The Atheil Chronicles: A Call to Fire

Chapter 13

Ariana was walking down a hallway, her feet smacking loudly against the stone floor as she made her way past dozens of wooden doors with locks on them. Rays of soft moonlight were filtering in through sparsely spaced windows, lighting a path in front of her. She reached out a hand, lightly touching the stone walls as she passed them, the coldness emanating from them making her shiver.
She was nearing the end of the hallway now and something inside of her was telling her to turn back, don't go forward, but she kept going anyway. Just as she thought she was going to have to turn around, a door appeared at the end of the corridor. It seemed to materialize out of nowhere; one second it was just a plain old stone wall and the next second there was a large wooden door with an ornate lock hanging from it. Ariana hesitated, her hand hovering over it. Something was radiating from the lock, something she couldn't quite understand. It was as if it was trying to resist her touch, trying to stop her from opening it. She closed her eyes, willing the lock to open.
The clattering of metal against stone sounded suddenly and Ariana's eyes flew open. The lock was lying on the ground, black smoking rolling off of the metal in swirling puffs. She swallowed, the feeling of unease coming back to her as she looked at the door knob. Don't open the door, her mind whispered to her, the unease growing. But I need to, she reasoned, another feeling beginning to creep into her. Curiosity was now overpowering her instincts and her hand fell on the knob.
As the door swung open, Ariana felt a shiver run down her spine. The door banged against the wall and she could see inside, the sight filling her with a sense of wrongness. It felt unnaturally cold inside and she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to push it away as she stepped through the threshold. Metal bars extended from the ceiling to the floor, a narrow barred door placed in the middle of them. Inside lay a woman like no one Ariana had ever seen in her life. She was laying halfway on the floor facing away from her with her arms and head propped on the dirty cot against the right wall of the cell. She was clad in a filthy dress that was once white but now resembled a muddied cream. Her pale skin was cut and scarred, the evidence of horrific abuse mapped out there for anyone to see. Jagged lines of angry red scars seemed to cover her like stripes over the length of her body, her arms being the worst. She had gorgeous hip length hair the color of shimmering moonlight, the strands appearing to glow despite the dark, dank cell.
Almost as if she had been called, the woman sat up straight, turning to pierce her with a set of dazzling thulian eyes. Ariana started, her gaze on the intensely beautiful face of the woman. Her heart shaped face was badly bruised, the swirls of black and blue running along her jawline on either side into her hair. The woman stumbled to her feet and looked at Ariana in shock, her hand coming to rest on her open mouth. As if she couldn't help herself, Ariana took a step forward, then another, moving toward the cell at an almost imperceptible pace until she was directly in front of the bars.
"Who did this to you?" Ariana asked in horror, looking at the emaciated form of the woman and swallowing back disgust. Who could have done such horrible things to this poor woman?
The woman moved toward Ariana, reaching out like she wanted to touch her but stopping short. Her eyes looked into Ariana's, an incredible sadness filling them as she did so. She ran a hand from her mouth to her throat and flattened the hand there, shaking her head.
Ariana furrowed her brows, touching her own throat. Finally, she understood. "You can't talk?" She asked her, and the woman nodded. For a moment, Ariana thought she felt something brush her mind, light like a feather, but the feeling was gone as quickly as it had come. She was about to say something to the woman when her purple eyes widened in terror.
"What-" Ariana said as she whipped around.
A pale face framed by long, pitch black hair was right there behind her, his swirling deep onyx eyes boring into hers with fury. "You're not supposed to be here." He said, reaching out to grab her like a snake striking its prey.
Ariana screamed, the sound echoing off of the stone walls.
* * * * *
She opened her eyes abruptly and then slammed them shut again, hoping that they'd still think she was unconscious. She had barely been able to stop herself from screaming in real life before realizing where she was. The first thing she heard when she was able to shake off the grogginess of unconsciousness was the creatures talking. They weren't exactly yelling, but they certainly weren't being quiet either.
As she worked hard to regulate her breathing, she listened in on their conversation.
"I still don't understand why we have to keep her alive." A rough voice said. Ariana shuddered, knowing it was talking about her.
A deep voice, that she assumed belonged to the leader, replied. "How stupid are you, Deslich? I've told you why she must live."
The creature named Deslich let out a snarl. "Well, I don't like her." He said. "I say we just kill her and get it over with."
Ariana heard someone let out a huff. "You're just upset because she injured you."
"No." Deslich said between clenched teeth. She could hear the anger in his voice.
"Yes." The leader said. "The little thing has wounded your pride; and it should be wounded. A great Goblin warrior such as yourself should not have been beaten down so easily by a child." Ariana heard a round of laughter.
So that's what they are, she thought to herself. They're Goblins.
