{TITLE} Pt. 4

Part Four.

         A blow to the stomach, a kick to the head, and a couple hits on the back. This routine was nothing new to Keela but it still wasn't something she enjoyed. The wind was repeatedly knocked out of her and each punch or kick would eventually become a new bruise, much like the light blue marks that were already on her wrists. Of course the three guards that were beating her while she lay helpless on the ground were having a wonderful time. They only got to do this once every two weeks and it sure was better than standing by the main entrance to the prison hold or escorting those imprisoned to and from cells. The princess was also enjoying herself as she watched the beating from the corner of the dimly lit room. Keela simply tensed her muscles in an attempt to reduce the pain, but there wasn't much else she could do.

         “That's enough boys, thank you,” Audivae said.

         Keela uttered a sigh of relief as the beating stopped. Her aching body throbbed as the guards walked over to stand with the princess in the corner.

         “A moment alone, please,” she said to the guards, her tone as cold as ice.

         “Princess,” one of them spoke, “it's dangerous to leave you alone with—”

         “Leave,” Audivae said sharply, and the guards silently left the room, their tails between their legs.

         Keela attempted to sit up, supporting herself with her weak and shaking arms. She felt something run down her upper lip and into her open mouth as she heaved and gasped for breath. The salty taste on her tongue was not pleasant and as she slowly touched her face she confirmed to herself that her nose was bleeding. She sighed and tried to sit up and lean against the wall, but her body wouldn't let her. She fell in a heap on the floor, her head resting on her bruised arms; she didn't feel like moving for a week.

         “Get up,” Audivae ordered, but Keela was less than willing to comply. The princess merely came to her and bent down low so she could examine the beaten traitor. She grinned. “I see the guards did a nice job,” she said, grabbing Keela's chin and turning her head to look at her. Keela winced, not so much from pain, she just didn't want to deal with the royal brat right now.

         “That looks like it'll bruise,” Audivae said, turning Keela's head and looking at her neck where a particularly large red mark resided just below the jaw.

         The door to her cell suddenly swung open. Though Keela could not see who had just come in, she look a wild guess.

         “Rylan,” the princess said in mock joy, “how nice of you to visit.”

         Damn, Keela thought—she had hoped it would not be him.

         “I heard some noise coming from down here,” Rylan said, shutting the door, “and thought I'd—”

         Keela suddenly felt a great lurch in her chest and began coughing violently, cutting the prince off. Audivae sprang up from her kneeling position in disgust as Keela continued to cough. Rylan walked around her to stand with his sister as the salty taste in Keela's mouth returned. Blood began spilling out of her, dribbling down her chin and lightly splattering the floor and walls. She tried to stop, to hold it in, to catch her breath for just a moment, but she couldn't. Her stomach felt like it was turning inside out and her lungs felt as though they were crumbling, gasping for air. Finally Keela gagged, spit out some more blood and relaxed every muscle in her body, her chest heaving up and down as she breathed. The day wasn't even close to being over, yet she already felt completely drained. She didn't get a wink of sleep the night before, or the night before that—the prince had made her far too angry for her to sleep—so it wasn't odd that she was tired. But this was something she had never felt before; a new level of exhaustion.

         As her eyes fluttered in a mixed attempt to close them for sleep and to try to keep them open, she could hear the siblings bicker, yet they seemed so far away. Once Keela opened her eyes the room was spinning furiously. She felt the need to lie down, but she already was.

         “What did you do to her?” Rylan asked. His voice sounded distant.

         “I haven't done anything to her,” Audivae retaliated, her sharp tone rattling Keela's brain. The room started to come to a halt and a shadow fell in front of her eyes.

         “Well if she's coughing up blood then clearly something happened.”

         “If anything she got hurt from the guards, they were in here just a moment ago. But I never touched her.”

         “And I'm supposed to believe the person who threatened to kill her a few days ago?”

         Keela didn't hear Audivae say anything after that, but she felt someone touch her shoulder. A hand gently caressed her face and she looked up into bright blue eyes. She shut her own tightly, turning away as she tried to roll over to escape the prince. Yet his hold on her was firm and she couldn't move.

         “Wait just a minute,” he said to her, his voice soothing and calm. “Let me take a look at you.”

         “No,” Keela said, her voice barely audible, even to herself.

         “Your doctoring ways aren't going to help you here, Rylan; she won't accept medical advice from you,” Audivae said.

         Rylan ignored her. He pressed his fingers to Keela's neck and waited for a moment. “Her pulse isn't normal,” he said quietly. “It's very weak.”

         “So?” Audivae said.

         Rylan looked at her. “So if her pulse doesn't get stronger then there's some problem which could possibly cause her to die.”

         The princess said nothing, though Keela was certain she was smiling at such a wonderful thought.

         Rylan sighed. “Her blood flow needs to keep going, but with this weak of a pulse that isn't going to happen. Her body won't get the blood it needs and she'll die. And if she dies you'll never know those Nation secrets that you find so valuable.”

         At this Audivae shifted in her place, pondering it all, before saying grudgingly, “Fine. What do we do?”

         Keela could see a faint smile on Rylan's lips. He then gingerly picked Keela up off the floor, holding her weight by putting her arm over his shoulder and grabbing hold of her waist. Keela didn't want to help the prince with whatever he was doing and so she let her full weight hang on him; he didn't seem to be struggling with it.

