Blinking my eyes open, the pain that came from the assault of light became an afterthought as the black spots in my vision only continued to grow rather than fade. Panic had my palms pressing flush to the floor at my sides as a dark haze began to take over my vision. With the increasing haze, the sharp pain pulsing in my head faded to a throbbing ache. It was like my pain, like my thoughts, was filtering through a thick layer of cotton.
Through swimming eyes, movement in my peripheral had my head turning as heavy footfalls sounded. My face tightened at the wet squelch that reached my ears under the noise. The pain that was quick to accompany it had my features twisting in agony. The churn of nausea had stomach acid burning its way up the back of my throat. Through my growing haze and the flair of pain that either a loss of blood or a serious head injury was already beginning to dull, I watched as dark blurs moved from the edges of my dragging eyes to fill them. The men in black that flanked us closed in.
One moved towards the woman kneeling on the floor. She snapped her head towards his before turning it back to the white-haired man to release a frustrated roar.
"No! This isn't over!"
"Yes, it is, Elspeth," he answered, the calm with which he spoke reflected in his relaxed position. With his head tilted back to rest against the cushioned throne, he looked down at her as he reached into his pocket to draw a brown smoke and a thin, metal, rectangular, box. "You can make this easy, or..."
His words trailed off as he lifted the thin stick to hang from his lips. Sliding his thumb down the stones that decorated one side of the metal box, an orange flame sprung to life. Drawing in a drag that had the end of the smoke cherrying, the man extinguished the flame to return the lighter to his pocket.
"I can," he finished on an exhale that released a cloud of coiling white smoke that he looked down at her through. The hard ice in his eyes backed the threat his voice carried.
It dared her to challenge him. She held his eyes, contemplating it.
As the man who had moved to her side reached for her arm, she broke the eye contact to bat it away and surged up in defiance.
She was quick, but the larger man reaching for her was faster. She didn't make it more than a stomped step before the man in black was on her. Throwing her to the ground, he pressed a knee down on the base of her spine while his hands firmly twisted hers at a painful angle against her back.
All the man on the throne did in response was release a tired sigh and take another drag.
Spitting a splash of red across the floor that her split chin was already painting with red streaks, the woman bared bloody teeth as she released a frustrated shout. Twisted her neck, she fueled her anger into hawking a blood-tainted ball of spit at the man who was holding her.
Wiping the dripping saliva from his cheek with the back of his hand, he flicked it away before moving to grab the back of her dress near her neck. Fisting the material, he removed his knee to pull her a few inches off the floor before slamming her back down hard enough to knock the wind out of her. Her head cracked off the marble, adding another split to her cheek as she grew limp. She lay unmoving as the man moved his hands to pull her up by the arms, but the moan of pain that sounded when he moved her revealed that she was still somewhat conscious.
While she put up a fight that met its end just as it had begun, the man lying at her side did nothing. He couldn't. Unconscious, he just lay still until the man who approached him gave his shoulder a shove with his foot that had him rolling onto his back. His arm landed at his side with a soft slap while his face remained turned away.
My eyes went in and out of focus as I took in the pointed tip of his ear that his hair shifted to reveal. The corner of my lips curled up as my pain, mirroring my vision, softened, taking on a hazy edge as my consciousness continued to drift. I felt myself sinking into my mind and couldn't help but picture little winged people as sadistic rulers became distant and fleeting thoughts.
