Page 101 of Null & Void

“You are awake! Hungry?” the woman from earlier asks.

I try to speak, but I can only croak. The woman comes back with a cup of water, and I finally get to see her as I take a drink. Long, wavy, dark blood-red hair in a loose ponytail to one side. Violet eyes on a pale face filled with freckles. A face full of kindness and warmth. She looks so much like Riley if his features were smaller and softened. She looks to be a similar height to Bitty, but where Bitty is straight and gangly, she’s all curves and bosomy.Amarilyss.

“Thank you,” I rasp, my throat still dry even after the drink.

“Do you think you could stomach some bread with meat paste?” her strong yet sweet voice asks. I scrunch my nose at the thought and she quickly adds, “The sooner you can keep food down, the sooner you will feel better.” So, I agree, and she feeds me.

The meat paste is disgusting. It tastes like fish, but also raw meat, and the smell is cloying in the air. I eat it all, and through sheer will alone, I keep it from violently erupting back out the way it came. Amarilyss has moved my chair around so I can see where I am. An underground river continues long into the murky blackness, made visible by the low-hanging cave walls that don’t quite reach the ground. In front of me are pockets of caves and dark passages with various flickering lanterns.

Amarilyss is chained. It’s a long chain, but still, she’s shackled to the wall with only enough length to reach each patient—prisoner—but not enough to explore. Each pocket of cave that I can see has a person or two strapped to a seat in a similar fashion to me. She flits about and tends to everyone, exercising them as far as their chains will let them, securing only some with their hands back to their seat afterward.

One Laguzborn woman is blindfolded, but everyone else seems free to look around like me. Every single one is a Patron, though I only recognize some faces from Osraed. Maniacal laughter can be heard from a cave that I cannot see.

Amarilyss is as beautiful as Tovi had described, carrying herself with confidence and determination even in this dark and desolate place. She’s as filthy as everyone else, with black bags under her eyes and greasy hair, but somehow, she radiates sunshine. Her clothes are loose, and though she’s still voluptuous, she must be losing weight. To be honest, everyone down here looks either gaunt or outright sickly.

Crying. Multiple people crying. Either softly or in heaping wails. Some people cry out for Lyss or moan the word “please.” I’ve been lying here awake and alert for a couple of hours, and Amarilyss hasn’t stopped. Benches and crates are scattered everywhere. I can see why she looks tired as she purposefully darts between them all.

My stomach rolls, and again it takes some mental bargaining for me not to vomit. My main argument is the food was horrible enough going down. It can only be worse coming back up.

Amarilyss is leaning over a bench writing notes when I call her name softly. She looks up at me, frowning, and studies me. Setting down her notes, she crosses her arms and comes forward.

“How do you know my name?” she demands softly, looking around to see who else will be able to hear our conversation.

“Aside from hearing people calling you that, Riley says hello,” I say with a struggle, devolving into a coughing fit.

“Sure, he does,” she says, rolling her eyes and turning away.

“Who has the best B&B in Nemoris?” I ask quickly before she leaves.

She freezes, body stiff. “Mama Beryl,” she whispers before whipping around, a wild look on her face. “Do not play with me. Who are you?”

“My name is Mika. I came here with Riley, Tovi, and B&B. To rescue you.” The irony of my situation makes a small laugh escape before I can swallow it.

She looks around wildly, moving swiftly to my side. “Truly?” she breathes, tears welling in her red-rimmed eyes.

I nod. “Unfortunately, me being captured wasn’t exactly part of the plan. But at least I found you.” I make an exaggerated face of triumph, mouthing “yay.”

“The king would not bring you here unless you are a Null…” she says, concerned, mild panic building in her eyes.

Of course, the Nulls. This is why I am here, and Tovi won’t be. “I am a Null. But why does he want them?”

Someone yells, and a loud crashing sound causes others to wail. Amarilyss runs off into one of the dark passages, presumably to another set of caves to deal with whatever that was.

I doze off as I wait for her to return. When next I wake, she is undoing my hand bindings, and tells me I can call her Lyss. I’m still attached to the wall in a similar fashion to her, though my chain is significantly shorter. A chair behind her holds two plates of food, neither of which looks to have the meat paste, thankfully, though it’s still a dire affair. A couple of dried berries and a hunk of smelly cheese. I eat with trepidation, unsure how my stomach will fare.

“Everyone is mostly asleep,” Lyss says between small mouthfuls.

“What is this place, and why all these Nulls?”

Lyss’ hesitation is evident. “He is experimenting on them. Successfully too. Forcing Gifts to surface.”

“With pain,” I add, remembering the drugged conversation I had with him before I was brought here.

She nods with a slight grimace.

“You’re here to heal them so they don’t die during the torture?”

“Yes, but also because the pain inflicted is messing with some of their minds. Everyone here is mentally troubled to some degree. Some more so than others. I am here to heal their minds, otherwise he could have any Gifted healer down here.”

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