Scorched Treachery (10 page)

“Good.” Cail sneered, the pride at a job well done evident in his voice.

I heard the click of Cail’s foot against the bottom stair, the sound barely audible over Ryland’s panic attack and continued panting. That one click clenched inside of me, my body rocking in on itself before it snapped, sending me to my feet. Talon gasped at my movement, his body too weak to follow, to defend me. Ryland stopped repeating his words, and Cail turned around, his dark eyes meeting mine as a sneer appeared on his lips.

We stood facing each other, Cail’s dark eyes taunting me, warning me of what would come if I opened my mouth and did what I was planning. I knew better; he would do it anyway. I took the warning, magnified it, and sent it back to him, my eyes narrowing in a taunt that I was sure I didn’t possess the means to follow up on.

I could hear Talon’s whimper, feel his weak fingers on my ankle, but I ignored them. For my idea to work, it had to be me against Cail. I needed to get the knife, and we needed to warn Joclyn.

“You’re going to let him go and make him kill her, aren’t you?” I asked, trying to keep my voice as loud as possible but knowing I was failing. “You’re going to chicken out and make Ryland kill her for you.”

Cail moved
off the step and back in front of the cells. His hand wrapped around one of the bars of the door to my cell, and his face pushed awkwardly against the narrow opening as he glared into me. His lips curled, and narrowed; I felt my heart clunk to a stop, the wretched thing forgetting to beat in its sudden panic. I ignored the pain in my chest and the desperate grab against my ankle. I ignored my better judgment and stepped forward, placing my face only millimeters away from his.

“You’re weak, Cail,” I spat, saying the one thing I knew would always be his trigger, the vice that Edmund had implanted him with. “You are nothing without Edmund. You can’t even kill a little girl on your own.”

I took another step forward, my hand extending toward the pocket of his jeans as he pressed himself against the bars, the door rattling ominously as his anger shook through him.

“I can kill a little girl, Wynifred. Or do you
not remember?” he spat.

I sneered, careful to keep his focus on my face and not on what my fingers were slowly maneuvering out of the pocket of his pants and into my own.

“Can you really?” I taunted, fear and hunger shaking my legs. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand much longer. But that was okay, I had done what I needed to do.

Cail’s lip curled as he shook the bars, his anger so close to
the surface that even he could barely control it. I wanted to congratulate myself on a job well done. I had pushed him to this brink several times, but before, when he was my loving brother. He would have never followed through then. Now I was his enemy. I would be a punching bag.

I wanted to scream as the door swung open
, his shaking body rushing into the cell. I held still, ready to take what was coming. Cail’s hand clasped around my neck as he pushed me against the wall, my feet lifted off the ground as he held me there. The strong grip of his hand against my throat cut off the airflow, the blood flow, and started to cut off my life.

I heard Talon scream
, and Sain plead. I heard their voices for one minute before the static took over, the blackness seeping into my vision.

It started slowly on the outer edges, but all I could do was smile. I don’t know why, but all I saw was the image of the beautiful girl. I heard Talon’s voice, and I was okay.

As the black took over and zeroed in on Cail’s face, I saw my brother, the boy who had practically raised me. I saw the soft lines of his face, the dark purple sheen of his eyes. Strangely enough, I still loved him.

“Wynifred?”
Talon’s voice was soft in my ear, his hand warm against my cheek.

I moaned and tried to roll over, but my body didn’t respond. I stayed limp on the floor, my cheek pressed into the ground
, and my eyes slowly opening to the green light that Sain held in his hands.

“She’s awake,” Sain sighed, his voice quiet as he tried not to wake Ryland up.

I blinked, letting my eyes adjust as I looked toward Sain. The intensity of his stare scared me. I wanted to look away. I wanted to move away from that look. But I couldn’t make my body do anything.

Everything hurt.

Talon’s hand grasped at my shoulder frantically, the pads of his fingers slipping on wetness and sending little pinpricks of pain down my spine.

I tried to move again. This time, my body allowed me to roll onto my back. The movement was only half managed though, and I landed hard as I half fell, half rolled onto the stone. I groaned as the impact sent a wash of
agony through me. My teeth clenched in an attempt to keep the pain out of my voice. I wasn’t sure there was a part of me that didn’t hurt.

“What happened?” I managed to squeak out, my voice catching on what felt like sandpaper lodged in my throat.

“Cail beat you unconscious after you punched him, Wyn.” Talon’s voice was strained, the tone rough, making it obvious he had been crying.

“I punched him?” I asked, the words barely escaping.

