by J. G. Maltos
Light enters the room as the crack of my door widens. I remain still, waiting like a predator for its prey. The tapping of metal boots near my bed and when it’s close enough, I swing my body around, catching the back of his knees with the heel of my foot. They buckle beneath him and suddenly he is at eye level with me.
The feeling of triumph swells my heart but it quickly vanishes by the look of sheer surprise on the guard’s face. I’ve never seen him before, but he couldn’t be that much younger than me. He is wearing the same suits like the rest of the guards. I hear One Ear chuckling from the other side of the metal doors.
I snap out of my head and swing my leg around his shoulder and lock his neck between my thighs. My hips twist and we are both sent crumbling onto the floor, my legs still wrapped around his head. The young guard claws at my skin, trying to rip himself free. I only tighten my hold against his efforts.
One more. I can take one more guard down.
My hold on the young guard suddenly releases as One Ear kicks the side of my head with a steel-toed boot. My head swings backward, causing a strain on my neck. The taste of iron pools into my mouth once more, my teeth cutting deeper into the already open wound I got after the cage fight.
One Ear’s laugh crashes in my ear. “Wow! She almost had you, kid!” He grips the guard from his collar and brings him close to his face. “Next time I would think twice before smart-assing a superior.” He lets him crumble back onto the ground before shoving his shoulder with the heel of his boot. “Now that the fun’s over, help me get her up.”
I force my eyes to meet his as he crouches down beside me, bringing his face so close to mine that I can see the red flakes that burn in his eyes, the only indicator of his Fire abilities. He enjoys his abilities a little too much, and I have the scars to prove it.
“You’ll have to try harder than that next time,” he smirks. “If there is a next time.”
Without thinking of the inevitable consequence, I lift my head and spit at his face. His body coils back like a snake, bringing a heavy hand to his cheek where my present dripped down.“You little—” He grips at my hair, tearing at the roots so hard I bite my tongue to keep myself from crying out. I guess hair pulling is the torture of the day.
“Let me go,” I force out.
The younger guard recovers and rushes toward us. He grips my arms and encases my wrist in an icy chain. Frost? It couldn’t be.
“How—?” I gasp out, the betrayal clear in my voice.
Before the guard could respond, One Ear pulls me toward him, and my stomach twists as I see the amber flames hovering over his fingers. “Enough talking. We wouldn’t want to be late, would we?”
My gaze lands on the younger guard again. He doesn’t meet my eyes. Instead, he stares at One Ear with complete indifference. I force my legs to move beneath me, trudging toward the door.
We enter the dark, muggy hallway. The guard stays a step behind, his emerald green eyes avoiding looking anywhere that wasn’t straight ahead. I try to slow my pace, forcing him to look at me but One Ear grows impatient. He shoves my shoulder and I’m sent tumbling forward. My hands reach out to catch the wall, missing it by a hair and crashing onto the ground. My breaths come out in rapid beats.
One Ear’s boots echo in the hall as he races toward me. “Worthless. You can’t do anything, can you?” He grips my hair again, lifting me off the ground. “I guess I have to help you.”
The guard pulls up behind One Ear cautiously. “Sir—I don’t think that’s—”
One Ear shoots his crazed eyes at him, his lips pulled back into a sneer. “Exactly. You don’t think this pathetic excuse of a princess is the last heir to the Earth Kingdom. She has the answers we need.” He shifts his hatred toward me. “If she doesn’t talk when we play nice, then we’ll make her scream.”
My legs drag beneath me as he pulls me from the roots. The smell of burnt hair engulfs me, and I scratch at his wrists to save myself the pain of his heat. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the anxious guard trailing behind us.
We turn into another familiar hallway. As if I’m on edge enough already, my heart is sent into a panic the moment my eyes land on a pair of metal doors. In seconds, my back slams against a cold chair. Blood-stained rope cuts through my scarred skin that One Ear is coiling around my hands and legs. I am vaguely aware that the young guard is nowhere to be seen. Typical. One Ear likes his privacy. The fewer witnesses the better. He emerges from behind me with his twisted grin, tightening the final knot around my arms. “Things would be so much simpler if you just gave us the answers we needed.”
