Unrequited Fate - Chapters 1-3

Chapter 1

         "Until tomorrow, Isuelt," He said to her, his voice laced with malice.
         
         The light that had crept through the door set a clear silhouette of the man that had spoken and lit the left side of his face. For so long, Isuelt had been obsessing over seeing the man who had taken her hostage, but suddenly she wished that she hadn't. The sight of the half illuminated face caused to her breath to catch in her throat. Perhaps the man before her had once been handsome, but not anymore. His features were distorted by cruel scars running along his cheek and jaw. It was as if some creature had struck him with it's bared claws. Her eyes widened in sudden realization. One of her own kind had done this.
         
         The man grinned maliciously. "Good," He whispered to her, "Now you know why you pay for what Artos has done." He then let loose a laugh that left little doubt that he was as evil in his mind as his actions. After, he merely slipped out of the room and shut her away in darkness once more.
         
         Confusion and understanding filled her all at once. So it had been claws that had mutilated the man's face. The claws of her father, Artos, who was the leader of the Drativa Clan of the northern regions of this very island. No matter how relieved she was to finally understand his hatred of her, this new knowledge could not help her. Another day within this place would surely kill her. Unknown herbal remedies and perhaps even poisons were part of what she had been ingesting as of late. Her body ached as if every inch of her had been battered until it was bruised, and every time she attempted to move in any great extent, her muscles would tremor and then give way. She could hardly sit up now. Her arms trembled weakly as pushed herself up to lean against one of the four stone walls that confined her. Breathing heavily, she scanned the room as she had done every night since she was abducted. Essentially, she was locked away in a stone box that she couldn't even fully lay in. There were no windows; merely crevices in the thick stone to allow ventilation. Her eyes struggled to focus and so she reached a hand out to place it on the only door. The door was wooden, she had discovered the first night, and would not budge from the inside. Her hand briefly lingered there. There would be no escape, she decided. She sighed and let her hand wander from the door and roam the chilled stone walls until her fingers dipped into the crevices. Cold winter air crept through those crevices and onto her barely clad figure. She shivered against her will and pulled her legs against her chest, clutching her limbs close until her knuckles went white with numbness.
         
         What had her father done to this man?  On second thought, she could think of various things. Her father was a cruel creature. He had never doted upon her; never treated her with the love and affection that one would expect from a father. Instead, he was stern and harsh with her. She never understood the reasoning until her mother, Faldia, had told her that father did not believe beauty to be a blessing. Instead, he believed it to be a curse. This was how her mother also explained the many bruises that had always distorted her lovely face.
         
         Her mother had been truly beautiful. Even now, she could picture her mother's fair skinned features, vibrant red hair, and kind smile. She was the most beautiful female in the clan at the time. In her youth, she had always wondered why her mother loved Artos. They were nothing alike. He was always so detached, but she remained determined to love him until the very end. Tears sprung into her eyes at that very moment. Her mother had died soon after her eighteenth summer. The cause was a mystery even to her. In fact, her father had refused to tell her because he believed her to be the curse that brought Faldia to her death. Artos then banished Isuelt from the clan. Even now, four years after her mother's death, she mourned for her loss.
         
         Another ache now ripped through her; one that manifested in her heart and caused more pain than any torturous method could. Stubbornly refusing to cry, Isuelt closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep. Although she attempted to ward off thoughts of the day to come, she knew she was to be visited by many more nightmares and much more pain.

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         Eiran couldn't stand it anymore. "Trett, if you don't shut your mouth, I'm going to tie you down and leave you here," Eiran growled irritably.

         Despite his lean build and gentle features, he knew that his temper could easily detain Trett's overexcited babbling. They were on their way to do an important job, and as always, his young friend was having trouble containing his zealous attitude. Eiran would have none of that. Indeed, the youth behind him abruptly stopped talking. Pleased with his results, Eiran continued the march with renewed vigor toward the backside of the large estate. However, unable to hear the trudging of his companion behind him, he stopped and cast a look over his shoulder. Trett had stopped walking completely and was now staring with his mouth hung open in mock amazement. Trett's expression alone caused an amused grin to spread across Eiran's features.

         "Damn you, Trett," Eiran said, now grinning, backtracked to slug Trett in the arm. Trett ducked to the left and turned to sprint up the hill, shaking with laughter. Eiran also laughed which gave his friend a head start. Realizing this all too late, he burst into a run to catch up with Trett. It took mere seconds before Eiran was right behind Trett and leaped onto him, tackling him to the forest floor.

