AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He sighs. Adjusts himself in his seat. “Now let’s move on from this! I hate obedience conditioning, it’s catty and boring.” That long brittle finger emerges from the dark corner, into a warm spot that the glow of the chandelier reaches. “You keep sweating like that, I’ll have to give you a bath.”
As if time reverses, like rolling yarn back into a ball, the pressure, the sharp discomfort, the blazing pain in my shoulder and collarbone start to disappear. The ugly jolts of sensation from a broken bone crawl back to where they came from. I release a groan of sweet relief. My head falls back against the cage, my muscles let go of their fighting stances. I breathe again. In and out. Rotating my shoulder around. Wait, what?
I stare at Albatross’s dark corner. “What happened?”
“Oh, now you want to talk to me, hmm?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. I thought you broke my collarbone.”
“I know. Neat trick, hmm? There are so many advantages we have over Vexamen. We’re quite clearly the dominant country. Far more advanced in most areas of war, technology, alchemy. It’s entertaining that most civilians are consumed with their looks, their bony bodies, their floral-infused baths, and their grand balls. And then you have what’s here, going on under their noses, and no one cares to try and find out. Such a superficial breeding ground.”
“But what did you do to me?”
Hands slam down against what sounds like a leather chain. “Does everything I say just go in one ear and out the other? My god, I would have never guessed you to be so dense!”
“I’m sorry. Please continue.”
“When I had you delivered, I really thought you would be this bright, astonishing young woman. I thought we’d have a lot of fun. Especially considering who your travel companion was. This has been a monumental letdown for me so far.”
I cower back into my corner. No more broken bones, please. If Dessin knew how Albatross was treating me, he’d be torn to pieces. Where is he? Does he know where I am? Does he know what’s happening to me?
“I can imagine where your feeble train of thought is going right about now. Usually, at this time, the thoughts that blossom from fear is reason to keep hope alive. Is someone coming for you? You won’t have to suffer too long. Am I hitting the nail on the head?” Albatross is no longer a man to me, sitting in a dark corner. Albatross is a faceless demon that has no human form. It only exists to torture me with its desperate need for conversation. I wish I was like Dessin right about now. I wish I could find my way out of any situation like he can. I don’t ever want to be a prisoner again. At least when I was a small child, I was locked in a basement with lots of room. This cage is going to deform my limbs. I won’t be able to stand up straight. If I were like Dessin, I’d imagine all of the terrible ways I would make Albatross suffer for this. I would even taunt him the way Dessin would. I would play mind games with him and love every moment of it.
“You have permission to relieve yourself of those thoughts. After studying your travel companion for years and years of his early life, we have installed every precaution to keep him out. There will be no rescue mission.”
But unfortunately, I’m not Dessin. I’m Skylenna, and I don’t have a way out.
~
I can finally stretch my legs. It’s almost euphoric to be able to let my muscles expand. Point my toes. Roll my ankles around. My spine was starting to feel cramped, a geriatric soreness and ache building in my lower back. My neck feels like a doorknob in a snowstorm. Completely coated in ice, not enough warmth to get it moving again.
“My name is strung along a family tradition. I can’t remember if I told you that yet or not.” Albatross’s weaselly voice knocks me back into my misery. “Oh well, I’ll tell you again. My great-grandfather’s name was Crow Ivast, and my father’s name was Cardinal Ivast. I think it’s oh so fascinating that my name also can mean psychological burden. Which in your case, the irony is downright cruel.”
I attempt to roll my shoulders and ease the new birth of tension. They won’t move. There’s a pressure like a seat belt or a straitjacket keeping me nailed down. My eyes peel open, sticky and hot. And there’s an old woman hovering over me, eyes of a Siamese cat, the grim expression of a gravedigger. My body is strapped down by leather restraints. I wiggle abruptly, testing my bounds, unable to control the rising panic. What could they possibly plan on doing to me strapped down like this?
“If you didn’t catch the tradition pattern, Crow, Cardinal, Albatross—it’s that we are all named after birds. It’s the family crest. Because we’re a family of savants, it means the sky is the limit for us. Isn’t that interesting?” Albatross asks from the same dark corner of the room. I can’t lift my head to look at him, but I know he’s in that same spot.
I learned my lesson last time. Always answer him. “Very interesting,” I say, trying my hardest not to pant. The woman injects each of my limbs, a jab followed by a quick sting. I squirm to get her to stop.
A hand smacks me across the cheek, a nail scraping underneath my eye as it makes contact. I gasp at the electric pang of shock that devours my face. My eyes involuntarily begin to water, and my nostrils burn the way they would if you swam upside down underwater.
“You move again and I’ll use my fist, girl.” Her old shaky voice matches the crow’s-feet around her eyes and lips. She walks over to adjust the IV, filling it with a cloudy, gray liquid. I can’t stop my legs from trembling. The more I try to keep them still, the harder and faster they shake.
“Oh pardon me, Skylenna, I haven’t introduced my grandmother. This is Absinthe Ivast. She was married to my grandfather, Crow. She assisted my grandfather way back when they lived in Alkadon. My grandfather was viewed as some sort of psychologically impaired freak there.”
“Oh,” I mutter, unsure of how to entertain his incessant need for conversation.
“He migrated to Vexamen but was recruited by Abraham Demechnef and Orin Blackforth. They truly saw the value of what he was capable of.”
“I, uh, always forget that Demechnef is the name of a person.”
This makes him chuckle. “Of course you do. It doesn’t surprise me, only special bureaucrats know that it is indeed a family and not a faceless government or military agenda. The Ivasts are a prized value to our leadership.”
Old Grandmother Absinthe is now measuring the lengths of my limbs. She takes the measurements of my ankles to my kneecaps and then my elbow to my shoulder cap.
“I didn’t realize your family was so honored.”
“My grandfather, Crow, has begun the greatest trials of experimentation the world has ever seen.” His knobby knees, covered in red velvet, cross. “My father and I have each helped carry it out after his death. I’m going to win the war for our country with what we have uncovered.”
