"Who...?" Was the only word Triss could manage to pick out of the jumble in her head.

The wizard stood up, flourishing his robes. "I am Percival Arcanus the first, dark wizard of the primary order, Lord of Thalonia!" He announced loudly. He struck a pose that was obviously meant to be regal, but instead looked ridiculous.

Triss tried to parse the wizards proclamation. Words swirled in her head, and she grabbed the only one that seemed to fit.

"... Percy?"

That earned her a sharp look. "Percival. Not..." His lip curled with disdain. "Percy."

Triss shook her head, trying to clear it. The fog was starting to recede slightly, but the movement caused her vision to swim and her stomach to lurch. She put a hand over her mouth, trying her best to keep the contents of her stomach in their proper place. The wizard sighed and beckoned to the lizard creature. "Reginald, bring me a chair. This may take a while."

The creature - Reginald apparently - left the room. He returned several minutes later dragging a high backed wooden chair. He set it up facing the cage. Percival sat himself down, arranged his robes to flow nicely, and placed his hands on the chair's intricately carved arms. He waited impatiently, his sharp nails tapping the wood.

It was several minutes more before the fog cleared enough for Triss to try standing. She grasped the rough iron bars and pulled, her sore knees protesting the movement. She stood unsteadily for several seconds, staring down at her sneakers. Finally, she looked up, and met the wizards glare. Her stomach tried to tie itself in a knot as a wave of fear prickled her skin. This guy is no joke. I really need to be careful she thought.

"Finally." The wizard said. "Now. I have questions. You will provide me with answers. I will know if you are lying to me, and you will not find that to be a pleasant choice. Do you understand?"

Triss nodded her head, and the wizard continued. "Are you from Gastonia?"

"What's Gastonia?"

The wizard nodded, then gave the lizard a sidelong glare. "Yes. Well, that answers that. Where are you from then, if not Gastonia?"

Triss thought it best not to be too specific. "Near Toronto."

The wizard frowned at that. "To-ron-tow?" He said slowly, pondering the strange word. "Is that a town or village?"

"It's a city."

"A small city?" He pressed.

"Uh, depends on what you consider small? Its like six million people or something I think?"

The wizard blinked at that. "Six million? Million? People? In one place?"

Triss shrugged. "It's a major city, but it's not as big as other cities."

The wizard slumped back in his chair. "Six million. And others bigger. How have I not heard of this to-ron-tow? Unless..." He sat bolt upright "unless we summoned you from an entirely different world!" He exclaimed.

"Well, obviously." Triss regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. Her tendency to speak before thinking had gotten her into trouble many times in the past. For the millionth time in her life she swore to herself she would consider her words before responding. "Umm..I mean, we don't have wizards or magic or... whatever that is - " she indicated the lizard creature "- in our world."

"A world without without magic?" He considered her intently for a moment. "Not lying. Hmm. What a simple and backwards world that must be. " He dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "Useless."

"My world isn't simple, or backwards." Triss snapped. "Well, most of it isn't." Her promise to hold her tongue had lasted all of ten seconds. Her thoughts, though much clearer than earlier, still felt a little foggy and scattered. The fear she had felt for this man was still there, but was being colored over by indignation and anger.

"Simple people don't realize they're simple." The wizard gave her a patronizing smile. "Much like stupid people here in our own world."

"Are you calling me stupid?"

"Since you are from another world, and not this one, I believe what I was saying is that you are simple. However, since you weren't able to grasp that difference, I believe stupid would apply to you just as well."

"I'm not stupid! You're the one who screwed up a spell so badly you missed your target by an entire planet!" Triss snapped.

The wizard jumped to his feet. "How dare you! You couldn't even begin to grasp the magical power and knowledge required to light a candle you impudent whelp!"

"Yeah? Let me out if this cage and I'll 'whelp' your saggy wizard butt from here to To-ron-tow!" She retorted, drawing out the syllables in Toronto like he had.

"What? That doesn't even make sense!" The wizard screamed at her, his face turning red. "You ignorant child of related parents!"

"Ignorant? You're ignorant! You self centered arrogant piece of trash!"

"Pox cursed donkey lover!"

"Voldemort wanna be!"

They both stood there, chests heaving and faces red as they glared at one another. A vein throbbed visibly on Percival's forehead. Finally, Percival sat down heavily in his chair. "Well. Quite obviously you're of no use to me. Certainly not fit to be a servant with an attitude like that."

"As if I'd work for you. Just send me home." Triss snapped, though with less force now that her anger had been vented.

Percival laughed sharply. "Send you back!" He laughed again. "I appreciate your confidence in my abilities, but it's quite impossible for even a powerful wizard such as myself. Your arrival here was the result of a magical accident. I don't know where you came from. Where then do you propose I send you back to?"

