Trip To The Inferno [OLD VERSION]

Part 13

As we walked towards the pedestal, my legs felt like wood. Unfortunately, it didn't stop the leader from walking me to Jack. He stopped struggling and watched us approaching and for the first time I saw fear reflect in Jack's eyes. A very bad feeling nestled inside me as blood underneath Jack glinted angrily at me. It was surprisingly fresh and my mind refused to acknowledge it as animal's blood.

We stopped at the side of Jack with statues before us. The air shifted between people, but I didn't know in what way. Murmuring spread through men and women as we took our places and the Herbalist came to us. She gave the leader an elaborate dagger made out of something black. The blade of the dagger was swirled, reminding me of a snake with carved jagged symbols on it. On the handle I was able to see moon crescent with wheat curving by the edges of the crescent made out of silver and almost making a circle around it.

People around us moved from murmuring to chanting. The chanting began getting louder and louder, people began moving to the sides until the whole field became a chanting sea of people. The Herbalist joined then and turned to us, waiting for something.

Something involving Jack and the dagger.

My breaths became shallow and my eyes went deer wide as I looked at Jack. He was looking right back at me with his eyes now full with horror.

The leader walked behind me and his arms came from the sides. He took one of my hands in his and brought the dagger to me, but before he could place it in my hand, I ripped my hand from his and brought both of them to my chest. Red warning bells rang in my head as the peaces of the situation got together.

They wanted me to kill him.

I felt the leader lean down and I felt his breath by my ear.

'Lynea' he growled my name with warning and I shivered. His voice was so damn smooth, but cold that it made me want to listen to his voice and run away at the same time. And my name with his accent sounded like a freaking magic spell.

He grabbed my hand by the wrist and pulled it away from my chest. I tried with all my strength to break free from his grip, but it was futile. He wasn't even trying.

The man placed the dagger in my palm and folded my fingers around the handle. Then my second hand was brought, ignoring my tries to let the dagger fall. He placed his own hands over mine and brought the dagger with my hands over Jack's stomach.

'No..' I whispered and for the last time tried to pull my hand away, but the man made sure for them to stay on the handle.

Without waiting the man brought the dagger down. I watched as the blade dug into Jack's body, just under the ribs, and was followed by an agonizing scream. Tears began streaming down my cheeks as I squirmed away from Jack only to be stopped by the leader's body.

'I-I'm so sorry, Jack' I cried out to him and heard a growl by my ear. The man pulled the dagger down with such force that it cut the skin and flesh like butter. Jack's screams never ended as he trashed, as much as bindings let him, from pain I couldn't imagine he was going through. Blood seeped through the wound with every move Jack made and I could see his red flesh glint in the sun's light. The air was drenched in irony scent and it made people around us begin to shout in excitement.

I watched as blood began dripping down the pedestal and with every drop, Jack's eyes dimed. He stopped struggling and his head dropped to his side, his face forever stuck in agonising pain. I couldn't stop myself from shaking as tears continued to stream down my cheeks. My vision became blurry and a whimper escaped my trembling lips.

I felt the man move his hands from mine and I instantly brought them to my chest. The only thing that was going through my mind was that I just killed my best friend.

Huge hands gripped my shoulders and I was turned around. My head automatically dropped down as I let tears continue to flow. I couldn't look at the man who forced me to kill Jack. I heard him shuffle and do something and then my head was brought up. My eyes automatically landed on the man's eyes and our gazes locked. His eyes were bright blue, almost white, and I could see excitement in them even though his face was void of any emotions.

He brought two fingers coated in Jack's blood and traced a line across my forehead. I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt disgust rile up inside me. He painted two streaks on each of my cheeks, a short one and then a long one across my jaw. All that time I was crying and shaking like a leaf with Jack's body sprawled before me in my mind.

I didn't open my eyes even when the man was done. When I felt his hand around my shoulders and I was pushed to my right, only then I opened them. With my weak like jelly legs, I let myself being lead to the platform by statues' feet. My entire body felt numb and my thoughts scattered with only Jack's murder and screams replaying in my head. Why did he die? For what?

I was pushed down to the furs and I plopped down without a fight. My eyes landed on Jack's body and went wide when I saw the Herbalist dig her hands into him. At the same time someone dropped in the corner of my eye and looking there I saw Anna on the ground fainted. She was picked up by a man and soon they disappeared behind the wall of people who were talking excitedly and full with happiness.

The man sat down next to me and leaned back on his arm behind me, making him sit around me. I felt my strand of hair being picked up by him, but I ignored him as my eyes were on the Herbalist.

She dug her hands into Jack's stomach and in one swift move rip it open. Her hands began pulling out my best friend's bloody guts out together with his liver and kidneys. I felt my light breakfast coming up real fast and I looked away. They were dissecting him and I couldn't do anything.

Suddenly, I felt the man bury his head into my neck from behind and breathe deeply in. My body instantly froze as my breaths caught themselves in my throat. His arm snaked around my waist as he sat back by my side. I looked at him with fear stabbing my chest, but he ignored it and buried his face in my neck again, this time turning me to him in the process. I felt his lips tickle my neck and that quickly changed into something sharp running across my skin, down to my shoulder. My eyes once again went wide as my hands instinctively slammed into his chest, trying to push him away. He didn't budge and I was pulled closer to him, our bodies glued together.

And then burning pain exploded in my left shoulder. I felt something sharp dig into my flesh as my entire shoulder felt like it was burned. I began screaming in pain, punching his chest and trying to make him stop whatever he was doing. He pushed me down on the fur and pinned me down with his body, locking me from any movements. My body began getting heavier and heavier as my screams turned to groans and then into deep breathing. My eyes landed on the statues that were looking down at us and the view began fading. For a moment I thought I saw both woman and man's eyes glint, but my eyelids dropped, shutting the view before my mind could register that.

People around us began howling and with that my body and mind turned off.