Untamable

Chapter 2

Off balance, Sirena....your world is off balance.... That is the quiet whisper that rouses me from my dark abyss. I groan, my head pounding. I rise, only to fall down. "What in manipulation.....?" I look back angrily at my hands. They're chained to a wall, with only a few feet of chain between my wrists and the wall. I growl.

"The Manipulator is awake now, is she?" The deep, growling voice startles me. I press my back against the cold stone wall. I summon orange energy from the air, doing my best to breath slowly, using the energy to calm my rapid heartbeat.

"Summon the Prince." The voice says again. The owner opens the door to my cell, entering the cramped space. I let red gather around my fingers again, interlocking them behind my back in case I need to attack.

The man is massive. He towers over me, and is double my width. My breath seizes, and he sneers at me. "The little freak afraid now, is she?" He runs his icy fingers down my cheek and I shudder, the action pinning my hands behind me.

"Get the hell off her, Theo." The familiar arrogant voice of Prince Linden penetrates my fog. Theo steps away, standing and smirking at me.

The prince approaches me, getting in my face as much as my blue will let him. "So, Sirena of the Plains. I have spoken with the King.

"In two week's time, the army from the kingdom of Smiten will attack our own. You will wait with the King and myself until we sense they believe they are winning.

"At that moment you will enter the battle, dressed however the King decides, and you will obliterate the Smitean army.

"If you do so, you will be rewarded greatly. Namely, you will be given the position of the King's Army Commander, you will be rich beyond belief, and you will fight alongside Sigossa's finest ruler and his legacy until you are unfit to do so anymore.

"But, if you refuse," Linden's eyes search mine with amusement. "You will never see your precious Plain again. I will give the order to raze it, and on top of the emotional pain, I will torture your physical body so badly even the energy you draw upon even now will not be able to save you." He ends his speech and steps back. "So what will you choose, Sirena?"

I close my eyes. The Elder Tree warned me of the dangers that come with using my gift as a weapon. On the other side, if I don't, Linden would destroy my home.

Concentrating hard, reaching my mind as far as I can, I call out to my protector.

"They will destroy my home, they will destroy you if I refuse to fight for them. I do not know this path, Elder, I do not know how to answer him!"

His response is immediate and strong, without sense of fear or hesitation. "Refuse with all your might, child. They may destroy us, but if you weaponize yourself, Sirena, you will fall hundredfold to what I will fall."

I open my eyes. Linden is regarding my face with curiousity. "Well, Sirena? Will you fight?"

I lunge for him, anger and venom in my eyes and words. "I will NEVER fight for you. I will be under no one's control!" I yell, green energy flooding into my body. I break the chains easily, and I scream again. The guards pull the prince away in terror. I smile.

"No one will control me. Especially you. You will not control me, my prince, for I am untamable." With those words, I am surrendered to darkness once more.

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Some time later, and I awaken to find my entire body bound to an iron chair. "Brilliant." I huff.

"I was wondering when you would awake, Manipulator." This voice is new, and its owner comes out of the shadow.

"I'm King Ezra. I had to come and see for myself if what my son said was true: that the Manipulator he captured was as powerful and beautiful as he claimed." I get a good look at him, and to my great surprise, he looks fatherly, not like the monster I had envisioned earlier.