The leader of the trio that had abducted her snapped at the two to keep her quiet. Sam was pleased to find she was making that task much more difficult then it had to be, even though the armored gauntlets dug into her skin, making it all the more unpleasant for her. Taking one hand off of her arm to cover her mouth could give her the opportunity to wriggle out of one set of hands and make an escape. Their leader saw that and began striding over to her. Suddenly his firm hand was clasping her chin, forcing her to stare directly at him. Her gray eyes met his blue, and the iciness in that gaze made her stop squirming. It did not, however, stop her from gazing at him with a hardness of her own. In that moment she hated him and she wanted him to know it.

He spoke to her in a hushed voice yet the serious tone ensured she heard every word. They were in a dangerous place, although she wanted to tell him the only danger he had to worry about was when she got her hands on him. But maybe it was his eyes, or his hissing tone, or the tingle in the air that she was just starting to feel, the dark energy apparently, that made her bite that comment back. The fact that he stated how easy it wold be for them to die in this room also helped. She wasn't completely silent, however. Sam didn't shout, didn't start struggling again. But she looked into the man's eyes and said in her own hiss, "Go to hell."

She spotted the cat on the cabinet an instant before she leaped onto the man's head. He howled in pain as the cat clawed and bit into his scalp and his hand released her chin as he went stumbling backwards. He was unable to grab the cat as he thrashed around the room, and Sam watched in horrified fascination as he upset a table and caused a glass vial topple to the ground. There was a small smash of broken glass, and then Sam wanted to cover her ears against the howling noise echoing in the stone room. She couldn't of course, due to the fact that her arms were immobile. Her teeth chattered as the already cold room went colder and her breath escaped in visible wisps. The room had begun to swirl in a tornado of fog like forms, which was making even more horrid sounds. It was all a bad dream, she told herself. But she couldn't lie to herself about this.

The cat had finished with the Marshal and leaped up onto the face of on of the men holding her. Sam couldn't see what she did but felt the grasp on her arm vanish and heard the man scream. There was a light weight on her shoulder and Sam's head turned to face the cat that was perched there. She expected a claw to the face. What she didn't expect was for the the cat to speak to her. It made Sam's heart skip a beat and for a brief moment all she could do was stare at the cat. Then it was leaping away and the instructions she had been giving crashed down on her. She turned to the remaining man, who was looking around the swirling, freezing room in fright. He wasn't aware of Sam's fist until it collided with his nose, which broke. He shrieked, letting her go to clutch his face, and Sam was freed. She turned just in time to see the cat leaping out of the open window and in a instant she tore across the room. Dodging the Marshal, she stopped for a moment at the window, noticing the drop, which wasn't that large but still made her wary, before clambering onto the ledge and jumping. She landed a bit wrong, falling forward from her feet to her knees on the earthy floor. It hurt a bit but nothing serious, she thought. Sam looked up and quickly around. She had jumped from the window of what looked like an abandoned fortress. And surrounding the building were trees. And there was no where else to go. Forcing herself to her feet, Sam ran into the woods, chasing after the cat. The talking cat. "Hey! Wait for me!" she shouted, not feeling quite so stupid to be talking to her now.

~~~

Miles and miles away Queen Narissa had retired to her private quarters. By now the gateway to the other world would be closed and the Marshal, had he succeeded in finding her stepdaughter, returned. If he hadn't returned then he was stuck in that other world and she supposed that was punishment enough. She closed and locked the door behind her and moved over to the side wall, which slid open. Inside was an arch like doorway with no door and seemingly leading to no where. It's twin was in her fortress in the woods. Much quicker and easier way to get there and back again without her husband noticing. Narissa slid the wall back into place before striding through the arch and finding herself in what Sam Shea would probably call her laboratory of sorts. Where she practice her witchcraft in secret. 

She also found herself in a scene of pure chaos. The Marshal and his men were bleeding. Spirits swirled around. Someone had broken a vial. Narissa looked unimpressed as she crossed to a shelf to retrieve an empty vial and whispered a few worlds. The effect as instantaneous. Like a vacuum the spirits and the howling and the chill were sucked back up into their new vial, which she calmly capped and placed onto the shelf. Narissa looked at Marshal Derrick, a smile on her lips but her eyes like ice. "What happened here?" she asked. "Where is my stepdaughter? I assume you found her, yes?" Her tone was passive, almost pleasant, but they shouldn't be so foolish to believe she actually felt that way.