         "Here, let me help you," Eiran said deviously, an arm snaking around Trett's neck and squeezing with such strength that Trett threw up his hands in defeat when he could no longer breathe.

         When released, Trett turned his head to narrow his eyes at Eiran. "Did you have to be so rough?"

         Eiran couldn't contain his laughter as he rolled off of his friend and got to his feet. "I couldn't help myself. Something was needed to shut you up." He held his hand out to Trett to help him up.

         "Yeah. Right," Trett replied disbelievingly, ignoring the offered hand and standing on his own. Grumbling nonsense that Eiran couldn't quite make out, his friend began to brush off the leaves that fall had left behind.

         As Trett cleaned himself up, Eiran's gaze journeyed to the estate that they were approaching. Suddenly, his expression turned serious. Something about the place made him uneasy. "I don't much like this place. The lord of this estate did not build this place for any homely intent."

         Picking up on Eiran's uneasiness, Trett stepped up beside him and crossed his arms. "I know what you mean. This place looks built to keep people in than let people out." That shut off any other thoughts that Eiran had. He wasn't all too pleased at the idea of entering the place and not being able to leave. The estate itself was made up of a single bare courtyard, one massive stone house, and a ten foot stone wall that surrounded all of it. Normally, its defenses would be hard to penetrate, but Eiran had managed to discover a solitary weakness. At the southwest corner of the wall, Eiran had discovered grooves in the stone that could easily be climbed and a tree that could lend assistance with its long branches. While Trett tied off one end of a rope to the nearby tree, Eiran would climb up the wall with the other end and then with the rope's assistance, descend onto the other side. Compared to the other jobs that the two of them had undertaken, this one was looking to be relatively easy. All they had to do was make sure to remain unseen by the four guards that monitored the surrounding vicinity, and they would make it out alive.

         "Well, lets go," Trett said, his face showing no signs of a smile.          

         "Yeah. We have to get that book," Eiran said and then paused, still staring at the estate, "I don't want to be here any longer than necessary," His words appeared to have turned the mood between the two of them into one of focused determination. Or so Eiran thought. A glance toward Trett as they began walking told him that his friend was still as excited as he was before.

         Chapter 2

            Isuelt awoke similar to the way she had since she was first brought here. Every inch of her ached from stiffness, and yet there was still nothing she could do about it. At least it wasn’t the same severe ache she had been experiencing the previous afternoon during his experiments. In an attempt to ease the ache, she sat up as much as possible and shifted about. It didn’t help much.  Even her hands were so cold they were numb so when she went to rub them against her legs for friction, it did no good. It was like rubbing a cold stone against her flesh.
         
            Admitting her defeat, she rested her head back against the walls of her confinement. How long now until he came for her? She counted the moments of silence with the faint sound of dripping coming from outside. But before she could reach thirty, her count was interrupted by a distinct groan from a man. Weak, but not deaf, she turned and gripped the crevices of the wall, trying hopelessly to look outside. The most she saw was the shifting of shadows against the sun’s light that peeked through.
         
            Swallowing against her will, she hadn’t realized how dry her mouth was. This threw her into a fit of coughing, and then retching nothing from her stomach.
         
            When the fit calmed, she turned back toward the wall, but the shadows had ceased. She thought about calling out, but what good would that do? And what if she didn’t want whoever was out there to find her? Perhaps she was better off in here.
         The thought made her laugh bitterly and dryly.
         
         “I am pleased to hear you in such high spirits, Isuelt. Does that mean you look forward to joining me?” A sadistically happy voice called out calming before a loud crack issued out. The door was being opened.

         She hadn’t even heard him approach, for all the silence of this cursed place. Another crack cut through the silence. Furious, she refused to speak and merely waited for the door to open.

         “Oh, come now,” He seemed to pout. “Surely you can’t be so displeased to see me. We had such a wonderful time yesterday, don’t you think?” A grin touched his half scarred features as he looked upon her with misplaced glee. Two others stood at his side. The two that followed him might as well be bodyguards as big as they were. At the same time, they were responsible for ‘handling’ her. However, burly as they were, two was a definite overkill.
         
They took a step forward and reached forward, each taking one of her arms and tugging her out of her stone box and up to her feet. As soon as she was out, they turned her to face him.
         
         Her eyes narrowed viciously and she spat directly into his face, dry mouth or not. “Why would I look forward to being around a monster?” She snapped, adding a sharp jab with the last word.

