Time passed, how much I wasn’t sure.
I heard the ropes falling against the side of the ship and a thud when unknown bodies landed within ours. Hands lifted me and fumbled around my waist.
They were talking above me, about me, but their words were not clear.
Something collided with the back of my head and my mind burst in a flash of white.
I WOKE TO a splitting pain lacing the back of my skull. It throbbed, pulling me from a deep oblivion. I reached a hand behind my head and felt for the pain. My fingers ran across a bump and when I pulled them back, they were soaked in blood.
I opened my eyes, the memories of the ship, the attack, and the shadow creatures coming back to me all at once. Where am I? Panic raced through me and I forgot all about the pain.
I swayed, my stomach turning. I faced a wood panelled wall, a weathered brown colour. I knew where I was.
I was on the ship. King Dalior’s ship.
Turning my head, I looked to the other side of the room. My heart sank when I spotted the two guards standing above me. They whispered to each other. One held something metal above my head and smiled before tipping it.
Water splashed over my face. I coughed and spat, the smell of stale water enough to make me vomit.
“You can piss in that,” one of them said. His voice was dark, raspy. I looked back towards him, to the shadows that spilled from his body. I blinked but they were still there. I looked to the second guard, who also was covered in ribbons of black shadow.
They looked like the creatures that had attacked our boat.
Hadrian. Gallion. Nyah.
My vision swam for a moment. I blinked through the panic to see the two guards passing through a door and slamming it shut. I was left alone.
I waited, listening to make sure their footsteps had faded away before I tried to move. Chains were clamped around my ankles, holding me to the floor. I yanked at my legs, but they wouldn’t budge.
I looked around for something, anything to break them. But beside the dented tankard the guards had dropped, there was nothing.
I pulled myself up to the closest wall, pressing my back against it and sat staring at the door. The swaying of the ship and the pain in my skull made me dizzy.
I wouldn’t cry. I had to be ready.
It took a while for the rock of the boat to finally lull me to sleep. I fought against the urge, not wanting to let my guard down.
But when no one came back for me, I gave into its song.
***
MY THROAT STUNG. Every time I risked swallowing my own spit, it felt like knives cutting into me. That was until I had no spit left. The lack of water dehydrating my body to the point of weakness.
The lids of my eyes had crusted together. A single beam of light streamed onto my face from a small hole in the side of the wall. Two nights had passed and the sun had raised to greet me the third day.
I sat up, using my remaining strength and adjusted myself to peek through the hole. My palm’s caught splinters whilst I half dragged myself across the rough wooden floor. I ignored the bit of wood that cut into me.
The view was limited but I saw no sign of land. All I could hear beyond the ship’s wall was the splash of water against wood and the call of seagulls that cut through the sky beside us. No ports, no Olderim.
I slumped back to the floor, smacking my dry tongue against the top of my mouth to try and create some spit. But it was pointless.
There was a shuffle of noise outside of my cell.
I hadn’t noticed the presence, or heard the door open and close since I’d been awake. Whoever it was had been in here, watching me sleep.
I squinted in the direction of the figure, not believing who stood before me, leaning up against the closed door.
“Petrer…” His name sounded harsh from my mouth.
I looked him up and down, surprised at how healthy he looked. His skin was flush with life and he wore a guard’s uniform, the same I’d seen many times before.
It was his face that looked different.
He didn’t move. He just stood there, watching.
“Please help me out of here, Petrer. You’ve got to help me.” I was pleading with him. Begging. He didn’t respond, he only looked at me, turning his head from side to side like a puppy.
He smiled and pushed off the door, “And why would I do that?”
“You must. I’m in pain, Petrer, please.”
I looked over him for any signs of the shadows. But there was nothing, not a single sliver of darkness.
“Well I’m fine. More than fine.” He kneeled beside me, his breath hot on my face. “I haven’t felt this good in a while.”
I reached a hand for him, but he slapped it away. I recoiled in shock, “Please, Petrer…”
He laughed, a slow, deep laugh. “King Dalior has sent me in here to give you this.” He pulled a gold band behind him. “A gift.”
I recoiled from it. It pulsed, like a mirage. “I don’t want it.”
“You can either put it on, or I will do it for you. Either way, I’m not leaving till it’s wrapped around that pretty little wrist of yours.”
“Why are you doing this? Whatever King Dalior has done to you…”
“It’s what you’ve done to me. I’ve seen you with him, that pathetic excuse for a Prince. Did you think I wouldn’t notice? You were mine, are mine. King Dalior has promised you to me, my own gift for keeping you controlled.”
This wasn’t the Petrer I knew.
I looked him in his eyes, those beautiful brown eyes and shook my head.
“I’m not yours.” My words were nothing more than a whisper.
Petrer lunged for me and gripped onto my forearm.
“You’re hurting me Petrer!” I sobbed, failing to pull myself from his hold.
“You are a monster, you need to be cleansed. This will help you. It will. It will. He told me…”
I watched in frozen horror whilst Petrer pushed the band onto my hand. The instant it touched my skin the burning sensation sent spasms up my arm and into my body.
“Stop!” I screamed, trying everything in my power to get away. “Please, Petrer, stop!”
But he didn’t. He giggled like a child, tightening his grip and pushing harder on the band.
There was a loud crack.
I screamed.
My hand was broken. I looked down to it whilst it hung, mangled, red and swollen.
Petrer was laughing, his wide dark eyes burning with glee. The band was on.
I clutched my broken hand to my chest, sobbing as Petrer watched me. With every second the pain intensified until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Look at you…” It was not Petrer’s voice. “Pathetic.”
I looked up and saw that Petrer’s eyes had rolled back into his head, but his mouth was moving.
“You underestimated me. You thought you could escape, but now you’re mine. I am only going to warn you once. That band is going to stop you from accessing your powers and shortly I will need to speak to you. If you think of making a single wrong move I will have Hadrian killed.”
“What have you done with him?” I shouted, spit and blood flew from my mouth. I’d bitten into my tongue, trying anything to stop the pain.