"Wow" "Whoa" The sisters completely forgot everything that had previously happened when they saw the clearing. It was beautiful! The large pond, the blossoming trees with the birds flying above them, the green grass, and the lovely tavern in the middle. It was a sight to behold. If it weren't for the disturbing grunts and the obnoxious laughter coming from the tavern, Arianna would have wanted to live here.

The 5 men who brought them here watched the girl's faces with amusement. It was the way every girl reacted when they first saw the clearing. Bosco, the Biggest Burly Man, knew in their heads they were thinking, "Wow, I want to live here. It would be so amazing." That is, until they saw the guts of the tavern. Then all they would think of was, "Get me outa here!" That brought a frown to Bosco's face. He had liked these girls, even if he had kidnapped them. They had spirit, fighting him and his men all the way here, even if they weren't expert fighters. Oh well, they had done their job, time to get it over with.

Bosco grunted and shot his hand forward, pointing toward the tavern. His men got the memo. With a collective sigh, all his men had liked the girls too, they grabbed the girls shoulders and led them down the cobblestone path.

The girls were startled out of their trance when they felt the meaty hands on their shoulders. Sighing along with the men, they let themselves be led into the Wolves Tavern.

They reached the door quickly and one of the men opened it. Gasping, the first thing to hit the girls was the smell. It was horrible! The stench of sweaty men, strong alcohol, and something much worse than the both of them wafted out towards them, seeking escape through the open door. The second thing they noticed was the men themselves. Some were dwarfed by the Burly 5, while some made the Burly 5 seem like dwarves. They. Were. Huge. Wow.

When Arianna, Winter, and their kidnappers entered, all noise ceased. The fighters froze; the music stopped; the laughter, well, it stopped too, except for one man. It took him a second to realize he was the lone laughter, but then he too stopped. There was complete silence for 5 seconds; then, they all burst out clapping and cheering. Winter had no idea why they were clapping. What, did they think the town clown had arrived or something?

After a bit, the clapping and cheering ceased, and the music, fighting, and laughing continued, as if nothing had happened. 3 of the Burly 5 left to join their friends or get a drink at the '2 to 10 foot bar!' the remaining two men took the girls right through the middle of the tavern, slapping buddies and high-fiving friends.

When they reached the back of the tavern, Arianna noticed there was a cleverly disguised door. It looked like part of the wooden wall, but on closer inspection, one could see the rectangular line that indicated a door. The Biggest Burly Man grinned. "If you survive Mega's wrath, then come on out, join us. Whiskeys on me." Him and his pal left, laughing. "Friendly folk." Winter said, frowning in their direction. "Come on Win, let's just get this over with." With that, Arianna opened the door and they went in.

Arianna looked around the large, quiet room, and decided that it was an office of sorts. There was a desk in the middle, piled high with papers, pens, books, some gross statues, and other random things. Behind the desk was a black leather chair, turned around so it was hard to tell if it was being occupied.

Winter had also concluded that it was an office, but she ignored the boring desk. Instead, she gazed on the interesting green walls. One wall had many shelves filled with old, dusty book. They looked very worn. On another wall there were drawings of unidentifiable things, and a window, overlooking the clearing. The other two walls had pictures of either people, the men in the bar, or of the clearing.

Winter let out a gasp at the sight of one of such pictures. "Ari, come look at this picture! It's so romantic!" Arianna smiled and walked over to see the picture her sister was talking about. It was a very stunning picture. It was of the clearing in winter, with the snow very gently falling, and the pond was just frozen over. For some strange reason, it seemed very familiar to Arianna. It was like she had seen it before. But where? Somehow, she knew it was important. She closed her eyes to focus. Yes, she was getting closer. In the castle, under daddy's secret wooden panel...

"Helloooo girrrllsss" The low, almost robotic voice interrupted Arianna thoughts, again. She never seemed to be able to finish those these days.

Winter started, whipped around and threw her hand up in a defensive way, ready to fend off all evil, when she noticed that the voice had just come from a little man in the black chair. Blushing, she adjusted her hands to have them run through her hair, as if she hadn't just been about to defend herself from Tiny here.

"Hi Tiny, what's up?" Winter said, getting over her embarrassment. "Yeah, so, we're here looking for a man, I think, named Mega, I think, so would you be so kind as to tell us where he is so we could go see him, and leave you to the peace of your office? Thanks!"

Arianna inwardly sighed. "Winter, my sister, ever the straight forward one!"

The dwarf smiled. "Yes, I do believe I can give you what you so desire. The coordinates of your 'Mega' and the chat with him that you mentioned. It just so happens that those wishes are being fulfilled at this very moment."

Winter looked at the man and blinked. "Could you repeat that? Like, in English, so I can understand you? I may be royalty, but understanding big words was never my strong suit, especially because I don't really pay attention to the language class. Big words with lots of letters just make you sound; wait, um... what did you say again? Sometimes, I can just talk forever. I know a lot of people that can vouch for me, if you don't believe me. I know, it's not very princess-y to babble on and on, but my sister, the quiet one behind me, knows very well I can do so-"

"Yes, and now I do believe that I would be able to vouch for you as well." Winter shut up when she heard him speak in his creepy voice. 'Oops, I've done it again. I guess I'd better stop talking now' She plopped herself on the floor, content to let Arianna do the rest of the talking.

[Arianna's POV from a moment ago]

Arianna opened her eyes to the sound of the man's voice. She noticed that his chair had somehow turned around, even though he was much too short to reach the ground. Winters voice reached her ears, and as soon as it did, she knew Winter was in rant mood. Arianna listened as they conversed, or, while Winter babbled on and on about her personal life. She didn't feel like stopping her sister, so she left it to Mega. Yes, the little man in the black leather chair was Mega, she had figured out. There was no one else on the room that there were talking to.

Once Mega had spoken, and Winter shut up, Arianna decided to talk to this man on why they were brought here.

"So, Mega, I am going to get right to the point. Why do you want us here?"

Mega looked at her, then at Winter, then at her again. He kept on doing this. It was starting to make Arianna nervous. What did he want? Did he know about the 3 Rings too? Was he going to interrogate them, torture them, maybe even –

"You were trespassing. $50 fine." Arianna let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, grateful for once her thoughts had been interrupted.

But it was still annoying her.

So sorry again for not updating. I made this chapter a bit longer to try to make up for it. I hope you enjoyed it!

SPOILER!!!

P.S. The 3 Rings will be entering the story soon....