mouth, girl. For your knowledge, the guides belong to the Queen.”
Queen? My God, I’ve been sucked into a time warp.
“Nadia.”
“What?” he asked roughly.
“My name.” she said looking up at him. “My name is Nadia.” She wasn’t certain, but it looked like the hard glint in his eyes softened just slightly.
She looked away and noticed that behind each row of stalls was an open area of grass. She could see children running and playing. Their laughter pierced and caressed at the same time. She thought of her parents and wondered what kind of hell they were going through looking for her. What about Foster? What kind of hell was he going through? Tears stung her eyes and made her face feel hot. She blinked them away and realized the ground was beginning to rise. The road seemed to curve slightly and she could see two other roads break off from it and go in other directions. They kept walking and the road curved more sharply and narrowed. Nadia gasped in surprise as a structure came into view. It was a beautiful castle built part way into the side of the mountain. It was impressive with walls of white, and trees growing near it appeared to caress the white stone wherever they touched.
The road was becoming steep. Garth had slowed their pace to accommodate Nadia, but he didn’t let go of her upper arm. They broke off from the road and walked up to a large iron gate. It obviously was the way to the castle.
Garth stopped and spoke in his maddening voice, “We will have audience with the queen.” He didn’t yell. There wasn’t a speaker box, or a bell to ring. Nadia thought it was ridiculous that he just spoke and expected the gate to swing open. She screamed and nearly jumped out of her skin when two of the bushes on either side of the gate stood and one of them spoke.
“What is your business?”
“We have a human.”
Nadia watched the bushes take human shape. They had green skin and leaves and twigs stuck out from their heads, but they stood on legs and reached out arms with hands at the ends, to open the gate. Once they were through, and the metal against metal clang of the gate closing sounded, Nadia looked behind her to catch a glimpse of them again, but all she saw was a closed gate with bushes on either side of it.
“What were they?”
“Gate keepers.”
“Green men.” said one of the guards behind her. She jumped again at the sound of his voice. Up until that point they hadn’t said anything, not even to each other. Something tugged at her memory about the myths surrounding green men, and she furrowed her eyebrows trying to remember. She thought they were more powerful than just gatekeepers, but it didn’t really matter. They were nearing the front of the castle and all other thoughts left her mind. A courtyard held several people and horses, and there was a large fountain in the center where other men, dressed like their guides were sitting and talking. One of them stood and walked towards Garth.
“What business has you, Nephilim ?” His voice spoke the last word with such contempt that Nadia winced, but Garth seemed unconcerned.
“My business is audience with the Queen.”
The man gave Nadia a once over, and she returned his gaze with her best imitation of malice that she could manage. He simply laughed and motioned them forward.
The great doors opened leading into another courtyard, but this one was much larger with substantial amounts of flowers, small trees, and stone benches. The stone beneath her feet was arranged in an intricate mosaic pattern. They crossed the courtyard under the glare of more soldiers. Soldier was the only name Nadia could think of to describe them. Once they were on the other side two more large doors opened and they entered the castle.
It was almost completely quiet and they were standing at the end of a long and cavernous hall. Other hallways led into rooms or steps could be seen