Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 50: The Lying, the Witch, and the Werecat

Liana opened her eyes.

Nothing. All was dark.

She blinked. Several times.

Still dark.

Once more, she was blind.

She felt the cold manacles gripping her wrists. She was lying on her back on the icy stone table. The dungeon cell was still and silent. She shivered in the chill of the underground room, for her arms and lower legs were bare to the freezing air.

Was this another dream? How could she tell? It felt just as real as the vision—except for the fact that she could no longer feel Raven Frost's mind attacking her own and trying to bend it to his will. The strange pressure on her brain and consciousness was gone—and replaced by a new one.

"Oh!" Liana gritted her teeth and tried to suppress the pained groan that forced itself out of her chest. A headache like she had never known was suddenly making her whole body throb. It increased in intensity frighteningly fast, until all she was aware of the horrible pain rocking her head back and forth like a ship on a stormy sea. Out of pride she restrained herself from crying out—other than that initial groan—but she felt like screaming. Tears of pain leaked out from her tightly-clenched eyelids and slid down the sides of her head, soaking into her hair. Once in a while she would voice a shuddering gasp, and trembled violently. This was the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. She could never have imagined a headache could be so vicious.

For what seemed like hours she lay there, suppressing her screams and lying through the ordeal. She thought that terrible, fiery, heavy throb would never cease, and that she would lie there on that table until the pain killed her.

The headache, however, did cease; by and by, the pain gradually lessened, and by the slow, crawling minutes, her head began to feel lighter and lighter. Finally, it was gone.

Liana felt dizzy. It hurt to blink. It hurt to move. Perhaps that headache was an after-affect of fighting a mind-battle with a werecat sorcerer. She had no idea what had just happened; all she knew was that she was seemingly awake again, back in the dungeon cell where Raven Frost had left her.

She tugged on the chains, making them rattle quietly. She needed to get out of here. If this was real, if she really had somehow broken free of the Dark Sleep, she needed to escape before Raven Frost or any other of the Seven Sorcerers or Moon Tribe warriors returned. She tugged on the chains again, this time harder. They rattled, but showed no signs of erosion or being broken easily.

She forced herself to sit up. The movement made her head throb in protest, but not badly. She wondered if another monster-headache would attack again. None did.

She was faintly aware of a low throb pulsing from her left underarm, just beneath the wrist. Something warm and sticky was oozing from the scratch with each heartbeat.

Liana had to break these chains. She almost groaned out loud in frustration. She'd felt so proud of herself for fighting Raven Frost, but it would all be for nothing if she couldn't even walk out of the stupid room! Again she tugged on her bonds, this time angrily. Of course they showed no signs of breaking. Her shoulders slumped in defeat.

Did Raven Frost know she had broken free of the curse? Was he coming? Was he bringing other warriors? Would he curse her again? Liana shuddered. The nightmare that had given her sight still haunted her, leaving her shaken. She didn't want to ever be stuck in a dream like that again. She'd sooner die.

Liana pressed her lips together tightly. She just might, if Raven Frost decided it would be easier to do away with her than to fight her in the Dark Sleep visions. That's what the cats had done to the two police officers they had disguised themselves as, wasn't it? At least as far as the ninja knew. In any case, she knew that if she wanted to live and live not stuck in a crazy dream where she could see and Cole was a crazy Prince Charming psycho, she'd have to get out of here, fast.