The Exiles

25. Bargain

It was in the night when exhaustion drained all her energy, and delirium sapped her will, that Rita closed her eyes and slipped into nothingness as she hung from her confines. The sound of the water still reached her like a far away metronome or temple bells. Her sleep was shallow and her thoughts drowned. Her injuries from the fight finally seeped into her soul with an ache of a thousand needles.

That's when the bars of her prison flew open, screeching on its rusty hinges like a dying feline. In the darkness, something landed at Rita's feet and let out a strangled cry. It sounded like a child, a girl, perhaps only Ursa's age, or so Rita guessed by the youth she heard in the voice.

She struggled to open her eyes or see much in the dark, as deep as molasses. The darkness of the dungeon was renowned. No light from the world penetrated its hold unless one brought light into it. Rita fought against her restraint, mumbling against her gag. "Who is that?"

That's when the firefly came back, flickering down the stone hall, eventually lighting the black-toothed man standing at the bar, grinning. He grunted at Rava, who held the torch and shuffled away without a word.

"Excuse his manners. The man has a hard time listening or speaking." Rava floated into her cell, chuckling to himself, proud.

Rita instantly knew why he laughed, or why the guard hadn't responded. He's deaf and dumb... so I can't ever command him.

"What do you want?" Rita mumbled, her words stifled in her throat as she watched the young girl, no older than Ursa, whimper and cower further at her feet, begging. Begging for Rita to save her somehow, that poor battered and bruised being. She looked as if she'd been someone's punching cushion not too long ago.

Rava clipped his tongue at the girl, crouching down to cup her purple and swollen face. "This one here was trying to find out where you were being kept. One of your husband's many spies, I'd say."

He stood and sneered at the girl, who squeaked in fear and trembled at Rita's feet. "She came to the keep as a kitchen maid. Guards found her snooping down the lower stores, trying to find her way to you."

He turned to Rita then, his clover-green eyes dancing like a dragon's breath in the flickering light. "Sending a child to do a soldier's job. Is that what he's become now? A coward?"

He stepped closer to her then, so close Rita could smell his scent mixed in with liquor. He'd been drinking.

"You're drunk," she spat, as well as she could.

That's when he touched her, his thumb gliding over her gag, over her mouth. Rita shook him off and turned her head, but he grabbed her chin in a vise-grip and turned her to face him. "He can plan all he wants and send as many spies, but I know all of his. You see..." Rava pushed Rita's loose hair away from her face and tucked it gently behind her ears, whispering as he went, "I have a man on the inside. I'll always know his plans before he even decides what he wants to do. And right now, he plans to amass an army and come to your rescue. How noble."

Rita could do nothing but stare at him in shock. She was sure her eyes asked the question her lips couldn't speak. 'Who?'

"You would like to know the name." A smirk spread across the man's face. "You're probably also wondering why they'd side with me..." He turned and eyed the girl, crouching down again to watch her scamper. "You'd be surprised at what some do for their precious things."

Rita watched horrified as Rava pulled the girl's hair, watched her whimper in pain, and ruthlessly threw her against the wall with all his might. The girl hit her head on the stone wall and passed out at Rita's feet.

The man then stood, dusted his palms as if he'd gotten them dirty, and squared off with Rita again. "Your husband wants you, then he better come get you himself. He can enter the keep, not hide behind young maids and yard boys, and fight like a warrior. He knows that the Chymer army is too large and will end your family in a heartbeat, Rita, my love."

Rita screamed beneath her gag, "I swear I will end you myself if you but harm them."

Rava laughed ruefully. "I'm sure you could if you ever get out of here."

Rita screamed and strained again. If only she could utter her words clearly, she could have him slit his own throat right there before her. But the gag was tight and her mouth was dry, for she hadn't a drop of water in four days.

"I'll tell you what." He pinned her then, stopping her thrashing about. Any other time, he wouldn't have dared touch her, but tonight, she was weak; weak and tied up. Or Rita swore she would have ended him then by his own hand.

His lips brushed her ear and his hot breath made her skin crawl with disgust, but she could not move. She turned her head away from him, trying to think of Ovek and her children. She had to stay alive for them. Somehow, she had to stay alive and get out. So for now, she'd bide her time till an opportune moment.

Rava rested his head against the wall behind her, his chest crushing her far too intimately. All she wanted was to push him away. Instead, she was forced to listen to him.

"You can stop this. All of this. This war that your husband is brewing."

You're brewing, she corrected in her head.

"You can stop it, Rita. Right here, before any blood is ever spilt. Before your children and those of others lay before you, lifeless. Before Ovek meets his end." Rava cupped her face with his hand, pinning her head to the cradle of his neck. "All you have to do is renounce your marriage to Ovek, break that oath. Renounce his children. End that foul relationship where he cannot be the husband you deserve. Loyal."

For a moment, Rita froze, feeling his lips on her own neck, on her own flesh, and she felt the burn of the oath that bound her to Ovek scorch her skin like a flame. She hoped it scorched her assailant, too. Stop, she begged in her head—stop—for the pain was unbearable. She let out a whimper, though she tried not to give him that satisfaction should he take it the wrong way.

Rava pushed himself away from her, his eyes studying the burnt skin on her collar, the shape of his lips. He smiled a pained smile. "You can save them, him and his children." He met Rita's gaze then, with a flicker of pain. "Annul your marriage to him, and join me as my wife."

He reached for her face again, but Rita thanked the goddess when he held his hand. She couldn't stand to feel the burn of her oath again. How had Ovek withstood it when he'd...?

"I've waited for you all these years," Rava continued, in his own little world. "It is why I don't have a wife or children of my own. I've been waiting for you to open your eyes and see you deserve more. You deserve a husband who can stay yours as I can. Ovek never deserved you, my princess. Return my love, my precious one. Bear me my children, and I shall be as merciful as he and let them live. Think about it, your oath for their life."

Rita felt hate bubble in her heart and bile rise in her throat. "I'll never marry you!" She spat against the gag, and though her voice was more muffled than sound, she savoured the agony that flickered over his haughty, smug face. "Let me go, you coward!"

Rava took a pained step back as Rita continued to fight against her restraints.

Let me go! She growled.

Rava took another step back, and another, exited the cell, and locked it behind him. "I am a patient king, Rita. I shall wait a hundred years if a hundred years is what's needed to break your arrogance... until you see the truth, that I am the only one worthy of you."

Rita screamed and raged against the chains till blood dripped from her wrists as Rava and the flickering light left her, plunged in the deepest darkness again.

Let me go, you spineless coward!