Caelestis

Chapter 37

Chapter 37: I Didn't Know it Could Get Any Worse

I sat in the cell with Link at my side. He looked at me and grinned. His teeth were a bit yellow but were all in his head, surprisingly. We talked about the people of Caelestis for a while and the discussion went on to the Gramores.

"...they are real dumb creatures," Link snuffed. I could see where he was coming from. I hadn't ever seen one up close until I came to the fort. They were ugly. And dumb. One of them, the one guarding the door of the cell, had what looked like warts all over his face, arms, and stomach.

The Gramores usually wore brown, leather loin cloths and vests. Some of them were greenish brown and others were black just a pale brown. When they got mad, their eyes would turn a deadly red color. They had long, scaly fingers and thick, bony heads. There were usually four horns atop their heads but I had seen Gramores with more than that.

I nodded to Link and smiled, "I agree with you a hundred percent."

Link laughed, "Of course, they could always look a little better too, you know."

"Definitely!" I pulled my legs up to my chest and wrapped my hands around them. Looking at my new-found friend, I gulped. I had been at the castle for at least four days. Every day, Lord Ragus questioned me about the sword he called Ainrian and every day, I would deny it.

"How much longer do you think I'll be here, Link?" I gulped again.

"I don' rightly know, Princess," Link shuffled to a more comfortable position and looked at his feet. I heard noises coming from outside of the cell and stood up. Link copied. A Gramore opened the door and nodded to me. My daily questionings. It got old after a while. I sighed and walked out of the cell. The Gramore took my arm and shoved me toward the staircase.

* § *

"So," Lord Ragus eyed me carefully, "you deny you have the sword, yet you knew my dragon was after it. How then, Princess, do you not just give it to me?"

"Oh I guess I should just give you everything you want, eh? There is this quality I have that's called loyalty. Not that you would know anything about that." I had been waiting to get that off my chest for a long time. Lord Ragus looked at his guards as they leaped forward to teach me a lesson. Immediately, they backed down and Ragus drew his dagger.

"Take it back, Princess," Ragus ordered.

"Never," I glared at him so hard, my head started to hurt. Ragus laughed. In one fluid movement, he raised his hand while holding the dagger and brought it down on my forehead. The butt of it crushed through the skin on my head and I fell to the floor. The pain surged through my body. Up and down it flew through and it felt like my brain would burst out of my skull. I didn't give Ragus the pleasure of seeing me cry out and kept as quiet as I could. I put my hand over my head and then took it back off. Blood dripped off of my fingers and I could feel it running down the side of my head.

"Now who's the lower one?" Ragus looked at me and smiled. It wasn't a pleasant smile and it made shivers run down my back. "Get this girl out of my sight." A Gramore ripped me up off the ground and pulled me toward the cell. My wrists pounded on the hard, stone floor and I let myself fall on my stomach. The door slammed shut and Link put his hand on my head.

"Are you 'k, Princess?" he asked gently. He shuffled to his corner and came back with a bowl of water and a dingy looking rag. He dipped it into the bowl and placed it on the cut. I sucked in my breath and tried as hard as I could to keep from crying. It was the worst physical pain I had had in a long time except for the dagger in my shoulder. "The cut's deep but I think it'll be fine." Link's gentle hand stroked my hair and calmed me.