         Suddenly, his very misplaced pleasant mood vanished and he visibly clenched his jaw. Instead of wiping his face clean, he raised his hand slowly across his body and abruptly whipped it forward until it slammed across her cheek violently.

         It was instant disorientation and numbness, but when he took her face into that one hand and gripped it tightly, the pain came rushing into her cheek. “You, my dear, are the monster; the corruption that plagues us.” He fumed through clenched teeth. There was a pause, and he regained his composure. “Just like the rest of your kind,” He tossed her head to the side and spun around to walk away.

         “Bring her,” He called to the two others who held her. “Today we’ll try something new.”

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         Trett pressed him, irritatingly, for information just after they’d entered the estate through an unlocked window. “So you think he has people locked up in this place?”

         The window had led them into an empty room. Nothing about it held any appeal, and it certainly hadn’t been occupied in quite a while. The walls were painted a glum dark purple and it was dimly lit with one window, a small cot, and tiny side table. Clumps of dust floated about and dirt littered the ground.

         “I’m not sure, Trett,” Eiran stated, seeming agitated, “I said I heard coughing, but that doesn’t mean he is keeping prisoners.” He didn’t appear to have the same concerns as his counterpart did.

As they crossed the room, Eiran stopped suddenly and became eerily still. Trett came to his side and was just about to question him when Eiran’s hand shot up to cover his mouth. The sound of footsteps sounded from just outside the door, becoming louder before fading off. The two of them both released their breath when they could no longer hear the footsteps. Confrontation wasn’t necessary.

         Dropping his hand, Eiran proceeded to the door and pressed his ear to it. “Alright, let’s get going before someone else wanders by,” Eiran said in a hushed tone, turning the knob and pushing the door open without looking back to his friend. Eiran passed through the door, listening only for footsteps; mostly those of his friends just behind him and for others. The hallway corresponded with the room they’d just left. It was dreary and painted dull shades of grey and brown and had various doors to the left and right and one at each end.

         “Not very cheery, huh?” Trett whispered and took a step to the left, but paused to see which way Eiran would take. Eiran lifted a hand and swiped it across his forehead. Beads of sweat had dotted his face and moistened his shirt, and the pallor of his skin had taken on a sickly green shade. The reasoning behind these changes was beyond him, and he’d hoped Trett was too caught up in their mission to take notice.

         However, Trett did to notice the changes and frowned. “Are you alright?” He asked all too casually, but the concern was written there on his face.

         “Fine,” Eiran grumbled and pushed past Trett on his way toward the left door with quick strides. “Let’s go,” He added in just as he reached the door and leaned toward it to listen. Nothing. He turned the knob and entered the room with Trett trailing him.

         What he saw next stunned him. Eiran’s eyes widened in shock and he stood frozen just two steps into the room. Naturally, Trett had to maneuver around him. “What?” He asked, annoyed that his friend kept abruptly stopping. As he made his way into the room filled with tables and realized what lay on them, Trett stopped as well. “What the hell?” Trett exclaimed.

         The room was just like every other room they’d been in with dreary walls, dust, and dirt, but this room was larger and filled with various long tables. That seemed ordinary enough if you excluded the myriad of tools set out on them in a very organized manner. Most of them, in some form or another, had points to them or serrated edges like a dagger or sword and appeared to be rusting. Four leather straps were attached to two smaller tables; two at the top and two at the bottom. Involuntarily, Eiran’s body shuddered.

              Eiran approached the nearest table to get a better look at the items. Now, his eyes narrowed, but he didn’t dare pick up any of them. “Blood,” He mumbled, and then cast a glance over at Trett who was examining a different table.

              Trett’s head jerked in his direction as if Eiran had yelled the word. “Blood?” Trett asked disbelievingly. “Then what are these things?” Trett then reached out to touch one of the cleaner gadgets. “What is he doing here?”

              Eiran merely shook his head. He knew what they were, and he knew what the owner of this estate was doing. They weren’t tools for building anything. They were designed to destroy. “Put it down, Trett. We aren’t here to meddle in this man’s affairs,” He called to him, but not too loudly. He didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention. “We are here to simply retrieve that book,” He confirmed aloud, and strode away from the tables toward the only other door.

Chapter 3


            Was it really that cold? She didn’t remember it being cold enough to send ripples of pain through her body like this, or to leave her shaking uncontrollably.

            Tremors shook her frail body within her tiny stone cage. She was completely limp; hardly conscious. Her vision kept blurring in and out as if someone was waving a hand in front of her face slowly back and forth. He’d done something different this time. What had he made her drink?