Deslich spoke. "I didn't get beaten down. The little bitch just got lucky."
Another round of laughter made Deslich lose his cool. Ariana barely stopped herself from flinching when she heard an object fly through the air and hit someone.
"That's enough." The leader roared. Everything became deathly quiet. "Deslich," the leader said, an air of annoyance in his voice, "the girl lives because his dark majesty has demanded that any human woman found must be turned in to him. She is clearly a human, despite her clothes, therefore we must inform the king that we have her and take her to him."
Ariana heard Deslich mutter a little bit and then grow silent.
She felt fear rise up in her throat; so that's what they planned on doing with her. She peeked open her eyes and saw them sitting a little ways away from her. Ariana tried to sit up but she realized her hands were tied too tightly behind her back. Rolling over onto her stomach, she began worming her way away from the Goblins. She had made it about three feet when she heard someone cry out.
Suddenly, Ariana was thrown backwards onto her back, the leader towering above her. "Well well well." He said. "Our guest has finally woken up." He smiled, fangs flashing. "Where did you think you were going?"
She ignored him and tried to thrash away from him to no avail.
The Goblin laughed and wagged a finger at her. "Now don't be doing that." He said. "The King wants you unscathed."
"Well you already messed that up, didn't you?" She said, feeling her head throb where she had been knocked out.
"Yes, well, that was an unfortunate occurrence that couldn't be helped." He paused. "If you hadn't struggled then we could have let you stay awake, but you didn't want to cooperate."
Ariana rolled her eyes. "It's hard not to struggle when you're being tied up against your will."
The Goblins' dark purple eyes flashed. "Perhaps next time you will be more willing, then." Ariana shuddered and he smiled. "You can forget any little ideas you have about escaping." He said, leaning down and touching her cheek with a shimmering black talon. "You won't escape and, if you just so happen to get loose, I promise you that you won't get far."
She turned away from him and he pulled back his hand. "Be a good little human, now." Then he turned and spoke to the smallest Goblin. "Tie her to the tree, but don't let her have too much room to move. We don't want her thinking she has any leverage."
The goblin came up to her and roughly dragged her by her arm to the nearest tree. He untied the rope binding her hands and then re-tied them handcuff style behind her back. Then he looped another rope through it and tied it around the tree. Ariana tested her movement and felt her hope fade away. She could hardly move her hands at all.
The Goblin moved back over to where the other Goblins were sitting around the fire. They all had their buggy little eyes on her. Ariana gave a start when she saw the red eyed Goblin, Deslich. The spot where she had kicked him and made him bleed was now healed, and a nasty scar sat in its place. He glared at her and she swore that if looks could kill, she'd probably be dead.
The Goblin leader spoke from his spot a few feet away from her. "How did you get to be here, human?"
Ariana bit her lip and didn't answer him.
"Well, it's obvious you didn't get here by yourself so you must have had help from an Elf." She heard an uproar from the other Goblins. "Quiet." He said. Then he continued. "Like I was saying, an Elf probably helped you." He saw the look on her face. "Yes, but the question isn't how, but why an Elf brought you here."
He studied her while she stared past him. She really wished that she hadn't been so curious and followed the Phoenix's cries. Now she was a prisoner to a bunch of Goblins and God only knew what they were going to do with her.
The leader glared at her. "Don't you know that it's rude to ignore people when they're talking to you?"
She didn't answer, only pursing her lips in response. She didn't know where her defiance was coming from, but she figured it was better than showing fear.
"Fine." He said, leaning back and curling his talons into his palms. "Don't speak to me. Treasure your will power while you still have it, because you may not have it very long." He said, staring her in the eyes.
Ariana swallowed and turned her head away from him. She refused to let him see her scared. And she was scared; she was really scared. She took a deep breath and waited until the leader got up and joined the rest of the goblins.
Ariana thought of her dream and how real it had all felt.Then she thought about Ryonen. She desperately wished that she could tell him how sorry she was for how she had treated him. Now, she didn't know if she'd ever get the chance to apologize. What's worse, she might never see her mother again. Ariana fought back tears as she debated her fate. The Goblins were going to deliver her right into Malor's hands and who knew what he wanted with her. Whatever it was, it was probably something terrible given his reputation. What else would a Dark King want with a human girl? She was probably going to be sacrificed or something equally horrible and she would never see her mother or Ryonen again. She tried not to get herself worked up, though; she needed to stay level-headed or else she may never make it out of this.
She watched the Goblins from her spot under the tree and tried to think of a strategy, but nothing came to mind. She had no money to offer them, and she couldn't say that Ryonen would pay them because she had no clue whether he actually could or not. Wait, Ariana thought suddenly. They still didn't know about Ryonen. Maybe she could leave a trail of breadcrumbs for him to find. She looked around her and tried to figure out how she could leave him a message without being caught. Then she realized something.
