“No more pain. She hurts me…hurts me…hurts me…” Ryland wrapped himself up in a ball, his fingers clawing at his curls.
“I hate seeing him like this,” Sain sighed as he attempted to stop Ryland’s frantic movements. “It’s so much easier when his mind is clear, before the nightmares.”
“Why is he calm then?” I asked, remembering how much more like himself he had seemed for those few moments in that other place.
“Because all of his soul is together, all of his heart is in one place. Now, like this, he is only part of who he truly is. He is broken, ripped apart.”
“She hurts me…hurts me…” Ryland continued to pant, his pained groans pulling Sain’s attention back to him.
“No, Ryland, no. She doesn’t hurt you. It’s all in your head, remember? It isn’t really her.” Sain reached up and touched the boy’s hair, his fingers soft and gentle as he attempted to calm him. However, it had the opposite effect.
“Let me kill her!” Ryland’s voice roared through the small rock room, his body fighting against his chains as he moved from one barred wall to another, clawing, kicking, and grabbing at the bars in his attempt to escape.
“I’m going to kill her!” he roared, and I moved into the bars I was huddled against, my hands squeezing Talon’s as I pulled him toward me, desperate for some comfort.
“Not kill, Ryland. Save. You have to save her.” Sain pleaded, his volume increasing as he fought to convince Ryland otherwise. I could see his furtive looks toward the main door, his fear evident. Ryland’s voice was going to break through Sain’s weak shield, making our noise audible to those above.
Sain pleaded quietly with him, and my voice joined in, my body shifting toward him a fraction as I tried to steady him with my tone. I wasn’t sure he could take another beating so soon.
“It’s okay, Ryland. Calm down,” I pleaded. Ryland didn’t seem to hear; he kept rattling the bars like a caged animal. He looked at anyone he could as he yelled for Joclyn’s death, his hands clawing and grinding through the air, Sain’s soft voice barely audible from behind him as he tried to comfort him from his own cell.
I looked toward the staircase, terrified that someone would hear him and come down, but no one came. So far, Sain’s shield was holding. It was obvious we didn’t have much longer as Sain’s orb of light began to flicker and dim.
Ryland’s eyes began to droop as Sain’s repeated muttered comforts began to sink in. His movements slowed until he dropped to the ground, his breathing still erratic and labored, but his voice now silent.
“Save her,” he whispered, his voice strangely dead and monotone.
“No!” Sain suddenly yelled, the light disappearing. I stiffened at his outburst. I didn’t know much about Sain, but I did know this, he did not yell. He did not get scared.
I froze, my hands still intertwined with Talon’s as loud footsteps sounded on the stairs. I didn’t move as I attempted to regulate my breathing. I didn’t know what was happening, but Sain was scared and that was enough to terrify me. I laid down and rested my body as best I could, hoping that feigned sleep would be enough to keep them at bay, praying that they would not notice me.
Part of me wished I could re-shackle my wrists, yelling at me that that was Cail’s game the whole time, but it was too late to fix it now. So I laid still as voices began to filter down to us.
“I like this plan, master,” Cail said as he addressed Edmund, my insides turning to ice even more. “Trap her and dispose of her that way.”
“Or at least turn her into a weapon,” Edmund said, his voice light with a laugh. “Either way ends in her death, so what does it matter?”
A dim yellow light filtered through my eyelids, but I kept them closed in the hope that they wouldn’t notice me.
“And once she is dead,” Cail began, Edmund’s voice cutting him off quickly.
“The end of the Mortals,” Edmund finished, the sneer on his lips evident in his voice. “All I need is her blood.”
“Yes.”
Their voices were cut off by the deep grinding sound of a cell door opening. I tried to keep my shoulders relaxed but was not sure it worked.
“Get out of there old man.” I heard a kick and a grunt after Cail’s words. I closed my eyes tighter, not even wanting to imagine what might have just happened.
“So compliant now, Sain,” Edmund said, his voice full of the same taunting malice I had heard in Cail’s. “It’s no wonder. You want some of that delicious water don’t you? You can’t wait until I give you the mug.”
I heard a groan of deep guttural need come from Sain as they locked him in with Ryland.
“Will you do something else for me too? Do this and I will let you eat tomorrow.”
I tensed in the silence, every nerve in my body on alert as I fought the desire to turn and find out what was going on. I squeezed Talon’s hands, in a desperate attempt to alleviate my stress and wished the silence would end.