            It had been vile, she remembered. A putrid smell wafted off the liquid mixture he’d forced down her throat. The smell was just a warning though. It did not compare to how it burned her insides on the way to her stomach.

          The thought made her want to throw it right back up, and she turned over to ready herself for what she thought would be relief. However, as soon as she rolled over, her vision began to fill with black dots. She groaned, knowing that everything that could be wrong with her was very wrong now. She’d never be able to escape this hell. Tears welled in her eyes and she gave in to her exhaustion and hopelessness and lay limp on her side with her back to the door.

            She let the tears roll down her cheeks one after the other, but no sound escaped her. She didn’t have the energy to sob or curl up and hug herself like she wanted to. She could only lay there and hope for the end; her end. That would be the only way to be rid of him.

            The realization of this slowed the fall of tears. She had to find a way out, and if death was her only option, then so be it. With renewed determination, she turned onto her back and sat up to muse over how it could be done. She could taunt him until he was angry enough to just end her life, but she doubted he would. He had grown so happy with toying with her mentally and physically that she’d have to say or do something terribly severe.

            A loud crack resonated to her right. Her head jerked toward the door and she sat frozen like she was prey caught by the predator. Another crack sounded, and the door was being tugged open, but an unfamiliar voice carried through the gap. Consciousness was drifting from her and she couldn’t keep her eyes open, but she heard the voices clearly as she faded out.

“What are you doing, Trett?!” One voice hissed, clearly male and deep in tone. Despite his obvious fury, his voice was soothing. And who was Trett?

“Butt out, will ya?” The second voice hissed right back. His voice was distinct from the first. He sounded younger and had an informal accent.  “There may be someone in here. “ What did they want?

“I’m sure,” said the deeper voice with clear cut sarcasm. “Just like there was someone in the –“ His voice cut off. It was then that the exhaustion consumed her.



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            The sight of the woman laying there sucked his words back into his throat. Despite the tattered shirt she wore for clothing, the dirt covering her flesh, and the dinginess of her hair, she was the most stunning being he’d ever laid his traveled eyes upon. With flaming red hair cascading down over her shoulders in long curls and skin matching the pale hues of the moon itself, the woman looked alien, but stunning.

          It took Trett moving into his line of view to draw him back out of that mesmerized state. Blinking repeatedly, he hesitated and then took a step forward to cut Trett off.  “Hold on. Let me have a look at her,” Eiran said, moving forward as much as possible and then crouching down closer to her. She did not move. She didn’t even seem to be aware that they were here.

            “Miss?” Eiran asked in hushed voice as if any louder than that would do her more damage. She really did look very fragile. He reached out a hand to touch her arm and almost recoiled at how icy her skin was. She might as well be dead, but the slow rise and fall of her chest told him otherwise.

            Trett moved forward as well, crouching at Eiran’s side with a book in his hands and peering in at the girl. “I knew he kept people trapped here. Look at her. There is no telling what he has done to her,” He commented, sounding upset and looking it as well.

            His words made Eiran growl low in his throat. That surprised him. He’d never growled before, but he was infuriated. “We have to get her out. Now.” He emphasized the last word. Trett raised a brow as if he might make a comment, but Eiran's expression cut his idea short. He had a look in his eyes so fierce that Trett didn't dare speak a word. Instead, he stood and promptly took a few steps back.
Eiran fell to his knees and crawled into the small stone room. He tucked one of his arms behind her and the other scooped up her legs. Hoisting her up into his arms, he backed out and got to his feet. For moment, he just looked down at her face. Pale and almost peaceful, but he imagined when she woke it would be different. If she woke.

          That thought hit him in the gut, and he spun around so quickly that he almost lost his balance. Steadying himself, Eiran headed back down toward the door they’d entered as swiftly as he could manage. She wasn’t particularly heavy. In fact, she was fairly light, but that was due to her mistreatment. Trett merely followed with a book in hands, and he occasionally tried to keep pace with Eiran to get a peek at the woman.

“Trett, go ahead and make sure everything is clear. We can’t afford to run into anyone now that we have her,” Eiran commanded more than asked. Trett wasn’t bothered and nodded before trotting off ahead of the two of them.

            Hurriedly, Eiran zigzagged through the doors they’d come through following Trett, but eventually loosing sight of his agile friend. He couldn’t help but keep glancing down at the woman he held in his arms. It was as if he was nervous that she didn’t really exist and he felt the need to keep checking to make sure she was there and at least breathing. His indifference to getting involved with the man of this estate had long since disappeared.

He was determined get her out of here alive. He would make her safe.