“I don’t know anything.” A begging whine escapes me despite my better judgment. “Your people destroyed my family, my kingdom. I don’t know what else you could possibly take!”
The echoes of One Ear’s footsteps bounce off the walls as he circles me, like a lion with his prey. “If you believe that, then you’re more naïve than I thought.” The shadows sit deep within his sunken eyes. “Either way, you know more than what you’re telling me. Perhaps what we need is something to help jog that memory of yours?”
My head hangs low, too tired to even try and look straight at One Ear when pain in the pit of my stomach jolts me forward.
One Ear catches me with one hand on my shoulder. “Feel that?” he taunts, revealing a set of yellow stained teeth. “I think your powers are trying to come back to the surface. They’re fighting against your own body. That must hurt. Different abilities fighting against each other for dominance.”
I don’t have a chance to ask what he means when another bolt of pain bursts through my veins. To my surprise, a purple glow branches out from my fingertips and twists toward my wrists. The last time I saw something like this, I must have been in the Air Kingdom. This same glow crawled up a servant’s wrists before a gust of wind escaped her.
He glances down at what I’m seeing. His face holds no surprise as he stares down at my veins. “Well, would you look at that? I must have forgotten what time it was.” He reaches into the pocket of his armor and pulls out a syringe. “You’re overdue for some of your medicine.” One Ear has never let a dose pass over the scheduled time. This a new form of torture, one that I feel can break me.
“No!” Again, I twist my arms in an effort to escape the inevitable. If this was what power felt like, I’d take the pain a thousand times over. For so long, I’ve felt nothing but an empty pit. This is the closest I’ve ever been to my abilities. “I swear! I don’t know anything!”
One Ear ignores my pleas. His boots scrape against the floors as he nears me. With a syringe in one hand, he places his free one down on my arm, forcing it against the armrest, and inserts the needle carelessly into my veins. I feel a cool liquid start to flow through my body. I squeeze my eyes shut as my body starts to get familiar with the medicine. A full force pressure appears on my chest, forcing the warmth from my abilities to be buried by the coolness of the injection.
“That wasn’t so bad was it?”
I can only muster a lazy nod in response. My head bobs to the side. I feel as if my body is not my own. I already miss the feeling of warmth and familiarity my abilities gave me for that one second. Now I feel cold and alone.
“Now”- I feel his breath hit my face- “where are your parents?”
“Dead,” I force out through my cottonmouth.
“Where is the Shadow Crystal?”
“Who knows.”
“You lie!” One Ear spits out in anger before composing himself. “Where is the Grand General of the War Fleet?”
The room around me tilts and I can’t help but laugh. “You should know better than I. I haven’t left here in ages, smart guy.”
He pinches my chin. “I suppose Titus Fulman could better handle you. Right, smart guy?”
It’s as if a bucket of ice water has washed over me, sobering me up in seconds. His smile reappears as he reads the fear on my face. The feeling of electricity buzzes through the room as Titus emerges from the corner of t
he room, always the silent one. Neon blue veins travel up his dark skin like sparks of lightning, but despite how menacing he looks, Titus’ face holds no joy.
Titus is One Ear’s electro-therapy torture device. Because of that, I hated him at first. I hate him almost as much as I hate One Ear, so much so that I never even dare to look at him. It wasn’t until one day when One Ear left the room after hours of shock therapy and little results. My body was too burnt out to shift my gaze elsewhere. That’s when I noticed how pained he looked. This giant of a man with the powers of hell looked back at me with every ounce of guilt his body could hold.
I didn’t have the energy to speak to him at the time, or ever really, but I found myself hating him less and less. It hurt him to do this. I could feel it. Even now, he neared me with clear sadness on his face. He pauses and his blue eyes flicker to One Ear who had been staring intensely at him.
“Go on with it,” One Ear pushes.
