Chapter 2256

"Easy, it's a bit overwhelming at first. But it getseasier," said the fae.

"Who are you?" asked Daniel, his head feelinglike he had been spun around in a circle for a time. This fae was strange, not like the others, but under the circumstances, Daniel was having a hard time liking anything about the Light fae.

"Oberon, husband to Queen Titania de Feywild."

"And how do you know this feeling will pass?"

"Long ago,I was once a prisoner of QueenRhiannon de Moroingi, Grace's mother."

Grace looked startled by those words but said nothing. Oberon eyes flitted to Grace and then away.

Moments later, the ladies were all equally bound by the manacles. Daniel closed his eyes against the sounds of despair his ladies emitted when the manacles tightened on their wrists. He should be protecting them. Stopping this. Everything in his very being screamed at him to

do something, anything, to fight. Only Grace's words stopped him. Barely. His eyes opened and looked right into Grace's. She blanched and looked away.

"Grace..." he growled.

"Trust me," was all she said.

Amy? Amber? Jasmine? sent Daniel across their bond, except he couldn't find them. He could see them standing there, but he felt nothing from them. His knees threatened to collapse underneath him. He glared at Grace, feeling betrayed.

"THROW THEM IN THE PIT!"screeched thequeen and the guard pulled Daniel and his ladies out of the court, leaving the rest of The Circle, behind.

He couldn't help himself. His hatred for this volatile queen overcame any sense of decorum on his part. He wanted to lash out."You will regret this, Titania!" he shouted. The butt end of a glaive rose quick and struck the back of his head and he was unconscious before he collapsed heavily to the floor, his ladies

screaming his name.

When he woke, he had a hard time swimming up and out of the blackness. He felt hands on him. He heard whispers and words, but nothing made sense. He groaned against the painful pounding in his head. He felt like his head had been split wide open. He raised a hand and felt his other one rise with it. He struggled to make sense to what was happening.

Noise returned to his ears like rising from a deep lake and into the open air. Suddenly he could remember everything, and he gasped and opened his eyes. Everything was dim except for one small circle of light far above him. Jasmine's face appeared over him, blocking that one source of light.

"Daniel!You're awake! How do you feel, love?"Jasmine's eyes searched all over his face and then locked on his eyes."Baby? Say something?"

"What happened?"

Amy's face appeared beside Jasmine's. She tucked her dangling hair behind her ears."A guard struck you pretty hard on the back of the

head. You have to stop getting knocked out. Your brain is never going to recover."

Amber's face appeared beside Amy's and smirked at him."Good thing you have a thick skull, huh?"

Amy scowled."Not now, Amber. Daniel? Can you sit up? You have a massive lump on the back of your head. We can't heal you. None of our magic works because of these manacles."She shook her manacled wrists to emphasise her words.

Daniel closed his eyes for a moment, willing the pain in his head to stop. It didn't work. He groaned and struggled to rise. The girls helped him until he was sitting with his back to a rough wall. He tried to reach around to the back of his head, but the manacles made it too awkward. He dropped his hands to his lap.

"Where are we?" he asked as Amy squattedbeside him and used her manacled hands to gently force his head forward so she could examine the back of his head.

"The Pit," explained Jasmine."They lowered us

down here on a rickety platform."She looked up at the small circle of light far above them."They pulled it back up. It's the only way out of here. This is just a big hole in the rock."

"Is it safe?" asked Daniel, trying to peer aroundin the gloom.

"So far," said Amber."The opening is abouteighty feet above us. The bottom here is about twenty feet across. The walls are solid rock. Higher up, the walls slope inward and they're as smooth as glass."

Daniel digested the information."How long have I been out?"

"About four hours, we think," answered Amy,looking to the others for agreement. She touched the lump at the back of his head, and he winced."Sorry. I wish I could heal this."

Jasmine and Amber nodded. Jasmine spoke. "Yeah, about that long, we think. It's hard to tellin here. It might be longer. They fed us once. They tossed clay pots full of water and food down at us without warning. They all smashed to pieces on the ground. They barely missed us.

We salvaged a little and saved you some. You should eat and drink a little. But it doesn't taste very good, Daniel. It's a very bitter bread."

Daniel nodded and then groaned as the pain in his head stabbed deeply. Amy's manacled hands touched the back of his neck and gently probed upwards until she touched the base of the lump on his head. He sucked in a breath.

