Undead Fate

Chapter Seven

THE FIRST MANIFESTATION

Hot, hard, rough, and dirty. It was the second night I spent inside the dungeons of the Athenicus Kingdom. That morning, a court hearing was held and I was condemned as a witch. A witch!

I absolutely hated this place! Ever since I came here, I'd been tied down, gagged, dragged, and now, for heaven's sake, unjustly trialed! How much worse could it get?

I had already removed my doctor's gown and was now close into stripping the remaining clothes that were sticking to my body like second skin. The heat inside the dungeons was excessive. With dehydration on top of my starvation, I'd be close to having heatstroke.

The evenings were no less good than the day. The heat was unceasing. I was exhausted but my anger was consuming me, making me unable to sit still. So I paced. I was livid with the unfairness of the trial. Those pricks didn't give a knack about me. I felt like I was some exotic animal perused and poked by tourists.

And that Circe! I was not the type of person who tends to be prejudiced. But I knew that Circe was up to no good, it was just how she was made...people like her. One look at her and I knew she was some power hungry shark.

My frenzied thoughts came to a halt when a distant guard announced the presence of the king and his brother, the prince. For a moment, I was frozen in midstride, my heart hammering in my chest.

This was my chance, I realized. I needed to beg for them. Make them see I was innocent.

But all amiable thoughts fled when the superimposing figure of the king came into view. He was formidable, all right. The King emanated power and authority. He defined masculinity in all senses, too. So I was absolutely out of my ever-loving mind because my sanity fled once I opened my mouth.

A long-suffering strangled scream escaped my throat.

The King, the Prince, and the guards of my cell jumped from surprise.

I leaped like some kind of feral feline in front of my visitors, my hands gripping the metal bars and rattled it with all my might. I had never been this angry in my life and I never had this urge to be violent. The guards took a step away from me but the royals held their ground though they were looking at me with caution.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" I rattled the metal bars for emphasis, my breathing ragged. "I am innocent! I have never done magic in my life but if I could I swear to God I'd smite you all from the face of this world! You have no right to hold me prisoner! You have no evidence to keep me here! NONE!" I was vaguely aware that I was baring my teeth.

Aleixandre opened his mouth to speak but I was on a roll.

"This is a total breach of my human rights, you barbaric bigots! I have the right to get myself a lawyer and witnesses, but you people condemned me of being a witch anyway. YOU UNJUST PILE OF DUNGBOMBS!"

My chest rose and fell, my nostrils flared, and then the tears broke free from my thresholds. Ugly sobs racked my body, heaved from the deepest corner of my heart.

"T-this is just so unfair, you know. It's not li-like I wanted to be he-here. I didn't choose to be here. T-then I survived that lake with no inch of an idea of how I came here, just these...these phrases echoing in my head about saving the king." Aleixandre stiffened. Heracles's interest piqued even higher.

"But e-ever since I came here all of your p-people have treated me like I am not h-human. You have no idea how weird this is for me. I am in an alien place with weird people surrounding me. But I am as human as you can get." Hot tears made white streaks in my grimy face.