AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The man ran a hand along Mara’s face, shoulder, then chest as he walked to Mara’s side. “How are you feeling? A little cold, maybe? That’s quite the black eye you have there. Headache?”
“Water, please.”
“Sorry?”
“Please, can I have some water?”
“Only water? What about your clothes? Or should I say the clothes you stole from a defenceless servant? Perhaps you would like a hot meal, a bath perhaps?”
“Please, I –”
“You may have anything you desire, my young friend.” The man ran his finger along Mara’s ribs.
Mara flinched away.
The man laughed. “Oh dear, such a reaction from the slightest touch. What will you do when I burn you?”
Mara thought about how Favian had tortured the ship’s captain. “What do you want to know?”
The man ran a hand along Mara’s legs as he walked around the table and up to his other side. “Now, now, my boy. Let’s not rush things.”
“I can tell you –”
The man slapped a hand over Mara’s mouth and made a clicking sound like a mother to a baby. “Quiet now. There will be plenty of time for that.” He slowly lifted his hand away.
Mara’s lips stung from the slap. He pulled hard at the chains.
“Be calm,” the man shouted.
Mara stopped. The Beast. You’ll cut your own throat when it comes.
“That’s better, isn’t it? It’s the first time I’ve had a child in here… very peculiar indeed. I thought it would be polite to pay you a little visit.” The man rubbed a hand in circles on Mara’s chest. “Before all the fun begins.” He reached into a pocket in his jacket, pulled out a tiny box, and opened the lid. “This is to help get you thinking. I don’t want any answers now. I simply wish to ensure your full cooperation when I return.” He put his thumb and finger into the box. Black dust stained the tips of them as he hovered them, pinched together above Mara’s eye. He opened them.
Mara screamed as the powder burned his eye like no other pain he’d ever felt – like his eye was melting. He tried to kick and punch, the pain in his wrists and ankles nothing compared to the burning.
“Calm now, only one more.” The man wiped more of the burning stuff in Mara’s other eye, then rubbed his fingers on Mara’s chest.
“Stop it, please, stop it. I’ll tell you anything.”
“I know, I know. You will tell. You just lay here now and think about what that might be.” The man’s footsteps clacked away. The gate squealed, then clanged shut. “Toodle-pip.”
“Come back. I’ll tell you. Make it stop, please,” Mara screamed.
The burning faded only a few minutes later. He needed to rub his eyes so badly, trying to wipe them on his shoulders, but could only reach his cheeks. The chains looked strong. I’ll never break them.
He arched his neck to look at the window high on the wall. Thick metal bars filled the hole. I’m trapped. I’m gonna die here. He shook at the chains again and screamed for the Beast. “Where are you? Help me. Kill them all and help me.” He spat toward the gate. “Kill him first. Make him do it in front of me.” He screamed at the ceiling, then started to cry. “Where are you? Please come. I need you to help me.” He looked around once more, wishing the Beast would appear, then thudded his head onto the wood he lay on. I’ll kill him myself. I don’t know how, but I will.
Franco’s lips moved as he spoke, but Silas didn’t hear a thing. The part of Silas that had disappeared with Mara had been replaced with a deep burn. It moved around, sometimes in his chest, sometimes his head, but it spent most of its time in his belly where it currently smouldered. He put both of his hands under his shirt and pressed on it. Is it him that’s causing this? The hallucinations. Of him, and the woman in the Boomsvale. Is this the work of a demon?
Franco had stopped talking and stared at Silas from across the table. Franco rose and walked to the bar, re
turning with a cup that he slid in front of Silas.
Silas looked inside it. Water? Then pushed it away. “What was it you were saying?”
“The men can’t find any trace of another gang. Nobody knows nothin’.”
Silas leant back on the wall and looked at the web-covered wooden rafters. “Then perhaps it’s internal. Did any of the men express hatred toward Favian?”
