The Rebel (#Wattys2016)

38. Is that the Pee Bucket?

Sorry this update came kinda late, school's got me drowning in stress. Hope you enjoy it!

Skander was riding his horse, Blacksword. He was at his family's farm house, where he could ride his black horse all he wanted and camp out in the smaller house at the edge of the woods and not see his father for days. Blacksword was the fastest purebred they owned, and his walk was perfect, he raised his hooves high, and so Skander barely felt the animal's jumps as it raced through the clearing. Skander stopped him, and stared at his family's mansion sitting on top of the hill. He liked to watch it from far away, where he couldn't listen to his father's grumblings and to his mother's attempts to cheer him up. He didn't remember how his father punished him, either.

"Enjoying the view?" A girl's voice said from behind.

Skander turned to see Adeen, wearing a white dress that suited her, riding a white horse. She smiled and her eyes were slightly closed because of the sun, and as a breeze ruffled her loose brown hair, Skander smiled as well.

"All of it."

He grinned as she got closer, until their knees bumped. Adeen didn't hesitate before leaning in and grabbing the collar of Skander's black shirt. She smiled mischievously.

"Follow me down, Your Majesty." She whispered.

Skander opened his mouth to ask her where 'down' was when she let go of her horse's reins and fell off it. But she clutched Skander's shirt, causing him to fall with her. Skander put out his hands and closed his eyes in anticipation to the ground, but they never reached it. They kept falling, falling, falling until Skander opened his eyes. Darkness met him, and wind blew on his face, screaming into his ears. Confused, he looked at Adeen, who was laughing, her eyes closed.

Skander opened his mouth to ask her what was going on when suddenly a light illuminated them from below. He looked down in time for the light to consume him, the white causing him to close his eyes in an attempt to protect them.

The wind stopped, and so did the feeling of falling, replaced by the feeling of silk sheets underneath Skander's body and the bass of a faraway song. When Skander opened his eyes, he was lying on his bed, kissing Adeen. She sat on his lap, both her hands going through his hair. Skander, confused, pulled back. Adeen looked down at her hands.

"What's wrong, Skander?" Her voice was low and small.

"I-." Skander looked at her, then around. His room was perfectly clean and organized, his usual piles of books on his desk and world maps hung on his walls. "I can't remember how I got here."

Adeen smiled and leaned in, changing course at the last second and burying her face in Skander's neck, breathing him in.

"Does it matter?" She asked into it, her voice tingling Skander's skin. "All that matters is that you're here." She pulled back, her eyes closed. She smiled. "With me."

Just then, Adeen opened her eyes. Skander pressed his back against his wall, his eyes open wide. All he could listen now was the steady drumming of his heart, syncing with the bass line of the far away song.

Adeen's eyes were red.

Skander opened his mouth in a silent scream. Adeen smiled and pressed a finger against his lips.

"Don't make a sound, Skander." She took back her hand and dug both her hands into his sheets. When she pulled them out, two knives glistened in her hands. "This won't hurt one bit."

She grinned and pressed them against Skander's neck. He wanted to kick her off him, to run away and never look back. But this was Adeen, and if he did kick her off, he might hurt her. His own words sounded in his head: "I will do anything but destroy you." So he only craned his neck in a feeble attempt to keep Adeen's knives away from his neck. She giggled and pressed them, the cold metal making Skander's heart beat faster.

With no warning, Adeen pulled them both back and, swifter than any soldier Skander had ever seen, began making small cuts all over his exposed chest. Each cut was deeper, and Skander screamed in agony.

"Keep him still." A new voice said, but it sounded far away.

Skander screamed again and he felt his legs kick out. He twisted in pain and felt hands at his wrists.

"I said keep him still, Jasper."

"I'm doing everything I can."

At the sound of his brother's voice, he finally stopped twisting in pain. Skander opened his eyes and blinked away the tears that puddled in them. He first saw a white light, and then his brother's face.

"Skander? Can you hear me?"

Skander screamed again in pain, but nodded.

"Okay, good." His brother looked at someone in front of him and nodded. "We're cleaning your wounds, Skander. It hurts, but we need to. They might get infected otherwise."

Somebody cursed under his breath to Skander's left, and he recognized the voice as his Captain of the Guard and friend's, Chraisten.

"Shit, Jasper. They shot him in the leg."

So that's why Skander's leg was on fire. Skander had been shot once before, but he'd been close to the infirmary and the doctors had cured him in no time. Skander remembered he was at the royal dungeons, caged with his friends.

"I need to get the bullet out, otherwise it won't heal."

"How will you take it out?"

"I don't know..." The Captain of the Guard shook his head. "Normally I'd use a knife but I don't have one. I need something sharp and long."

"Sounds like the description of something we don't have." Jasper said and followed the useless remark with a long chain of curses. "I think I know what we can use."

"What?" Chraisten asked at Jasper.

Jasper left Skander's vision, and the Prince fought rising panic he wouldn't come back. But he did after some moments, a bucket in hand. Jasper took off the metal handle and straightened the cord. He gave it to Chraisten.

"Shit, Jasper. Is that the pee bucket?"

"It's the water bucket. What do you think I am, some kind of unhygienic freak who doesn't know how easily a wound gets infected?"

Chraisten nodded and turned to Skander. The edges of his face were blurry thanks to the white light behind him.

"This will hurt, Skander. But we need to get the bullet out." He looked up at Jasper. "Hold him down."

Jasper sat on Skander's chest gingerly, pressing his legs down with his hands and pressing his wounded brother's hands between Skander's chest and Jasper's butt. Skander felt two fingers, cold and wet, touching the skin around his bullet wound on his lower left leg. He felt the metal tip pressed against the healthy skin and heard his friend mutter his apologies. Then, fire consumed him as the Captain of the Guard dug his makeshift tool into Skander's wound, creeping up from his leg up to his chest and to his head.

Skander screamed and, as the flames consumed him, passed out.

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Stay awesome, Crista!