The Forgotten Light

37. Fairlight

The same guard who always guarded Prince Darcen's chamber stood in the corridor. In the pale light of the stones, she saw him smile maliciously at her trembling sight.

"Brief, but enough, huh? The Prince is having quite a rollercoaster with you."

He spoke to her for the first time since she was even there, and Fairlight didn't even know what he was talking about. He raised his eyebrows, amused by her ignorance.

"Okay, let's go. Be good, I don't feel like wasting my time with pointless fights with you. I think we all want to go to bed now, right?"

She threw him a grim look and followed him. Only when they went one floor lower than they should have, did she realize that Invicta wasn't leading her to the room with a semicircular gap in the wall as usual.

At the King's command, he was leading her back to the underground dungeon. That's where she belonged now.

Although she knew it would never happen, she desperately hoped that the guard would at least remove that unbearable bracelet from her arm.

As Darksen said - naive hope.

The guard opened the heavy door and stepped aside. "You can find your further way on your own."

She clenched her teeth.

She hated him. She hated them all.

Without a word, she crossed the threshold and walked upright through the darkness until finally the door slammed behind her and the key in the lock turned twice.

Then she hastily reached into the pocket of her loose pants and took out the luminous pebble that fit in her hand. She had stealthily detached it from the frame of the mirror in Darksen's room. That speck of light calmed her down a little.

She wrinkled her nose when she smelled a strange sweet odor that was completely out of that place. With a bit of light in front of her, she set off down the dark stone corridor, more or less remembering the way she had been led earlier.

The deeper she ventured, the more she had the impression that she was in a huge cave. She could hear water dripping from the ceiling, it even seemed to her that ocean waves were hitting the walls nearby. She began to guess exactly where the dungeon was located. The long corridor must have led along the inside of the cliff. But why hadn't she figured it out sooner? Why hadn't she heard the sound of water before?

She stopped in place. She must have gotten lost.

She breathed in deeper the scent that had accompanied her the whole time, and it seemed to smell even more intense where she was now. She had no idea what it could be, she had never smelled anything like that before.

But she had to admit that it was head-spinning.

She noticed that she felt as light as a dandelion fluff. The bothering pain in her shoulder disappeared, and not only there. Her bruised back and abdomen also stopped aching.

Okay, but she should think about where she was.

Why couldn't she focus?

What was she contemplating just now? Ah, right. She was probably lost. But after all, the corridors weren't any complicated. Maybe she should turn back?

While she was standing and pondering, at one point she felt as if something had collided with the back of her head. Seemingly nothing harmful, it didn't even hurt.

She registered that she had lost her balance and banged against a rock. The stone she loosely held in her hand flew into the air and bounced off the wall.

Her vision went dark before the glowing pebble by some miracle landed back in the pocket of her dark pants.

***

What happened next, she remembered vaguely.

Someone kicked her in the ribs and she woke up. In front of her she saw a blurry figure, a stone glowed pale on the wall behind her.

"And what happened to you now? How many want to kill you? Is there some sort of a line I don't know about that I should get in?"

She sat down, leaning against the cold wall. Her head was spinning so ridiculously that she felt like laughing.

On top of that, the stranger's words reached her once louder, once quieter. It was worse with her eyesight, because she saw everything blurry, as if she had suddenly acquired a terrible vision defect.

But somehow she didn't worry about it. She hadn't felt so great in a long time. At last she didn't care about anything, at last all the burden of life was lifted from her shoulders, at last she wasn't afraid of what tomorrow would bring or whether there would be any tomorrow at all.

"Hell yeah, there is a queue. With the Prince himself in the lead," she said, as if it was obvious. And super funny.

A dim shape of a man crouched right next to her. 

"Ah, yes, our little Prince. He still has so much to learn." he sighed, long and deep. "You know, he's taken quite a beating because of you."

"Little?" Fairlight snorted with laughter, suddenly remembering Prince's sizable build. "Dude, you're the one who looks small next to him. Besides, you have such a weird face. What the fuck is wrong with your face?"

His big hand crashed with her cheek. Surprised by his sudden movement, she touched the skin where she felt a slight tingling.

"Hey! Why did you hit me?"

"Just a reflex," he growled, standing up and sprinkling some speck into the air above her.

The unearthly aroma hit her nostrils again. Breathing it deeply into her lungs, she closed her eyes in delight. She barely felt something sharp pushing into the skin on her forearm.

She had no idea what was happening to her.

The stranger seemed to be talking to her, she seemed to be answering him. Often she thought she heard laughter, and then she also smiled.

She forgot about the whole world. And she was pretty sure she was thanking him for it.

She had no idea how much time had passed since the last time he had scattered the strange powder around her. Suddenly she wanted more, as reality began to draw her back.

She felt like she was flying, but was it really that hard to breathe at the same time? Moreover, she was so awfully tired...

For one moment her eyesight improved and she saw a beautiful smile on the man's face. It completely didn't match the menacing tone of voice he spoke to her with a moment later. Or maybe it wasn't the same person?

"Consider this as revenge for my blood."

Her eyes were already beginning to close, but then one thought woke her up.

One terrible thought.

Darksen had sent him here. Or them, because she still didn't know how many there were. He sent Invicta down there to finish her off the way he wanted. They would do the job for him, the Prince would be relieved, and his hands would remain clean.

And just as a sweet feeling of bliss swept over her at first, she was now struck by utter terror.

The light of the stone went out, darkness and silence all around her.

As if she was already in her grave.

Although her voice was croaky and her lungs were sore, she began to scream until she completely shouted herself hoarse.