Bone Daughter

Forgotten Fire

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A raven croaked from the high tower with every sinking evening sun. It was the only sound reminding her that there was still life outside her cage. It reminded her that summer was ahead and it told her that yet another year had passed. Six years had gone by since Vaenya's capture and to most, she had become a long forgotten myth by now.

It was the first summer evening and the city of Volantis was prospering. The slave and spice market has doubled in size. Trades throughout the country, but mostly the West, has increased the lord's riches to the extend of a king's treasure. The number of soldiers also increased in size and it felt like an army was growing. There were guards stationed on every level around the palace, another group circling the wall with archers on constant alert. The greatest amount however, was gathered around the high tower which by the looks of it could only hide a monster of some sort.

A monster, she wasn't, not yet, but Vaenya's imprisonment did change and so had she. There were guards positioned all along the wall outside her cell. Two on every level of the tower. Spears had been attached outside her windows to keep the ravens away. Inside, Vaenya's cell had another layer of bars added to them to cease even the slightest glimpse of freedom.

She was lying on a bench inside her cage, cloaked in the shadow of the corner when the guard entered. Chains rattled with her every movement which now restricted her from both sides of the wall. Telling by the amount of blood on the walls and floor surrounding her, it might be for a reason. Carrying a plate with a loaf of old bread and some water, the guard approached her, carefully placing the plate three feet away from her cage. Raising his sword to slide the plate over the last few meters.

"Come on, I don't bite," Vaenya whispered from the darkness. "It's a promise this time."

It wasn't her voice that sounded different, it was her heart. It was dark and it had lost touch with the person it once belonged to. Her rattling chains shook the place into immediate silence. All eyes froze when she emerged from the shadows. She had aged, probably more than she would have if she'd still had a life to live for. But her stunning features of that of a true Targaryen remained underneath all the rags and dirt. Her silver hair had grown messy and was dotted with dried blood. Her bones pierced from her thin shoulders and her fingers were bruised and scared from all her false attempts to forge weaponry. One would think she'd given up. But then, her violet eyes glistened from the darkness and it was in her eyes, any fool could see that she hadn't lost her fire. In fact, the dark flame that now commanded her heart had grown stronger with every passing year. None of her family ever came looking for her. No raven came to bring a message of hope. Not a single rumour or tale ever reached her to lift her spirits.

"Eat up, Bone Daughter," the guard yelled at her. "I don't have all day."

"I'm not hungry," Vaenya answered with the supremacy of a queen.

"Then you shall be hungry later and all of tomorrow," the guard answered annoyed.

"I'll get to it later," Vaenya hissed, reaching for the old bread when the guard clashed his sword into her way, almost cutting off another of her four remaining fingers.

"I've seen the damage you can do with a single shard and I don't take orders from a dead princess," he pulled back her supper with his sword. Fire rose inside those violet eyes and before the guard could even access the situation, Vaenya's foot stomped outside the bars right onto the plate. She faced the guard with a daring glance of confidence, her face now pressed tight against the bars. "Not a princess, not a queen, yet I'm the one you can't kill. You can starve me but only so far. You can hurt me but you can't make it last. So, what difference does a loaf of bread make for you? How much does it feed that tiny ego of yours by taking it from me when I will set my foot in front of your sword every time you do so?"