I blink rapidly and look down, forgetting why my body is tense as if waiting for a blow. Oh, look at the pretty blood, it swirls in pools of water around me.
“Elon, look at the blood, so much blood…blood everywhere. They feed on it, use it, chain me!” I roar again, and the voices stop, making me relax in the chains. “Leaving, leaving, Bakkar. They are leaving, no pain today.”
But the darkness is swirling around me again, obscuring my mind and even my vision. The dripping has stopped. How did it stop? Did they stop it? Does that mean more torture? Oh vekk…the knives. They are going to use the knives again. They hurt so badly, cut so deeply. Rip through my flesh like a wokkren, right down to the bone.
I have to stop them.
I have to.
Save Bakkar…
I struggle harder, the clank of the chains loud as I snarl threats into the dark. Pain surges through my body as I smash my head into the rock, but it only spurs me on to fight more vigorously. I smell fear, lots of fear, and it makes me laugh loudly.
Bakkar, they fear us! I knew they would!
But the darkness is enveloping me again, reaching for me, ready to torture me, and despite my struggles, it won’t be enough to stop them from hurting me.
How much longer can I go on? How long has it been? The years blur, and even now, time skips between one blink and the next. The darkness is growing closer, making me roar louder, the ground shaking under me with the force of it.
Suddenly, that bright light pierces through the darkness, and all the chatter of the shadows disappears as their mocking, spidery, seeking fingers shrink away from it. I freeze, swinging my head to stare at it as I sniff the air. Tonight, the light has a smell. It’s sweet and floral, a scent I’ve not inhaled in almost a lifetime. It has my body shaking with a need I don’t understand.
I arch my head up as far as I can, trying to get to the light.
Come here! I beg, but it freezes, and I worry I have scared it away.
Stupid, stupid, so stupid, Bakkar! Help me!
He doesn’t answer, he never does. Why does he never answer…? The light… Oh, the light is so bright.
But that light draws closer, the calming, brilliant one I have come to ache for. My very own star in the darkness, illuminating me and the shadows holding me captive. The pain even seems to diminish with it around, the torture and agony forgotten as I stare into it.
“Please, please don’t go!” I implore, my voice rough and raw as I scream and plead at the light. “Help me! Free me! Let me kill those here who wish to hurt me and my elon! Do something! Don’t just stand there!”
The light hesitates, flickering, and I worry it will disappear back into the dark like it does every time it comes, and leave me alone with the pain and horror.
But this time, it doesn’t.
This time, the light draws closer…close enough to touch.
I reach for it with clawed, bloody hands, and it gasps.
Lights don’t gasp…do they?
Forty-Seven
Harlow
Dev and Sev stay against the wall, whispering quietly between themselves as they try to determine how to free Takkar from the chains without hurting him or allowing him to hurt us.
But I can’t stand by while they talk amongst themselves, their heads bent together. So I move closer to Takkar. He’s thrashing and fighting again, roaring words and threats I block out, knowing they stem from fear. He calls for Bakkar, his brother? But when I look around, I see no one, no evidence that another prisoner is being held here with him, just some old bones sticking up from the floor next to him.
Blood pools around his form, and when he smashes his head into the ground, I wince and step forward, reaching out to stop him. He stills, swinging his head my way, and I watch as his nostrils flare as he sniffs. Sev and Dev quiet when Takkar does, but when he starts laughing again, they return to discussing how to free him.
Distracted, they don’t see me stepping closer to Takkar. His eyes are on me now, like he can see me. One blue, one dark. So beautiful and heartbreaking. How could he survive down here all these years? So much pain… There are claw marks, blood, and etchings all over the cave. It’s obvious from