Sheila

            She quickly discovered… no way out. Except for the watery doorway the troll seemed to use there wasn’t any exit that Clair felt comfortable taking. She had pretty much seen all there was to the room from her cage. So the only thing left was to look in things. The cupboards only held the cooking gear, the food Haf’gifr stole and other odds and ends. So that only left the chests, stacked haphazardly, in the middle of the room.

            The first two held nothing but gold, jewels and other assorted treasure. The third, to Clair vast relief and then utter disappointment, held a variety of weapons. Swords, knifes, some guns, and even a small cannon with gilded inscriptions. But according to the troll it was all useless, most of it looked useless anyway especially the couple of large nails at the bottom. All the guns were dirty and had rust on them. Most of the swords and knifes were in the same condition. Some of the swords she couldn’t even look at because the sheaths were glued with rust to the sword. Not that it mattered; she didn’t know how to use one anyway. So instead she chose a small jewel incrusted dagger. It seemed a little pretentious to be picking it. But she told herself. It was the only weapon completely free of rust and grime. Also it was small enough to keep hidden and long enough to use.

            The forth chest was full of old books and manuscripts. Clair picked up a large parchment on the top of the pile and opened it. On it was drawn a large tree. In the center of the tree was Earth. It looked like a satellite image of Earth at least. On the branches and roots of the tree there were more planets. They were all connected to each other through the giant tree. And under the planets was a type of writing that Clair couldn’t read. But it looked like everything was labeled. Around Earth there looked like a circle of brambles. At the top of the tree there was an eagle at the bottom was a fierce looking dragon.

            “Well, you’re more resourceful than the others.”

            Clair nearly jumped out of her own skin. She actually did end up jumping into the chest and falling over. She quickly got to her feet and looked at where the voice had come from.

            “Shelia? What are you doing here?” Clair nearly screamed. Shelia gave Clair a wicked smile. She bent down and picked up the paper Clair had been looking at. For a brief moment a scowl crossed her face but was replaced by a deeper even crueler smile then the one she had given Clair.

            “What? Can I not check up on my daughter?” She gave a high picked laugh. She scowled again and suddenly she was in front of Clair. Her hand was over Clair’s throat and her finger nails dug into the sides of her neck. “How your face sickens me.” Shelia growled.

            Clair couldn’t believe it she barely saw Shelia move. Why was she doing this? She had never had a bad relationship with Shelia. Quit the opposite. The weren’t the best of friends, and Clair had never thought of her as a mother. But they would go shopping together and go to the spa sometimes. Why was she doing this? Clair couldn’t speak. It was getting hard to breath.

            “If he could only see how pathetic and week you are now.” Shelia picked Clair up by the neck with one hand and threw her across the room. Clair flew into the rotten catch and sat there whizzing trying to catch her breath. “He doesn’t even want you. It would have been sooo much easier if he had.”

            She seemed to see Clair for the first time then, trying to catch her breath on the couch. Crooning, she swayingly walked over to Clair bent down and ran the back of her hand down Clair’s face. Her finger nails didn’t look sharp but they felt like knifepoints against her skin. She could feel the trickle of blood from where they had punctured her neck.

            “Oh sweetheart, did I hurt you?” Shelia hissed.

            “Why are you doing this?” Clair finally choked out. Shelia straightened and laughed.

            “I needed power. My son wanted a new pretty, and you went to his school.” Shelia smiled down at her. “I need power to break through that accursed barrier. Power his heart shall supply. Then I shall have plenty of power more than enough to do what needs to be down. But he is much too pretty to waist don’t you think? So I’ll just have to add him to my collection. The blind ones carcass on the other hand can go to my son, Haf’gifr loves eating the leftovers.”

            “He’s your son!?” Clair said incredibly. “What does Hod have to do with this?” This caused Shelia to laugh again.

            “Why, he’s on his way to rescue you. Along with the one I need. I’m almost glad my original plan didn’t work. This is so much better. Can you believe that he loves you? He was practically foaming at the mouth to rescue you.” Shelia chuckled, a deeper then Clair had ever heard her make. “Or maybe I should just hold up a sword and have him kill himself by walking into it.” She laughed hysterically. “Or maybe you should be the one holding the sword.”

            Slowly Shelia’s features melted away. Black strait hair was replaced with wavy gold locks. Green eyes turned to Blue, dark tanned skin lightened until it looked as if Clair was looking in a mirror.