The longer I stared in dumbfounded shock, the more my wide and unblinking eyes began to sting. Tears filled my vision, blurring it as the impending sense of doom pressing on my shoulders grew until they began to curl under its weight. It didn't help that my short and shallow breaths that were sawing in and out of my lungs were failing to provide anywhere near the amount of air that I needed.
Lacking oxygen and a brain that hadn't sustained serious trauma, black and white spots began to dot my vision as Marin dragged me toward the hook- or, what my eyes had failed to spot with the glinting point being the first to draw my focus that the terrors on the walls behind then stole- the wooden chair that sat beneath it. It seemed inconspicuous compared to the array of tools and weapons beyond it, but for all I knew, it could be spelled to make me experience torture so severe that it could only be imagined.
Partways to the simple piece of furniture that I was sure served as sinister of a purpose as every other visibly threatening tool that the room contained, the heavy metal door that led us into the room slammed shut behind us. The loud noise had my body that was wound tight with anticipation springing with fright that had Marin jumping in response. His display of being caught off guard was followed by a grunt and a sudden loosening of his hands that dropped to release me.
As blood and feeling rushed back into my arm and the parts his punishing fingers had pressed into so tightly that I had lost feeling, the bottom half of my leg wasn't so fortunate. Instead of regaining any sense of the sensation it had lost, it remained numb.
Unable to get a handle on my bearings with my head spinning and pain taking up a majority of my focus, my balance was the last thing I wasn't capable of maintaining with only one leg somewhat cooperating. Without Marin there to hold me up, my legs folded under my weight to drop me to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
As I hit the packed dirt floor, a distinct crack sounded in my ear as a blinding pain had a scream clawing its way out of my throat to drown everything else out. The sharp notes of distress started clear and high as they escaped, but soon they turned into choked coughs as the taste of blood grew to fill the back of my throat.
Pain rippled through my body as it folded in half to release hacked coughs that had warm wetness spraying across my cracked lips and the ground in front of me. With my airway cleared, I drew in a deep and ragged breath that had me gasping for more as the warmth in my chest seemed to grow uncomfortably suffocating. I was able to take a handful of breaths before needing to give another painful cough to clear my throat for more. The ground before my mouth darkened as the blood spraying past my lips continued to fall with each forceful cough. As it seeped into the ground, it darkened the surface, darkening the dirt. It had me noting how the ground naturally grew darker the closer it grew to the chair where the dirt was the darkest...
My eyes flinched shut as a warm wetness hit my cheek to catch me by surprise. Spit.
The hateful sneer on Marin's face shifted to relax as he retreated a step, wiping the back of his hand across the mouth that had found me so offensive it felt the need to spit at me. My hand twitched hand my side, wanting to move to wiping my hand across my cheek...
It hurt too much to do anything more than lift a finger.
"Pick her up," came the strained command from behind when Marin moved to turn away from me.
It had him pausing. "It's not far. If she can steal a prince, I'm sure she can manage on her own-"
"No, she can't," came the snapped response. Cedric seemed to have reached the end of the patience he held. "Pick her up and take her to the chair-"
"Cedric," called a deep voice to cut him off. It sounded from near the shut door and didn't belong to either of the two men who had been my only company so far. In fact, it had them lowering their heads in reaction as a tense silence fell while the voice continued. "Your heart is too soft on those who look the part of innocence. It's why they fool you so easily," the man tsked the giant as though he was a child as he stepped forward with silent steps.
He only made it so far so that my eyesight which was wavering in and out of focus managed to catch and focus on the tips of his pointed leather shoes as they entered my line of sight, but before either could catch any more as he took another step forward, my eyes slammed shut as every muscle in my body that had become a puddle of pain tensed all at once to cause havoc throughout.
An ugly cry ripped free from my chest with spit and blood that flew past dry lips to land on my chin. I felt the cracks in my lips turn into widening splits as I stretched them wide to release soul-retching screams of helplessness. It was all I could do as my limbs moved of their own accord.
Disregarding its own pain, reluctance, and inability, the blood running through the veins of my body seemed to slow along with the beats of my heart as I began to involuntarily move. My limbs disobeyed my commands to stop and brought me to my feet, one of which I couldn't feel but was somehow able to balance on without even trying. Once on my feet, my arms that were no longer needed to push me up suddenly grew heavy. They dropped to my sides like dead weights to become as useless as my neck that had my head rolling forward to stare at my feet. One booted, the other bare. Both numb and cemented in place.
Blood seemed to pool at the tips of my fingers and the soles of my feet to keep them weighed down. I tried to twitch a finger or wiggle a toe, but both efforts led to nowhere. I had no control over my body. So little that my heart didn't even react to the panic-inducing realization that it had slowed down to match the pace of the footsteps making their approach toward me.
As he drew closer, the points of his shoes once again entered my line of sight to make my spine straighten to greet him. My head lifted with the movement, causing fire to race down my neck to join the pain burning across my side to engulf my entire torso, but only enough for my eyes to take in the man's wide chest that was covered in a black knit material.
It filled the space in front of me while unsounded screams filled my head.
The cries sounded in my head at a deafening volume, but not a peep escaped past my lips to fill the air. No, my mouth was set in a relaxed frown that didn't convey even a hint of the agony that should have had my limbs trembling. They had been on the long journey over here from my cells, but now they appeared to be unusually... still... So still, that it was... unnatural. Like I had become a... statue, or... frozen in place.
My eyes tried to widen at the horrifying nature of the thought, but their inability to do so only helped cement it as a terrifying truth. It didn't help that they refused to blink shut too.
Moving the only part of myself I had control over, my unblinking and stinging eyes rolled up to strain towards the face of the man who came to a stop inches away from me. It was difficult given his towering height and how close he stood. With the warm glow of the flames surrounding us, shadows hid the man's features while painting the tips of silvery locks orange.
As he came to a standstill before me, so did the beating of my heart. Panic wanted to crash into my chest, but the slamming beats that would have indicated its arrival failed to pound against the inside of my chest.
Through the burn of pain that had sweat beading along my hairline, the lack of air was adding another burn to the equation that had the warmth in my chest sharpening into further discomfort.
When my halted heart finally gave another beat, my heated flesh felt the icy drag of hostile eyes move across its surface. Goosebumps broke out wherever it fell, a shiver following close behind. But, before it could travel down my spine, my frozen and tensed muscles had it dissipating into a crawling discomfort that spidered throughout my body.
My stomach gave a roll of unease when I felt the soft pads of cold fingers brush along the outer edge of my ear to tuck away loose strands of hair.
Captive and Stolen are complete and available on Patreon. Found, book 4 of The Blood Stone Series, is currently being updated. Read more at:
https://www.patreon.com/DRK_Stories
Their Thief: Redemption is being updated on Inkitt.
