grabbed him around the waist and lifted him off the ground so suddenly that his breath was knocked out of him. He kicked his legs furiously, scratching at the arms holding him, but they didn’t let go. He gave up fighting as they climbed higher into the sky and soared over the dark forest below.

They landed miles and miles away, seeming to enter a totally different world. It was brighter somehow, the trees looked greener and more friendly. His new captor kept him pinned to his side in a firm hold, carrying him suspended sideways as he walked over a sloping grassy hill and down towards a huge stone building in the distance. Lace wondered why they hadn’t just continued flying to it, and then caught a glimmer of blue reflect under the sun, briefly revealing some sort of dome surrounding the building. When the sun disappeared behind some cloud, the dome disappeared, invisible to the naked eye.

They finally reached the place, the man using his free hand to brush across the protective dome as he murmured something under his breath. There was a shimmer of blue and then they were walking up to the large steel gates, and were let in after a few moments. Lace was carried into the building, gazing around at the gothic architecture and interior design. It was simply breath-taking. They went down a dimly lit staircase, and Lace was thrown into a cell onto a cold concrete floor, blankets laid out in the corner.

“Please! There’s no need to lock me away, I won’t hurt anyone, please!” Lace called, fear making him talk despite the fact that he had no idea whether these people were like Lexi, or worse. The man threw a dark look over his shoulder as he walked away, the door clanging shut behind him. 

Lace sighed and curled up in the blankets, fresh tears staining his cheeks. For hours he lay there, thinking about James and Carla, hoping that they were alright. James wasn’t great at dealing with authority figures, and Lace knew he’d probably get into more trouble than he expected.

He sat up when the door opened, and three figures came over to his cell, peering through the bars at him. “I don’t understand, he doesn’t have pale eyes or hair, but he doesn’t have red eyes, wings or tail like us. What kind of creature is this?”  a tall woman said thoughtfully, long black hair dead straight and looking like silk as it fell over her one shoulder. The other two were male, one being the guy that had captured him. He was the one to reply to the woman, “I don’t know, but it cannot be trusted, I say we kill it”.

“No! Please don’t kill me, I’m not dangerous! I don’t even know where I am or how I got here” Lace cried out, looking so desperate that the woman’s red eyes warmed with pity. She unlocked the cell and stepped inside, ignoring the warnings the tallest man gave her. “Onyx, give the poor little thing a chance, just because he was with the Dark Ones, it doesn’t mean he’s evil too” she snapped, and then a smile softened her features as she knelt next to Lace.

“How are you associated with the Dark Ones?” she asked in a gentle tone, watching him patiently as he fidgeted. “That’s what they’re called? Those pale men? I was captured by them and kept as a toy, though not long before you captured me”.

“If that’s true, you would have been tied up, you wasn’t” Onyx pointed out coldly, eyeing him with distaste. Lace looked away from his hateful gaze and replied, “I know, I was asleep, I’d only just woke up. I was pretty surprised he hadn’t bound my wrists again”

He lifted up his arms so they could see the marks that the wire had left on his skin. The woman clicked her tongue and then stood up, gesturing for him to follow.

He did as he was told, trembling as Onyx glared at him as he passed, knowing the man’s gaze was going to be burning into his back as they fell in behind him. The woman led them up and through the main hall to some more stairs, which seemed to go on forever. She opened a door, finally, and walked inside. Lace followed and gaped at the large bedroom decorated with black and purple. “You can stay here until we figure out what to do with you. Remember, you’re still a prisoner for the time being, I’ll have some food sent up within the hour” she said, grinning at him. She then turned and walked out, the two men following, locking the door behind them.

“Are you serious? That’s my bedroom, why take him there?” Onyx glowered at his superior, but Shayla just smirked. “You are the one who captured him, or ‘rescued’ should I say? I can’t let the poor boy stay in the cells after being mistreated by those wretched creatures. Treat him nicely now won’t you?” she turned and hurried away to give out orders to passing staff, wanting to send a nice meal up to the boy.

