Red Eyes - PruCan

Open Eyes.

(Hi! Writer's note: a dictionary has been provided at the bottom so you can see the meanings behind the names used! Thanks for reading!)

          Madeline groaned, slowly lifting her head up off of the cold stone floor, the stinging of the rope burns on her wrists stirring her from her half asleep, half awake state. She sat up as best she could and glanced around her entrapment, her blurry vision not revealing much to her bleary eyes. She was surprised they'd actually kept her glasses on in the struggle, her vision would have been much worse without them. Slowly an almost white figure on the other side of the room came into clear enough focus for her to make out. It was Julia, she lay crumpled in her cell, all bloody and bruised on the cold dirt floor. Madeline gasped, not remembering what exactly had happened to her. She was almost sure she hadn't been that badly bloodied last she'd seen her. It had only been a few hours ago.

         "J-Julia!" She called in a half whispering yell, trying to stir the wolf from her sleep. Julia groaned in pain and peered over at Madeline, her usually shining eyes dulled with pain, one of them swelled shut.

           "W-What happened to you..?" She murmured, horrified at the state of her. Julia sat up slowly, the cuff around her ankle clanking slightly at the shifting of her injured legs. She sighed, glancing at Madeline with a saddened expression, shaking slightly from the effort to hold herself up.

            "I-I begged them to beat me...I-Instead of hurting you." She huffed out, not able to hold herself up much longer before collapsing to the ground again with a grunt. Madeline gasped, pulling against the ropes on her wrist, trying her best to break them. It was then that she noticed a small shard of wood on the ground outside of her cell, giving her an idea. She reached out and grabbed the extra sharp splinter of wood and grasped it tightly, a small trickle of blood cascading down her frail wrists as she began to saw at her binds. She heard a door open and quickly hid the small fractal in her palms. The bulky boy wandered up to Julia's cell, pulling out a key and unlocking the door.

         "Come on, get up you lazy mutt." He spat, unlocking Julia's binds and jerking her up off the ground. Julia didn't protest as she was leaned on the cage wall for a moment before being dragged out of the cell by her arm. She was pulled away, out of the door and out of sight. Madeline didn't know what to do. She jumped up and looked around frantically for a quicker way out. It was then that she spotted a maid in the corner, the girl seemed to be carrying some keys but she wasn't doing her job. The girl was looking around and trying to seem busy as she slowly was making her way to the cell.

          "Please! Miss! You have to help me. Julia is in trouble and I really have to go and help her." Madeline begged softly, giving the girl what she hoped was a convincingly pleading look. The maid shushed her, looking around a few times before leaning in close, whispering just loud enough for Maddie to hear.

         "I'm here to get you out." Her eyes glowed a brilliant blue for a moment and Madeline gasped,

          "Y-Your a..." The woman cut her off, holding up her hand silently to shush her. She took her keys and unlocked the door, retrieving a small knife from her dress pocket and cutting Madeline's binds from her hands. She turned and rushed on near silent feet out of the cell, retrieving a cloak from the nearby coat rack and wrapping it about the small girl's shoulders, pulling the hood up over her head.

         "Stay close to me and be quiet. I know where they took Julia but I won't be able to free her if we are caught. I'm going to sneak you to my mother at the Inn and you'll stay with her until I can bring Julia to you. Once I've gotten her back to you we'll ride into the woods. I have a cabin there with my husband and our children, we'll be much safer there." She pushed the hood over Madeline's eyes and grabbed her hand, leading her swiftly out the door.