Divinity's Hold

Part Three: Revelation

18

Lyu

Mabaya stood in front of us. His arms wrapped around his body in discomfort under the fur cloak. He couldn't stop sobbing. I could feel his pain going through my heart like a knife. Rori didn't look over to him, either too exhausted or too frustrated and hurt by Mabaya's betrayal to listen.

"I'm The Alchemist's personal slave." Mabaya sniffled, trying to recollect his emotions, "If Ekko weren't here I'd tell you what that means, but..." he broke into tears again, "to be frank... he violates me!" he blurted.

He fell to his knees and hung his head in shame.

"I didn't want this to happen! There was an assignment on offer to find you three and turn you in back at the lake. He wanted me to take the assignment. At first I didn't know why. I only agreed to it because I planned to run away." he paused for a while to cry, "You don't understand what he's done to me! He tortures me! He abuses me! Now I know that he wanted me on the assignment because he'd also be here waiting for me! How could I have been so stupid!"

Mabaya was overwhelmed with his emotions. Hearing him cry and confess to us about his guilt struck me. By what it sounds like, and by what I saw back at the Kurixi structure, he was a victim of sexual abuse by the priest he called The Alchemist. I was disgusted. Not by Mabaya of course, but by the priest. I knew that many nobles had slaves meant exclusively for pleasure. They often brought them to executions back at Serevine. But they were never the same sex as the noble. I didn't even know that there could be such a thing as that until now. But it was obvious that what The Alchemist felt towards Mabaya, Mabaya didn't want.

"Rori, when I talked to you about seeing others' haunted by trauma, I lied! I was talking about myself!" Mabaya continued crying, "I've thought of, and attempted to take my life hundreds of times because I couldn't take his abuse anymore! I still think of it! I can't stop thinking of it! This was supposed to be my safe way out! My way to be free and still be alive!"

Rori still paid no attention to him, or any of us. My heart hurt that she didn't bother to acknowledge him. Ekko on the other hand, didn't even hesitate to run up and put his arms around Mabaya. Mabaya put his arms tightly around Ekko and cried into his shoulder with muffled sobbing.

I couldn't move. I was petrified. The nightmare flooded into my mind with deafening screams and bright flashes. I lost my balance and was forced to sit down in the snow. I could only faintly hear Mabaya continue after he was able to recollect himself again.

"Ekko, I'm so sorry!" he apologized through his sobbing, "I wanted to cross the lake to keep us from being captured, but the ice was too thin and it was too dangerous to go around north. When the Sheutekkhe caught us, I knew it was too late. This whole time Serevine's been following us at a distance, staying downwind so that you couldn't detect them at all. By the time we were caught, Serevine would already be there to take us back. I wish I could've done more to keep you all safe. I never wanted this to happen."

"It's okay now," I heard Ekko say through the screams of my nightmare, "we won't let him get to you. We take care of each other, no matter what they've been through. Right Lyu?"

I nodded. My eyes were wide with shock and my body swayed from my nightmare, but I tried my best not to let it consume me.

How could I be having this now?! I cursed loudly in my head to be heard through the screams. Flashes of images passed through my mind like a landslide, making me feel ill and lightheaded. That or I've lost so much blood that my body isn't functioning normally.

"You forgive me?" Mabaya asked me.

As the nightmare slowly started to fade, I thought about what Ekko had told me back when I had accidentally attacked Rori. I couldn't say I didn't forgive him. He was put in so much pain. Turned out that Mabaya and I had more in common than I had originally thought. But even then, how? He still has some sort of connection. Or at least he did until we escaped.