XXIX.
Trust
Perhaps I've been too trusting.
The rusted chains held her tightly on her toes. They held her arms up toward the ceiling, toward the black stones splattered with blood. Some of it hers. Some of it not.
This is my penance. This is how I pay.
The shadows of dungeon bars danced across her in orange torchlight. Someone was crossing the hall.
An image stained her mind: the image of a young girl with long teal hair, rolled over in a ditch. Dead. Her once-pristine body was covered in dirt. Her well-complexioned face was broken and blood-smeared.
She couldn't even be sure if the image was real anymore. She couldn't remember if that girl had died or ran away or vanished into some pocket of magic or whatnot... Did it matter? What's done is done. And Faunia was done.
She tried to collapse. The chains held her taut.
But if I had one, I'd be dead already.
One what? She couldn't remember. But she remembered that if she had one, she'd be dead already. And she remembered that she'd already thought that.
Then she remembered Cedric – his face, at least. The details were muddy.
Damn you for getting me into this mess.
But it wasn't his fault. It was her own. She could have stayed with him, fought that group... which one was it? The Hunters? I'd rather be fighting them...
And then the chains of her cell door rattled. She hadn't seen the figure approach.
She didn't even bother to flinch.
"Alright, Faunia Vleren. You'll be heard now."
She gurgled something back at him. She still couldn't see his face.
He seemed to wipe some of her stray slobber from his cheek. "You'll speak before me, first, and if we like what you have to say, we'll see you speak against Svek in the Capillary tomorrow. You'll be treated to a meal and a bath, so speak wisely."
"Aa..." she tried.
"What is the name of your daemon?"
"Baz..."
"Speak up, girl. Your life depends on it."
She hung her head.
"You think I'm bluffing?" he pulled her head up with a knife tip jammed into her cheek. He couldn't reach up to her hair, or he'd likely be tearing at that, too.
"That's enough, Casico." demanded a voice from the door.
The man stepped back from her.
"I already told Vorez not to... twelve fucking hells..." He lost his composure as he approached her. "Lieutenant General Vleren. This is... Unshackle her. Immediately."
Next she remembered, she was on the floor. And then she faded out.
X
"Seven days. That's how long they locked you up for. And the torture... I'll have Vorez's fucking head for this."
YOU ARE READING
The Relistar: Rejoining Vol. 3
خيال (فانتازيا)The dust of Cedric Castelbre's battle against the Etherian queen Rykaedi has finally settled. But in the wreckage, so much is lost; the world is forever changed by the dying wish of a member of the mystifying Kasian's Twelve, the ruling body of thei...
