Sitting up in the bed, she noticed that at some point, she had been redressed. Gone were her hiking boots, cargo pants, and flannel, and she was now in a soft, pastel gown in fabric she wasn’t sure what it was. She hoped that it had been a female who redressed her and not Dartan. Heaven forbid! As she sat contemplating that, there were two little chirps next to her in the bed. Turning her head, she saw the little chinchilla type creatures from the night before that had been on the strange men’s heads. They were looking up at her with big open eyes and…smiles? Oh…and they had such white…teeth. How nice…

When Amaya didn’t move or respond the little beings jumped up and down and chirped again. Her head tipped, she had no clue what they were wanting. Then one came over and bumped her hand, and she understood - they wanted petted. Seeing the size of their teeth, she was a little cautious, but still reached her hand out and petted the one closest anyway. Something akin to a high pitched trill type of purr came from the small being and the other one bounced in what seemed to be excitement, chirping and looking at her.

“So you two are friendly? I get it.” In a way she figured they were, they had been “riding” on the heads of two of the men last night who had been helping her, but those teeth! Amaya was glad they liked her. She wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of those bites! Guard furry softballs, that was something new.

“I see you have met your guardians,” a deep male voice from across the room had her head jerking up and her yanking the covers up almost to her chin; which hid the two small beings that were now on her lap chirping happily. He held up a hand and gave a soft chuckle. “I’m sorry Amaya, I did not mean to scare you.” He then gave a short bow. “I’m Ollandrius, but most just call me Olly.” He gave her a warm smile, which she thought made him look like some kind fo Disney prince. Were men supposed to be that handsome in real life?

Brief flashes of the night before went through Amaya’s mind, and his face was in them. He was kind, warm, and she had a recollection of protection from him. She relaxed and lowered the covers some, nodding and returning his smile. “Sorry, I guess I’m just a little on edge. The last couple of days have been a little weird and…” she shut her mouth and her brows drew together as she tried to figure out how to even put it into words.

“Eventful?” Olly offered as he stepped into the room, drawing out a light chuckle from her this time and a nod. “We kind of got that idea when Dartan summoned a couple of demons when he lost you in the forest. Although, your little friends there, and their friends, did keep you safe until we found you.” His smile had not faltered, and it made Amaya feel more relaxed. He wasn’t a small man, but she could almost feel goodness radiating off of him, safety. For Olly’s part, he was studying her, trying to see if there were any lingering effects of the mushrooms or being out in the forest exposed to the elements.

“Uh, yeah. I’m sorry that I caused you or your friends any trouble. I goofed up a spell.” Her face fell and she looked at her lap where the little beings were snuggling against her and ran her hand through their fur. They even felt as soft as chinchillas. “This is all my fault, everything is is my fault.”

“Or, you were given a bad one by someone that should not have been trusted. We’re looking into all the possibilities now. No more apologies, and no more sadness. You are a guest of the King and Queen, and there is no reason for it. When you are doing better a whole suite is being prepared for you. You’ll be taken care of here.” The poor human. She probably wouldn’t get to stay one. Like Delilah, existing in a world that she knew was full of monsters and demons would be too dangerous if she stayed one. If they couldn’t teleport her, staying in Imperium would most definitely be too dangerous, and it had nothing to do with the inhabitants. The mushrooms had proved that. Olly was worried about her.

“Uh…what about Dartan?” Were they going to make her live with him? He hated her. He blamed her for everything, and after she got lost out in the forest, he probably hated her more. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck living with him. Maybe they could just kill her and let her go wherever it was that her soul was supposed to go? Or because she was bound to Dartan, would she just end up back here?

Olly took a deep breath, this was going to be slightly awkward. “You won’t have to see him anymore.” He saw the confusion on her face, so he continued. “You’re bound, so it’s not like he can go far, but it was the belief of the Queen that you would be happier if he were not in your immediate vicinity, and that there were others here in the Palace who could help you get acclimated to everything much easier. She was quite insistent.” He had to chuckle, he was putting it mildly. He was pretty sure if she’d been confident his head would not have regrown she would have removed it from his shoulders the previous night.

“Oh.” Amaya said simply. She didn’t know how to feel about that. Truthfully she wasn’t sure that she knew how to feel about any of it. How was one supposed to feel in a situation like she was in? Had anyone ever been in her situation? She doubted it.

“Are you ok?” Olly was worried about her. “I know it will take some getting used to here, but you won’t be alone. Arch, he’s a mage that helped heal you last night, and I are going to help you. Arch can help you with your magic. He’s kinda good at it.” He gave her a teasing wink that made her smile.

“I just feel kind of lost. The whole bonded or married or whatever…” she kind of waved her hands around a bit as her lips pursed, “was a huge shock, and I know he hates me for it. I can’t blame him. I brought him here and now he’s stuck with me. I’m sure he’s glad that he’s free of me, at least we get to live in a castle.” She smiled a little again and shrugged. She really did feel so very lost.