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Triss's stomach tightened at the words. "You can't send me home?" She asked quietly.

"That is the gist of what I said, yes."

She sank to the bottom of the cage as the reality of her situation finally started to sink in. No way home? Stuck here forever? Wherever here is? Never seeing my family again? Her thoughts were jumbled again, though this time it had nothing to do with the spell. "What am I going to do?" She whispered. Tears began to form in her eyes.

"As entertaining as this has been, I have work to do. Without the princess to ransom we'll need a new way to get the gold we need." Percival stood, brushed off his robes, and turned to Reginald. "Take care of this...girl." .

Reginald nodded his head. "Yesss massster."

Percival swept his robes in a flourish as he turned to leave the room, not even sparing a glance for the young woman crying in the cold iron cage. He passed through the door and trekked down the hallway. Spirited girl. He thought. It's been quite a long time since anyone has had the nerve to stand up to me. It's almost a shame we have to kill her. But, of course, I can't have anyone thinking they can challenge my power.

A soft clinking noise drew Triss out of her thoughts. She looked up to see the lizard thing unlocking the cage. She pushed herself backwards until she was crouched down with the bars of the cage pressed hard against her back. "Leave me alone." She pleaded. "Let me go? Please? I won't come back, I'll leave and you'll never see me again."

"Sssorry missss. The masster sssaid to take care of you. I musst obey my masster." He finished unlocking the cage and pulled the door open. "Pleassse don't resisst."

Triss tried to summon the strength to run. She pictured the whole thing in her mind. Jumping up as the small lizard reached for her, shoving him out of the cage and running for the exit as fast as her legs would carry her. A daring escape through an unknown building into an unfamiliar world. A desperate plan, but if ever there was a time for one it was now. She braced herself on the bars, ready to leap.

The lizard didn't enter the cage. Instead, he pulled a small wand from his tunic. I have to go now! She thought, and launched herself at the creature. The lizard moved faster than she expected, stepping calmly aside as she flew out of the cage. She soared through the air, out of the ritual circle and right towards the table full of strange wizarding supplies. She threw her arms over her face to protect herself and braced for the upcoming crash.

The crash never came. She peeked between her arms and saw the table still a foot away from her. She looked down and saw she was floating above the floor. She hadn't even felt herself stop. Slowly the tile below her started to move away from her. No, she was moving, floating backwards. She put her arms out instinctually for balance but it made no difference. The floor started to recede as she was turned upright. Her legs gently bumped into the wooden chair as her feet touched the ground.

"Have a ssseat pleasse." The lizard indicated the chair with the small brown wand in his hand. Triss sat. The lizard gestured oddly with the wand and translucent purple bands suddenly wrapped around her arms and legs, holding them tightly to the chair. She panicked again and began pulling at the band's, trying to get loose. The lizard sighed. "They're quite unbreakable. Pleasse relax."

Triss did not relax. She pulled and twisted, causing red marks to form on her wrists. The lizard waited patiently for her to tire herself out, his wand held loosely at his side. It only took a couple of minutes before Triss was exhausted, the strength granted by her adrenaline rush finally dissipating.

With a flick of the wand the chair began to hover an inch off the ground. The lizard turned and began leaving the room. The chair floated forwards, following him. They passed through the large wooden door and into a hallway corner. The hallways ran off far in two directions, set at 90 degrees from each other.

A faded red carpet ran down the center of each hallway with a foot of the stone floor exposed on each side. Small metal brackets were fastened to the wall, nearly seven feet up and spaced at ten foot intervals. Each bracket held a small crystal orb that gave off a pale blue light. Only the first three were illuminated, leaving the ends of the hallways shrouded in darkness.

The lizard set off down one hallway without hesitation. As they passed the first lit orb, the fourth one down came on. They traveled down the hallway, always three lit orbs ahead of them. Triss turned her head back as far as she could and realized she couldn't see the end they'd come from anymore. The lights were shutting off behind them as they passed, only three behind remaining lit.

She also couldn't tell how long the hallway was. She cursed to herself. She wasn't an expert on escaping and spy stuff. But knowing the general size of the place you were trapped in seemed like important escape information. She tried to pay closer attention to her surroundings, looking for potential escape routes. She didn’t see anything. The hallway didn’t even have windows. It was stone all the way up, including the arched ceiling. ‘Maybe if I had some dynamite?’ She thought to herself. She decided on a different tactic.

“So, umm, lizard guy…”

“Reginald”

“Right. Sorry. Where exactly am I? Like, I know I’m in a castle, and there’s a dark wizard and whatever you are, but….I mean…” she trailed off.

“You are in the home of Percssival Arcanusss. Lord of Thalonia. Dark Wizard of the Primary Order.”

