A Daughter's Duty

Chapter 18

The throbbing in my head was the first thing that I registered as I began to gain conscious. I didn't open my eyes just yet, but I was vaguely aware of something cold and rough on my wrists. I also realized the position I was in hurt my neck. Eyes fluttering open, I saw a cold, hard, yellow-tinted tiled surface under a wooden chair on which I was seated. My head shot up, and, I tried to make sense of where I was. It was very dark in the room, save for a candle near a far wall, and a tiny flame flickered from it. It was hard to see, but I could tell I was in a small room that acted as my cage. I had handcuffs on my wrists, which were attached to the chair I sat on, and a rope or something was tied around my neck. My legs were immovable as well. Even if I was able to stand up, my muscles were too weak to do anything other than scream.

"Hey!" I yelled out as loud as I could. "Let me out of this place!"

I couldn't tell whether whoever had abducted me had heard me or not. Fear spread through me, and I could feel myself shaking. Where was I? Who kidnapped me? The last thing I could remember was the road on which I was walking, a long way away from home. I remembered talking to Michael. He had been angry that I wasn't telling him where the key was and -

Oh. Of course.

The key.

Dunaway had kidnapped me, hadn't he? He'd heard about the key.

I wanted to kick myself. Out of everything I had learnt while training for Ministerio Iustitia, I had been told to absolutely never discuss secrets in public for the fear of spies. How, in the hell, had I managed to forget the most important piece of information an agent is taught?!

Oh God - oh God, I was in so much trouble.

Concentrating, I tried to feel my gun or an emergency weapon on my person, but found nothing. I was completely and utterly helpless.

My screams turned louder and more frantic - and the insults more brutal.

I tried to break the handcuffs by brute force, and even tried to stand up and break the chair, but none of it proved possible. My chest and shoulder hurt badly, and I even tried to tell them to call a doctor or something to check up on it, but my excuses didn't work either.

My voice started to crack by the end of the half-hour, and my claustrophobia was starting to act up again. My breathing became shallow, and I begged for an inhaler, but in vain.

By the end of the first hour, I was in seething in rage, whether it was at myself for being so stupid, or at Dunaway for being so greedy, I couldn't tell.

By the end of the second hour, depression overtook me, and the urge to kick and scream died.

By the end of the third hour, I finally called out. "Alright, I can't do this anymore. Where is your spineless boss, you asinine oxygen thieves!"

This time, I got an answer.

The door on the far end opened, and two men walked out, but it was too dark to see their faces. They walked towards me silently and cut the rope that bound my legs.

Immediately, I sent a flying kick to the stomach of the first man. He stumbled back. But before I could do the same to the other, he grabbed my shoulders and pushed my chair back. My head hit the wall I didn't know what behind me, and pain flooded my skull.

"Try somethin' like that again, princess," he said. "I'll make sure to perform an enucleation on both your eyes while you're fully conscious. Do I make myself clear?"

I gulped in fear, barely whispering. "C-crystal."

He heaved me back upright, and cut the ropes on my hands, without unlocking the cuffs. The man I punched tugged at my arm roughly and I stumbled to a stand, trying to see in the dimness. I felt a surface prod my back, and my heart sank when I realized that it was a gun.