“He was worried about you. Dartan’s always been an asshole from what I can gather, but he was worried. So, he doesn’t hate you. Hate the situation, that is a possibility, but that’s not the same as hating you.” He tried to reassure her, but he could tell she was still upset. Lost might be the best description for it. She really didn’t know where she was, that was going to come as an even bigger shock to her, and wait till she met some of the residents. Maybe they’d take things VERY slowly.

Deciding that making her feel somewhat at home might be a good start, Olly decided to start with breakfast. Since the kitchens could prepare anything that was made on Earth, the sky was the limit for whatever she wanted. Once he had her order, he promised to be back shortly with food and the all-important coffee. He also let her know that some fae that were the size of six year olds would be in shortly to take her measurements and talk to her about clothing. What she had on was a gift from the Queen, but she would need more than one nightgown for her stay there.

     Slowly,  her hands reached out around her, trying to determine if she was contained in anything.  They met only air, cool air.  Once more she got to her feet and took a couple of steps in each direction.  Again, there was nothing that impeded her way, only more air and the sounds of dried leaves and twigs crunching under her feet.  So, she was outside somewhere, but she still could not determine where.

     “You have got to be kidding me.”  An exasperated, deep, male voice said off to her left, making her spin in that direction quickly and almost lose her balance.

     “Who’s there?” Amaya called out.  She tried to sound self assured, but failed.  Not that she thought that she would have been too convincing anyway, she was lost, in the dark, in some unknown place, with no weapon, and she was short.  It was not like she was going to intimidate anyone.  Her head whipped from side to side causing her dark hair to fan out around her as she tried to see in the inky darkness that surrounded her.  “Where have you brought me?”

     “You fucking summoned me.  Are you telling me that in addition to landing us here that you didn’t pay enough attention to know who you were even calling on?” Now the voice seemed even more exasperated and anger was seeping in.

     “What do you mean I summoned you?  I cast a protection spell.  Not a summoning and transportation spell. You are mistaken.” Amaya bit back before she even had really thought about whether it was smart to be arguing with an unknown being, of unknown origin, of unknown size, of unknown power, and unknown true disposition.

     “Are you a complete idiot?” There was a heavy sigh after the question.  She could hear heavy footsteps coming nearer to her.  Since she could not tell one thing about her surroundings, she held her ground.  Whether this was a smart move or not would be determined in the next few moments, but for now it was all she could really do.

     “Listen, asshole.  I was trying to protect my crew on our expedition in the Himalayas.  The Shaman of the tribe that we were camped near said that the spirits of the mountains would not recognize my protective spells, so he gave me one that was from his people.  I’m sorry I’m not versed in all languages.  It was supposed to be protection, not whatever…THIS…is…” Amaya spit back at whoever it was that had gotten drug along with her.  Obviously not one of her own teammates, and he spoke too clear of English to be someone from the tribe they had been near.  Which meant he was someone else.  Or something else.  Wonderful.

     Dartan took in a deep breath through his nose and tried to quell the rising desire to snap the neck of the witch in front of him.  Mouthy bitch had invoked a binding spell that had them stuck together and had somehow also managed to damn them both to fucking Hell.  Well, now he thought it was called Imperium where they were, but fuck all if that meant any different.  Hell is Hell.  Modern witches could be dumb as fuck and think they knew far more than they did.  This one was about to end up on her ass if she didn’t watch that big ass mouth of hers.

     “Well, smartass, you have managed to bind yourself to a spectre and damn us both to Hell.  Congratulations, dumb fuck!”  Dartan slowly clapped in the darkness.  Being dead and immortal, he could see in the dark which amused him since the witch couldn’t and she was stumbling around like a new foal.  “And you did  it in the middle of the night on a new moon. Sucks for you that you don’t have night vision.”  There was so much sarcasm in his voice that his disdain for Amaya could not be missed.  Nor could his building intolerance for her ignorance that put them in their current situation.

     “I’m sorry, did you say BIND?” Amaya had to have heard him wrong.  There was no way that a protection spell could end up as a binding spell with an incorporeal spirit, let alone teleport them to another realm or reality.

     “Are you partially deaf as well as ignorant as fuck?” He had no reason to be polite at this point.  Not with the trouble that she was going to cause him.  How this fuck up of hers could be fixed was something that he was going to have to figure out and it wasn’t something that he thought was going to be easy.  Cleaning up others’ fuck ups normally wasn’t.

     “No.”  Her answer dripped with venom as she’d finally triangulated approximately where he was based on his voice and was facing in that direction.  Obviously whoever was there wasn’t going to do her imminent harm, so Amaya was still being confrontational.  Self preservation would kick in if anything changed.  “It was a fucking protection spell you smug ass.  I did it perfectly.  I practiced for hours.  I should not be bound to anything and have not ended up anywhere other than in my tent unless I was lied to.  And how would I have known that was going to happen?” 