Titus takes a final step closer, sweat dripping off his aged cheeks. He lifts a delicate finger and sticks electric dots around my body. Whoever invented these things is sadistic. The dots are intended to isolate the current specifically to where they are placed on the body. One Ear always chose the special points, three on my forehead and four trailing down my now exposed back, for maximum pain.
Titus gives my leg a light tap but places no dot where he touched. Confused, I give him a questioning look. Before Titus can say or do anything else, a blazing red wire wraps around his neck. His eyes widen as his body is yanked several feet away from me. I follow the trail of flames to find the wire wrapped comfortably in One Ear’s palm. The smell of burning flesh fills the air and I know that it’s not coming from the horrendous guard.
“Stop it!” I trash against the rope, my eye glued now to Titus’ tortured face.
“It’s okay, Princess.” The words are distorted by his pain-filled grunts that I am unsure if I heard them right.
The red coil brightens, and Titus lets out gurgling sounds through tight lips.
“You have no permission to speak, you filth.” One Ear gives the coil a sharp tug. “You are only to do as you are told.” He releases Titus from his grip, and my stomach churns as I see the blisters that had begun to bleed around Titus’ neck.
Titus shuffles towards the same corner he normally sits when he’s included in my interrogations. But unlike all the other times, he holds my gaze instead of shutting his eyes. His icy blue eyes bare into my soul, a soul that has long since been dead. The corner of his lips turns up ever so slightly. I shift my gaze away, not wanting One Ear to catch Titus' change.
Suddenly, One Ear blocks my view. “Now. Let’s go over this one more time. Where are your parents?”
“Dead,” I spit out, knowing well enough it was not the answer he has been wanting.
His eyes narrowed into slits. “Wrong.” His finger snaps a silent command.
I don’t need to see Titus to know what he’s about to do. In seconds, my body lifts from the chair as waves of pain echo through the dots and straight into my body. My muscles contract beneath me, absorbing the shock and spitting them back out like millions of needles against my skin. After what felt like an eternity, my body slumps back into the chair.
One Ear’s laugh slams against the wall. He comes up beside me, but I can’t pull the effort within me to face him.
“Next one.” He pinches my cheeks between two large fingers. “Where is the Shadow Stone?”
What I would give to just know the answers they wanted, to escape just one day from this seemingly endless torture. Hopelessly, I shift my gaze to Titus. I hear fingers snap and my screams swallow the room for the millionth time.
Hours later, I look around the room. Titus sits across from me on the ground like an overgrown child, waiting silently for another order from One Ear. The grey cement has grown darker as the hours pass and pools of blood surround me that never seem to dry out.
A single flickering light burns in the center of the room, but somehow my world seems darker than it had ever been before. The chair trembles weakly beneath me from years of torture. The door rusted shut with the false hope that someone would barge in to save me.
I gave one last tired look at One Ear. “I do not know. I have never known. I will never know.” Another bloodcurdling scream rips out of me as another wave of electricity pulsed through my body. My hands grip the armrest so tight I’m surprised it doesn’t snap in half beneath my force. And just like that, the current stops. Again, I slump into the chair with labored breaths.
A smack rings around the room. Weakly, I opened my eyes to find a red-faced One Ear fuming down on Titus. In one swift movement, One Ear’s blazing palm connected with Titus’ chest.
“You will stop only when I give the command! ” Spit flies from One Ear’s mouth before it slowly turns into a sly smirk. “Unless you wish me to pay your daughter a visit for you. I hear kids must be taught not to play with fire.”
For the second time ever, I hear Titus’ voice. This time it is clearer than before. “No!” His gruff voice escapes him in a begging tone. “Please—”
“Then you do not stop.” One Ear leans down to meet Titus’s fear-stricken eyes. “Do you understand?” Titus gives a weak nod as sweat streaks his dark skin. A knock on the door forces me to look at One Ear in surprise. One Ear slowly lifts himself from his spot next to Titus, clear annoyance written all over his face. “In all my years–I am not to be interrupted!”
The guard fidgets under One Ear’s scrutinizing gaze. “My apologies, Sir, but your presence is needed at Gate five. Again.”
