Chapter Fifteen

Aerilyn

Aerilyn had never felt a headache like the one she had then. Her temples pounded in pain as she forced her eyes open. Her entire body felt stiff as if she had been frozen in the position for too long. The air around her was cold and felt heavy with the scent of dirt. She slowly felt her consciousness continuing to come back to her, each sense overwhelming her as she did. The room she was in had minimal lighting. The darkness only had a few torches to light the area enough to allow her to take in her surroundings. She was lying on the flat ground, dirt beneath her. She slowly sat up, allowing herself to adjust to the position change. She felt a heavy weight around her wrists and looked down to see the same cuffs that had been placed there before. Now, there was a long chain attached to them. Her eyes followed the length of the chain, noting how the end of it attached to a hook on the floor. She swore under her breath, giving it a pull with any strength she had left. The sound of the chain clinking echoed through the space, breaking the silence that had filled the air around her.

“Aerilyn?” She heard Everett’s hoarse voice coming from the darkness beyond the bars of the cage she was trapped within. She didn’t have the strength to stand, crawling towards the metal bars that enclosed her away from everyone else. She grabbed a hold of the bars, pressing her face to them as she searched for Everett in the dim lighting. Directly across from her in his cage was Everett. His wide eyes were on her, trying to scan her for any damage. He seemed to care about her wellbeing which made her feel a bit safer around him.

“Are you okay, darling?” He whispered, his forehead pressing against the bars, not looking away from her once. “I’m okay, Ev. I want to understand what the fuck just happened,” she let out a small sigh, trying to recall the detail of the events that had happened before she lost consciousness. “I don’t know how any of this is possible. Nobody else is supposed to be alive. Maybe they’re from Orissia. They could be others from past groups who have survived?” He suggested, trying to also find reasoning for what was happening.

They were obviously in some sort of dungeon. She’d never seen the dungeons back in Orissia, but she knew a place like this wasn’t supposed to be welcoming. They were prisoners here. Too many questions ran through her mind to process. It was all too much to take in at once. She wanted to find an explanation as to how they’d gotten themselves into this position. She had no idea who these people were. After they’d taken them hostage from where they slept, she assumed they weren’t very kind. The image of the figures dressed in black washed across her mind once again, reminding her of the level of danger they were in.

Aerilyn heard a group of footsteps along with the sound of keys rattling with movement. Her eyes went wide as she glanced towards where the sound was coming from. She quickly backed herself away from the bars, putting space between her and whoever was approaching. A group dressed in leathers appeared before her cell, four people in total.Three of them had a hand on their sword that was attached to their hip while the other unlocked her cell. The one unlocking the cell had a hood over his face, concealing his identity from her. “Stay the fuck away from me,” she spit out, forcing herself to her feet. The action alone made her body ache and her head spin. Something about the cuffs around her wrists was draining her more than she had realized. She staggered on her feet, leaning her back into the wall for the support she now needed.

“Now, that’s not the way to treat a stranger, is it? How unkind of you,” the man scoffed, stepping into her cell along with the others. “You have me in chains. You deserve none of my respect,” she snapped in return, trying to get herself into a fighting stance. The man let out a sigh as he rolled his eyes, examining her from across the cell. “I’m going to give you an option here. Come with me without a fight or make this more difficult for the both of us and require me to use force. Which will it be, my dear?” He proposed, cocking his head to the side like a predator watching the prey. She debated his offer, wanting so badly to fight the group. She knew her odds were almost impossible. They were all armed and she had no weapons. She had nothing to defend herself against them.

“Fine.”

“Good choice, my dear,” he used the nickname again as if it were endearing to do so. He held his arm out towards her, motioning with his head for her to join him. As she approached the man cautiously, one of the guards unlocked the chain that kept her held to the ground of the cell. The figure held the chain within his fists, able to control just how far she could stray away from him. She stood beside the strange man, refusing his offer to link her arms to his. He took the hint and dropped his arm before stepping out of the cell. The guards huddled around them as they walked in silence to somewhere unknown. Aerilyn didn’t stop her gaze from taking it all in. Any information on how this underground area was laid out could help them escape later on. “I know what you’re thinking and there’s no easy way out of here. Our king ensured that criminals wouldn’t run loose around our kingdom,” he snapped, his voice void of the previous kindness. Her mind began to whirl with questions once again. There was another kingdom besides Orissia. That she now knew from the man’s statement.

“Criminals?” She questioned, her brows pulling together in confusion. She didn’t understand anything that was happening, but she did know that none of them did anything to be considered criminals. “You and your friends entered our land without permission. You come from Orissia and that makes you an enemy,” he didn’t look at her as he spoke, still leading her through the twists and turns of the underground. She felt like she was going to be sick.

The man stopped before an iron door, pushing it open easily. Within the room sat a chair with straps along the armrests. She would have to be a fool to not realize what was about to happen. She quickly turned to run before she felt the strong tug of the chain that connected to her wrists, jerking her body back towards the dimly lit room. She began to scream as the guard forced her into the chair. The man who had been speaking to her stood beside the chair, rolling his sleeves up as he watched the guards restrain her. “Relax, my dear,” he cooed, running his hand over her cheek. She tried to jerk her face away from his touch, but her entire body was frozen in place. She looked up at him as he moved to stand in front of her, his hood now pulled down. His head contained no hair, the bits of light reflecting off of the bare surface. His face was old with age, probably around the age her father would’ve been.

“Leave us. I’ll retrieve you when I’m finished,” he waved the guards off who then exited the room, leaving them alone. He clasped his hands together, watching her before he began to speak. “I want to keep this easy. I need to look into your mind and determine if you have any memories that can be of use to the king. I can’t say this won’t hurt,” a small smile formed on his lips, exposing his damaged teeth. He placed his fingertips against her temples, pressing them down into her skin. She gasped as she felt a heavy weight fill her mind. It felt like something was stepping on her brain and crushing her from the inside. She let out a scream, her body thrashing against the chains.

Don’t move.

The voice whispered into her mind, causing every inch of her body to freeze. It felt the same way as it did when the figure in black had forced her to her knees. The pain within her mind didn’t let up, his fingertips feeling like they were burning her skin. She continued to scream, praying for the pain to stop. She’d had a Neuro in her mind when she was just a child. The boy didn’t know what he was doing when he accidentally slipped into her mind and began to tell her to slap herself repeatedly. The boy’s mother had found them like that, the poor child unable to reverse what he had done. His mother had also been a Neuro and was able to force her to stop harming herself. That experience hadn’t caused her pain the way this did.

Aerilyn was unsure of how much time had passed. The pain became unbearable. She prayed for it all to end. Every scream that had escaped her made her throat feel more raw. At some point, her vision seemed to become limited. The pain within her mind had spread into her eyes, making them ache with excruciating pain. When the hands finally left her temples, her entire body went slack. She let out a sob of relief, her shoulder sagging as she tried to recover from what she had just experienced. Her head ached, but the pain was manageable compared to how it had been just moments prior. “Nothing useful,” he sighed, examining her once more before he turned to the iron door as he knocked on it a few times. One of the guards peeked his head into the room, looking between her and the Neuro.

“Take her back to her cell, I’m done with her.”