Bygones

~{Chapter 7}~

~
Flashback continues

"Get up!", someone said.
I rolled over and groaned sleepily. Someone pulled me to my feet and pushed me out of the cave. I was forced to kneel down before the woman with dirty blonde hair. It was morning time; the air fresh and sweet, filled my lungs. The woman's powerful voice interrupted, "Today you will be choosing your torture of choice."
I gave her a confusing look.
"We will give you a choice," she continued, "This or this". She held up a whip in one hand and a branding iron in the other. I just kept quiet and stared coldly at her.
"Fine, we'll do both", she snickered. The guards roughly pulled me to my feet and lead me to a place near a fire pit with the woman following behind us. They tied me to the same rock from when I was caught three days ago. I looked over to the woman and saw her heating up the iron. As she walked over to me, I closed my eyes and braces myself. At first, the branding iron felt cold on my lower back, but seconds later it really burned.
I let out a screeching scream that I was sure if someone was out there, they could hear me.
She dug the iron deeper into my skin. Then she ripped it off and yelled, "WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT FROM US?! WHY DID YOUR PEOPLE SEND YOU HERE? TO SPY ON US? ELIMINATE US?"
I panted, "I-I'm alone. No one is with me... My people... Didn't send anyone."
"She's lying. Bring it to me.", she ordered a guard. He handed her a rope. She wrapped one end a couple times around her hand and lit the other end on fire; she did all of this without breaking her stare on me.

My entire back was numb from the pain. I couldn't feel her last few whips. My head felt as if it gain a hundred pounds heavier. I could barley lift it up.
"We'll start again tomorrow, at dawn.", the woman said as she wiped her hand on a piece of cloth a guard had handed her.
A bulky man walked towards me to take me away, but another guard with tattoos stopped him. Instead the tattooed one came and pulled me roughly. As we headed off into the trees, he suddenly stopped pulling me. I thought he was going to slice my head off right there and then, but instead he pick me up. I was shocked that this happened.
"Maybe he's going to throw me off a cliff. Or maybe he's going to burn me alive.", I thought.
He walked for about half a mile, still carrying me, before we reached a cave entrance. He set me down gently and started towards the entrance.
"If your going to kill me, just do it. Don't drag it out. Even I'm impatient.", I called out to him. He whirled around and ran up to me. His face was so closed to mine that I could see his pupil change. He held up one finger to his lips.
"What?", I whispered to him, "there's no one here."
He just eyed me and continued his way to the entrance. I turned my head to the right and heard the faint sound of the flow of the river. As soon as I saw the chance to escape, I ran towards the river sound. Not long after I started running I heard someone running after me. I quickly glanced back to see the tattooed guard running after me. My foot got caught on a rope trap. I ended up hanging from a tree from my ankle. The tattoo guard caught up to me and wasted no time getting me down. I started flailing at him and tried to punch him, but he ignored me and cut me down. I hit the ground on my back and the pain was excruciating. I let out a piercing scream. He covered my mouth and pinned me down.
"Shh!", he commanded me.
"Mm mm mm mmhmm!", I tried to say.
"What?!", he asked as he took his hand off my mouth.
"There's no one here!", I whisper-yelled.
"There are people everywhere.", he said quietly as he picked me up again. This time he flung me over his shoulder.
"Oof! Easy! I'm not some kind of animal you can flail around.", I scolded him.
He didn't put me down until we got into the cave.
"So you live here?", I asked. There was a fire pit in the middle, a pile of animal fur for a bed, torches all around, bottles and bowls of herbs, and drawings on the wall. He just ignored me and started a fire. After about a few minutes, he cut a piece of meat, stuck it on a stick, and handed it to me.
"Thanks."
He just nodded. When we finished eating, I asked him, "Why are you so nice to me? Is this some kind of trick? To get me comfortable and then just drag me outside and slaughter me?"
He just stared at me with disbelief.
"What? Have you seen what your people do to things?"
Again, he was quiet, but not for long this time. A few minuets later he said,"Why did you come down here?"
"So he talks," I teased, "I came down here ten years ago hoping to find a better life for me and my baby girl. I was... instilled by a man. And I was underage. So it was either both of us dying by force or die trying to find a future."
"You both found a future."
"Yeah well um.. not for long for her. She...", I sighed, "She died in a fire. I couldn't get her out in time and I just..."
He looked at me, but he had no expression.
"I can help you find her."
"What.. What are you talking about?"
"I know she's not dead. She alive somewhere and we are going to find her."
"How do you-"
"I've been watching over her."
"How is she?", I asked eagerly.
"She is do fine. I dropped some herbs for her. She's a little boney, but she's not hurt."
I sighed in relief.
"How do I get out of here?"
"It's going to take me awhile. Anya's orders are very strict. They're are constantly watchers in the trees. But in the mean time you cannot let anyone know I'm helping you. If they do find out, we'll loose our heads."
"So I just go along with whatever they do to me."
"Yes. Leyla is a lucky one to have a mother who loves her very much."
I was surprised that he knew her name.
"Ho-how do you know her name..."
"Nine years ago, I helped a girl bring a life into this world."
"She's lucky she had your help. I've been in the same exact situation. I gave birth to Leyla nine years ago, but someone was there to help. All I remember was the pain and the tattoos the man had. But I still don't understand how you..." I stopped in mid-sentence, realizing something.
"You're the one," I said in disbelief, "You the man with the tattoos. You saved my life. That's how you know!"
He gave me some time to let everything sink in.
"I don't know how to repay you except to say thank you."
"You don't need to repay me. You would've died if I weren't there."
"Thank you", I smiled at him. He nodded back.
"You need to rest. Anya isn't too happy and you need a lot of energy to keep up with her."
I got up and walked over to the other side of the cave and laid down, using a rock as my pillow. Not the ideal pillow, but at least it was something. For once, I felt safe. Safe enough that I didn't need to hold onto a weapon or a rock while I slept. As much as I tossed and turned, I couldn't sleep. There was just an itching question on the tip of my tongue. I finally asked.
"What's your name?", I called out softly. He didn't answer right away so i assumed he was sleeping.
"Lincon.", he said.
~