"The guard hit you pretty good, but he didn'tbreak the skin. Amber thinks he tried to kill you. We all kind of agree. Grace lost her shit seeing you struck like that. Then we were all pulled away and lowered down here."

Daniel accepted a small piece of the hard bread from Jasmine. He hated that he had to use both hands and the manacles made everything so much more difficult. The bread looked black, but not burnt. He held it up to the small amount of light from high above and saw that the bread was more like porous volcanic rock than bread. He tried to take a small bite, but it was too hard to break with his teeth. His mouth tasted bitter with just a touch of the bread to his tongue.

"We had to suck on it a little. Amber says it's likehardtack, only harder,"explained Jasmine."I couldn't eat it. Neither could Amy. It's far too bitter."

They heard a soft noise and suddenly Grace appeared next to them, and Jasmine screeched in alarm, her manacled hands held out between her and Grace. Amy joined her. Even Daniel made a shout of alarm.

Grace scowled."Shut it! All of you!"

"Grace!"they all said at once, their faces lit withhope seeing her.

"Don't eat or drink anything they give you. Itwill gradually wear you down. Lower your defences. Weaken you. Here, take this..."Grace handed Amy something wrapped in large leaves.

Amy opened it and the smell of fresh baked bread and something else wafted into the air. Daniel felt his mouth water.

Grace watched Amy tear up the flatbread and a thick slice of some kind of meat into four equal

pieces and hand it out."It's Light fae bread, and very nutritious. Here. A wineskin filled with clean water."

They at e and drank in silence, their hunger and thirst overcoming the need to speak. Grace waited patiently but didn't have to wait long as the amount of food and water had been sparse.

"Sorry I didn't bring more. That was part of ourrations."

Daniel swallowed the last of his bread and meat. He felt it hit his empty stomach."Grace, what's going on?" Amy handed him the waterskin after taking a deep drink.

"Unexpected interference by Titania. I'mhonestly surprised she intercepted us. Her people were watching us the moment we crossed into her lands. They always do, and so do my people. But I wasn't expecting to be captured. This is extreme even for Titania. Something has her bothered. She would never normally risk the wrath of my mother."

"Will this annoy your mother?"

"Yes. Very much so. Every hundred years the faego to war. The fae royalty are excluded from harm. We have to be for the cycle to continue. We have roles to conduct important to the very fabric of the world. Well, maybe not so much me, but the principle is the same. I am royalty, eldest daughter to Rhiannon. My mother will lose her mind knowing I have been held by Titania."

The food in Daniel's stomach was not sitting well and he covered his mouth to burp."Sorry. What's going on, Grace? Why are we in this pit manacled and unable to access our magic."

Grace looked away."The ways of the fae are not easily understood by humans. Titania can say Brian, Jason, Bitty and I are her guests, but you and the witches not so much. I don't think Titania is aware my mother already knows about you and the witches. I think she hopes to gain something over my mother with holding you."

"Gain what exactly?" asked Jasmine.

"Leverage. With war coming, any gains by eitherside are important. They set the tone for the

next hundred years. It has always been this way. Titania sees this as an advantage. One she will exploit for her own gain, whatever she thinks that may be."

They went silent, each thinking their own thoughts.

"So, what happens now?" asked Daniel, watchingGrace. He lifted his manacled hands."How do we get these off? We can't reach our magic."

Grace smiled for the first time."There is a way. One I discovered many years ago before I escaped the Night fae realm. It will work here. It's why I said to trust me."

Daniel had heard Grace say she had escaped the Night fae realm, but he had never pushed for more explanation.

Grace is Night fae, why would she have needed to escape it?

But he kept that thought to himself. He was more interested in how to get past the manacles.

The sound of voices high above them had them looking up.

"I don't have much time,"whispered Grace,quickly."Watch."Grace pulled out two small loops of rope combined and locked together. "Manacles such as the ones you are wearingcan't really block the use of magic. What they do is redirect magic into the loops the manacles form. It thinks it has nowhere to go. And it doesn't. At least you would think so. But magic is ethereal. As a magic user you just need to manipulate the path better. Take it along a path you would not expect. First, you need to think beyond your wrists and see the manacles, your chest, and your arms like these loops. Watch carefully." Grace slowly moved the loops of rope she held and manipulated them, making a bend in the rope and then passing the big ht through the other loops in a strange way. Suddenly she held two separated loops of rope in her hands, no longer combined."Did you see?"