Renagade

Part 2

"We could be nothing..." She whispered. Aware of the hot breeze against her cheek, turning to face, the young male elf. He stopped and looked hard at her.

"What do you mean?" He stood. Stepping towards her, but she stepped back. The familiar nervousness growing in her stomach. Her time was nearly up, she could feel her clawing to stay, not to go through the pain again. She wanted him, but her body was weak and she could feel the whispering of evil in her ears, overriding every bit of stillness she had.

"Nothing. We could be nothing. This can't be real," She felt her pulse quicken and the beating of her own heart threatened to overcome her.

"Of course it's real. I'm real," He moved to take her hand, but she jerked back, her back against the tree. She couldn't fight him. Not here. Not in this inbetween world. "Eve, I am real. I'm coming for you,"

"No!" This wasn't real. This was a trick. A bit of the Darkness tainting her sleep. Nothing about this could be real. He was to...to....he was so much like him. This couldn't be real. The roaring threatened to consume her. The once grass fields, once a whispering sweet glen, now faded and turned to ash. She could smell the rot ...See the jagged stone beneath. At once like water on a fire, Chauncy was gone. The hurt blazing across his face, before the world went dark.

The smell of fire...or of blood...death permeated the air. Evelyn felt her legs go weak and fell to the ground. Pain ripped through her like it had so many years ago. It cascaded over her. Wave after wave, like the drum beat of the ancient drums of Casentog when she was a child. She felt water run out of her and she heaved. Sickness wetted her tunic and she moaned. Her eyes as tight as they could close, still let in a blinding light. She clawed at unforeseen hands. Feeling her nails rip into flesh, she flailed against her attackers.

She felt weak. The voice of her father ran through her head. "You're weak. You'll never be the man your brother was. Whore. Bitch. I should have killed you when slid out of your screaming bastard mother..." She saw his sneer. Felt the sting on her cheek. Tears ran down her face. Her muscles contracted and spasmed. Her body, once her only protection, now her enemy.

She could hear screaming. It wasn't hers. It was hers. She couldn't tell. Every breath of unforseen touch was like a thousand needles. Her tunic hurt. Her breeches, now wet clung to her. Was she bleeding? What was this? Where was she?

The pain was unrelenting. The crack of the whip. The sound of men. The taste...gods the taste. What was this? Her nails dug into her flesh; her thighs forced open...Not again. Please not again. She bit and tasted blood. She was choking. She was breathing. Water poured on her. Her nose filled with water and she could not breath. She felt the sting of a slap. A knot formed beneath her breast bone and threatened to consume her. She wanted to die. She had to end this pain.

It went on. She endured. The searing agony of her mind forced open. The benevolent light, now a demon to her, threatened to endure her. Her veins filled with liquid fire and extinguished. A thousand ice needles pierced her flesh. Her head. The sound. The more it went on the more she threatened to lose herself in it. She was so tired. Please, let it stop. "You're weak. Whore. Bitch. I should have killed you when slid out of your screaming bastard mother... I should have killed you ...bastard.....whore...." This man had taken everything from her and now he was the only thing she could focus on. "Weak," His voice ebbed and flowed, twisted and deepened.

Her head. How her head hurt. She screamed. She vomited. She pissed herself; a never ending cycle of pain and torture. The sliding snake around her throat. The spiders that crawled into her mouth that threatened to choke her heart. The stings from a thousand scorpions. She felt the ropes loosen and then tighten and loosen and tighten. Nothing stopped. She found no rest. When she closed her eyes, she saw rivers of blood. When she opened her eyes, it was darkness that consumed the world.