Trip To The Inferno [OLD VERSION]

Part 19

The Herbalist stretched her arms towards me and held the bowl before me. I looked at the bowl and saw crimson red liquid that made my stomach queasy. My eyes locked with the Herbalist and hatred swelled in me. She was the one who gave Tlaloc the knife to kill Jack. She was the one who disrespected him and mutilated his corpse. I don't know where the surge of confidence came from, but I knew that I won't do what she wants me. What both Tlaloc and her wants. They can act all friendly, but I saw what they did, I knew that they were behind Kayle's death one way or another.

The Herbalist motioned to the bowl and brought it closer, but in swift motion it was knocked on the ground. The liquid splattered across the soil, shining angrily in candle light and killing a candle by the moon symbol in the process. My guts squeezed painfully, telling me that it was a really bad idea, but I ignored it. I was angry at her, hurt and just wanted to go home.

The Herbalist looked at me with a little bit of shock, surprised by my sudden action, and then looked at the cold candle. Her face turned back into a blank expression as she turned around and fetched another bowl with the same liquid. This time she didn't give it to me, but stepped inside the circle instead. Suddenly, I saw her move and in a second I was brought to my knees. Mild pain went through them as they hit hard soil. I felt the woman grab my head and it was brought up, bowl shoved between my teeth. Everything went so quickly that I didn't even managed to defend myself until I felt the liquid flood my mouth.

Thick and irony liquid.

My eyes went wide as my tongue tasted blood. My hands grabbed the woman's arm that held the bowl and I tried to push it away, but her grip was too strong. Too strong for an elder.

I felt blood trickle down from the sides of my mouth as I refused to swallow, but it filled my mouth quickly, cutting air circulation through it. With every second I felt my throat to burn more and more as I held against my automatic swallow reflex. The Herbalist tilted my head back and practically showed half the bowl into my mouth. This sudden movement caused me gasp and swallow the blood at the same time, resulting in a small portion of the blood getting in my lungs. The woman finally let me shove the bowl away as I went into a fit of cough, trying to get disgusting liquid out of my air ventilation system.

'There was no need to fight' the woman said and I looked at her surprised, still coughing a little.

'What?' I blurred and froze as my numb tongue spoke words I have never used in my life. A smile appeared on the Herbalist's face, but I didn't like it.

'I gave you Gift Of Tongues, so you could understand us' she said, obviously amused by my shock and confusion. Anger bubbled in me and I frowned at the woman.

'I don't n-need your gift' I replied, stuttering a bit from unused words.

'Then spit it out' she said mockingly and I frowned. Spit it out?

'As long as you have that blood in you, you will understand us, but it's not like you can force yourself to spit everything out' she said, sly smile on her face.

I had to throw up in order to empty the blood out of my system and she thinks I can't. Memories of my days when I was.... unhappy... with my body came to me and I felt my hands shaking. Looking back, I was so stupid to do it, but it can help me now. I just hopped that I won't get used to it again.

'Give me t-the bucket and I'll do it' I said and she rose her brows at me, but did it non the less. The woden bucket clanked before me as the Herbalist threw it to me as if I was a dog, but I ignored it. With shaky hands I pulled it to me and inhaled deeply.

Then shoved two fingers down my throat.

From the corner of my eyes I saw Herbalist's eyes widen in shock, clearly not expecting this. I felt my stomach move as a bile came up and I threw up, both my breakfast and the blood, mixed together.

I pushed the bucket away from me and gasped, feeling weak. My stomach felt a little bit better, but my guts were stabbing me from inside, telling me that I was screwing up more and more. The woman said something, looking shaken for some reason, and I sighed in relief, not understanding a word she said.

But then she growled.

My eyes flew to her and widen in shock as she looked at me with anger.

'Tlaloc!' She barked angrily and in a second I felt strong arms hug my shoulders from behind, locking me in place and from moving my arms. My breathing increased as fear swelled in me.

I watched the Herbalist go to one of the boxed and digging in, she pulled something out of it. Walking back to the table she slamed the thing and moved so I could see it.

It was Jack's severed head.

I whimpered as I stared at Jack's lifeless eyes. His blonde hair was dirty and in a mess while his expression was frozen in pain. His skin was pale and full with dirt, blood dripped from the tattered hole where his neck was supposed to be. Parts of skin dangled at the edges of his neck, drenched in blood, indicating that his head was ripped off.

The Herbalist opened Jack's mouth and pushed her hand into it. After some fiddling she pulled out his tongue and in one motion ripped it out of his mouth. I felt myself gag as another bile was raising up, tears streaming down my cheeks, but I couldn't look away. It was as if my eyes were stuck and couldn't move.

The woman cut the tongue in half and began murmuring something. She began doing weird gestures as she rose one part of the tongue and threw it in a bowl, a splashing sound resonating through the tent. She chanted some more and then pulling the severed part of the tongue, turned to me.

My breathing increased as she walked to me, blood dripping from her hand where the tongue was. I tried to move away from her, but Tlaloc's grip only tightened around my shoulders. The Herbalist smirked with a sadistic smile and I began trashing around.

She pinned my legs down with her own and grabbed my hair, pulling it back. That didn't stop me from trashing around, crying more and more. She was speaking something in a low voice and I saw her bring the bloody tongue to me.

'NO!' I screamed and turned my head away from her hand, my scalp painfully burning in the process.

The Herbalist growled and barked at me as she pulled my hair even more and I screamed again, this time from pain she was inflicting. Using this moment she shoved the tongue into my mouth and I instantly began choking, my vision blurred from tears. I continued trashing around, trying to spit the sludgy tongue out of my mouth, but the woman shoved it deeper. My jaws were screaming in pain, my scalp was burning, but it didn't faze the woman one bit.

I felt the thick flesh of the tongue wiggle in my mouth, followed by iron taste from blood. The slimy combination, like a worm, slowly slid further down my throat until my reflexes activated...

....and I swallowed it.