I didn’t remember punching him. I only remembered being pinned against the wall and then blackness. I looked away from the filthy ceiling toward Talon. He lay on the floor of his cell, his body still pressed up against the bars, a new purple bruise forming on his cheek. I wanted to reach out and touch the dark mark, but couldn’t get my sore fingers to respond. Just seeing it there told me the story I knew Talon wouldn’t. Talon had yelled out, pleaded with Cail to stop hurting me, and in turn, he had been beaten too. He looked at me with glistening eyes and moved his arm closer to me. His face screwed up in pain as he moved, his arm only making it halfway before it dropped to the stone, his body not strong enough to support it.

“Yeah...
and then he…” Talon’s voice caught, his hand still reaching toward me, not quite able to reach. “Are you okay?”

I moved onto my side and pushed myself toward Talon as I gently moved to sit against the bars. Everything hurt as I moved, every joint, every bone, and every inch of skin that covered my body. I felt pools of wetness slip over my skin as I moved, my own blood
washing over me and leaving glistening trails of bright red to swirl around the jagged lines of black. I leaned against the bars, right by where Talon lay, his arms moving to wrap around me.

I felt Talon’s lips against my bare arm, his lips wet from the tears of relief that moved down his face.

“Why did you do that?” Talon hissed, his voice panicked and weak as he leaned heavily against the bars in an attempt to be close to me. “He could have killed you, Wyn.”

I cringed as I leaned my head against the bars, the simple movement igniting an inferno of pain in my body.

“He’s going to kill, Joclyn,” I said simply, hoping that my statement would be enough to pacify him but knowing it wouldn’t be.

“And y
ou wanted to join her?” Talon asked, Sain’s chuckle sounding strangely out of place.

“No, I wanted to save her.” I cringed as I shifted my weight, a loud groan escaping my lips as I pulled the long red blade out of my pocket. I held it up, letting Sain’s dim green light reflect off the surface, shattering a wicked prism of red around us.

“No,” I heard Talon gasp, his fear and disbelief at what I held in my hands haunting. Sain, however, moved forward, his hand grasping the bars as he tried to push through them, desperate to get through and reach what I held in my hands.

“You can go in and warn her,” I said to Sain, his eyes widening as they flashed from the blade to me.

“I can’t,” he said simply, the energy not leaving his face, “but, Ryland can. And, I think, without Cail to meddle with his mind, he might be coherent enough to get the message across. He has tried before, without the blade, but it has never worked.”

I nodded my head once in understanding before moving forward, my body screaming as I moved. Talon stayed silent as I moved away from him, my body shuffling across
the small space to extend my hand through the bars, the blade stretched toward Sain as I gripped it in between my fingertips. I felt his hand wrap around it, his hand encompassing it as he held it against him like a precious stone.

“Thank you, Wyn. We might be able to save my daughter now.” I heard Talon gasp behind me but ignored it. I wasn’t even sure I understood how that one worked.

I nodded briefly and slowly moved back to rest against the bars of my cell, Talon’s arm wrapping around me from where he lay on the floor, too weak to pull himself to sitting.

“My shield might be able to keep the scream at bay. It should be enough,” Sain said quietly, his voice a mutter as he attempted to convince himself.

I said nothing, I only watched as Sain lifted Ryland’s shirt, moving his hand over Ryland’s heart. He hesitated for only a moment before plunging the blade through, the two men screaming in unison before they blacked out, the green orb of light extinguishing the moment their screams did. I froze in the darkness, waiting for footsteps, knowing they would come eventually, but hoping the shield had masked the noise enough not to draw immediate attention.

We had no guarantee that Joclyn would be sleeping. For all we knew it was the middle of the day and we had hours to wait. Ryland and Sain needed all the time with her that they could get.

“Please let them find her soon,” I said to myself, unable to keep the thought from entering my mind. “Please don’t let this have been for nothing.”

We waited in silence, with no shield to give us the ability to speak and with no light to see. I shifted down to the cramped floor of my cell, letting my arm entwine with Talon’s through the bars, a silent prayer for safety on my lips.

Thunk.

I felt the ripple of movement before I heard the sound of footsteps on the staircase that led down to the jail cell. The heavy tread was followed by Cail’s loud voice as he sang happily while he made his way toward us. I moved away from Talon, ignoring his frantic grasping for me to stay and shuffl
ed across the floor to what I hoped was my original position.

Cail’s voice grew louder as the light he brought with him brightened, his voice moving from song to speech as he stepped into the prison area.

“I have great news, Ryland. We get… What the hell?” His voice stopped mid-sentence and everything inside of me turned to ice, my heart thunking loudly in my chest.

I listened to his footsteps, to the iron grinding as the door opened, another loud exclamation from Cail, and then silence.

Silence.

I waited and waited. I could hear Talon’s labored breathing behind me
, the shallow breathing of those on the other side of the bars and then screaming.

