Page 74 of The Hidden Falling
Darius enters my blurry vision. He steps in front of me, looking down at Kade briefly before his cold, green eyes meet mine. He watches my tears fall with indifference, tracking them down my face then back up to the cut on my cheek until finally, his eyes meet mine.
They bounce between my dull ones before addressing everyone. “The laws of Vrohkaria have been broken. You are all to be taken to Wolvorn Castle in Fenrikar to be held there and put on trial. The traitor and her closest will be chained for aiding her, her pack will be questioned,” he states, and a drowsiness suddenly starts to take over me. I look down sluggishly and see some sort of dark mist appearing around my ankles, seeping into me as I fall to my knees before him. My last remaining strength leaves me, and Kade slumps forward, his hands limply falling from his head as I reach out to him. Trying to keep him close and out of reach of anyone that can hurt him. My eyes go hazy and dark spots enter my vision as I lay on the ground, my hand touching the side of Kade’s face. Everything goes quiet as I slip further into unconsciousness, my limbs struggling to respond as Runa tries to help me, pawing at me to get up, to move, but I’m too weak.
My eyes flutter as Darius crouches down beside me, his eyes still cold as they hold my rapidly closing ones. “Darius… don’t, vallier… please…” I murmur to him as my eyes finally close, unable to keep them open.
The last thing I feel is coldness against both of my wrists as darkness overtakes me.
Thirty Nine
Rhea
Awheezingsoundreleasesfrom me, a steady flow of pain running through my body as the fog slowly begins to lift from my mind. My fingers twitch first, and I feel hard ground beneath me, my body laying on its side. A groan escapes me next as the coolness of the ground seeps into me despite the sheen of sweat coating my body. I blink my eyes open slowly, my hazy vision gradually coming into focus as I see dark-gray stone in front of me. I cough, my chest rattling, but I inhale deeper on the next intake of air to calm myself. The scent of damp hits me along with distant smells of other people, musk and old blood, causing me to shiver.
I moan softly as the pain fades to a deep ache, and I slowly stretch out my limbs, bringing my arms out in front of me. The sound of clanking brings my attention down to my wrists, and my heart drops like stone. I stare. Stare and stare and stare unblinkingly at the harsh metal surrounding my wrists. I follow the chains that are attached to each wrist in a trance, examining each loop until they end, welded into the hard stone ground.
I maneuver myself into a sitting position, still staring at the cuffs and chains attached to me, as ragged breaths leave me, providing the only sound I can hear in the empty space. I grab hold of the chains with both hands with my heart in my throat, and yank on it, trying to get it to come free as a whimper leaves me. I get to my shaky legs, looking around to see if there is something that can help me, but I’m surrounded by stone with bars on one side of the room. I’m in a cell. The only light I can see is coming from the hallway on the other side of the bars.
I pull on the chain more, backing up as far as the chain allows me and pull with my whole body, the cuffs digging into my flesh. I ignore the pain and the blood welling there, and just keep pulling and pulling, trying to get them off. Oh, Gods. Get it off, get it off, get it off. A cry escapes me, my body trembling, but I yank harder, a gritted scream coming from me when they don’t move. I collapse to the ground, my fingertips digging into the stone.
“No, no, no,” I whimper, moving over to where the chains are attached to the floor. I grab the metal in my hands, yanking, pulling, wrenching to get it to break open until I exhaust myself.
I thought I had escaped this.
I fall on my back, taking painful breaths of air as I squeeze my eyes shut until I have my breathing under control. I don’t have my blade, my boots have been taken. I’m barefoot, only having my t-shirt and shorts. I don’t know where Josh or Kade are. The link is shut, closed off to me. Runa’s curled up inside of me, exhausted from trying to fight off whatever sent us into unconsciousness, and I don’t even know where the fuck I am.
A scream comes from somewhere, and I jolt, my heart racing as I look toward the bars with wide eyes and into the cell across from me. Nothing moves in there, and when the scream stops there is only silence. Only a few drops of water leaking through small crevices above me can be heard. There is no sign of anything.
I move until I sit cross legged on the ground, the chains not long enough for me to reach any of the walls to lean against. I face the bars and try to ignore the metal around my wrists and the memories that try to invade my mind of the last time I was chained. I breathe deep and get a hold of myself. I can’t think if I panic. I need to get out of here and find my pack. Then I need to find somewhere safe for us.Eridian isn’t that place anymore. I swallow roughly over the thought of Solvier. He was connected to the barrier, had his essence intertwined with it, and now the barrier is gone.
