The Sword Bearer

Chapter 32

I was vary for the rest of the day. I stared at the door expecting Niray or Marcus to come in and check on us. Oddly enough that didn’t happen but I heard a series of strange noises from the other side of the wall. I knew Marcus was sitting there and like he said watching us to make sure we didn’t escape. After the liquid incident I wasn’t ready to trust him again. If he really was pretending he wouldn’t have done that. The taste still stuck in the back of my throat and I knew I had stomached some of the liquid. At random times I would see light flashing before my eyes one second and the next I would wake up with a slight head ache. My wrists started to feel like they were on fire and when I moved them the cuff would cut into my skin little by little. Soon small trickles of blood flowed down my sore arms and into my sleeve where they got absorbed created an array of splashes of red on my shirt. Daren looked at the red streaks on my arms with concern. I could see that his wrists were already bloodied but the cuts weren’t large enough to let a flow of blood come out. I gave him a small smile to reassure him but when he tried to smile back he failed miserably and grimaced instead. After a while the flow of blood stopped and just left a dull throbbing in my wrist. My body started to tire from the loss of blood and I slowly let my head drop down. My eyes started to drift closed before a blood-curling scream filled my ears. Forgetting my position I moved my hands to cover my ears but instead only succeeded in making my wrists even more tattered. I closed my eyes as I waited for the scream to finish. Whoever was screaming was in a lot of pain. I looked over at Daren but he didn’t seem the least bit fazed by the horrid sound. As the sound faded I hung my head in relief. I didn’t tell Daren anything because I was scared that someone else would hear even if the information meant nothing to them. After a while of staring into space I realized something that made my eyes widen. “Why did I think of this before,” I exclaimed happily. Daren looked at me surprised. I looked through the recesses of my memory for one particular one. As I remembered it I pulled it to the frontier of my mind. I whispered the words I had used to free Daren’s father but to my dismay it only made the cuffs tighter around my wrist.

 “They were forged with powers to resist anything that could destroy them,” he said staring at them grimly. I let the little thread of hope vanish as he said this. “Only the keys can open it and I knew where they are,” he stated. My ears perked up as he said this. “Where?” I asked him hardly able to keep the excitement out of my voice. “Marcus’ belt” he said, his lips forming a thin line. My heart dropped again. After Marcus’ attitude change we were never going to get him to give them to us. “Very helpful” I whispered under my breath. “Hmm” Daren said looking up at me. “Nothing” I said non-chantedly. He looked back down at the floor. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking or how he was feeling at that moment. I looked at him for a few minutes trying to puzzle out his emotions. At that moment the scream emanated in my head again. I whimpered as it chilled my spine. Daren noticed my discomfort and I could hear him calling my name softly in the background. I clenched my teeth as the scream reached a particularly high note. After that the volume of the shriek lowered slowly until it was just echoing in my ears. When it finished let myself relax. “What happened?” Daren asked me his voice cracking. My mouth opened to say something but I couldn’t. I was still in shock after being paralyzed the scream. My stomach did somersaults while I tried to calm down my racing heart. After I gained my composure I said, “The scream was so loud”. My hands were shaking in their shackles. A second later Niray burst into the room with a silver glowing key in her hand. She went to the keyhole and unlocked my hands causing me to fall on to the floor. I touched my wrists and flinched as they flared up in pain. Daren watched in horror as Niray pulled me off roughly. “Obey her” Daren’s voice said in my mind frantically. I blinked at the sudden contact. “Please” he pleaded in my head. I could hear the concern in his voice. I nodded to him and he relaxed a little. Niray still pulled me roughly. A second later I felt an urge to walk along with Niray and she dropped my hand roughly. Not knowing what to do I did what my senses told me to and followed her. Her smiled widened as I did this. I suppressed my distaste and walked next to her neutrally. My stomach grumbled again and my eyes widened. I knew what I had to do. I had to pretend to be in her control.