by Ralph Smith
***
David stood there looking him in the eyes unflinchingly. This refusal to be intimidated was fueling His anger.
He said, in a soft hissing voice, “Bow down to me.”
David heard himself speak, but didn’t recognize his own voice, “Never.”
With a mighty swing that came with such speed and force, that David never saw coming, he slammed a fist into David’s head. The blow was so forceful it lifted him off of his feet throwing him to the ground. David wasn’t sure of time after that. He could feel hot sticky blood on the side of his face, and his head and ear throbbed bitterly. He managed to open his eyes, and saw the Dark One’s feet standing in front of him. Using all his will he pushed himself up on his hands and knees, and then with a mighty effort stood up facing him.
David was unsteady on his feet, but still managed to meet his gaze. He was staring into David’s eyes searching for something, and a curious expression came over his face. It was clear he was looking for something, but could not find it. Then somewhat absentmindedly he waved a hand, and said to Festus, “take him to the room. Show this young man the price of disobedience.”
Festus still looking down, with excitement in his voice said, “right away, master.”
David didn’t resist. He knew it would be futile anyway, but he didn’t want show any fear. He was afraid, he knew that whatever this room was would be a torment he could not imagine, but that was not what frightened him. He was afraid for Aurora, and if he gave in he knew she would be next.
***
Aurora knelt down to see the woman who was crawling out from under her makeshift blanket, and asked her “are you all right?”
The woman said, “as good as can be expected, I never thought I’d see anyone else here.” Then she turned to face Aurora, and a look of surprise came over her face “I know you, I saw you a few weeks ago on my journey here. You were hiding from the troops.”
“Dear God, you’re David’s mother.”
David’s mother looked at her with a mixture of shock and concern “how did you know I have a son named David?”
“He came here with me. He gave me this to give you.” She pulled out the cross necklace and handed it to her.
David’s mother let out a horrible wail of pain “oh no, what’s he doing here. Please no it can’t be true.” Then she began to sob.
Aurora put an arm around her, and said, “come sit with me, and I’ll tell you.”
His mother sobbing followed Aurora’s instruction without knowing what she was doing. As soon as she sat in the chair she asked, “Why, why would he come here? Are we all dead? Did he die too?”
Aurora, remembering what David said, put the cross around his mother’s neck, and said, “No we aren’t dead. David’s here to fulfill a prophecy.”
“So it’s true?” David’s mother said as her sobs started to slow. “I always hoped my husband was wrong about it.”
“You mean Gabe?”
David’s mother blinked, hearing his name seemed to rally her “yes, did David tell you about him?”
Aurora smiled at her, happy to see her calming down, and said, “I met him. He is the one who gave us these crosses to wear for protection.” Somehow his mother’s distress had helped her rally her strength, and set aside her own fears for the moment.
“Dear God! Gabe’s alive!”
“Yes he is. It’s a long story, but he was being held by an evil spirit, and David rescued him.” Aurora said, “How about if I tell you the story from the beginning. By the way, I’m Aurora.”
“Oh yes, I’m Ruth. I’ve been gone so long, and expecting to die every day since they took me. When they brought me here I thought it was the end, I … “she froze for a moment “Aurora, is it really you? They always thought you were the one. Forgive me my manners, I’m so happy to meet you.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’m so glad that we found you.” Aurora was also relieved to have company. The waiting was going to be the hardest part, and being alone with her thoughts might be too much. Aurora pulled the second chair around so she could sit across from Ruth, and began to tell her first what she knew about the day of the accident, then everything else that had happened.
In spite of their predicament, Ruth smiled when she heard of her son’s bravery in saving his father. She was relieved to know Gabe was going to be ok. She watched Aurora, how she spoke of her son with such admiration, and it raised her spirits to see how much Aurora cared for him.
Aurora left out the last part of the prophecy, just as David had at times, to spare her more concern than she already had. She also failed to mention that the two of them had been married, feeling that was something David should tell her.
When Aurora finished telling her story, Ruth said, “You love him, don’t you?”
Aurora, even in this dark and horrible place, couldn’t help but smile when she said, “yes I do.”
“When he was a young boy he used to talk about you. His face would always light up when he told us he had seen you. Sometimes I would see him outside staring off at nothing, and I knew he was sitting there just hoping for a glimpse of you. I always knew when he had one of his visions because he would walk around for hours with a special smile on his face.”
***
Festus, positively giddy now, showed David the room extending an arm to indicate he should enter. David walked in and saw it was empty. A single torch on the wall cast a dim light. He was about to turn to look at Festus when he was struck from behind. The blow to his upper back was so brutal it knocked the wind out of him, and he dropped to his knees.
David could hear Festus chuckle with enjoyment as the whoosh of the staff hit him hard again and drove him face down on the floor. Festus knelt down next to David, and said, “That was just a tiny taste of what is to come.” Then he took one of his long sharp nails and drove it into David’s side. This time it was not the force of the blow, but a searing pain that ran through his entire body, causing him to let out a scream of agony. It felt as if he was on fire. His skin burned over every inch of him. Worse yet he experienced the same torment, as when he pulled the spirit trying to kill his father into himself, only a hundred times stronger. His soul was on fire too, and it was a blinding, burning pain, far beyond anything he could have imagined.