They weren't in the same campsite from before. Ariana looked around in horror, seeing for the first time that they were in a completely different clearing. Oh God, she thought, they must have moved while she was out, which meant that it might have been hours or days since she was captured. Ryonen may never find her...
Ariana knew that she might regret what she was about to do, but she needed to know how long she'd been out, and the only way to get them to tell her that would be to get on their good side. She had to get them to trust her; she may be on her own from now on.
"Hey." She said. No one indicated hearing her. "Hey!" She yelled. All five Goblins turned around and stared at her. Ariana took a deep breath. "Purple eyes, I want to talk to you."
The leader smiled and she resisted the urge to vomit. He had blood trickling down the corner of his mouth. Now that all of the Goblins were facing her, Ariana got a clear view of the bloody, half eaten corpse at their feet. The leader got up from his spot and walked over to her. "My name is not purple eyes, it's Morgrean."
"Fine." She said. "Morgrean." She pronounced his name slowly.
"And what's your name, human?"
Ariana brought her fingers to the back of her hand, pinching herself behind her back and urging herself to tell him her name. It went against all her instincts to talk to this disgusting creature, let alone tell him who she was. "Ariana." She said.
Morgrean wiped his mouth with a finger and flicked the blood at the ground. "You wished to speak with me?"
"Yes. I want to know what you plan on doing with me. Where are we going?"
"I thought you were trying to be defiant. Why talk to me now?"
"I..." Ariana swallowed and barely got out her next words. "I am submitting to you." It felt wrong saying it, even if she didn't mean it. There was something incredibly disturbing about letting this Goblin think that he had her at his will...She repressed a shudder.
He looked at her through narrowed eyes. "You're submitting to me?" He repeated slowly.
"Yes." She said, and she tried to keep her face completely blank as his keen eyes roamed over her face and finally settled on her eyes.
After a few seconds he leaned down close to her and lifted her long braid between his talons "Now, why would you do that?" He asked.
"Because you said it yourself, I can't escape." She looked down into her lap.
She heard Morgrean laugh softly and then he tugged on her braid just hard enough for it to bring tears to her eyes, before letting it go. "You're right to come to that conclusion. You can't escape."
"I know." Ariana said. She tried to sound feeble, defeated.
"I must say, though, I'm surprised you gave up so quickly. I expected more resistance from you than this." Ariana didn't say anything and he continued. "The way you struggled when we first captured you made me think you had spirit. Obviously I was wrong." She tried to remember to keep breathing as he stared at her with his cold purple eyes.
After a second of hesitation, she spoke. "Will you tell me where you're taking me?"
Morgrean looked down at his talons before answering. "To the King." He said.
"What King?" She asked innocently.
"The Dark King." He said, looking up at her and grinning. "I suppose he'll keep you as a pet. It's a shame, I would have liked to keep you for myself."
She shuddered and he seemed pleased with himself.
"Does he know that you have me, yet?" She asked.
Morgrean looked at her thoughtfully. "No." He said, leaning closer to her so that they were almost face to face. "I've been spending the past day and a half traveling so that I could get closer to the Darklands. I haven't had a chance to send a messenger out yet."
Ariana sucked in a breath. A day and a half. Was she really unconscious for that long? She felt her stomach tighten and had to fight the urge not to cry.
The Goblin watched her and then spoke. "I was just discussing sending one of my Goblins to the Darklands to let the King know we have his prize when you woke up and made that feeble attempt at escaping. We aren't far from the border to the Darklands now and it wouldn't take long for the King's men to come fetch you." He looked at her thoughtfully. "Perhaps Malor himself will make a personal appearance for such an interesting specimen."
"Oh." She said. She could hardly breathe. Not only had she been out for almost 2 days, but she was also on the verge of being handed over to Malor. She thought that she'd have more time than this to come up with a plan but the truth was that she didn't have any time left at all.
"Yes." He said. Morgrean tilted his head at her, almost as if he were sizing her up.
She swallowed back her panic. It was perfectly possible that Ryonen was coming for her...
"Pondering your fate?" Morgrean asked, a hint of cruel curiosity in his voice. When she didn't answer him, he continued, clicking his talons together as he talked. "I would have thought you would feel something at learning what is in your future. Fear. Repulsion, maybe." He moved his ugly squashed face closer to hers, breathing his hot metallic air into her face as he did so. "Then again, maybe you don't really mind being handed over. Maybe you secretly crave it, crave the idea of being at Malor's mercy. To have no will of your own anymore, to be treated as the dirt that the human race is." His voice lowered almost seductively. "To be tossed around and used whenever it seems most pleasing." His talons clicked together louder, his breath hot in her face, stinging her eyes and feeling like it was suffocating her. She was having a hard time thinking straight. His gravelly voice went on. "You really do have no fight in you, no will, no brain to think for yourself. You lust for the darkness, wish for it to take you, consume you, ravish you. Don't you, Ariana? You WANT it."
