Instead I found myself on a soft carpet of moss, on a bed of leaves. I groaned, my hand instinctively going to my left temple, where the core of the pain was. My fingers came back red. Blood.
I groaned again and slowly and gingerly stood up. The world swirled for a few moments, then settled. I finally had a chnce to see where I was.
I wasn’t on the road anymore. I was in a forest. I had been resting directly under a large Oak tree. An ancient one, it’s branches reaching up and outwards, sheltering me.
I didn’t recognise anything. Usually there was a worn path or something, but there was nothing, only rambling greenery. Where am I? I wondered, feeling helplessly lost. The pain stabbed at me again and I winced. I felt a wave of nausea come over me, and for a moment I thought I was going to throw up.
Then I heard hoofbeats, that sounded like a horse and I looked up.
"What’s this?" a deep voice said.
I looked up to a giant.
I wasn’t joking. The guy had black hair and black eyes and a moustache. He was on a huge horse and was simply a giant, he was so tall. He looked familiar...
"Who - who are you?" I asked, my voice terribly weak.
Then another wave of nausea hit me, and I doubled over, clutching my stomach in pain.
"You’re hurt!" he cried. "Over here!" he called over his shoulder.
"No! I’m fine!" I gasped. Then, before I could stop myself, I collapsed and everything went black.
I woke up with a sickening smell in my nostrils. I gagged and tried to sit up. A firm hand held me down. "Don’t try to get up," a voice said. It was warm and midrange and definitely a mans. "You need strength and to get that you need sleep."
I suddenly found myself drowning in blackness, fringed with sparkling whiteness and I fell asleep.
I eventually woke up again and groggily opened my eyes. I was in a huge room, decorated in gold and blue.
"What the-?" I yelped and sat up in the bed. It was then I noticed the clothes.
My clothes were gone. Instead I wore a long, dark blue nightgown, that actually felt kind of heavy. It was decorated with gold threads.
I felt a surge of anger. Where were my clothes? I’d been wearing a pair of blue jeans, a white top, with a V-neck and black ankle boots with no heel. Just normal clothes. Instead I was wearing this... thing. Then a cold wave of fear fell over me. Just who had taken off my clothes? It could have been anyone. My breath came in short, harsh gasps. I didn’t even have a clue where I was. I was on the brink of hysteria.
Then the door opened, and my head snapped to the right. A man came in. He was wearing a normal white shirt, breeches and boots. That even struck me as odd. I didn’t even think anyone unless they were riding, wore breeches normally. Then the guy himself, got my interest.
He was dark-skinned, with dark, eyes and long black hair that was tied back in a ponytail. And he was well over six feet. He looked familiar, like the guy on the horse, that I’d met before I’d collapsed. He must have brought me here, I thought dimly. "You’re awake," he said and sat down on a chair near the bed.
"Who are you?" I asked. The pain in my head was back. "Where am I?"
"Don’t you have any idea?" he asked me, surprise evident on his face.
I shook my head, feeling dumb. "None. Please just tell me where I am."
His next words were the last thing I expected.
"You’re in the land of Tortall, in it’s capital Corus and right now you’re in the Royal Palace and my name is -"
"Numair Salmalìn," I interuppted weakly. It had all clicked. That’s why he looked so familiar - I’d read the Immortals by Tamora Pierce as well. I’d read about this man. His face was shocked as he looked at me in wonder. "How do you know? Do I know you?"
I shook my head. "Trust me: you wouldn’t believe me if I told you."
He ignored that. "Please, tell me," he begged.
Then I remembered how Numair loved discovering things. Then it hit me: I was in a land that wasn’t supposed to exist, in a city that wasn’t supposed to be real, looking at a man that wasn’t supposed to be here. And I had no way of getting home.