Onyx glared at her as she left, and then turned to his remaining companion, Phoenix, whose long hair was tied back at the nape of his neck with a leather thong. “Don’t look at me, I am not taking the boy under my wing. She has a point, you brought him in, you deal with him” Phoenix flashed him a sly grin and then sauntered away, leaving Onyx standing there fuming. He looked down at his fist, tightly clenched around the key to his room. Instead of going back inside though, he made his way downstairs and out back to the training field, needing to burn off his anger.

A few hours later, he gathered the courage to go back up to his room and face the small boy still locked away inside. Onyx walked in and turned to lock the door, looking around to find the boy sitting on the windowsill, staring out the window.

He looked away when big brown eyes turned to him, and strode over to the en-suite bathroom to take a shower. Lace watched him go, his nerves returning as he realised this room must have been his. Onyx, it was a sharp, dangerous sounding name. Onyx came out, dressed in fresh clothes and rubbing a towel over his wet hair. It all confused Lace, the way this world was.

He had seen no technology in the sense of cars and telephones, but the interior design and structure of the building was modern, and the clothes were too. It was like a weird mix of modern and olden day cultures. Onyx grabbed some blankets and dumped them on the small couch. “Sleep here tonight, and don’t touch anything” he ordered quietly, looking very displeased about the situation. Lace nodded silently, and watched sadly as the man walked out once more.

He lay down on the couch, though it was only late afternoon, but he was so bored that he could think of nothing to do but try and sleep.

*

It was just getting dark when he awoke to the sound of the door shutting. Lace sat up and stretched blinking as the light turned on. So they had electricity? But they hadn’t invented cars yet? Though these people didn’t really need cars when they could fly everywhere, and the Dark Ones wouldn’t when they had those massive horses to take them wherever they wanted.

Onyx began to undress, and before Lace turned away he caught a glimpse of his broad, lean chest, slim waist leading down to narrow hips. He blushed as he snuggled back under the blankets, setting his mind on James to distract him.

The light soon went off, and the creaking off springs broke the silence for a while until Onyx lay still. Lace sighed heavily and closed his eyes, letting sleep take him away once more.

*

The next morning, Lace awoke to find Onyx up and dressed, lacing up his black boots. “Excuse me…but…do you have any paper and a pencil? I just…wanna…” he trailed off at the hard glare he was receiving. His fingers itched, yearning to hold a pencil and draw the things he’d seen. There was such a beautiful view outside the window, and he wanted to capture it.

Onyx went over to a small set of drawers, and got out a pad of paper, along with some pencils and an eraser. He dumped them in Lace’s lap and then walked out without a backward glance.

Lace smiled happily, and hurried over to sit on the windowsill, eyeing a plate of cold food on the floor beside the couch. His stomach growled in response but he didn’t touch it. Instead he settled down and began to draw the landscape outside, so consumed by his activity that he didn’t hear Onyx return half an hour later. “Here” a bowl of hot porridge was placed on the sill next to him, and he immediately put the pad down to devour it, ignoring how it burnt his tongue at first. Onyx watched him for a moment and then looked at the pad with the half-finished picture on it, finding it to be really good.

“Thank you” Lace said shyly as he finished, handing Onyx the bowl when he held out his hand. Red eyes stared down at him, curious, but with a menacing gleam.

For the next week or so, that’s how it went. He’d stay locked in that room all day, every day, having a nice long hot bath in the huge tub before Onyx returned from missions or training, drawing people he’d spotted outside and beginning to write a draft journal of everything that had happened since he’d arrived in this strange world. Every morning, Onyx would bring him breakfast, and then some delicious sandwiches in the afternoon, and then a nice hot meal at night. He only spoke to him when necessary, he’d never even asked Lace what his name was.

Then one day, the woman returned, and came striding in looking slightly irritated. “Onyx! Has our guest been locked away all this time? I sent you a letter telling you about the information we’d gotten out of that Dark One. I told you to let him out on his own free will and treat him as one of us”. Onyx just shrugged and looked at her silently.