At this, One Ear’s back tenses. He glances between the guard and me, deliberating. “Very well,” he sighs. “Pull Ezra from the side room and have him escort this prisoner back to their cell.”
The guard straightens his posture, obviously eager to receive an order. He must be one of the new ones then. “Yes, sir!” He scurries out of the room and disappears down the hall.
One Ear takes a step toward the door, but not before giving me one last glare. “I hope next time you can come up with better answers.” And he, too, disappears. Titus remains on the ground. Any strength he had in his eyes is now gone.
“You have a daughter?” I call out, voice weak.
After a moment, he raises a sad smile my way. “I do.”
“I am so sorry.” There is no strength in me to hold back the tears that brim in my eyes. “If it weren’t for me, you’d be with her right now.”
He shakes his head in protest. “This is not your fault. If it weren’t me, they’d only get someone else to do this. They aren’t picky with their people, and not anyone can control the electricity as safely as I can.” He glances at the door before leaning toward me. “It won’t be long now, Princess,” he whispers.
The guard from earlier in the cell walks calmly into the room. Must be the same one One Ear mentioned. He walks over to me and unties the ropes from around me. He peels them off, ripping off pieces of skin in the process. I can’t help the wince that escapes me.
“Careful,” Titus grumbles to the guard. His eyes flicker with suppressed power. “Don’t you dare hurt her.”
The young guard, Ezra, raises his palms in surrender. “I won’t. I’m simply taking her back to her cell.” Slowly, he plucks the dots from my skin. His hands are cold against my blushed skin, causing me to jump. “You got me good earlier today, by the way.”
“I took you by surprise.” I sigh. “If you had seen it coming, it wouldn’t have been nearly as easy.”
“Well, it wasn’t that easy.” He offers me a smile before setting his lips in a straight line. “You’re stronger than you appear.”
I roll my eyes at his compliment. Just because he is the first person to ever be nice to me here does not mean I want to share all of my life stories with him. After successfully taking off all the electric dots Ezra moves towards the bloody ropes that hold me in place.
I rotate my bruised wrists as Ezra stands straight, flexi
ng his arms out in front of him. His veins turn bright blue as the tip of his fingers create a white mist. I catch him eyeing my bruised wrists. I slowly lift them in front of him. Ezra takes a step towards me and hovers his large hands over my wrists. The cool mist shifts from his fingertips to my wrists. A soft gasp escapes my lips as the cool temperature touches my flushed skin.
“Will it be okay if I carry you?” Ezra murmurs looking down. His red hair falls swiftly across his eyes.
I chew the side of my cheek. I don’t think I am able to stand up even if I wanted to. But, the thought of being near Ezra causes my stomach to turn. I give him a short nod. Relief passes through Ezra's features as he bends down. He places a cold arm under my knees. My breath picks up as he lifts my arm and places it around his neck. He lifts me with a gentleness I haven’t been privy to in years.
Ezra is halfway out of the door when we hear Titus clears his throat. He falters mid-step and turns his head. “Burn like a phoenix. Rise from the ashes.”
Ezra’s arm tightens from under me. His face is emotionless at hearing those words but his heart beats hard against his hard chest. Without another word he steps into the hall, slamming the door behind us. He picks up his pace down the dark and muggy hall. Titus' words did have an effect on him after all. I wince as Ezra's quick pace causes discomfort on my fractured ribs. He notices and slows down, shooting me a worried glance. It is hard to see him, a Frost, as someone who would work alongside these people.
“Why are you here?” I decided to ask after a few moments of silence.
He looks down at me. “What do you mean?”
“Why are you here with them?” I ask more clearly, jutting my chin out to point out the walls around me. Ezra’s jaw tightens, but his eyes remain focused forward. I take that as an indication that my question will not be answered. I shift my gaze forward in annoyance.
His rough voice rumbles within his chest, “It’s complicated.”
“How?” I think back to Titus and his daughter. Ezra seems too young to have a family of his own.
“It’s best if I don’t say anything. I don’t want Ulric to cause you any more pain.”He hesitates, as his eyes flicker around the dark hall.