Mythic (NaNoWriMo14)

Chapter 27 - Getting Even

Rena woke up on a dirty mattress that smelled of sweat and unwashed bodies.

Her head spun. A dull pounding blurred her thoughts. The rest of her senses were equally useless. The room was too dark for her eyes, the only light from a crack under the door. Her nose was overloaded by the mattress. Her hearing--Rena flicked her ears--she could hear voices. Muffled voices, like there were several people talking in another room. 

Rena rolled on her side, groaning as her weight shifted to a tender area across her arm. It felt bruised, at the very least, but she endured the painful throb as, out of a habit, a hand reached for her key.

Her neck was bare. Her fingers found no chain, and it was then she remembered. 

She'd had Nazine's key. She'd had Nazine's key, and someone had taken it. 

 It was enough to push Rena to action. Her muscles shook as she pushed herself onto her elbows and tried to sit up. It was a failed effort. She face planted straight back to the mattress with a second groan as her arms gave way. 

Get up, she told herself. Get up, Rena! 

She did, somehow. Movement seemed to return her siphoned strength, infusing it back into her body. By the time she was on her feet, Rena felt relatively normal, excluding the fear twisting her stomach. 

Her eyes had adjusted, allowing her to differentiate the shadows in the room. She was alone, though she doubted the room would have fit anyone else. With walls made of stone and no windows, over half the floor was taken up by the mattress, and the remaining space allowed the door to open smoothly. Only one way out. 

With tails twined together, Rena grabbed the door handle and pushed. 

It didn't budge. Her fingers tightened over the iron, but it didn't change the fact it was locked. She moved her fingers to the door itself, but where she hoped to find the rough texture of wood she could burn, she found the smooth surface of metal. 

Iron, no light. Even if this cell had been built to hold a fae Mythic, it held a kitsune just as well. 

More out of frustration than anything else, Rena took the handle with both hands and pulled for all she was worth, one foot on the stone that framed it. Predictably, the door failed to move, and angry, Rena drove her knee into it and immediately regretted it. 

"The nine save me from my stupidity," hissed Rena through gritted teeth, holding her knee as it throbbed. 

She sat back on the floor--it seemed cleaner than the mattress--and took a deep breath. 

Cayden had said there'd be hunters around the hotspot. Rena just hoped it hadn't been the djinn's work, though she figured if he'd had a hand in it, her key would have felt closer and the room would be clean, if her first experience in a Mythic prison was anything to go by. 

No, Rena decided. This was different. This wasn't the djinn. It would have solved more than one problem, had it been. 

With her head in her hands, she realised the voices she'd heard earlier had stopped. Footsteps had taken their place. At the sound of keys jangling just outside her door, Rena's tails curled around her waist, ears going flat against her head as the iron rectangle crept open. 

Two figures. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the damaged key of the phoenix, glinting through grimy fingers. Rena failed to stop the growl at the back of her throat, her fingertips touching the ground as she found her centre on four limbs.

Yet the hunters showed no fear. Instead, they pushed the key closer, as if making sure she was aware of the situation.

"Don't think so," said the one with the key. Neither of them were the same from the clearing--that made their numbers at least five. "You're going to be nice and obedient while you come with us to the hall, understood?"