Enemies

chapter 5

*Thanatos PoV*

I let myself down slowly, my chest almost touching the stone, and hold there for a second, feeling my muscles burn. Then I push up, and let myself down again. Up, down, up, down. My breathing sets the pace. 

110, 111, 112...

At 132, I stop, leaning against the stone, wishing I had water.

"Wow." Itzel whistled. "So Huntresses do get tired."

"'Course we do." I laughed. "Just not during the hunt."

"What are you talking about there, Itzel?" The guard says in the Common tongue. His tone is stern. I recognize him as one of the soldiers who kidnapped me, and I fall silent. "What would a sweet girl like you have to learn from this cruel Dagnir?" He whispers in her ear. He doesn't want me to hear , but I have spent years training my ears to listen in to private conversations. Dagnir is the Tesze name for Huntresses, meaning 'slayer'. I find the name bitterly ironic.

"Cruel?" Itzel turns to the guard. She knows him well, I can see, from the way she angles comfortably toward him, but mostly from how his eyes can actually focus on her face and not her body.

"This one has killed many of us." He glances at me, then quickly averts his eyes. "She killed my brother."

Her hand slides over, covering his. Gripping it. It amazes me how quickly and easily the Nesters give of themselves. Especially to the enemy. "I knew him. He was a great man."

A spy, I think disdainfully. Not even a good one.

"A good soldier. He died for the cause."

I resist the urge to snarl. The cause, he says. The mission of conquest, the dream these heartless Teszes have of controlling our land, our resources, our way of thinking, us. To make us weak and compliant. Some cause. I turn away, feigning boredom.

"I mean it, Itzel." The guard says from behind me. "Stay away from her."

I keep exercising as much as the chains let me, pretending I don't care.

The next day, Itzel is gone from the cell next to mine. The Teszes have taken yet another of my few attempts at friendship. I'm angry, but most of all I am distressed. Without her, I can't escape.

The strawberry and orange breakfast is there again this morning, but lunch and dinner, again, is just beans and dried meat. Prison food. I  have no time to wonder about this. I'm too busy trying to formulate another plan. I know time is running out. The Teszes didn't bring me here to keep me locked up forever. It would've been much easier and more satisfying to kill me, so they want me for something. My job is to escape before I have a chance to find out what that is.

I need a cool head for this. No anger, no hate. Just patience, hard work, and intelligence.

I know where each of the guards will be, and when. I know the best time for slipping away is at midnight, and I have a copy of the key used for this lock, in a hidden pocket in my clothes. The only thing keeping me from escape is the chains. They are too heavy, too noisy to drag around. This was the part of the plan Itzel was supposed to manage. But that Tesze whose brother I killed has taken her from me, made me her enemy.  

I am still puzzling over this when the door opens with a clang. I am lying on my side facing the far wall, then a guard grabs my arm and drags me up. I struggle to find my footing  and the rest of them surround me, taking my shackles off. They stand close enough to cut off any escape, but unlike before, none of them touch me.

I am suddenly afraid.

Authors note: Hello again! Sorry for taking so long with the updates, I really have no excuse this time, just writer's block XI, which depending on who you are could or could not be viewed as a suitable reason... anyway, i'll get back on track soon, and in the meantime, enjoy! please vote and comment, i'll be awaiting feedbackO.O

Impatiently Yours,

Writer16