Descent

The Sky Witch

Piama 

The Sky Queen's words ring in my ears. 

"It's not true, is it?" I ask, my eyes welling up.

Axl doesn't respond, her eyes on the ground.

"It was a long time ago," she finally whispers. "I was a stupid kid with nowhere to go."

"That's no excuse," Kalina growls.

The Sky Witch looks gleeful.
"Ah, betrayal. So painful, yet it is always there," she sighs dramatically. She then smiles menacingly at Axl.
"Do you remember those nights?" She asks her. "You in my arms, content and happy?" 

Axl doesn't look at her.
"You used me," Axl says. 

The Sky Witch stands from her throne and puts one finger underneath Axl's chin.
"Maybe....but you enjoyed me using you." 

Her grin is so wicked, and although I can't see her eyes, I know that they are the eyes of a predator that has entrapped its prey. 

"Just...just let us go," I say, tears threatening to fall.

The Sky Witch turns her head towards me.
"Let you go? Why would I do that? You were, after all, sent to hunt and kill me. Like a mongrel dog that has threatened your borders." 

She grabs my face with her hand, and her nails dig into my flesh. They're curved and sharp, like the talons of an eagle. She's elegant, graceful even as she draws my blood with a single touch.

"You will suffer. All of you." She turns on Axl. "Especially you, my love. You will suffer the most." 

Axl looks up at her, and her eyes are harder than I've ever seen them.
"I. Don't. Love. You."

The Sky Witch's face contorts with rage, and she screams for her guards to come and take me and Kalina. Axl stays with her. As the guards drag us down into the depths of the palace, I see Axl's body make hard contact with the cold stone floor, her already bloodied mouth beginning to bleed once again.

Kalina 

We are shoved once again into a small dark space. Unlike the rest of the palace, the dungeons have barely any light filtering in, and the damp air is a perfect place for mould to grow.

"I can't believe she lied," Piama whispers, her head in her hands. "Why wouldn't she tell us?" 

I don't know what to say.
 "Maybe... Maybe she didn't want to associate herself with her past. Perhaps she was trying to...run away from it."

"But she didn't tell us. She didn't tell me."

"I think you overestimate how open she is." 

Piama looks pointedly at me.
"Maybe."

We sit in the cell for a few hours, and a guard brings us some food. He opens the rusted cell card with a heavy-looking set of keys. He slides two trays of food. It's brown mush, and it sure as hell doesn't look appetizing. 

Piama takes one of the plates and brings the spoon to her mouth. I knock it out of her hand. She glares at me.

"I'm hungry." 

I shake my head.
"The Sky Witch is ruthless. It's better not to eat until Axl comes back. She likely knows about her methods."

"Fine." Piama turns her back towards
me.

It's night, and Axl still hasn't been thrown into the cell.

"Where the hell is she?" I mutter.

"Dunno. Probably having fun with the enemy. Just like she did with Lu or that other woman from the bar."
Then we hear sets of footsteps. Three.

Two of them are in almost perfect unison. The last is staggering as if the person can barely stand. The cell door opens, and Axl is thrown in.  

Axl

My head is pounding. I spit out the blood in my mouth, but after a moment I can taste it again. I think my arm is broken, and my back is covered with talon-like scratches.

"Did you...eat anything?" I say, my breathing laboured. 

Piama looks at me, and her look of anger stays even as she looks at my broken body.

"No."

"Good," I say. "If you had, you would have not been able to leave. She has spells that she uses, that bind you to the palace." 

Kalina comes to my side and helps me sit up. She rips off a part of her sleeve and wraps my bloodied arm.

"Did she do this...?" Kalina asks me.

"Yeah," I respond. "She's violent at the best of times. Homicidal when angry." 

Piama still doesn't look at me. I drag myself towards her. 

"Piama, I'm sorry. I really am. I.. I didn't want to hurt anyone."

"But you did. And you lied to me. You said you were from Kahla."
I take a deep breath. 

"I am. I just... I just joined the Sky Witch's army because I had nowhere else to go."

Piama looks horrified.
"You killed your own people?" 

Kalina holds Piama close and glares at me.

"I thought that you were from here, and raised that way. But this... This is another kind of betrayal," Kalina says.

I look down at the cold floor, and I curl into myself. My arm still hurts, but I don't mention it. Piama and Kalina stay far away from me.

I'm awakened in the middle of the night by the shuffling of clothing, and the clanking of chains.

I open my eyes, and there I see Elian, Kalina and Piama going out the door. 

"The guards are oblivious of the escape for now...are you sure we have to leave her behind?" He points to me.

In the dark, I can feel Piama's eyes on me.
"She's a traitor. We can leave her here." 

Kalina says something unintelligible, but Piama shushes her.
"Let's go. I don't want to stay here any longer."

They leave and they don't see that I'm awake. I don't cry, but I have to say, at this point, I was pretty damn close.