Page 106 of Spirit Trials
“Say the word, Prince,” Harper says from behind us. I turn my head to see Harper standing with a bow to her shoulder and an arrow pointed towards the guards. Kinsley stands next to her with a knife in each hand. Her face is pale, but she looks resolute. Nausea churns in my stomach, and I feel like I'm going to throw up. I can’t let this happen. Somebody’s going to get hurt...or worse. I’m not going to let that happen. I yank my hand from Rysden’s and move away from him, towards the nearest guard. The guard grabs me and pulls me further away from Rysden.
Rysden’s eyes snap to mine, furious. “What are you doing?”
I shake my head at him. “I can’t let anybody else get hurt because of me.”
“Farrah.” His eyes plead with mine.
I look away from him, feeling like my insides are being torn out. I watch as his gaze hardens, and I know what happens next. He will single -handedly take down every guard out here, and he won’t even sweat doing it, but at what cost? Who else couldget hurt? I look to Harper. She meets my eyes steadily, and I try to convey to her what I need her to do. She gives me a small nod, and then she shifts her arrow towards Rysden. My heart hardens, and I try to remind myself that this is for the best. Shade will be able to heal him swiftly. She shoots him in the back. My arms are yanked behind me a second later, and I’m dragged away, even as I hear Kinsley call out.
The guards drag me so fast, I can’t get my feet under me. My hands are tied behind my back, and I’m thrown into the back of a wagon. My feet are bound a moment later, and I’m shoved headfirst into the wooden planks. I manage to get into a sitting position just as we turn and Rysden’s castle fades from view. I refuse to cry and take deep breaths trying to piece together what I’m going to do.
The ride to the castle is over way too fast, and I’m dragged from the wagon. Something is pulled over my head, and I suddenly can’t see anything. I refuse to cry out and focus on trying to keep my feet under me. There are so many twists and turns, and the walk takes forever. I fall at least a dozen times but keep my mouth shut. Then we’re going down. I hear the clank of iron and then I’m shoved to the ground. The cloth is pulled from my head, and I blink, trying to get my bearings. Somebody frees my hands and feet. Iron clangs, and then there’s silence. I take a breath and try to ignore the pain in my body from hitting the ground too many times to count without being able to catch myself. I push myself to my feet, cursing the guards under my breath, and take in my new surroundings. I’m underground; that’s for sure. It’s dark with only the light from a fire-burning torch on the wall to light the entire area. There are several cells like mine, and I wonder who else is down here with me. I hear a scratching noise and shudder and try not to imagine what it could be. I spend the next twenty minutes looking desperatelyfor a way out. I finally flop onto the dirt floor against the wall, admitting defeat.
My mind turns over all the events of the past twenty-four hours, and I try to figure out what is going on. Questions flood my mind as I try to sort out everything. Certain things from last night don’t make sense—things that I hadn’t really thought about until now.Why didn’t the guards let their spirit wolves free to fight? Or any of the contestants for that matter? How did the mercenaries get into the city gates and into the castle?I remember the guy with the scar standing over me. He could have taken my life in that instant, but he didn’t.Why?The questions circle around in my mind for hours, until I feel like I’m going crazy.
I reach out to Solace, but there’s no response. I can feel our connection, but I don’t think we can communicate from this far. The connection feels weak. My mind wanders to Rysden.Will he think I betrayed him somehow? That this attack was my fault?That thought makes me sicker than everything else; I don’t think I’d recover if I lost his trust.
I have no idea how long I’ve been down here. It could have been minutes or hours; I have no way of tracking time. When I finally hear someone, I stand to my feet as hope fills me. It drains away a moment later when two guards step into the cell with me and close the door with a clang behind them. I take in their faces and realize this is not going to go well, especially when I realize the one guard is the guy who took the lead at Rysden’s. I stand to my feet and try to mentally prepare for what comes next.
