by Holly Law
The Prince lifted a needle off the table. The container held a clear liquid. He showed it to her. “This is the poison that would have ended Elisha’s life peacefully,” the Prince explained with a false calm. He flicked the glass with his finger. The liquid turned a muddy, unpleasant green. “This is something much nastier. You have betrayed me, Amalia, and you will pay for that with your life.”
The Prince stabbed the needle into her neck, not caring about the pain he caused. The soldiers held her tightly and within a moment he had injected the liquid into her neck. Amalia thrashed, screaming, and the guards let her go. She writhed on the ground in pain. A bloody foam came to her lips. And the Prince watched her slow, agonizing death with a vicious grin. He knelt down beside Amalia as she gasped her last breath. “Elisha will be mine, and Eldwin will be dead. You achieved nothing.” Amalia’s eyes rolled back into her head and she was no more.
Chapter 27
Elisha stumbled up the rocky ridge, trying desperately to escape her pursuers, but they still came. Her arms burned from overuse as she pulled herself up again and again. She ignored every scrape and cut as she climbed higher and higher, trying to escape. And it did no good. She reached the top of the ridge and ran along the edge. The soldiers pursued her with ease.
She reached the edge of the ridge and faltered. Below her was a steep drop of more than a hundred feet. Her death was certain if she went over. She closed her eyes tightly, thankful that Eldwin had gotten away. They had managed to have one more week together. But she held no hope of escape. She wouldn’t see her brother again. She could only hope his escape was permanent.
Slowly, she turned and faced the soldiers who approached her. They were breathing a bit hard, but looked in much better shape than her. Trinsin even looked like she had fared well in the climb, but had nasty looking slashes on her face from a past injury. Trinsin had a nasty grin on her face, and Elisha glared at her.
“Take her, but take care not to damage her face,” Trinsin ordered the guards. “The Prince won’t notice anything else.”
The soldiers fell on her, and Elisha tried to resist. The first fist fell in her gut and she gasped. Another blow hit her in the shoulder. She fell and was kicked. The soldiers jeered at her as her resistance faltered. They bound her and dragged her back down the ridge. She was half dragged and was torn open by several rocks the soldiers managed with care.
Not far below the ridge was a cave. Trinsin had her dragged inside, and Elisha looked at it confused. At the entrance were rotten chairs and weapons. She was pulled deeper and deeper and Trinsin used a machine that lit the area when natural light gave out. The passageway twisted and turned and divided. Everywhere she looked, Elisha saw more evidence of ancient use, but nothing recent. Everything metal was covered in rust.
They went around one last turn and entered a long hallway that had hollowed out compartments that had barred doors on front of them. It was a prison, and, even with the rusty bars, it was formidable. There was no tent flap or balcony for her to escape from there. Trinsin pushed her inside. Elisha tripped and fell onto the floor. She scurried to turn around, Trinsin smirked at her.
“If I ever get my hands on you, Trinsin, I’ll…” Elisha threatened.
Trinsin laughed at her. “Mind your tongue, you piece of trash.” Trinsin smirked at the soldiers. “Teach the girl some manners. The Prince has determined to kill her. A few more bruises and broken bones shouldn’t hurt anything.” Elisha glared at Trinsin defiantly as the guards entered her cell.
The Prince lounged in his chair as he stared absently at the tent walls. He swirled the wine in his glass thoughtlessly, barely noticing it. He sipped it without paying attention and didn’t even truly taste it. He did not like the present circumstance. Everything had gone horribly wrong. Elisha was leaving him with few choices. He simply did not know what to do with her. He didn’t want to kill the girl, but her every action was one of defiance. He wanted more than anything to give her another chance, but she had squandered and abused every chance he had given her. He didn’t think she realized how rarely he granted mercy of the sort he was offering her.
He sighed and stared at his wine glass sourly. Things were definitely not the way he wanted them. He had hoped to be nearly at Melink with Elisha at his side. He had looked forward to showing her the wonders of his city. He had planned on enjoying every social gathering with her and seeing her blossom into his lady. Chasing her through the forest and threatening her life was not how he had planned for things to go.
