Dark Lady Rising

Chapter 12

          It was several hours later when the door opened again. This time, the sorceror was accompanied by a burly set of guards. He intoned some words gesturing strangely and Kellara felt the magic wash over her. Her body stiffened, freezing muscles and sinew, locking them in place. She remained conscious however, seeing everything. She fought the magic, calmly focussing strength back to each section of her body. Her fingers twitched. She would dispel the ensorcelment, but not quickly. The guards calmly undid the chains above her, hoisting her bodily from her stone seat. They carried her, the four of them, down the hall and into another room. A chair covered in chains, a table covered in the same and a number of implements of which Kellara was quite familiar, occupied this room. She had been betrayed.

The guards forced her to the seat, jerking her hands behind her back and locking them into the manacles. Her feet suffered the same fate and Kellara was chained in iron. She had freed the stiffness from her hands and part of her arms. All she needed now was time.

"Well K'era, though I doubt that's your real name. Welcome to Refnor," began the gravelly-voiced captain. "In case you're wondering, our sorceror companion here has bound you with a spell of paralysis. You will be unable to move until he releases you, though I am assured you will still feel pain readily enough. He nodded to the torture devices spread out across the table. Then he motioned the sorceror forward. The blue-eyed man stepped in front of her, touching his hands to her face then rubbing his thumb and forefinger down her neck. Like cool water down a parched throat, the numbness eased and she could speak. She didn't.

The sorceror smiled before moving away.

"Mant," said the captain introducing himself. "The others," and he glanced around the room, "are unimportant."

Kellara forced each in turn to her memory. Three guards, the sorceror and the captain would not be forgotten. "Your friends are not as loyal as you thought," he began.

"Who?" she asked.

"Who?" he repeated, perplexed. "Ah!" he said understanding dawning on him, "who gave you up you mean? It's not important. He's dead. You will be too. But we may keep you alive for some fun if we like you," he said smiling. The three burly guards smiled too. "Sergeant!" he called through the doorway.

A sixth man, broad shouldered and smiling entered the cell. He carried a glowing rod of iron with a pair of tongs. He waved the hot metal in front of Kellara teasing her with its nearness. They wanted her to fear them. She knew how it worked: fear the pain, fear the person, break the will. She would not be broken but decided that she had better play along. If she was too tough a nut to crack, they might just kill her outright.

So she whimpered, trying to pull away from the glowing brand. Locked down as she was, most of her body paralyzed, she couldn't go far. When the sergeant finally brought burning pain to her neck, she screamed.

It was a good scream: loud, agonized, filled with fear. The sergeant laughed happily. The captain merely smiled. She gritted her teeth, as the flesh continued to sizzle and smoke. Tears streamed down her cheek.

"Now, dear. Tell us your name," demanded the captain conducting the interrogation.

"The name is K'era. It always was," she answered, breathless from the pain.

"Hmmph," he shrugged. "What were you doing there with those rebels? Were you plotting with the others against our Lord Kier or do you like bending over a wash basin in front of men?" he joked as the sergeant guffawed appropriately.

"How did you guess?" she quipped back.

A giant ham-fist slammed into Kellara's face rocking her back in the chair. Dizzily she tried to clear her spinning head as another blow landed in her stomach. It knocked the breath from her. She gasped, struggling for air. She could now move her feet but it would be hard to concentrate like this!