The Seventh Crow

Part 5

Hours of beatings and lashings, the group of soldiers file out of the room. My wrists tied to a hook, keeping me dangling off the ground. My toes are the only thing able to touch, but even that is taking up too much energy.

Blood drips from my sides and back. Bruises buried under the surface trying to show themselves. Broken ribs that send sharp pain through my body whenever I move.

They are always aware of where to punch. Rarely the face. If I'm hit in the face, it's only once or twice. Never hard enough to leave a lasting mark. The King doesn't like his prize badly bruised.

I stare down at the blood starting to pool at my feet. Images of Alev beating me flash through my mind. The way he cringes back as his hand or foot would meet my body.

Think of something else. Don't let that replay. He had to do that.

Everything went wrong that day. We checked multiple times to make sure the route was going to be safe. If only we checked once more, none of this would've happened.

"Are you sure?" Lucy asked. Her mother and father holding her hand. They try to hide it, but they are just as scared.

"We've worked this route multiple times," I said with a soothing voice. "Nothing will happen."

Lucy nods, replaying my words over and over in her head. Alev walks by, a bag of supplies in his arms.

I walk over to him. He takes something out of a cabinet. I could feel the stress and frustration radiating off him.

"Is everything alright?" I whisper, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"It's fine. We've done this hundreds of times. It's fine."

He reaches into the cabinet one more time. This time emerging with a rifle. We have never needed to use that before. Sometimes we bring it with us, but that's only because we have some over tempted Grisha. We kept it on hand in case they decided to make our position known.

"What's going on?" I probe.

"Everything's fine." He turns to me with a forced smile, closing the cabinet. He tries to leave, but I grab his arm to stop him.

"You'd tell me if there was danger?"

"Always, baby mule."

"Don't call me baby mule."

"Why? It fits. You're just as stubborn as one."

"Whatever, iceman."

"Don't call me iceman."

"Why? You're an iceman." Alev tries to hide his smile, but it comes through. "I'm going to check the route. Make sure nothing happened from the time I last checked."

"Be careful out there."

"Always am."

I walk out of the small post. There is a tree a couple feet away that is used as the lookout post. I know, strange. But it's the only way we can get details without sounding alarms. If soldiers pass by the post, they will think it's just some cabin built to get away from civilization. If there was a post and a lookout point, that would raise some red flags.

The air was colder up here. Eats away at the skin and dries the moisture from the eyes. I blink the cold air from my eyes, trying to concentrate on the known area of the other posts. Trying to see if they lit the signal.

So far there wasn't anything, until there was a small flicker of a reddish orange. It was too quick to think too much about. As fast as it was lit, it went out in the same second. Someone must've been messing around. It does get quite boring when on look out.

I start my descent down the tree. A couple inches off the ground, my foot slipped and I landed hard on my back. Though when I open my eyes, I'm not staring up at a tree.

I'm back in that white cell. My body is on the hard floor. Alev's face enters my vision. His eyes wide with worry. They must need the room or Alev is putting his life on the line (which I will kill him for).

"Come on, baby mule," he says, lifting me off the ground. Sharp pain shoots through my body with every jostle.

"Don't," I start breathlessly, "call me... baby mule... iceman..."

He laughs. Glad he finds something funny. But even as I try to keep a straight face, I couldn't help but join in.

"No," I complain. "Don't make me laugh."

I felt his hand touch my cheek. I tried my best not to flinch away, but in the end he retracted his hand. Wish he would've just kept it there for a couple more seconds, ignoring the flinch. I can't be scared of touch for the rest of my life. Definitely not his touch.

"Let's get you back," he murmurs.