He heard Festus laughing, and felt himself falling down, then landed on a cold hard slab of stone. The impact knocked the breath out of him, and sent his head spinning wildly. He could barely see as he lay there trying to catch a breath. Then they came.
***
The two women sat there, the panic in them having eased. Somehow they felt there was hope, even though there was no reason for it. “Do you have any idea of what’s going to happen?” Ruth asked Aurora.
“No, David always seemed to know what to do, but even he said he didn’t know what to expect once we arrived. I’m so frightened for him.”
Ruth put an arm around her this time, and said, “After these six long years I thought I would never see my son again. I thought my husband was surely dead, and now anything seems possible. I’m afraid too. We’re in the foulest place, in the world, but there’s still hope.”
Aurora absentmindedly rubbed the cross between her fingers. “I do have hope, and I’m not worried for myself, I only want to know that he’s all right.”
***
He wasn’t sure how many there were, but they were foul creatures. Black as pitch carrying the rancid smell of death, they made a sucking sound with each horrible rattling breath they took. David couldn’t see what they were doing until he saw the flash of steel. He suddenly realized he was naked, and had no idea how it happened, but he did not have time to ponder it. It seemed that Festus’s touch had sent him from the room into the bowels of the Dark One’s kingdom, and he had no power here. He was unable to move, and felt the first blade pierce his skin. He let out a scream of utter torment as he felt the blade moving down the length of him, peeling away his skin in its wake. Shaking with the pain of it,
he gasped for breath until one of the beasts poured something onto the wound. The burning of his raw flesh released another wave of agony worse than the first. David screamed and cried shamelessly. There was no escape, he could not move; he could only suffer.
Again and again they tortured him, only pausing long enough for him to stop screaming filling him with the false hope that it would end. On and on it went. Time had no meaning. His entire existence had become an endless scream. He couldn’t think anymore, he could only endure what was happening.
***
Aurora and Ruth had been doing their best to keep each other company, but after some time there was little to say. The hours stretched out, and eventually they managed some sleep. Time had become elusive. There was no sunlight, only the dim flickering of the candles.
Their keepers brought a meal of something indiscernible in a bowl. They ate in silence as their thoughts eroded their confidence. Periodically Aurora paced the room trying to clear her head. She thought about trying to venture out, but Ruth was too weak to fight anyone, and she wouldn’t leave her.
Sitting together on the makeshift bedroll they often held hands for comfort. When they spoke their conversation always led them back to the situation at hand, and speculation that only fueled their doubts. After so many years as a prisoner Ruth must have adapted to the endless uncertainty. She slept often. While Ruth was asleep, Aurora’s thoughts were muddy and troubling. She fought against the memories their walk into the keep had brought to the surface, tortured by them again and again. When she was able to push them away, her fears for David and what was going to happen easily took over. The time spent here was turning into constant torment robbing her of all her strength.
They’d had several meals, and slept numerous times. She had no idea if they had been there for days or even weeks. She began to feel that her life had always been in this room, and everything else was a dream. Her feeling of helplessness was consuming her, eroding her confidence. In some distant corner of her mind, she knew she was a warrior. But with every passing moment it seemed to be slipping further away.
***
After an eternity they stopped, and David lay there feeling half dead, unable to move. Then they dragged his father before him, his feet and legs bound. They forced him to kneel, and he uttered a single word “Son”. Then it began; they beat him badly. David cried shamelessly with the anguish of being unable to move. He couldn’t do anything to help him. Then lying there on the floor in a pool of his own blood one of the beasts lifted his father’s head, and slit his throat. David wailed in torment, and before he could catch a breath his mother was there.
She too was bound, a look of abject terror on her face. David cried out begging “No, no”, but it did not matter. Every scream of his mother’s cut him like a knife. It was all too terrible to witness, and then she was dead too. David was scarcely able to breathe, his eyes burned fiercely, and when he blinked to clear them he was staring up at Aurora.
He spluttered out a choked “I’m sorry I failed you.” Her look of horror at seeing him, and the terror on her face ripped through him like hot coals. They beat her endlessly. She was strong and fought hard, which made it all the worse. He wailed and screamed uncontrollably, trapped in a nightmare that seemed like it would never end. When her lifeless body finally fell face down on the floor, her beautiful face horribly disfigured stared at him unmoving. The light gone in her eyes, he lay there frozen in a silent scream. He thought the pain would rip him apart into so many shards that he would cease to exist.
Once again, David was lying on the hard stone floor of the little room wracked with pain in every part of his body. He didn’t know how he had returned or if he had been there for hours or for days. He was clothed again and all alone, just lying there trying to find some rest in the break from his torment. Festus hadn’t asked anything, none of them had asked anything, they just unleashed endless torment on David, and cackled with laughter while they did it. To his relief he realized the death of his parents and Aurora hadn’t been real, it had been a warning, but the pain of seeing it remained.