Lenora opened the tent flap and stepped inside. She walked up to him, her expression carefully composed. “Elisha has been found, my Prince,” Lenora told him, and he stopped swirling the wine. He looked up at her. “She is being held in the old mountain barracks. Would you like me to fetch her and bring her back?”
“I will go myself,” the Prince said calmly. “This needs to be finished.”
He stood and willed himself to the barracks. He stood at the entrance of the cave. He walked inside giving an air of calm he did not feel. Trinsin was sitting with a pair of guards near the only exit. They were talking the laughing over something. Trinsin’s eyes noticed him at once. “The girl is in one of the back cells,” Trinsin told him. “Would you like…” The Prince ignored her as he walked through the familiar corridors. He walked without the aid of light. He truly did not need it. The walk seemed to take forever and as he drew closer he still didn’t know what he would do. He didn’t want Elisha dead, but she wasn’t letting him do otherwise. It was frustrating in the extreme.
Then he reached her cell. Elisha was lying on the floor of the cell, huddled in a tight, shaking ball. Her dress was badly torn and worse than the last time he had seen her. He thought it a pity. The dress had once looked very fine on her. He approached and Elisha did not react to him. She simply laid there shaking, and crying.
He opened the cell, and the metal door squealed horribly. He stepped inside and knelt beside her. He looked at her and his gut clenched. There was a large bruise on the side of her face, where someone had punched her. He brushed her hair aside to see it better and saw a bruise on her throat. He reached down to heal that bruise. She flinched away, and he became aware of the pain throughout her body.
His breath caught in his throat. He knew that pain and its source. He knew what had been done and how she had been abused. He snarled in anger and fury. He looked closer at her dress and could see its poor shape. It was in worse shape than it should have been for one who had run. He gently reached down and pushed a bit of her torn dress aside. She cringed away, but he saw what he disliked so much. Her back was covered in cuts and bruises.
“Who did this to you?” the Prince demanded of her. Elisha did not answer. She simply laid there cowering and crying. He hated seeing her that way. He wanted to tear someone to pieces and bring them back to life again to make them suffer more. He gently turned Elisha to face him. “Who did this to you, Elisha?” he asked her gently. She looked at him utterly terrified. He hated that look. She thought he had caused it and it sickened him. He never would have permitted that. But he knew who to blame.
He stood and left her. He walked back to the entrance. Anger roiled in him uncontrolled. He reached the entrance, and Trinsin looked at him surprised. “My Prince, you’re back so soo…” she began, and the Prince pulled a sword from the air. He unceremoniously ran one of the soldiers through who sat beside her. Trinsin stared at the blade in horror as blood spilled from the wound.
The other soldier was already scrambling away as Trinsin could only stare at the mortally wounded soldier. The Prince snarled at the two who remained, “I gave orders that she was not to be harmed.” The other soldier tried to run, and the Prince sent lightning streaking across the cave. The soldier was obliterated into dust. The soldier his sword was in continued to splutter, trying to fight to stay alive.
“Trinsin,” the guard gasped in pain, “said it would be alright.”
The Prince narrowed his eyes at Trinsin. Without
looking he pulled his sword from the soldier. He flipped it casually in his hand and decapitated the soldier. His eyes were locked on Trinsin’s. Her face was pale.
“Lenora, your presence is required,” the Prince said in a dangerous tone. Lenora appeared by his side instantly. Her expression was startled and confused. “Trinsin had the two soldiers beat Elisha. The girl cannot even move,” he told Lenora. Lenora gasped, and the look on her face was murderous when she turned to face Trinsin. “You will take Trinsin to Melink. You will see to it she is publically tortured for her crime.”
“But Elisha is no one important,” Trinsin objected in frustration. “She is just a miserable, orphan Mechanic!”