     “Have a brain.”  Dartan’s response was flat and he sounded bored.  He wasn’t, he was just trying to keep from summoning the power to affect the physical world and strangling her.  Then they’d both be spectres and that meant that neither of them would have a corporeal body.  Sometimes it was better for at least one of you to be living, and for the time being that was the dumb ass witch in front of him.  “You were on the land of people you didn’t know, and couldn’t speak their language, yet you didn’t think you might be offending them, little witch?  It never occurred to you that they might use the first opportunity to get rid of you?  Or did you just think that they’d be so grateful that modern people were around that they’d worship you?” He was going to enjoy pushing her buttons since she had damned him to this existence of being tied to her.  At least she wasn’t too bad to look at till they figured out how to fix this shit.

     Amaya was so mad and frustrated she wanted to cry, but she also didn’t want to look weak in front of whoever it was that was being the asshole.  “No, and we weren’t the first to visit the tribe.  There was a research group before us that had to leave due to weather.  They told us that the tribe was friendly and helpful.  We were advised what the tribe wanted and needed so we could take it with us as gifts for their help.”  She sighed as her head pivoted in the pitch blackness, wishing she could see anything.  She’d gotten into some messes before, but nothing like this. Never like this.

     “Maybe they didn’t think you were as friendly, or like what you were doing.  Someone really should have had a long talk with them, especially before you went taking spells from them.”  Dartan sounded like a reproachful parent, chuckling a little as he moved closer.  “Now you have both of us in quite a predicament.  This isn’t going to have an easy solution, little witch.”

     “My name is Amaya, so you know who you degrading.” She stated flatly, tired of fighting.  “And how do you know what the situation is?  You’ve been stuck in it as long as I have and I have no clue what it is.”

     “Because I’ve been dead longer than you’ve been alive, this isn’t the first time I’ve been bound to someone, I’ve been to this realm before, and being dead has some advantages when it comes to knowing what is going on, little witch.” Dartan heavily enunciated the last two words to dig them in harder.  “You can call me Dartan, and I suggest ONLY calling me that.” There was a menacing undertone to his voice.  The more he was finding out about how clueless this female was, the more he was sure that he was going to be stuck here and with her till her death.  Given the current location, it shouldn’t be long.

     “Fine, Dartan, since you’ve been here before, how do we get out of here?”  Even though she was standing in what seemed to be absolute blackness to her, she crossed her arms over her chest, having a feeling that he could see her since he was moving around easily enough. 

     “Since I don’t know how you got us both cursed here, it’s hard to tell.” He was circling her.  It was clear she had no night vision at all and didn’t know how to cast it from the way that she was acting.  She was human, at least she looked human.  For her to have so fallen prey to a trick that damned them both there, most likely a mortal human as well.  “You said that you have the spell memorized?”  A thought occurred to Dartan as he watched her.

     “I told you I practiced it for hours.  Of course I have it memorized.”  Amaya sighed and shifted position, clearly frustrated and annoyed.  This was not her fault.  She hadn’t planned this, she’d been tricked.

     “Then show me your movements and recite the words without invocation.”  Dartan made himself visible to her and moved towards her slowly.  “Do you think you can do that without fucking it up?”

     Seeing him appear startled Amaya and she took a step back.  He wasn’t a small man, and he was certainly intimidating looking.  At least a foot taller than her, broad shoulders, Persian features, his eyes and hair were dark, but complexion was hard to ascertain the way he was visible in the complete blackness of the night.   “I’ll do my best.” Her reply was curt, but not overly hostile as he continued to come closer.  Since he might be the best shot that either of them had of getting out of the situation anytime soon, she might as well try not antagonizing him.

     “That would be helpful.  Show me whenever you’re ready.”  Dartan stopped a few feet from her and waited.  He hoped that whatever language she used that he would recognize it and have some clue how they were bound and cursed.  At least then he might have some idea how to undo it and get back to where he’d been rather enjoying his afterlife before it was so rudely interrupted.

     Amaya took a deep breath and closed her eyes.  Concentrating on everything she had studied and practiced, she began the recitation again with the enunciation that she had perfected and the movements of hands and body that were supposed to have granted safety and security, but had instead landed her in this foreign realm with the hostile stranger.  During the entire process she did not rush and was fully focussed on making sure she did it perfectly, save for the invocation.  Doing that again might have consequences that she didn’t even want to consider.  Once she was done, she stood still and opened her eyes to look to where Dartan was still visible.  “Any idea how whatever spell that was delivered us here, bound to one another?”

     At first, she hadn’t thought he was going to answer.  He had just stood there with one arm across his broad chest, hand holding the elbow of the other as he propped his chin up thinking.  “I know exactly what you’ve done.  It’s undoing it that I have no idea how to do.”

     “And that means?”