Jazzy - In the Shadows

Virginia slowly lifted her head off the cold pavement and moaned. Everything was so blurry and she had to squint her eyes against the torch blazing outside the small cell she realized she was in. She felt like she had been hit by a train; everything ached and her vision was distorted. She propped herself up, leaning on her right arm and rubbed her head with her left, what a splitting headache! It was all so foggy, what had happened?

For an agonizing moment, she couldn't remember who she was, but everything slowly began to fade back to her. As the realization shot at her, she rubbed her stomach at the memory of being pregnant. Everything seemed okay with the baby and she physically didn't seem hurt besides a few scratches. As she checked herself over, she noticed she was covered in Troll dust, which was now ineffective, but she had been hit with quite a heavy dose. She shook her head, trying to clear away the cobwebs, and stood up. She nearly lost her balance and fell to the floor, but caught herself in time.

Where was Wolf? Was he hurt? Was he nearby? What had happened to him? What had happened to her? All these questions flooded her mind and made her headache even worse. The main question was, where was she? She drowsily walked up to the bars holding her in, and wrapped her hands around the cold black bars. There was a long corridor winding around to her right and another to her left.

As far as she could see, there were other cells, but none of them were occupied. It was silent. "What is going on here?" Virginia ask quietly to herself. For a moment she thought that it all could be a dream and that she had maybe banged her head on something in the kitchen. Yes! That could be it, she might now just be in bed with Wolf watching over her.

To prove it for herself, she pinched the back of her left hand with her right. No one ever felt pain in a dream. She prayed silently to herself she would feel nothing, but as a sharp pain whizzed up her arm, she realized she wasn't dreaming. Even though she did have some nightmares in her life, nothing was ever like this. No, this wasn't a dream, this was real.

She rubbed her hand as the small red mark from her nail started to disappear. She anxiously looked down each side of the corridor for any signs of life. Someone had to be here! Virginia turned around in her cell. She was given nothing, not a bed, a toilet, anything! Just a small barred window at the top of her cell that she could only see the sky from.

"What is this place?" She mumbled to herself. Turning back to the hall, she noticed the long line of torches filling the passageway, illuminating the way. What was down there? Why was she here? Virginia had to sit down, her headache was far too worse now to be walking around and thinking about all these things. She sighed and leaned up against the wall. Who did this to her and why? What had she done to make someone put her there?

Suddenly, she heard a set of footsteps and faint arguing. She leaned forward to get a better view of the corridor and watched as the voices came closer. Those voices, they seemed so familiar. Finally, it struck her! Trolls! Only Trolls argued like that! Oh no, she thought grimly to herself, this wasn't good.

The talking stopped, but the footsteps still approached her. She felt her heart begin to beat faster. Trolls had no mercy; she knew there was nothing good planned that they had for her. Finally, they appeared from the right side of the hall. They smiled as they saw her sitting against the wall, watching them.

"Do you remember us, girlie?" One Troll said, pressing her hands against the bars of the cell.

"Yes, I do," Virginia answered, nodding her head slightly. How could she possibly forget the Trolls Burly, Blabberwart and Bluebell? The ones that had followed Tony, Wolf, and herself for weeks. She told herself to remain calm and not to make them angry; an irrational and angry Troll was a deadly one. She tried to answer with a collected tone, but as much as she tried against it, he voice still shook.

"See, I told you she would!" Burly smacked Blabberwart. "She is a witch you know, they never forget things!"

"Maybe we shouldn't keep her in this cell, she could escape!" Bluebell chimed in.

"Nah," Burly said confidently. "These bars can't be broken even by her!" He took the keys from around his belt and swung them in front of the cell, taunting her. "Besides, even if she does escape from here, there are guards posted all over the place, you know that!"

"Right," Bluebell said sheepishly.

"So, what do we do with her now?" Blabberwart asked, her eyes brightening somewhat.

"Torture?" Bluebell asked hopefully and Blabberwart nodded her head fiercely in agreement.

"No. We can't. Boss said so," Burly reminded them, the others nodded their heads sadly.

"What!? Who are you working for!? Where's Wolf!? Why am I here!?" Virginia finally spoke again. She temporarily forgot what she had told herself about staying calm, but at that point, she didn't care. She yelled so loudly, he aggravation bounced off the empty walls.

Burly remained unemotional towards her and ignored her anger."You'll find out soon enough, witch." He smiled at her aggravation, then continued, "We'll bring you something to eat later... maybe."

Burly began to walk away and motioned for the others to follow. Within a few moments, they were gone. She rested back against the concrete wall again and sighed. What was going on and where was Wolf?