Fire's Grace (Being Edited)

Chapter 24

"Ben!"

"Oh shut up!" One of the guards yells at me. "You're next anyways. Now you know what happens when you screw around with us. Watch them."

One of the guards nods and walks towards us. He stands just outside of reach, just like them captain. The guard who yelled at me leaves the room for a moment. When he comes back in, he has three more guards accompanying him. They all move towards mine and Cal's cell. One of the guards opens the door. The three additional guards move towards Cal. The pull him up like they did to Ben. This time, however, they pin Cal against the wall.

"Stay there boy." All three guards grab their swords and point them towards Cal.

One guard stands at the door like before, a sword in hand pointed at me. A different guard stands just outside the door, hand on his sword. The two guards that held Ben move towards me. They yank my arms behind me, more forcefully than necessary. I yelp in pain. The remaining guard moves towards me with a rope in hand. That is when I act.

I jump up and kick the guards behind me. They double over in pain but quickly recover. Three of the guards move to restrain me again. I call on fire and just hold it. All the guards stop advancing towards me. I look over at Cal. All the joy I had quickly fades. One of the guards holds Cal by the neck. He forces Cal to show his neck. To leave his neck unprotected. The other guard holds a sword to Cal's neck threatening me to surrender.

"Surrender and no one gets hurt. The choice, however, is yours to make." The guard with the sword pointed at Cal's throat says.

I look around me. All the guards are reaching for swords. Ben is still unconscious in his cell. Cal's eyes hold defiance for the people he used to work with. I struggle to make a decision, but I do. I care about Cal to much to see him hurt. I let the fire die then sink to my knees. The guards will not fight me today.

I made the right choice. Cal is released. The guards back down and return to what they were doing. I let them. I can't let anyone else get hurt because of me. I won't let anyone else get hurt. Not Cal, not Ben, not anyone.

The guards pull me to my knees so that I can't attack them again. They bind my hands behind my back. Then it is Cal's turn. The guards that were blocking him move over to me. They don't force me to the wall like they did to Cal. The guards just let me stay where I am. Cal doesn't fight them like I did, like Ben did. The spark that I saw in Cal's eyes vanishes when the guards shut the cell door behind them. The guards even move over to my brother's door and close it. I think it was because they don't want him to wake up and try to run. That was the last I saw of those guards.

With difficulty, Cal stands up and walks to me. Then sits right next to me.

"Emma, are you going to be okay?"

"I think so."

"You made the right choice. Those guards would have made sure I died. You probably saved your brother's life also."

"Yeah."

A heavy silence falls over us.

I see movement out of the corner of my eye. I look up just enough to see what moved. Ben is sitting against a wall. He appears to be in pain from when that guard hit him. Ben looks over at us. Now I know he is in more pain than he is letting on. He winces every time he moves his head.

"Emma," Cal whispers in my ear, "the Captain is going to be here soon. He has most likely heard of your attack."

"I know."

"Do you have a plan on what you are going to do?"

"No."

After a moment the Captain walks into our little prison. He even opens the cell door to come in. He grabs my neck and pulls me to my feet. I am standing on my toes just to be able to breathe a little bit. Cal tries to help me, but the Captain kicks him in the chest. Cal falls and struggles to breathe.

"You attacked my guards. Do you have anything to say?" I choose to stay silent. "I thought so."

The Captain squeezes my neck tighter than he already was. I see spots forming in my vision. Suddenly I am on the floor gasping for air. There is a pain in my head from where I hit it when I fell. The Captain storms towards my brother's cell. He slams my cell door behind him. He opens Ben's cell and drags him out. He drops Ben right in front of my cell. The Captain grabs Ben's hair and forces him to look at me.

"Say something Emma or your poor brother here will be punished for you."

I am at a loss of words for a moment. The Captain reels back his hand to strike Ben. Ben flinches, preparing himself for the blow. I start crying in fear for my brother. "No! Don't hurt him. Please don't hurt him."

The Captain stops his hand midair. "And why should I not hurt him, Emma?"

"He did nothing wrong. It was me who attacked your guards. Not him."

The Captain smiles satisfied. "And why did you attack them? You knew it was pointless trying to escape, no?"

"It was because I wanted to help my brother. That is all."

The Captain releases Ben onto the hard ground. Ben scurries away from the captain. "Don't make that mistake again Emma. And if you do, one of your- companions let's say- will pay for it."

The Captain walks towards Ben. Ben cowers. The Captain grabs Ben's hands and drags him back to his cell where the door is shut behind them. I look over at Cal, who has now recovered from his blow to the chest. I hear the big door leading to the outdoors close. Tears are still falling down my face. Ben is visibly shaking in his cell from his encounter. Who can blame him? He could have been really hurt because of me. I look back over to Cal.

"I don't know what to do, Cal." I manage to finally choke out.

Cal moves over to me. "I know Emma. I know. There is nothing we can do."

"Emma." Ben calls out to me.

I wipe the tears falling down my face. "Yeah?"

"You don't know what the Captain is capable of. Thank you for doing that for me."

"There is nothing to thank me for. I am the one who got you in that mess in the first place."

"I know. But you made amends. You fixed what was messed up. That is what I am thanking you. You fixed your mistakes."

We are all silent. No one moves or speaks. I notice Ben has stopped shaking. Cal has continued trying to comfort me with his gentle movements. I have stopped crying. I know none of us are going to forget that experience. We can try to forget but we won't be able to.

We trust people because they give us hope. I don't think I can trust myself right now. I have no hope left to give. I have no will to receive hope anymore. I am just wanting no one to try to bring hope back to me right now. I don't think I would be able to handle it. I don't want to try anymore. I just want to leave all my problems behind and restart. Just start life over again.