David didn’t ask why. He knew it didn’t matter. He knew that it was coming no matter what. All he could do was endure it. He held onto the memory of those he loved, looking for strength in the knowledge that somehow all this would be for their protection.
While he lay there, he heard footsteps. He couldn’t tell who or what it was, and didn’t care. As they entered the room, he didn’t even try to see who it was. He was waiting for the pain to start again and was surprised to feel a cold wet cloth on his face.
As the blood and sweat was wiped from his eyes, he could make out a face in the dim light “Aurora is that you?”
“Shh, rest I will tend to you.”
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Just relax while I clean you up.”
“What did they do to you?”
“They haven’t done anything to me yet.”
“Did they say anything to you?”
“David we are lost. You need to surrender. You have to bow down to Him to save us.”
“I can’t, you know I can’t.”
“David, your mother is here, I can only imagine what they will do to the two of us if you don’t.” She said urgently.
David looked at her. He couldn’t find the words to say what he was thinking. The pain had left him disoriented. “I… I can’t.”
She leaned in close to him, and whispered into his ear “if you do what he asks we can be together.” She said in a husky voice as her hand ran down his chest to his stomach. She started to kiss him on his neck. “Wouldn’t you like for us to be free?” Her hand was moving under his belt. “We could have whatever we want.” Then she kissed him on the lips hard. Immediately he knew it wasn’t her.
Suddenly he found some strength and pushed her off him. “Who are you?” He demanded as he sat up.
She flashed him a wicked grin turning Aurora’s beautiful face into something evil. “You know who I am. Don’t you want me?” She said, as she started running her hands up her side towards her bust writhing slightly.
“You aren’t Aurora. Get away from me.”
She hissed at him flashing pointed teeth, and suddenly he could see her for the demon she was. She jumped to her feet and ran from the room. David shook his head a little to clear it, but immediately regretted it. The small shake sent a wave of pain through him. He rolled over onto his hands and knees and vomited. He took deep breaths to steady himself, and slowly began to regain control again. Pushing himself up, he was relieved to see he could stand, and that he didn’t have any broken bones.
He could just make out patches of blood on the floor telling him he had some wounds, but there wasn’t enough for him to worry about now. It occurred to him, he must not have actually been skinned because there would have been a lot more blood. He stumbled a little walking over to the wall, and leaned against it giving himself a chance to catch his breath. He felt inside his traveling coat, and was amazed to find they had not taken away his weapons. Then it occurred to him that could mean only one thing, they were not a threat to the Dark One. Then he found the gold dagger they recovered from Roktah. He hoped that the Dark One did not know it was there, and that it could be used against Him. His strength failing him, he slid down the wall, and collapsed into a heap desperately trying to hold onto consciousness. He cried out with what little breath he had “Lord help me.”
***
Ruth and Aurora sat there in numb silence. Their anxiety had been steadily growing, and they both jumped slightly when the door swung open. In the doorway were the two hooded figures. They moved forward, each of them holding a small piece of rope. Behind them stood Festus, he looked at them with a contemptuous grin, and said, “Put out your hands.”
The two of them complied, and the hooded figures began binding their wrists. “Where’s David?” Aurora asked, trying to clear her thoughts.
Festus’s grin grew wider, exposing his ragged tee
th. “Oh you will see him soon enough. Now come with us.”
They followed Festus down a series of corridors with the hooded figures behind them. With each step, their fear began to build. Aurora was wondering where David was, and struggling against the notion that he might already be dead. Everything about this place was pressing in on her, and it took all of her resolve to keep from collapsing. Finally, they entered a large chamber with a lone man standing facing a chasm against the back wall, with steam rising up from its depths. Festus stopped, and said, “Master, they are here.”
The Dark One turned to face them, and Aurora was struck at how handsome his face was, but his wicked smile sent a chill down her spine, and she could feel Ruth shiver slightly next to her.
Somehow Aurora summoned her courage, and said boldly “what do you want from us, and where’s David?”
The Dark One’s smile broadened, and he said, “How sad! You stand here before me so bravely, concerned for young David while he is off sampling the delights of real women.”
“You lie!” She shouted angrily, a sudden fire burning inside of her.
He moved closer to her, and said, “Look at you, all these years of battle have stripped you of your womanhood. You might as well be a boy fighting by his side.” Ruth tried to speak, but he flicked a finger, and her voice was gone.
Aurora looked at the Dark One, hatred for him rising up churning her insides and she croaked at him “You’re wrong. He loves me!”
“Did he tell you he loves you?” The Dark One said with a slight air of mock concern.
"Yes he did," she said struggling to maintain her composure. She was feeling too many emotions, fear at standing before him, anger at his words, and anxiety over him speaking her own doubts out loud. All her awful memories, every fear and doubt she had still floated at the edge of her thoughts. They were pressing in on her, making her easy prey for his taunting.