The Key (#1 of Anna Kippling Series) Paranormal romance by A.D. Duling (3 page)

“
Who…?” She looked to the
General.

He smiled, “It’s a very old friend of mine
and he is very excited to meet you!”

She smiled back and finished her breakfast;
Karina took her plate and carried it over to the sink.

The General stood up, “We really should get
going; we are due there within the half hour.”

Nathan stood up and walked with him over to
the front door. Anna stood up and took her glass over to the sink.
“I will see you later then, Karina?” She asked the woman who still
had her back to her.

Karina turned around and smiled, “Of
course!” and gave Anna a hug. She returned the hug and then walked
over to join the two men waiting at the door. The General opened it
and stepped outside first; suddenly Nathan slammed the door and
bolted it! The door handle jiggled and banging quickly followed on
the other side.

Anna stood stunned; He grabbed her hand and
pulled her back towards the kitchen. Karina was already waiting by
the hutch; she reached down and pushed aside the rug. Underneath
was a door.

“You have to trust us Anna and do everything
we tell you! This is a trap and we need to get you out of here!” He
quickly explained.

The woman stuffed a letter in her pocket,
“We are not who we say we are, but please understand we were forced
to do this!”

Nathan lifted the door, “ This tunnel leads
to the alley a few yards down; when you get out, there will be a
man on a horse waiting there for you.” He instructed and helped her
down the steps.

A loud thump came from the other side of the
locked door.

Karina handed her down a bag, “Here take
this, it has your things in it; give that letter to Harmon, it
explains everything.” She pleaded. Anna nodded; the sound of
splintering wood came from behind them.

“Go!” He yelled to her and slammed the door
above her; leaving her in total darkness.

The door crashed down from above and
footsteps followed. She heard Karina scream and quickly started
crawling away down the tunnel. When the top of her head hit against
the dirt wall she quickly started to feel around above her for a
door. When she felt it, she pushed hard up on it and sent it flying
open. The bright light above blinded her.

“Give me your hand!” A voice yelled from
above.

She blindly reached up and a hand grab hers;
pulling her up. She blinked her eyes until they adjusted and the
man in front of her became visible. His face was partially covered
with only his eyes showing. They were a deep shade of grey; she had
never seen grey eyes before!

A horse snorted beside them and nudged the
man’s shoulder. He quickly mounted the horse and reached his hand
down to her. “Hurry climb on!” he yelled and she clumsily grabbed
his hand allowing him to pull her up behind him.

“Put your arms around my waist and hold on
tight!” He yelled back to her. She did as instructed and gripped
tighter to his jacket when the horse jolted forward.

“Stop!” ordered a voice behind them. “By
order of the Chancellor, I order you to stop!” A solider yelled
after them.

The rider guided the horse towards the rear
of the city and straight towards the city’s wall. He gave a light
kick to the horse’s side and the animal picked up speed.

“There is no way this horse can jump that!”
she yelled up to him.

“It’s an illusion; there is no wall!” He
yelled back.

She looked over his shoulder, “It looks real
to me!” she disagreed.

“Trust me!” he yelled.

So she shut her eyes and held on tight in
anticipation; but when nothing happened, she opened them and found
no wall! She laughed and looked behind them; the wall was still
there, intact!

“That was amazing! How did you know?” she
yelled to him, but he didn’t answer her. They raced into the forest
ahead of them and he slowed down. He smoothly guided the horse
around trees and over fallen trunks until he suddenly pulled the
horse to a halt.

“
Why did we stop?” She
asked.

Again he didn’t answer; instead he climbed
down and walked over to a nearby tree. He pressed his ear against
its wide trunk and whispered something.

She climbed down off of the horse and walked
over to him, “What are you doing?”

His eyes shot to her and he held his finger
up to quiet her. She crossed her arms and quietly watched him;
offended. He whispered something more to the tree and then stepped
back.

“Now can you answer me?!”

He looked at her, “Just wait.” He told
her.

Suddenly a door appeared on the trunk, her
mouth dropped in astonishment. He opened the door, “Hurry, inside!”
he ushered her in.

She looked over at him, still dumbfounded
and he grabbed her arm and pushed her inside. The room inside was
very large; surprisingly since the trunk was only about four feet
in diameter! The rider guided his horse through the door; amazing
her once again since from the outside, the door was barely taller
than her and the width was certainly not wide enough to pass a
horse through!

“How did you do that?” she asked him.

He quickly shut the door and it disappeared.
He then pressed his ear against the trunk and listened.

“Will we be able to get out?” She asked.

He held his hand up to quiet her, outside
they could hear horses running past. The rider pulled his head away
and walked over to his horse.

“Good boy, Thunder.” he soothed him and
patted his side. He reached inside the saddle bag and pulled out
what looked like jerky and fed some to the horse.

“Who are you? “She asked him.

He pulled the cover down from over his face,
revealing a young man not much older than her. His handsome
features caused her to blush and she quickly looked away pretending
to brush some dirt from her dress.

After a quick recovery she looked back up at
him; “Who are you?” she asked again.

“You already asked me that.” He answered
with a grin.

She crossed her arms; “Yes… you’re right,
but you still have not answered me.”

His grin grew wider and he gave her a polite
bow; “My name is Hayden.” He reached up and rubbed the horse’s
head. “Word has spread about your arrival here, Anna.”

“Why?” she questioned him.

“What you have just experienced was courtesy
of the Chancellor….” He answered. “That was not Tatania, there is
nothing there; all of it was an illusion.”

“Who is this “Chancellor” and what does he
want from me?” she asked.

“
He wants to kill you.” He
solemnly responded; sending a chill down her spine.

“
How do I get out?” She
instantly asked.

