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Twenty-Eight
Rosalie
The musty scent of the cell gave me the worst headache, adding to the dismal décor. With my flame snuffed out and no one who cared to come save me, I tried my best to deal with the reality of the situation.
I was going to die.
The crone didn’t give me details and I didn’t want to know any.
Would it hurt?
If I was lucky, and I didn’t think luck existed in my life, the pain would be minimal.
Curling into a ball on the hard cot, I hugged my knees to my chest, thinking of Baine, my brother, my home. When Calvin returned from war, and I refused to believe he wouldn’t, he’d come back to everything gone. The firehawks would never survive and he would have no idea that I sold myself into death.
So many mistakes.
Why did I leave the farm? I should’ve stayed home.
Tears fell and I let them streak my dirty face.
There was nothing more left inside me.
They’d broken whatever hope or will I still had.
Now I was nothing but a human sacrifice.
Maybe in death I could be useful.
Jingling keys brought my attention to the empty corridor. The cells were in the dungeon, deep below the tower where stone and decay laid rest. The glow of an oil lamp crept closer, followed by the shuffling of feet. One of the crone’s cloaked minions came to my cell, a glowing rod in one of its hands. I hate that I couldn’t see their face. Just those creepy red eyes surrounded by a black shroud.
With one hand, it opened the cell door and with the other pointed the rod at me.
A blue energy zapped my body and I screamed, clutching myself in pain. I bit my lip as my muscles convulsed. The figure moved inside the cell, faster than I expected and unhooked the chain around the floor.
The chain connected to the cuffs around my ankles and my wrists. With a yank, it pulled the chain forward, making me tumble off the cot and slam into the stone. I cried out as my chin bled from the impact. Taking the chain in my hands, I tried to pull, but my muscles trembled and any strength I had disappeared from the blast of that rod.
“Walk.” The voice sounded oddly human.
Realizing fighting was pointless, I stood, my legs shaking, and shuffled behind the odd creature or person. I couldn’t tell.
Slowly, we walked up the dimly lit stairs, round and round, all the way up. Twice, I had to lean against the side of the wall to catch my breath. I had never felt so weak. Everything hurt, my throat ached with dryness and dizziness made every step more treacherous than the next.
How long had we been climbing these stairs? They seemed to go on forever. Glancing down, my stomach dropped. I couldn’t see the bottom anymore, just a black hole. Moving closer to the wall, I followed the cloaked figure in front of me, desperate to get off these stairs.
We ended at a door with a lock on it. The thing in front of me used a key from the ring and unlocked the door. Sunlight filled the stairwell and I squinted against the sharp light. With another tug, I stumbled through the doorway and onto the top of the tower.
Jagged spires surrounded the circular structure. In the center of the ground laid two crystal pillars that sparkled and created rainbows. A beautiful image that didn’t belong in this moment.
There was no one else up here which I found odd. Where was the crone?
When did they plan to kill me?
On the ground between the two pillars was a stone circle, strange shapes and script carved into it. The hooded creature took my chain and looped it through a hook in the middle of the intricate designs.
“What are you doing?” I pulled on the chain, but the thick metal barely budged.
Without a word, the hooded figure turned and walked back through the door, leaving me alone, chained between two pillars.
