I woke up tied to a chair in the middle of a room, but my legs were free. The slight breeze from the air conditioner flitted across my skin, telling me without having to look down, they undressed me. I tried to reach out to Daniel or Fox in my head, but my head exploded in pain instead. “Fuck.”
“Yeah I wouldn’t try that again,” the sorcerer said from somewhere in the room.
“Why are you helping him? And working with hunters who think you’re less than them?”
“Well for starters, he’ll kill me if I don’t help him. Self preservation is a hell of a motivato,” he said, moving around so I could see him. “And as payment for siphoning off your magic for him, he gives me a cut. That cut is also keeping me alive.”
“He’ll kill you as soon as you’re no longer useful, you know?”
“He can’t.”
I laughed mirthlessly, “He can and he will. You’re giving him enough juice to kill the gods given the chance. You are nothing compared to that.”
“Fine he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t do that to me after all I’ve done for him.”
“He killed his own mate. A man that can do that is capable of anything.”
As he started to respond, Joseph and three hunters walked into the room. “Do whatever you want to her, but do not kill her or rape her.”
“Afraid that’ll push Dubhlainn over the edge, uncle?” I said with a smirk. “Dubhlainn. Take control. Don’t let him kill anyone else.”
Joseph growled loudly. “Gag her,” someone came from behind and placed a rag in my mouth, tying it behind my head. “Do whatever you want, but do not kill her or rape her. You will pay if you do either of those things.”
With that he walked out of the room with the sorcerer, leaving me to the hunters. As soon as one got close to me, I kicked his leg making him fall to his knees and opening up his head as a target. I moved quickly to smash the chair, leaving me attached to the arms. I made quick work of the other two hunters and snapped the neck of the hunter I attacked first. I searched their bodies for anything I could use, and came up with several knives which I attempted to use to free myself from the chair arms.
“Those won’t work against my magic.” I turned toward the door where the sorcerer stood, “You know I’ve never seen someone so talented without their magic.”
Removing the gag from my mouth, I responded, “Thanks? I guess?” I held out my arms, “Do you wanna maybe?”
He shook his head, “I can’t,” is all he said before I felt his magic take over again, causing me to blackout once again.
I spun around in the black, searching for Mom or Niamh. “Mom! Niamh!” I vaguely heard something whimpering in the distance, but couldn’t see anything. “Mom! Niamh!” I shouted even louder. I kept shouting until my voice was hoarse and I couldn’t shout any longer. I collapsed in a sobbing heap on the floor.
My body jerked violently as I came to, my wrists bound above my head and my feet secured to the floor. I blocked out any attempt by my brain to flashback to my time with the hunters in the barn. Instead I tried to find Niamh, but a sharp pain spread through my head. “You can stop trying to contact anyone or find your dragon.” I looked at the doorway where the sorcerer stood, observing me.
“You can’t do this. You can’t help him. He’ll turn on you just like he has everyone else that’s helped him in his coup attempts.”
“He can’t turn on me.”
I released a breathy chuckle, “That’s what everyone thinks. And then he does.”
He crossed the room until he stood in front of me, “I’m-”
“You’re really not. He will kill you like he does everyone else, and then he will go out and find himself another sorcerer.” I looked him square in the eye, “You aren’t the only powerful sorcerer in the world.”
“So what do you suggest I do? Let you go and die anyway?”
“At least you would die doing the right thing rather than live doing the wrong until he decided to kill you.”
A sharp pain caused me to wince as I felt someone try to mind link me. The pain persisted as the pressure in my mind continued. “-Aya. We-here-are. Are-ing-her. Man-here?”
I cried out in pain as a voice sounded in my head as the sorcerer furrowed his brow. “Someone is trying to get through to you.”
I barely nodded, “I can’t build my walls to keep them out or to show them they need to stop trying.”
“Keep them out?” His hand skimmed my temple, “They were able to get in?”
I shook my head gently, “No. They just keep trying.”
A warm, fuzzy feeling spread through my head, “There that should help,” is the only thing he said before walking out of the room.
I slumped against my arm, thankful the pain had gone. The sorcerer didn’t stay gone long, returning a few minutes later with Joseph.
“Are you ready?”
“Would it make a difference if I said no?” I responded tiredly.
Joseph smiled cruelly at me, “No, but it never hurts to ask.” I closed my eyes, knowing what was coming was inevitable. I barely heard the incantation before I lost my ability to breathe.
I woke up in the black again, calling out for Niamh or Mom to no avail. I kept screaming until I lost my voice. I collapsed on the ground, sobbing.
I jolted awake as someone threw a bucket of freezing cold water on me. “Good. Now we can start,” a cruel looking man said as I opened my eyes. “Where is Phillip Northcott?”
“What I tell you and you don’t torture me or you let me go?”
He shrugged, “I might take it easy on you.”
I snorted, “Have you checked up your own ass?” My sharp remark earned me a whipping until I passed out from the pain.
Author: Kailan Counahan 