The Prince completely lost it then. He grabbed Trinsin by the throat and slammed her into the nearby rock wall. He heard and felt some of her bones snap. “Elisha,” the Prince spat in her face, “is the woman I love and is of far more worth than you.” He let Trinsin fall to the ground. “Get this trash out of my sight.” He spit on Trinsin, who lay in a stunned heap.
Lenora came forward. She grabbed Trinsin roughly and vanished.
The Prince willed himself to be at Elisha’s cell. She was just as he had left her. The sight of her still filled him with anger and he wished he could kill the soldiers again. But Elisha needed his aid and that would not help her. He pulled a blanket out of the air. It was a thick, soft, warm blanket in her favorite color. He wrapped her in it carefully, and as he did he felt her fall into unconsciousness.
Elisha shot up in a bed. She glanced around frantically, her heart pounding hard. She needed to run and get away. Her eyes sought for the horrible soldiers and didn’t find them. And then she was confused. She was not in a prison cell. She was in a beautiful, ornate bedroom, a very familiar room. It was the room the Prince had given her in the manor house. She looked at the surroundings, but was not soothed by the familiarity.
She was out of bed in a heartbeat and had to pause again. Her ruined dress had been exchanged for a night gown of pristine white. That would not be useful at all. She couldn’t run in it. She ran to the closet and pulled open the doors. Her beautiful dresses hung there, waiting for her to choose one. She reached in and pulled out the simplest, most practical one she could find. It was still more than she wanted, but it was better than what she had tried to run in before. She pulled it on quickly.
Then she ran. She was in the hallway in a heartbeat and found no guards stationed outside her door. She bolted down the main staircase and went straight for the front door. She was outside and saw the startled faces of the guards as she passed them. She kept running, but was soon tackled to the ground. They tried to pin her, but she wouldn’t cooperate. “Let me go!” Elisha screamed at them, trying to punch and kick them. The guards looked startled at her ferocity.
“Easy, my lady,” one of the guards said. “We’re not going to hurt you. But the Prince has ordered you must stay inside.” Elisha kept fighting. She could not be trapped and abused by them again. “My lady, please!”
Then Elisha saw both Lenora and the Prince rushing over to her. “Elisha, stop,” the Prince told her, his voice gentle. “No one is going to hurt you.” Elisha ignored him, knowing the lies. She fought harder.
“Calm yourself,” Lenora urged her. “You need to stay inside. Outside is no place for you.”
“Let me go!” Elisha shouted as she struggled. She barely noticed that tears glittered in Lenora’s eyes and the Prince’s face was pale in anger.
“What would you have us do, my Prince?” one of the guards holding her down asked. “She’s likely to hurt herself if she keeps this up.”
“I’ll take her in,” Lenora offered. “I suspect she is not eager to spend time with men at the moment.”
“Do so,” the Prince said shortly.
“Release her,” Lenora told the guards and they did so. But Elisha could no better. Her movement seemed even more restrained. It was the same trick the Prince had used on her. Elisha was lifted into the air, and she still struggled. She couldn’t move at all. Tears flowed faster. They could do anything they wanted to her in that state. Elisha glided inside beside Lenora.
“You’re safe,” Lenora told her gently. “The guards will not touch you here.” Elisha floated up the stairs and back to the room she had just escaped from. Elisha floated down upon her bed. Lenora stroked her hair like a mother soothing a child. “You’re safe, Elisha. Please stop struggling. No one here will hurt you. The soldiers who treated you so horribly are dead. Trinsin…” Elisha did not listen.
“Let me go!” Elisha cried out, whimpering. All her struggles were invisible. She couldn’t shift at all. “Let me go, let me go, let me go!” Lenora looked taken aback and pale. And then there was nothing.
Lenora let out a slow shuddering breath as she stared at the unconscious form of Elisha. She hugged the girl she had just forced into sleep. She wished she could take away all she had suffered. Tears came to her eyes, and she blinked them back. She had never shed tears for a human before, but what Elisha had suffered was intolerable. She wished she could have ripped those soldiers apart herself. The Prince had been too quick in his anger. She would be glad to share some part in Trinsin’s torture at least.