         “I need you,” Rylan said to his sister, “to go and find some fruit and proteins to give to her.”

         Audivae rolled her eyes and left the room, leaving Keela and Rylan alone.

         “Walk,” he said in a soft yet commanding tone.

         Keela was being stubborn, as usual, and refused to move a muscle, hanging limp in the prince's arms.

         He sighed and said, “If you want to live I suggest you start walking.”

         Still she did not move. So Rylan pushed his own weight forward and loosened his grip on Keela, forcing her to avoid falling by moving her legs to catch herself. He did this again and again until Keela gave in and began walking on her own, with the support of Rylan.

         “By moving your muscles we can get your blood flowing again,” he said as they walked around the cell.

         Keela was far too tired for this, but she had a question nagging at her and decided to try her best with talking.”How...do you...know all this...stuff...about the body?” she managed to ask, the words spoken between heavy pants and deep breaths.

         “I was always into science as a kid—never really liked politics—so my father sent me to Montreal when I was fourteen,” he said. “I studied with the doctors working on the cure for the CA virus for a few years. They only taught me the basics of medicine and how the body works, but the rest I learned from reading medical books. I just came back a few days ago.”

         “And that's...why I've never...seen you...before,” Keela said.

         Rylan looked at her. “How long have you been in here?”

         “On and off...for about...four years...since I was...fourteen myself.”

         He said nothing, as if pondering something or deciding if he should ask a question or not. Keela also said nothing in hopes of encouraging him to not speak—she did not wish to further discuss anything about herself with him. As they continued to walk in silence Keela found herself becoming dizzy. With every clumsy step it was harder and harder to keep moving and her brain was pounding with a head ache. The spinning room that increased in speed every minute was not helping her throbbing head and Keela wanted to tell Rylan that she needed to lie down, but she simply couldn't speak. So she suffered through the painful steps, only growing weaker by the stride.

         “Rest,” he said finally and he gently let go of Keela's weight. She leaned against the wall and slid down as her weak legs could not hold her. The heavy sound of her breathing now disrupted the once silent air. Keela closed her eyes to stop the room from spinning. Yet again fingers touched her neck and pressed gently against her skin.

         “Good,” Rylan said. “Your heart rate is up. It's pretty high right now, but it'll come down soon.”

         At that moment the door swung open and even thought Keela kept her eyes shut she knew it was Audivae that had entered. The door was closed and as Keela started to become less dizzy she heard something hit the dirty floor with a hollow thud.

         “What's this?” Rylan asked.

         “Her food,” Audivae said, a hint of anger in her tone.

         Keela cracked her eyes open and sure enough on the floor was a dirty plastic bowl filled with the usual gray-brown mush and the wooden spoon. Rylan gave his sister a look and she said in her defense, “It's fruit blended with eggs. She gets the same everyday along with a glass of water, the occasional milk and a biscuit.”

         “All spoiled, I'm guessing?” Rylan sharply asked.

         Audivae said nothing and Rylan picked up the bowl and walked to Keela. He knelt in front of her and placed a spoonful of the mush just below her chin. Keela didn't even look at the 'food', but glared at the prince with stubborn eyes, her mouth closed tight. Clearly he had lost his patience, for instead of trying to coax Keela into eating the mush he roughly put the bowl on the floor and with his free hand quickly reached and clamped her nose between his fingers.

         Keela's eyes grew wide as she realized she couldn't breathe and would soon have to open her mouth. She tried to hold her breath, hoping that the prince would give in and let go of her nose first. She could feel the pressure building in her head and the sudden anxiety of not being able to breathe caused her surroundings to darken sooner than she expected—this was not how she wanted to go. Keela opened her mouth wide and let the air rush into her lungs. Along with the air flow the disgusting taste of the gray-brown mush entered her mouth and she either had to swallow it or choke on it. After forcing it down, Keela again opened her mouth to breathe, but even more of the sickening food was shoved down her throat—she nearly gagged on the spoon. This continued for several minutes until the mush was almost gone from the small bowl. Not able to handle anymore, Keela weakly smacked the spoon out of Rylan's hand and used all her energy to crawl to the corner, away from the prince.

         “Aw, look Rylan, you made her mad at you,” Audivae mocked.

         Keela would have lunged at her, fully annoyed with the spoiled princess by now, yet another great lurch in her throat stopped her from doing so. The same disgusting gray-brown substance came spilling out of her, continuously pumping out of her stomach and on to the floor. She barely had time to breathe between the spouts of vomit and once she was finished she felt even worse than before. Her arms and legs were shaking violently, so much that she couldn't support herself. She weakly collapsed in the corner of the cell.

         Keela hardly noticed the gentle touch of the prince on her shoulders as she lay motionless on the floor. Even though she didn't want any help from Rylan, she was too drained to push him away.

         “You can't pin this on me, Rylan,” Audivae said from the far side of the room.

         “Oh, yes I can,” Rylan retaliated. “People who don't eat for days and then have a lot of food intake will vomit within minutes. I don't know anything about her food schedule, but you do. When was the last time you fed her, Audivae?”

         Keela only heard silence and would have smirked at the prince's cunning words and the fact that his sister had shut up. However she was far too tired and simply wanted sleep. She didn't even notice Audivae leave with Rylan gently rubbing her rough back and though she truly despised him she had to admit to herself it was nice. For the first time in a week she fell asleep and didn't wake until late the next morning.