Fire's Grace (Being Edited)

Chapter 23

Two meals a day are brought to us. Nothing fancy, just bread, dry meat and water. Same thing every day. They come at the same time every day. At least three days have passed since I woke up from being knocked unconscious after the fight.. The Captain has only visit us once in that time period, to make sure we were still alive. The three of us have not talked at all. I have a constant feeling of being watched. Nothing else exciting has happened.

A click from the door sounds. It's too early for the next meal. I look at Cal and he looks just as confused as I feel. Ben sits in his corner like always, unchanging to the world around him. It all becomes clear the moment the person on the other side walks in. The Captain of the guard.

I feel all the muscles in my body tighten, preparing to attack at a moments notice. I look down at my hands and find that they are tightly clenched. My knuckles are white as bone. The Captain stands just out of reach, again. He stands there just watching us, not moving at all. I can tell that he is afraid of what will happen if he gets to close. He thinks he can't fight me off. I am still going to try as soon as that door opens.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cal move closer to me. His hand wraps around my arm, once again holding me in place so no one gets hurt. He knows I want to fight the captain. I am sure Cal saw my body tighten based on how hard he is trying not to let me get up. I don't blame him. As evil as the man standing in front of me is, he is the only family Cal has left. And I know that Cal doesn't want there to be anything happen to me. I can tell he cares about me, and I know that I don't want to ruin that. I force myself to relax.

After a moment the Captain speaks. "Still here I see. No attempts to escape?"

"What do you want uncle?" Cal's voice is hoarse from not speaking in a while.

"No one has told you? Shame. It's time to go, for all of you."

Ben's head lifts slightly as if he is shocked. I feel myself go pale. Cal grows tense and releases my arm. Now it is my turn to grab and hold him. He fights me a little as he tries to stand. I tighten my grip on him to hold him still.

"Don't want to leave? I thought you would be eager to leave."

"Tell us where you are taking us."

"Nowhere."

"But you just said-"

"I know what I said!" The Captain takes a deep breath before continuing. "I am not taking you anywhere. Some of the others are taking you elsewhere."

"Where are they taking us?" Cal repeats.

"That you have to find out for yourself." The Captain smiles slightly, as if he just made a joke that only he understands.

"Why won't you tell us?"

"What would be the fun in that?"

Cal glares at him with hatred. The Captain turns.

"You! Boy!" He yells at Ben.

"What?" Ben snaps. The rest of the conversation is lost to my ears.

I drown out the noise and conversations with my own thoughts. We are leaving? Where are we going? What is going to happen to us? I am eventually pulled out of my thoughts with Cal grabs me and points to Ben's cell. I look up and see the Captain clenching the bars of Ben's cell.

"Tell me now!" The Captain yells.

"I told you no." My brother says cooly, never yelling or looking up at the captain.

"I will ask one more time. Now, where is your weapon?"

Weapon?

"I told you I will not tell you."

The Captain turns quickly, heading back towards the door he entered from. He opens it and there are at least three guards on the other side.

"Get her brother ready first."

"Sir, what about-" The door cuts the speaking guard off so I can not hear the rest of what he had to say.

After a moment of nothing happening, the guards I say outside the door walk in. They head to Ben's cell and open it. All of the guards walk in. Two of them grab Ben's arms and pull them behind his back. The guards pull him to his feet. He fights the guards, trying to break free from their grip. The guards holding Ben's arms twist his arms so that he yelps in pain. Ben stops trying to fight the guards after that. One of the guards suddenly wields a sword and stands just in front of Ben. The other two guards move to Ben and bind his hands the way they bonded mine when they first captured me. The first two guards let go of Ben, but they keep a watchful eye on him as they back up. Ben starts fighting again. The guard holding the sword moves forward and hits Ben on his head. He instantly falls to the ground and doesn't move.