Intruders

*POV* Cassy Iris Alreea

I swirled the tips of my fingers in the shimmering blue puddle, silently giggling at the low growl behind me.

Smiling like a fool, I put all I could into controlling the water. I stared at the water in desperation, waiting for anything... literally anything to happen.

The water rippled with the soft breeze. I groaned inwardly, turning to scoop up the watery pup from where she had been chewing on the hem of my skirt.

There was now a small wet spot on it from her watery jaws. She wiggled in my arms, licking my face. I grinned and turned to head down the grassy slope.

I did not notice the men at the front door until Seal started barking. She wiggled from my arms. I jerked my head up to see in front of my dugout was a team pulling a cart with the emblem of a feline with big fangs and claws on the side of the cart.

The emblem made my heart start racing. I started forward, my eyes on my pup as she ran up to the guards, barking at their heels.

The guard standing behind the other in the doorway, looking down in annoyance, tapped the shoulder of his companion before grabbing Seal and stuffing her into a glowing bag.

I ran forward to grab his arm trying to cry out to stop him from taking her. With a strong arm he pushed me aside. After securing Seal in the bag, he grabbed my arm, still holding the bag in the other.

"I got one," the guard yelled to the others around, and they turned annoyed. "Henry, stop standing around. How about putting her in those cuffs?" He pointed to the guard's side. I stopped at his words, surprised.

'What was happening... what was going on here?' I looked down as Henry placed silver rings on my wrists. I pulled back, still in shock, but he was stronger as he yanked me to the cart.

He grabbed me under my arms, placing me into a box-like cart with iron bars on all sides. Throwing Seal, still in the bag, down on the hardwood floor beside me. The bands on my wrists did not restrict my movement.

I pulled myself up with my feet under me and reached for Seal. I touched my fingertips to the bag, jerking back in shock as a white-hot sense of pain ran up my arm and into my chest.

I sat there for some time, my vision blurry and my jaw opened wide, but no sound escaped. As my body slowly overcame the overwhelming burst of pure power.

When I got my body to calm down enough to move, I slowly looked out the bars, careful now to not touch any if it was possible.

The cuffs that held my wrists, I now noticed, were made from lit silver that was dangerous if it came in contact with any kind of iron.

I stared out the bars, watching the guards as they went into the surrounding dugouts to check for the inhabitants. I don't know if it was planned or if it was a coincidence, but just that morning all adults in the village were called away to help put out a huge magic fire in a neighboring village.

It had been a huge event that even though my mother was seven and a half months pregnant, she had gone too.

I turned sharply at movement in the cart beside me, which I had not seen before. 'I needed to remember to look at my surroundings more.

That had been the one thing I always forgot to do. I always get caught up in the moment and forget.'

In the far corner were the Everdell twins, sitting with their knees to their chins and their eyes wide.

They looked the same in every feature, from their black shoulder-length curls to the one blue, one brown eye. It was kind of unnerving whenever they looked at you.

You could only tell them apart because of the marks on their necks. Emmie had a blue water snake with a red star on its head as her mark, which curled around her neck ending with its head at the base of her throat.

Faylie had the same water snake, a light sky blue with white tones in about the same placement, but her snake had its mouth wide and eyes staring into your soul. I felt like they were silently judging me every time I looked their way.

Emmie, whose eyes usually sparked with magic, were filled with tears. They looked at me sadly. I summoned a soft smile, but I could see it didn't help much when Faylie bent her head down, hiding her face from view.

I turned again as a guard approached, with a small boy in hand. The guard had him by the collar as he struggled against the man, viciously biting, kicking, and yelling all manner of words that were mixed with words of spells. He grunted when one of the boy's bites sank into his arm.

I watched, my heart sinking. I knew none of the spells he yelled at the man would work because of the cuffs I saw around his small wrists.

Though I silently cheered him on. With a grunt, he slammed Benson, the twins' younger brother by a year, into the bars. My hands came up to my mouth in shock, both the twins cried out.

I watched as Benson's body jolted, then went limp in the guard's arms. Another guard by the door of the cart ripped it open, and he was thrown none too gently in. The twins were by his side in a moment, touching his face and calling to him.

"Little pest," the guard complained. The others laughed at him. A second later, a horn sounded and there was a bunch of commotion around us, and then the cart started moving.

The cart jerked, then steadied as we left the small dugout village that was my home in the western mountain in the kingdom of Hilldern. The rolling hills that were covered in pines moved by slowly.

On any other ride, I would have pointed out things I saw in the trees to the people around me. 'The forest had always fascinated me.'

I rang my hands together as I stared at the team of horses following. Behind it was another cart.

I turned at the sound of a gasp from one of the girls. Benson woke and curled into a ball as his sisters soothed the pain.

Being an only child except for the baby my mother was expecting after 16 years of trying for another, I did not know the comfort of having siblings to help me when I was in pain.

We traveled all the rest of the day, and as it grew dark, the train of carts stopped outside of a small town.

No food was given to us as the evening turned to night. I kept my eyes on what was happening around the cart and listened to the little conversations that occurred. The young siblings soon fell asleep on the other side of the cart.

I stayed awake for as long as I could keep my eyes open, but soon it grew hard to keep myself awake.

My sleep was full of nightmares of dark shapes that soon made it impossible to sleep any longer. I woke up covered in sweat. The sun was lighting, the sky painting it a sea green and blue.

My limbs ached. I shifted my legs, straightening them in front of me, still careful to not touch the bars.

It took time for the carts to move again, but soon we were leaving the village behind. They had tossed us each a small burnt bread roll through the bars for us to eat, but I hadn't touched it.

The day passed with no visible end in sight. We passed from hills and forests to flat lands. Here, I started to see other wagons and hay carts going in the opposite direction, but they never stopped or took a second to glance our way.

I could hear others in carts behind and in front crying out to the people, and the guards yelling at them to shut it.

Another night passed, and then the landscape turned from flat plains and farmlands to thick forest and meadows with the occasional bridge that crossed a rushing river.

I stayed as still as possible without turning into a statue. My legs, arms, neck, and feet hurt from trying to stay upright without leaning on the bars.

We were on a particularly rough patch of road at the moment, it tossed us about, but we tried our best to stay in the middle of the cart. We held tight to each other's arms to keep balanced as we bumped along.

All of a sudden, there was shouting. The cart jerked, throwing us so close to touch the bar. Emmie screamed as it jerked again. It was hard to focus on the sounds outside as we tried to stay in place.

I couldn't see anything except for the road out behind us before we were tipped. The cart rolled, bouncing us, and my shoulder hit the bars, sending a jolt of power through me.

I hit it again and again. My eyes blurred and went white with pain. I couldn't think. All I could do was scream silently.