Plight of an Empire

Chapter Eighteen- part 1: Runa

Elis Rock, Hermuna

Every muscle throbbed.

Runa could feel the blood flowing down the gash on her face.  One of the gashes on her face.  It felt warm against the skin of her brow, but was cool by the time it trickled to her jaw.  She wanted to cry, but it hurt to even breathe.  Her throat was still raw from the screaming and begging and pleading.

“Please Mama!” she had begged.  “Please stop! I didn’t do it, I swear!”  The blows came fast as they had hard, knocking the breath out of her with every hit.

“Stop lying, you little bitch!” her mother had shouted between the blows.

She remembered Delphina banging on the other side of the door, begging for their mother to stop.  Maelys went on as if she never heard.  “I knew you were a rotten child.  I should have left you on the streets, where you belong.”  A punch to the cheek.  “You’re worthless and pathetic.”  A kick to the gut.

A sob rattled in her chest, sending more pain throughout her ribs.

She did not even remember when the beating stopped.  Only that she awoke in the Black Room, freezing cold and broken.  She did not know how long she had been unconscious.  Time did not exist in the Black Room.  The only indications of the passage of time were her wounds, still oozing blood.  They felt fresh.

The taste of copper stuck to her tongue.  It was a sharp and bitter taste—a taste that she could not bear to swallow.  In a very unladylike manner, she spat the glob of blood onto the floor, praying that her mother would not see it when she came for her.  If she came for her.

Soon, she drifted into a dreamless sleep, feeling only the dark and cold embracing her through her slumber.  No thoughts or memories invaded her dreams, a respite from the waking world.

The sound of a key rattling in a lock stirred her awake.  Only her mother held the key that opened that door.  Her skin crawled with the anticipation of meeting her mother once more.  No more, she prayed, no more.  The rattling continued until a distinct click resounded through the room.

Light streamed in from the sconces of torches on the walls outside, blinding Runa.  She buried her face in her knees, hiding from both the light and her mother.

“Runa?” a soft voice whispered.

She peeked up, her eyes squinting against the light flooding the room.  A silhouette of a little figure stood in the doorway, a hand still placed precariously on the handle.  “Delphina?” she whimpered.  What is she doing here?

“Runa, I’ve come to save you,” she whispered as she approached the crumpled form that was her big sister.  Runa felt her breathing soften with her sister’s words, yet the muscles of her shoulders and legs remained tight.  She felt her sister grab her wrists and haul her up with everything she had.  “Come on, before Mother wakes up.”

“You stole her key?” Runa questioned, her head light and dizzy.  The lights were no longer bright.  They were, in fact, quite dim, but they still assaulted her eyes.  What if we get caught?  We can’t get caught.  She will kill me.

Delphina nodded proudly.  She dragged her sister along out into the corridor, stopping only to shut and lock the door.  “I snuck into her room after she fell asleep and took it.”  She poked her head around a corner, peering around for any guards or servants stalking the halls.  Safe.  She pulled Runa further down the hall, as silent as she could.  It was no easy endeavor with Runa tripping over her feet with every step.