Chapter 54
They step forward quickly. I back up, but I’m no match for two powerful male Royal Guards. One of them shoves me to my knees while the other yanks my hair back, tilting my neck up. I blink back the automatic tears from pulling my hair but refuse to let them drop. I stare up at the guard in charge. “Whatever it is, you can just ask me.”
He backhands me across the face, and my head jerks to the side, pulling my hair further. I blink and try to focus past the ringing in my ears and the pain in my cheek. I spit out the blood pooling in my mouth from biting my cheek and look upwards again. “You’re a traitor to this kingdom and to the king. You don’t do the talking; I do.” I bite my lip, so I don’t say anything in return. “Why did you lead the Black Clansmen here?”
“I didn’t.” He hits me again; this time on the other side of my face. My head hangs a moment, and I try to breathe past the pain.
“Let’s try that again. Why did you lead the Black Clansmen here?” This time I stay quiet. “Answer me.” I grit my teeth; there’s no winning here. They’re here to break me down and aren’t going to stop until there’s nothing left to break down.
I slowly lift my head and meet his eyes. “I didn’t lead them here. I never even spoke to any of them.” He hits me in the stomach this time, and I can’t catch my breath. Panic courses through me as I fight against the lack of oxygen. My brain knows oxygen will return, but my body isn’t so convinced.
“How did you get them past the guards at the gate?”
I shake my head and regret it immediately. The walls spin around me.Pain is just an emotion; fight past it.I take a breathand lift my head. “I didn’t. I promise. I would never do anything to hurt anybody in this kingdom.”
The world starts to blur around me, and I get lost in the pain. He keeps asking questions, but I can’t do anything to answer right.
“Why did you send the Prince away before the attack?”
I try to make sense of his words. “I didn’t send Rysden away. He was called away before the attack.” I stumble through my words and spit out blood in between. “Maybe you should be asking who knew the attack was coming and sent the most powerful man in the room away before it happened?”
It’s silent for a moment, just a moment; but it’s blessed. But then it starts up again. They ask a question; I don’t answer the way they want, and I pay the price. Time ceases to exist outside of my torment, and I’m not sure what the goal here is but I’m pretty sure they plan to kill me this way. There’s no way my body can keep taking this. Even bonded to Solace won’t help me survive this. Once, when I knew they were going to keep torturing me until I was dead, I fought back. Or at least I tried, but I was too weak, and it failed fast.
Somewhere outside here, we hear a scream. The men stop, and I try to take in a breath. There’s more screaming, and I latch on to it—simply because if they have to worry about something else, they can’t torment me. I hear a bell ringing and realize it’s some sort of alarm, but I’m not exactly sure what. I can only hope that maybe somebody is attacking the castle, so my captors will have to leave.
I close my eyes as I lay in the dirt; it hurts even to breathe. I don’t think I’m going to survive this. Suddenly, I feel something. I feel...him. I don’t know how I know, but I know. My mouth tries to curve into a smile.
“Travin!” the guard in charge shouts. “What’s going on up there?”
“I’m not sure. It sounds as if—” There’s a gurgling noise as his voice instantly cuts off.
The guard next to me swears. “Go check it out,” he demands of the second guard in the cell with us. I hear the cell open, and footsteps. And then there’s nothing.
The guard still with me growls low under his breath. “Why do I have to do everything myself?”
And then, Rysden enters the cell. I can’t see him, but I feel his dark presence. The cell door clangs shut, and I wish I could turn to see him. “Your Highness,” the guard stammers. “Wh-what are you doing down here?” There’s absolute silence. “Now, let’s not do anything hasty,” the guard says, stumbling backwards. “The king gave the order, and I was just following his command.”
“The king commanded you to torture my mate?” The words are so low, I can barely hear them; but I can hear the venom dripping from his voice. Honestly, I’ve never heard Rysden sound like this before. “Then I will kill him next after you die at my hand after experiencing a very painful and slow death.” Rysden’s words are slow and steady.