“Ok, that really doesn’t tell me anything. Where is Thalonia? What is a Dark Wizard. What’s a Primary order?”

“Thalonia a nation on the coassst of the Elemental Sssea. We have nearly ssseven thoussand citizensss, and our primary industriesss are farming and fisshing. Our territory coversss nearly five sssquare miles of land.”

“That seems quite small.”

Reginald shrugged. “Your world iss obvioussly quite different. A sscity with ssix million people iss unheard of here. The largesst nation I know of is Tronalia, and the population iss only eight million. It coverss nearly forty thoussand square miless."

“So this world is made up of a ton of different smaller countries?”

“There are a great many countries, yes. I believe there were seventeen thousand individual ones last time anyone tried to count.”

“That’s weird.”

“So is a city of six million.”

Triss frowned. “Wait. Why did you stop hissing when you talk?”

“It gets tiring to maintain.”

“Then why do you hiss at all?”

Reginald smiled maliciously. “Because it drives Percsssival mad.” He drew out a long hiss as he said the wizard’s name.

“So you don’t like each other?”

Reginald looked affronted. “Why would you think that?”

“Well, I mean, he kept yelling at you. And you’re trying to drive him mad.”

“Thats just how we get along. I’ve been working for him for a long time. A very long time. Because of the nature of our relationship it would be inappropriate for me to openly defy him or insult him.”

“Your relationship?”

“I am an indentured servant. He saved my life many years ago, and I am obligated to serve him.”

“What, like he saves your life and then he owns you forever? That doesn’t seem fair.”

“Who said it was forever? Or that he owns me? I am my own man, miss. I completed the required service period many years ago. I stay because I enjoy the job.” He paused for a moment, then stopped walking and turned to Triss. “My apologies Miss, My manners today have been absolutely atrocious. I have forgotten to ask your name.”

“It’s Triss. Short for Beatrice.” She said. “Not a normal way to shorten the name, but I like it better than Bea. That’s a total old lady name.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Triss.” He bowed at the waist, before continuing down the hallway.

A few minutes later they stopped at a small wooden door in the hallway. Reginald opened it, revealing a narrow, twisting staircase.

"I know its magic and all," Triss said, gesturing at the chair with her head. "But are you sure its safe to take this thing down there?

Reginald thought, then moved behind the chair. The chair began to float towards the stairs, Reginald following close behind. "I'm perfectly safe now, miss. I appreciate your concern."

"Not what I meant." Triss yelped in near panic as the chair went over the edge of the step. It continued forward in a straight line before dropping suddenly. Her heart was hammering in her chest as the chair fell for what felt like forever. The chair suddenly and softly stopped it's descent. Then it fell again. And stopped. And fell.

On and on, until at last they reached the bottom of the staircase. They were nearly four orbs down the hallway before Triss's body had recovered enough from the shock for her to speak.

"Don't. Don't. Do. That. Again." She bit off each word.

"Do what?" Reginald asked innocently. A glare was the only response.

The hallway they traveled through now was just as tall and long as the last one, though there were wooden doors on either side. "Is this where everyone else stays?" Triss asked.

"Everyone else?" Reginald asked.

"Yeah, everyone else who works or lives in the castle."

"No one else lives here, miss. Just Percival and I."

"Seriously? This place is huge! And it's just the two of you?"

"That is what I said."

She frowned. "That's weird. How do you have a huge castle and no one living in it? Were there people at one time and then they all left? How do you keep it clean?"

Reginald stopped walking and turned to her. "As much as I would like to answer all those questions, I'm afraid we have arrived at our destination." He indicated a set of double doors. He pushed one open and held it as the chair passed through. The chair finally settled on the floor as the door swing shut behind them.

They were in a kitchen large enough, well, to feed a castle full of people. There were four large arched fire pits along one wall, all grey stone but for the fingers of black creosote that scrabbled out around them. Each had to be at least ten feet across and five feet deep! There were iron bars and posts obviously designed to allow cooks to swing things in and out of the fires. On each side of the pits were tall, wide iron doors.

In the center of the room was a long, thick table made of rough dark wood. Large black pots were arranged neatly along the underside of the table, all stored upside down to stay dry and clean. Above the table was a long metal oval that hung from the ceiling, with the same orbs from the hallway mounted every foot or so. They bathed the entire room in a peaceful white-blue glow.

Reginald stepped out from behind the table. She hadn’t seen him go behind it, busy as she had been marveling at the kitchen. He was wearing a white apron over his black tunic. He held a large kitchen knife in one hand, and was stroking a sharpening rod over it like a professional chef as he approached her.

“It’s been a pleasure speaking with you Miss Triss.” Reginald said. “But I’m afraid it's now time to eat.”