MERCY

Chapter 1

Victoria

A quiet buzz hummed in the background as I let my large, piercing green eyes roam over the workers, and tightly clenched my slender fingers upon my pendant, absently fingering the delicate designs. Unknown fury built inside of my soul, feasting on my emotions, and snapping, I turned and fluidly snapped the neck of the nearest slave with my strong fingers. Still on a rush of high, I wanted the exhilarating feel of power, and control. While the girl under my arms squirmed and screamed in a horror filled wail, I hooked my nails into the cave of her eyes and dragged them downward, ripping the skin and causing blood to leak out, flowing down her anguished face.

I feel the scorning gaze of others as I hold her, causing me to fume in fury. How dare they watch! Spinning around, I icily say to the guards, "Shoot them. Shoot them all."

Screams of terror immediately followed, and bodies dropped like stones. Woman and men dragged their wounded bodies up to me and tugged on my dress, begging, begging for a chance.

I grinned leisurely, and hummed a short melody my mother had always sung to me. Mum. My breath caught in my throat for a second, and I squinted through my thick lashes.

I will avenge her.

*Twenty years earlier.

I curled up in a fetus position, breathing shallowly and sweating hard as the cold wooden floor grazed my bare skin. Mother had explained to me earlier, telling me to be still, not to move from my dark, cramped position until someone knocked thrice, or if someone did discover me tell everything I needed to stay safe. She dropped a locket in my palm and told me to go to a man named Jeremiah, then quickly whispered in her soft, yet strong voice, "Never give up. Our time will come. We will rise. I love you Ria."  I heard agonizing sobs above me, and pounding footsteps that seemed to indent the wood with every step. Mum. I wanted to go see, to make sure she was alright. Yet, my heart knew something awful was going on, as I heard my mum's strong but pleading cries for bargain, a deafening slap, and the heavy boots. I didn't move, but I felt my heart pounding rapidly, screaming silently. I forced my eyes shut, breathing hard, hoping for an end, and wishing for an impossible change.

Waking up a while later, I blinked the sleep out of my eyes while attempting to stretch my malnourished body. Hunger was the least of my worries as the memories flood back. Tempted to check above but remembering my mother's words, I lay there, still as a doll.

I heard three gentle raps on the floorboards above. My heart raced in hope, was mum finally back from the unidentifiable voices? "Who is it?" I whispered, my throat catching from the dryness. It seemed outrageous, but a glimmer of hope swooned in me as I waited for an answer. Soon after, a fist slammed through the boards, bringing shards of wood raining down on my face. In shock, I recoiled away from the boy who glanced down at me urgently, yet in a caring manner. "Come on now, we must go quickly Victoria." Glancing at his face, searching for a truth, I gritted out, "Where's my mum?" Before he could answer, a deafening sound shakes me, as the ground around me gives in and a darkness shrouds my vision. The last thing I feel are tears streaming down my dirt clod face and a hand firmly grasping my own as his body and the rest of the floorboards tumble down.

I wake up in a dark room lit by a single candle and many, many large men with worried crinkles on their faces. Frightened, I shot up from the dingy blanket I was laying upon, causing my head to slightly sway and dizzy dots filled my vision. "W-what's going on?"

A young man, hardly just past adolescence, was looking between a crack in the wooden shelter we were in, and gestured for me to be quiet.

Then, a middle-aged lady with soft auburn hair tittered by with a small canteen of water that she raised to my lips. I stared at her worn face, with question wandering through my head that seemed to grow as time went on. She smiled at me, a comforting smile amongst the midst of questions, and her eyes, they twinkled as if knowing what was next.

Catching me off guard, she leaned forward slowly and slowly whispered, "And with you, my dear, our uprising shall begin."