“
Aren’t you going to ask
me why Anna?”

She shook her head,” I don’t want to know; I
just want to go home!” She whined and walked over to where the door
was and started feel around for it. He sat down and leaned back
against the wall.

“I’ve only just arrived and now I’m told
someone wants to kill me!” she babbled on, “I don’t need to ask…
what I need to do is get out of here!”

Her panic was increasing by the moment as
she frantically felt up and down along the walls hoping to feel a
knob. When she made her way back around to him, she stopped and
peered down at him.

“
Are you just going to
keep staring at me or can you at least help me get out of here!”
she yelled at him.

He stood up between her arms; their faces
only inches from each other. “I know your scared Anna, but we need
to stay here.” He leaned in and whispered into her ear; “We also
need to remain quiet, those men will back track.”

His hot breath tickled her ear; “I promise
Anna… I will get you safely to Tatania and you will get your
answers there.”

She gasped, realizing she had been holding
her breath. She took slow deep breaths, but they did nothing to
calm her. Hot tears wielded up in her eyes and trickled down her
cheeks. He reached up and gently wiped them away; outside the sound
of returning horse hooves echoed inside their hidden room. He
leaned in and whispered again in her ear; “Shh… just relax, we are
safe here as long as we remain quiet.”

He reached up and gently rubbed her arm, she
whimpered; unsure if it was out of fear or because of his touch. He
lifted his head back to look at her; they could hear the men
circling their area.

She went to speak, but his kiss halted her.
Heat quickly rose up in her chest and into her cheeks! All of the
strength in her legs suddenly disappeared and trembled. Sensing
this he wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her up. If the
soldiers had already left, she was not aware!

Finally he broke the kiss and she opened her
eyes. She looked up at him; both were breathing heavily. He let go
of her waist and leaned back against the wall. He quietly stared at
her; she grew embarrassed and walked back over to the spot where
the door once was and pressed her ear against the wall.

“Are they gone?” She whispered.

He didn’t answer her and she looked back at
him; he was still staring at her. She stared back uncomfortably,
unsure what to do with herself.

What was up with the
kiss?
She thought to herself.
Was this just a game to him? Maybe it was just to
keep her mind off of the soldiers.
He was
still staring at her.
Why is he just
staring!
She thought and looked away
again. “They are obviously gone… so why are we still in here?” She
looked back and came face to face with him.

She went to ask him again, but he
interrupted her once again with another kiss. But she quickly
reached up and pushed hard against his chest; breaking the
kiss.

“Wait!” She managed to muster.

A playful grin teased across his face;
“Don’t you like kissing me Anna?” She nodded, but then quickly
shook her head no.

“
You can’t just keep
kissing me!” She stammered.

He leaned closer to her, “But we both like
this, so why stop?” he pointed out.

She shook her head; “I’m only seventeen and
I don’t think I am ready to be kissed like this! Especially with
someone I’ve only just met!” She pleaded.

“Well… I am nineteen and I think we should!”
He insisted and went to kiss her again, but she pressed her fingers
against his lips.

“No we shouldn’t!” She stressed right
back.

He laughed and backed away, “Alright, Anna.”
He then reached around her and pressed his hand against the wall;
the door reappeared.

Chapter 4

H
e
guided the horse along the trail, while she leaned against his back
sleepily. It was late into the night now and they had been
traveling through the forest for hours. The rocking from the
horse’s movement soothed her, helping the drowsiness along. She was
just about to doze off when he pulled the horse to a
stop.

She sat up; “Why have we stopped?” she
inquired.

He pointed ahead of them and she looked over
his shoulder; ahead of them sat a cave. He dismounted the horse and
helped her down. He led the horse over to the entrance and she
followed him. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a tiny
object. He opened his palm; what lay inside it, looked like a flat
golden stone.

“What is that?”

“
Watch,” He then lifted
his palm up to his mouth and whispered “Illuminate.” Then he blew
softly on it causing it to glow; illuminating a bright light around
them! “This is our light.”

She smiled, “That is amazing! You are
definitely going to have to explain how it does that later!”

He laughed, “I am guessing things are a lot
different here than from where you are from?”

She nodded; “At home we use something called
a flash light, it’s ingenious on its own, but nothing compared to
this!”

They continued on inside. From the outside
the cave had looked threatening, but on the inside it was
beautiful! As they walked along, the orb’s light would illuminate
off the tiny crystals in the stone walls, creating a beautiful
effect.

A little stream ran along the path they were
following and when there was no light shining upon it; it would
glow a soft hue of blue! They continued to follow it down until
they came to a large pool, where it poured into and stopped. Their
path forked around it, but it wasn’t very wide.

“We will have to take it slow, you can go on
the left side and I will guide Thunder around the right.” He told
her and led the horse over to the other side.

She walked over to the other side and
carefully continued along; as she went she noticed a change in the
water. The more she walked along, the more the water changed. It
appeared to be solidifying into ice! And by the time they met up,
it was apparently frozen!

“Hayden, look.” She pointed to it.

He nodded, “I just noticed. I was too busy
with the horse to notice; how long has it been like this?” he asked
her.

“It has been slowly doing this as we went
along.” She walked over and knelt down; she reached out to touch
it.

“Wait Anna… doesn’t touch anything!”

“It’s just ice!” She stated and touched it
with her finger.

Then suddenly she was in the water trapped
beneath the icy wall! Hayden was already beating on the ice from
above with a large rock! He was yelling something to her, but she
could not hear him! Her lungs burned and she was running out of
air! Panicked she started pounding back on the ice!

Hayden continued to strike
the rock as hard as he could against the ice, but it would not
break! Lungs now bursting, instinctively she took a breath; sucking
in the cold water!
“Anna.”
said a voice.