Broken beyond healing | the darkling x oc

chapter two

"Don't move a muscle, witch, or I swear I will blow your brains out right this second!" shouted the one closest to her. "Slowly lift your hands to either side of your head! We know how your small science works" he commanded still directing his gun at her head. There was something sinister about the way he spoke to her. He seemed confident and stoic in his demeanor as if he had done this hundreds of times. He probably had. He was older than the other two, his hair already greying above his ears. The younger two however were more wary of her, Luda noticed. The second soldier's knuckles had turned white from his feverish grip on his riffle and the girl could have sworn that she saw fear in the third soldier's eyes. 

Still in shock of their sudden appearance, Luda slowly lifted her trembling hands as instructed even though they clearly didn't know how her powers worked. She didn't need to connect her hands. "How am I a threat to you? Are you scared of me? Why do you fear me? I am a healer for the gods' sake. I only heal people, I don't kill them"  she cried in her head but she didn't say a word. What was there to say? It wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Most Ravkans were certain that grisha had to be killed and eradicated. They believed that being grisha went against nature and the ways of the gods. With a nod from the first soldier, the second soldier stepped forward and began to cautiously approach her. He unhooked a pair of handcuffs from his belt and harshly twisted her arms in front of her stomach clasping the cuffs around her wrists. A stinging sensation went up her arms. 

The second the locks of the handcuffs clicked, Luda felt something changing. Something seemed to weigh heavily on her upper body, seemingly pressing all air out of her lungs. Her power that normally pulsed through her veins seemed to have come to a stop so abruptly that it sucked every ounce of resistance Luda might have felt in that moment out of her body, leaving a feeling of helplessness, despair and confusion behind. 

"What did you do to me?" were the first words she mustered to utter since the soldiers' arrival looking down at her hands. "That, witch, is a tool specially designed to block all your devilish witchcraft and small science you might want to use to resist the king's orders and manipulate the natural life around you" the first soldier, probably their general, spat at her with hate flashed in his eyes. And he was right. The handcuffs worked in ways that as the girl tried to concentrate to find a heartbeat or pain around her, she couldn't sense anything not even her own. Luda hopelessly bowed her head. She couldn't do anything against these three grown men. She didn't know how to fight and her only way to escape was blocked by their broad bodies and loaded weapons. Not that she would come far with these handcuffs anyway. Her healing abilities wouldn't have helped her in this situation anyway but the void of absence weakened her spirits and left her to submit. It truly was hopeless.

"By the order of his majesty, the mighty king of Ravka, I hereby declare you guilty of being a grisha and the use of witchcraft and thus sentence you to death by burning at stake when the night falls" the general announced loudly. Luda began to panic. She really was going to die. After years in hiding the king's men had found her and now she barely had half a day to live. And all she had done was to help and heal the people in Ravka. There was no escaping death. She felt a hot tear roll down her pale cheeks.

The third soldier stepped forward and together with the second one shoved her forward so hard that the girl stumbled and almost fell flat on her face. They just chuckled feeling a sense of security and superiority knowing that without her powers there was nothing to be feared. With the general leading the way, Luda was pushed through the door and through the tavern where the customers had gathered watching the spectacle. The barman's table cloth slipped out of his grasp in shock as he saw her being taken away. They didn't know each other well but they had worked together in the same establishment for years. He clearly never suspected a thing.