All three men’s voices hollered. Ryland’s in maniacal agony, Sain’s in fear, and Cail’s in anger. They joined each other for just a minute before the only scream left was Ryland’s, his scream morphing into wails of agony.

“Where did you get the dagger?” Cail yelled, his voice loud and oppressive.

“I didn’t…” Sain muttered. “Ryland…” Sain’s voice cut off as his body hit the rock of the wall.

“Don’t lie to me!” Cail roared. Ryland’s screams picked up at the increased volume of the room.

All I could hear for a moment was Ryland’s screams, his mumbling pleas, and the bang of his head against the bars.
The sound loud, until it left, leaving us in silence.

“Sit down, Ryland,” Cail commanded, and I stiffened.

Cail had reattached himself to Ryland’s mind, turning him back into the black eyed monster. I should be happy for the lack of screams, but I still remembered Ryland’s cold and aggressive behavior from when we had tried to rescue him. With that one action, Cail had placed another enemy in the prison, in the jail cell right next to me.

“Now,” Cail continued, leaving a long silence and keeping his voice calm, “who gave you the dagger?”

“Ry…Ryland,” Sain panted, his voice tensed. I fought the urge to open my eyes. I really didn’t want to see this played out.

“Don’t lie to me, Sain!” Cail roared. “I don’t like being lied to
, and you have done it an awful lot recently.” Cail’s tongue clicked impatiently and I heard the clang of a chain, the groan of defeat.

“First you lie to Ovailia and then to us about your first vision. Last, you lied a
bout who your daughter was. Here I was thinking I was going to get to feed you today.

“No!” Sain begged
. “Please, I need water.”

“Then tell me who gave you the knife.”

“Ryland,” Sain’s said before being cut off with a loud thunk as Cail pushed him into the stone wall at the back of his cell.

“Ryland you say?” he asked, his voice heavy in warning.

I don’t know if Sain heard the inflection or not, but his voice had lowered, “Yes.”

“Interesting.” I heard Cail’s voice right outside of my jail cell followed by the creak of metal as he leaned against the bars, causing them to jerk against their joints. “Very interesting.”

Sain’s screams filled the darkness as Cail attacked him, but it was not an attack of physical blows. Cail was attacking Sain with magic. Sain’s body spasmed as Cail laughed, the dry sound mixing with Sain’s screams as it all echoed around the jail.

I curled up in a ball and pushed my fists into my mouth, desperate to keep the scream inside of me, to stop myself from yelling out. I needed to fight back, to save him, but I had nothing to fight back with. I did not know if I could survive another beating. I didn’t know if Sain could either. Everything tightened inside of me as guilt seeped into my heart, tense anger washing over me.

I should save him, I should. But I couldn’t make my voice come. I couldn’t do it. I stayed still, waiting for the screaming to stop, dry tears seeping from my eyes as I waited for it all to end, my shoulders finally relaxing when it did.

“Don’t lie to me, Sain, or I will do it again! Who gave you the knife?” Cail asked, his voice loud above Sain’s gasping breaths.

“It was Ryland, I swear it,” Sain begged, his voice pained.

“Then I hope Ryland can give you the water you need, Sain, because you won’t be getting any from me.” Cail laughed, the loud sound making me jump.

“No!” Sain roared, the power behind his weak voice surprising. “I need water, Cail, please. It has been too long.”

Sain was begging
, and I knew at once that Cail had won. Cail knew it too. I could feel the change in the electrical current that flowed through the air, the oppressive mood that Cail always brought lifting slightly. I tensed; I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t run. I could only lay there and listen to Sain as he whimpered my name into the damp air. I listened as Cail thanked him, his voice almost passing for genuine gratitude.

I didn’t move. I didn’t dare. I focused on breathing in and out evenly, keeping my chest from shaking, although I was sure that was impossible. Each of my ribs ached as they moved and my lungs were on fire as oxygen hit them with every breath. I listened to the methodical steps as Cail moved closer to me, the sound of the latch of my cell door unlocking, the squeak of the hinges
and still I did not move. I was frozen in fear as I silently pleaded for mercy, pleaded that Talon would keep his mouth shut during whatever was to come.

“I can’t say I’m surprised. It only made sense that my pretty little sister helped you.” Breathe even. Don’t rise to his baiting. Stay Still.

“N…no,” Sain stuttered. I could hear the regret in his voice, the plea for forgiveness. I wanted to tell him it was all right; that I deserved it after not speaking up before, but I couldn’t find the words.

I heard one tap of Cail’s foot near my head and then my body
flew through the air, Cail magically lifting and restraining me against the wall. I screamed as my body tumbled limply before slamming against the wall with such force that my vision went black. The movement of my body ignited every single new injury in a pressurized pain I couldn’t focus through.