This whole time, Ariana tried to keep her cool, but something about his talons clicking and his hot breath was driving her insane. She couldn't breathe properly, she couldn't think. She felt her rage at his words rise up inside of her like fire, growing hotter and more uncontrollable. "NO!" She screamed, startling him and herself. Ariana struggled against her bonds, feeling a rage like she'd never felt before. If her hands were free, she might have had them around his throat. She was furiously pulling against the ropes, barely feeling them cutting into her skin, the resulting blood trickling down her hands until it dripped like her fingers like raindrops.
Morgrean had moved back ever so slightly away, but he was smiling. Now that he was far enough away from her, Ariana felt her anger start to fade and be replaced with horror. She had lost control. Somehow, without the clicking and his hot sticky breath in her face, she was able to think clearer. She had a sudden realization that her reaction was exactly what Morgrean had hoped for. He had wanted to test her, push her to her limits. He had called her bluff.
Morgrean's sick crooked smile seemed to grow as he saw her realize her mistake. He moved to stand in front of her, not as close as before, but still close. "You didn't think I really believed you would submit to me, do you?" He clucked his tongue. "Do I look that stupid? Maybe my goons back there, but not me." An evil glint lit up in his eyes. Morgrean laughed and stepped closer to Ariana, lowering himself down so that he was level with her. "Did you honestly expect me to believe that you were submitting to me? You gave Deslich a nice little gash when we caught you and you would have continued to put up a fight if I hadn't had you knocked out." He ran a black talon across her chin and, as she tried to pull away, he grabbed her face firmly, his talon slicing a line alongside her jaw. "You put on a good act but you can't hide that kind of spirit..." He said.
Faster than she could imagine, he was suddenly right there in her face, his mouth inches from hers. She held her breath as she watched him like a hawk, not daring to move a muscle. After a moment, his long green tongue shot out from between his lips and licked the trickle of blood off of her chin, leaving a trail of slime in its wake. He pulled back, smacking his lips as if he were contemplating the taste. "You have fire in you." He said, finally, a look of hunger lighting up his purple eyes as he surveyed her.
She stared at him, the shock keeping her frozen in place. Suddenly Morgrean called over the smaller goblin and said something in his ear, his eyes never leaving hers as he did so. The goblin nodded and picked up a nearby canteen, handing it to Morgrean.
Morgrean leaned forward again and put the canteen to her lips. "Drink." He commanded, his voice growing rough as the canteens edge cut into her lip.
When Ariana glared at him and tightened her lips, he smiled maliciously and used one of his taloned hands to roughly pucker her lips as he poured the burning liquid down her throat forcefully. She coughed violently as the harsh liquid slipped down her throat, burning along the way. As she struggled to regain her breath through the coughs, Morgrean pulled the canteen away slowly.
"What is that?" She asked, coughing and wrinkling her nose. Whatever he had given her tasted terrible, like rotting meat.
Morgrean grinned and gave the canteen back to the small goblin. "Poison." He said, folding his hands together and watching her.
Ariana widened her eyes and immediately started coughing and spitting to get the stuff out of her. She knew it was no use, though, because her limbs were already starting to feel heavy. She gave him a look of disgust and then her head bobbed, heavy all of a sudden.
Morgrean must have noticed because he clucked his tongue. "Hmmmm, are you tired? Perhaps you should sleep."
Ariana tried to hold her head steady as her body continued to get weaker and weaker. She looked at him angrily. "You're sick." She said.
"So what if I am?" He said. "I like it that way." Her body slumped against the tree and Morgrean ran a hand down her arm slowly. "Human bodies are so weak. They succumb to pain so easily. I would love to test just how much your delicate little body could take."
Ariana blinked at him, concentrating with all her might. "Get your hands off of me." She said, feebly jerking her arm away from his touch.
Morgrean chuckled and brought his ugly face next to hers. She could feel his breath on her. "I will break you, Ariana." He said, and she felt her stomach twist at the way he said her name. He said it almost...seductively.
He brushed his rough lips against her ear and she couldn't even pull away. Her body was completely unresponsive now.
He let her head fall back against the tree and when she was just about gone, she heard his deadly soft voice in her ear again. "I will extinguish the fire inside of you, Ariana, and I will enjoy every single second of it."
Her eyes rolled back in her head and she knew no more.