Lenora carefully put Elisha under the sheets. She smoothed them and glanced at Elisha’s face. Even in her sleep there was stress there. Her dreams were not a peaceful place. Lenora shook her head and wiped away tears.
She stood and walked to the hallway. The Prince was waiting there, pacing swiftly. His face was a serene calm, but his pace was agitated. He looked at her, his eyes a stormy sea of emotion. “I put Elisha to sleep,” Lenora told him. The Prince did not reply. He stepped past her and went into Elisha’s room. His strides were long and swift. He went straight to Elisha’s side and sat beside her on the bed. His face was completely unreadable.
“What do you think should be done?” the Prince asked her. “Elisha will not listen after such distress. She will blame me for it. She has no reason to think or believe I did not order such a thing done to her. Her opinion of me will not be accurate again if I cannot reason with her.”
“You don’t want to kill Elisha,” Lenora said then. Understanding and relief filled her. The Prince gave her a nasty glance that confirmed the truth. She fully remembered his confession of love for the girl and had hoped that feeling would sway him from killing her.
“Perhaps,” Lenora began hesitantly, knowing her suggestion might not go over well, “You should let her go for a time. It will let her clear her head. You could speak to her again later easily enough. A few days on her own, with a less obvious pursuit, might clear her head. Then I might even be able to approach her to speak with her, even if you cannot yet. If we maintain a discreet distance, it might let her think she has escaped finally.”
The Prince did not reply at first. His eyes remained fixed on Elisha.
“Agreed.”
Chapter 28
Elisha woke up again that night, and her eyes fixed on her pillow. She glanced around uneasily, but found nothing threatening. The room was the same and it was empty except for her. Even in the darkness her surroundings gave off a peaceful sense that did not match the anxiety that racked her body. But at least it was a place she was familiar with.
Silently, she slipped out of bed and was glad to discover she still wore the simple dress. That made things easier. She walked to the sitting room attached to the bedroom and paused. She looked at the door. She didn’t doubt that it would be guarded after her failed attempt at escape. Trying to go out that way would be a poor choice. She paced the room, thinking desperately for a solution. As she did a wonderful scent caught her nose. She looked at the table and saw it was set with food for her. Chicken and vegetables cooked to perfection rested on a gold rimmed plate and beckoned to her with their perfect aroma.
Elisha couldn’t resist. She rushed to the table and ate the food without ceremony. She picked up the chicken with her bare hands and tore into it. It was meant to be a fine meal, b
ut she was so famished with hunger all thoughts of civilization fled from her. She didn’t care that the chicken breast had been stuffed with cheese or that there was a delicate sauce on the vegetables. She didn’t savor a single bite. She was desperately hungry.
Only after she had finished off her chicken did she think sensibly. She paused and wiped her hands on the cloth napkin. She would need food if she escaped again. She took the small loaf of bread that had been laid out for her and tied it up in the napkin. That would get her at least a little further should she escape.
She studied the room a bit more and found that the balcony was open. She had expected those doors to be locked tight. She stepped past the curtains and out into the night air. She glanced around and saw few lights on in the manor house. The forest was very dark in the night. The light of the stars gave very little by the way of visible light and the moon was dark. Below guards patrolled with torches that barely touched into the darkness. She watched them for a few moments and saw large gaps in their patrol.
And then she saw the Prince. He was standing on his own balcony further down the building. His hands were clasped behind his back, as they typically were when he was thinking. His eyes watched her and not the forest outside. She couldn’t see his expression in the darkness, but saw him incline his head to her politely. Elisha flinched and hurried back inside. She did not wish his attention. She couldn’t deal with his smooth, deceptive words. She didn’t want him to think she was fit to deal with him.
Elisha paced her room for several hours, her brain working frantically. At first, she was certain the Prince would come and speak with her, but he hadn’t. She had waited for his polite knock on her door, and hadn’t even heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway. So she had waited and now it was well past midnight according to a machine on the wall.