I close my eyes and block out the pain. I need rest to gather my strength, but I suspect it won’t be possible because it’s not just iron in these chains that encase my wrists. I need to try though, because while I don’t know what’s coming, I know it won’t be good. How did this even happen? Why did Darius break our vow and bring everyone to Fenrikar… That’s where I am, where he said he was taking us. I must be in Wolvorn Castle, in the dungeons.
The reminder of Darius and the way he looked at me with lifeless eyes sends a shiver down my spine. He’s looked at me coldly, in fury and disgust before, but never in the way he looked at me after holding that crystal.
I rest my head on my knees and wrap my arms around myself. I need to rest. I need to prepare for anything, everything. Whatever knocked me out has drained me. If I could just talk to Darius… He will see reason, he has to. I’m not a traitor, I don’t understand where he’s got that from. I’ve done nothing but protect people and give them safety and a home.
Both of which we don’t have anymore.
Tears leak from my closed eyes, and I give in to the urge to shut down for a little while, to let my body try and recover from exhaustion and my bleeding wrists and cheek. I lay down, curl in on myself and pretend I’m not chained to the floor, but back home in Eridian, where we lived our simple life.
Six days. It’s been six days since I’ve been down here. I’ve been doing my best to track time with the light coming and going from the hallway on the other side of the bars. The only time anyone comes near me is when the guards come to give me water and small pieces of bread at random times. I take it without a word, not wanting to receive anything from them, but knowing I need any source of energy I can get.
I sit in the center of my cell as footsteps sound far away from the left. Fast paced and hard. I lift my eyes to the bars, waiting. This isn’t a guard that’s coming. A figure rounds the corner, and when his all too familiar green eyes meet mine, my heart kicks up a notch. He looks over me, from the wound on my cheek from Leo’s arrow to my frame that has lost a little weight. Then he notices the blood on my wrists. He stares at them for longer than I thought he would care to before he puts his hand to the bars. Some of the bars disappear, just enough that he can pass through and step into my cell, still clad in his armor.
“Where’s Kade?” I ask him, my voice scratchy. I stand on my feet, wavering slightly but pushing through, not wanting to be at a disadvantage. Not wanting him to see me weaker than I already am.
“He has been seen by a healer and is waiting in the great hall to be put on trial.” His voice holds no emotion as he closes the distance between us and grabs hold of my cuffed wrists, running his fingers over where the chains are attached. A glow escapes from them, runes appearing on the cuffs quickly before disappearing again. The chains drop to the floor at my feet, the sound echoing in the space with a loud clang. A thick chain appears between my cuffed wrists, connecting to each other as he grabs hold of it and turns, dragging me behind him roughly.
“What do you mean healer? Is he okay?” I stumble over my feet, still weak from whatever that mist was, and the metal infused within the iron cuffs that is making me heal slowly. He ignores me as we walk down the stone hallway, and I look into the cells on either side of me, trying to see if any of my pack is inside, but there is no movement.”Where are we going?” He ignores me.
Darius opens a wooden door at the end and begins to climb the steps leading upwards as I nervously look around. Torches light the way, my bare feet scraping against the jagged stone steps until we reach the top and another door. Pulling me through it, we enter a courtyard of sorts. Smooth stone slabs guide us along a path with sand circles dotted around the area that look like fighting rings, dried blood mixing in with the lightness of the sand.
“Darius, listen to me, you have to help us get out of here.” I try to pull back, to get him to stop, but it’s useless. “I don’t know what happened in Eridian. I…I don’t understand how I’m a traitor or—”
Darius whirls around on me and grabs a hold of my chin, his fingers digging into the wound on my cheek. I hiss in pain. “Shut the fuck up, Rhea. I don’t have to help you with anything, Iwon’thelp you with anything.” His fingers dig harder into my skin, and I wince. “I’ll happily break your jaw to keep your mouth shut after what you have done.” A breath leaves me as we stare at each other for a beat. I never thought he would physically hurt me. I have always felt strangely safe with him, but now, fear rattles through me at the look in his eyes, and I know he could be capable of it.
Please believe me that I’m not a traitor, that I don’t even know what’s going on, I plead with my eyes.
He turns and continues to drag me with him.
