Flames of Fury

Bastian

Every day is pretty much the same. Two meals, one with water. There’s a change of guards every eight hours, and they pass by our cell on the hour. Sometimes we can hear the screams of other prisoners, their pleas for mercy or for their torturer to end their suffering with death.

We haven’t been to that room since the first week.

Seven straight days they attempted to torture us into luring Mags here. They hooked us up to some drug that suppressed our natural rapid healing, so the cuts and bruises they painted us with barely healed before the next round. But they severely underestimated the lengths a father would go for his daughter.

I’d never give her to them. I’d sooner die.

I almost did when Illian told me they had found her and had plans to lure her here – that they were using me, my scent, to lure her here despite my resolve to play no active role in that.

Dex and I rarely speak these days. Other than the echoes of screams, the only other sounds are our heartbeats which are slowing with each passing day.

That’s our day, what our life has become. I don’t think anymore about escaping or about seeing my family again. It only serves to create desire and hope, neither of which I can afford to have.

Today, however, something is noticeably different. It starts with the sounds of muffled shouting. Then there are the sounds of footsteps getting louder and louder until a parade of guards run past our cell door.

“Dex,” I whisper-shout, my voice unrecognizable to my own ears. “Dex!.” I kick him lightly in the side with my foot.

“What?” Dex groans hoarsely at me from his spot on the floor.

“Something is happening. All the guards are running off. Dozens of them, I’ve lost count.”

This gets his attention and he joins me at the bars of our cell, peering out at the chaos before us.

“What do you think is happening? Do you think it’s an attack?” He pauses for a moment, his eyes widening in horror. “Oh Gods...do you think it’s...”

“No I don’t think it could be her, he’d have gloated about it.”

The flood of guards passing us dwindles. They’ve all split off into every direction of the cavern.

Just when I’m sure there aren’t any guards left, one of them comes rushing up to the cells. Immediately Dex and I back away from the gate. I give him a look that communicates exactly what I’m thinking. We could take this guy, two on one, no other guards around. Even in our weakened state, all we have to do is get outside of the bars and then whatever magic they’re infused with won’t be able to block our ability to teleport.

“You two are the guys from the grove right?” The guard speaks with haste.

I remain still but I can see Dex nodding in the affirmative out of the corner of my eye.

“Good, follow me. I can get you out but we have to go now! They’re barricading the entrances.”

I whip my head around to Dex, unsure if this is some sick joke – the beginning of another bout of torture.

But what if he’s telling the truth? What if this is our only chance to get out – to go home.? I look back to Dex one more time but he’s already walking towards the door, his mind having been made up a fraction sooner than mine.

We take our first step out of the cells and into freedom. I grab onto Dex’s wrist and try to teleport but the void doesn’t come for us. I should be able to teleport here I’m sure of it, which means I must be weaker than I thought.

I don’t have the energy to teleport.

The only thing I can do now is trust this guard to lead us out of this hell hole.

“Alright, stay close and keep quiet.” The guard orders us and starts leading us through the twisting labyrinth of the cavern, around its stone pillars, across its rocky bridges, and through its embedded tunnels.

After a few minutes the hallways begin to narrow, the ceiling begins to lower, and we are no longer in the open space of the heart of Drow Hollow but making our way through one of the tunnels that will hopefully lead us to the surface.

When the walls around us begin to brighten with natural light, my heart picks up in speed knowing we are nearing the mouth of the cave — nearing freedom.

The guard turns to us and whispers, “This is as far as I can take you. The entrance is straight ahead. Travel north and you’ll find allies.” He lingers a moment, conflict swimming in his eyes, debating whether or not to utter the words building in his throat.

“Just know...I’ll free everyone I can.”

With that cryptic message he retreats back into the cave without another word or glance back. The walls begin to shake, dust and debris begin to fall from the ceiling. We can hear booming explosions and the sound of falling rock echoing through the chamber and down the hall in which we stand.

Dex and I don’t spare another second. We take off as fast as our legs can take us. They haven’t had much use in the last two months and our atrophied muscles complain with every step.

The light in the tunnel gets brighter and brighter, almost blinding.

But we don’t stop. We don’t slow down.

We run full steam ahead until we come barreling out of the mouth of a cave and into a forest. Even then we don’t stop. Our legs are on autopilot, carrying us ever further from our prison and closer to safety.

It doesn’t even occur to me to try teleporting again until we’re deep in the woods, the mountain behind us having grown small in the distance.

Our sprint slows down to a jog which slows down to a walk. I grab Dex by the elbow and try to teleport again but I’m still unsuccessful.

“I don’t have the energy to teleport, we’ll have to go North like he said.” I admit to Dex in a whisper, a habit from our weeks in captivity.

“I wonder what kind of allies he expects us to find.” Dex questions aloud.

“Let’s find a stream or something and rest there, I just need to get my energy back and we’ll be able to get back home.”

A few minutes later we come by a small stream with crystal clear water. Dex and I all but nose dive into the stream, drinking selfishly from the lazy current.

I never thought I’d miss the sun so much, or the sound of the birds, or the wind. I get a look at my reflection in the water and I’m horrified by what I see. A skeleton with my face peers back at me. My skin is pale, nearly translucent, and it wraps around my bones like cellophane.

I’m realizing we may be in worse shape than I thought, and it might take me longer to regain my strength to teleport than I initially had hoped.

“We should keep moving, just in case.”

I help pull my brother up to his feet and we continue our slow, laborious march Northward. The sun is just beginning its descent into the horizon. We need to find somewhere secure before nightfall. I send a silent prayer to the Gods that we stumble across these alleged allies before then.

“Bast, stop.” Dex whispers. “I thought I heard something, like a twig snapping.”

“It’s probably just an animal.” I shrug him off.

But then I hear it too; another snap of a twig, the rustling of leaves, a faint whirring sound... like a knife spiraling through the air.

Sure enough, a dagger flies past us and embeds deeply into a tree off to our side.

“You’re trespassing.” A voice calls out from somewhere in the wilderness.

“We are unarmed, just trying to get home.” I shout back.

Three men reveal themselves from behind nearby trees. They’re all taller than an average human, and built too. Despair rears its ugly head and whispers in my ear that we may have jumped out of the frying pan only to have landed in the fire.

“Please, we just need to get home.” I choke back a sob. I won’t be a prisoner again.

The men stand before us with clouded eyes. They remain like this for about a minute before the one in the center speaks.

“You’re on our territory. Our Alphas will want to speak with you. Follow us.”

When they don’t close in or turn their weapons on us I breathe out a small sigh of relief. So far so good.

We walk in silence following what I am assuming are wolves, further through the woods until we reach a clearing with a large house and several other smaller ones scattered around.

The men walk us past the house, across the clearing, over to a small building made of cement blocks.

There’s a single staircase inside the building, leading down into a basement or cellar. My heart begins to beat rapidly, my chest constricting at the thought of returning to confinement after my first taste of freedom in two months.

“Let’s go. Down the stairs. You’ll be treated to medical attention while you wait for our Alphas.” One of the men says.

They lead us past several doors and windowed rooms until we reach a bright but sterile looking space.

“Dr. Logan, could you take a look at these two while they wait for the Alphas?” One of them says to a petite woman in a doctor’s coat.

She turns and offers a warm, sympathetic smile. “Sure, come lay down here in bay three.”

As soon as I lay my head on the pillow, a comfort I’ve been missing for weeks, my eyes droop and sleep overcomes me.

New chapters will be posted every Monday and Friday