"Yes, sir," the two men mumbled together, and the footsteps returned, the light increasing as they all moved into the prison.
The battered man’s warning was lost the moment I saw them. The two men I had heard arguing a moment before carried with them a hulking form with a mess of sandy brown hair I knew all too well.
"Talon!" I couldn't help it. I screamed, I yelled, and I fought against my chains. The small space filled with my voice as I yelled for him, the rattling of my chains almost loud enough to drown out my panic.
He didn't respond. He didn't even twitch as they dragged him into the cell right next to mine, dropping him to the ground and not even bothering to chain him before they closed the bars that trapped him in the tiny space.
My body was on fire as I fought against the chains, every muscle, every bone, pulling in agony. I barely registered the pain. My need to get to him was too strong. I needed to touch him, to feel his heartbeat, to prove that he was still alive. I screamed, battled, yelled and pleaded, knowing it was of little use, but still, I couldn't help myself.
"Will someone shut her up?" I heard Timothy yell above my screams. I should have seen someone coming, but I was so focused on Talon’s limp body in the cell next to mine that I didn't know anyone had come into my cell until a foot collided with my stomach, the impact knocking the wind out of me and sending me back against the wall.
I stopped screaming as I groaned in pain, gasping for breath. The chains around my wrists clattered as I slid down the wall, my arms pulling back into their extended position above my head. I couldn't take my eyes off Talon. I panted with pain as I watched him, my heart pleading with me to find a way over to him, my mind yelling at me that it was impossible. I looked at Talon until a strong hand grasped my jaw, causing me to wince at the pressure he placed on the tender skin as he turned me to face him.
"Don't push me, Wynifred,” Cail sneered right in my ear before his closed fist hit me hard against my cheek.
I stayed silent as I turned back to look at him, my eyes narrowing in fight and warning. It was a useless threat; there wasn’t anything I could do to him. He smiled once before moving out of the cell to stand in the small hallway that lined the jail block.
"Ryland," Cail said, his attention turning from me to the black-eyed man behind him. My head whipped up as Cail spoke his name. I don’t know why I didn’t expect him to be here. Ryland was just as much one of Edmund’s puppets as my brother was now.
Ryland stepped forward, his face blank, his curls limp as they hung damp around his head. "Go sit by Sain, and chain your legs together."
Sain? The first of the Drak? The one Ovailia betrayed? The one Edmund killed? My head bounced between Cail and Ryland, hoping for a clue about who they were talking about. Without a word, Ryland walked into the cell with the battered man, sat down next to him, and chained his own ankles.
Sain.
Sain. It couldn't be; it just couldn't. My mind begged me not to believe it, but deep down I knew it was true. Sain looked at me with those bright green eyes of his, his one glance daring me to deny what I already knew. He was Sain. I had no idea how, or why, but I was sure it was him.
Ryland's movements were stiff, his vision unfocused as he followed Cail's odd demands. I looked between all of them: my brother and father who were focused on Ryland, Talon's limp body in the cell next to mine, Ryland as a shell of himself, and Sain, his green eyes still boring into mine, the power behind them evident even beneath the blood soaked hair and the bruised face.
Timothy moved over to where Ryland and Sain sat, Sain lifting his chained hands up to him. Timothy removed one of the chains from Sain’s wrist and reattached it on Ryland's. Sain did not fight, and Ryland did not move. The eeriness of it scared me. I didn't know what they were doing, and I didn't want to.
"Ready," Timothy said as he stepped out of the cell, closing the door to the tiny space behind him and trapping the two men inside. "Turn him off, son."
"Yes, Father," Cail said obediently, and for one split second, the prison was quiet except for the sound of my chains as I looked between them. The sound of my heart was like a beating drum in my ears as the silence pumped me full of dread. They were waiting for something, and the mystery as to what was terrifying. The silence dragged before the air opened up with a scream so mournful that I jumped, my own tears threatening as my soul understood the absolute heartbreak that the sound encompassed.