The Shamer's Daughter - A Fanfiction

Chapter 23 - Girl of Ice

Her motherly concern came to an abrupt end and they didn't mind Dina's arm one bit. They blindfolded her properly this time and whenever she tried to fight them off, she was met by a fist or a shove that caused pain in every part of her body. All while she smelled the rotting stench of perfume and dragon blood. She was dragged to an empty room - at least she thought it was empty at first because she couldn't see. But suddenly voices started to stir and she spun around trying to find their owners. But all she found was the hard smooth surface of the marble floor.

"Looking forward to that dragon eating your mother?" A man said and suddenly she was kicked in the side by an invisible boot. She cried out in pain, but another man kicked her again.

"Don't worry. We'll make sure you get front row seats. So close you will feel the blood on your skin." Something wet hit her face. For a second she thought it was actual blood they had thrown at her, until she smelled and tasted wine. She cried and whined like a desperate baby, but the men had no mercy for a witch like her.

"Why didn't you help her? Don't you love her? What kind of child doesn't love their mother?" The voices continued and the only thing she could do to stop them was to scream loud enough so she couldn't hear. But they only waited til she was out of breath. Hands picked her from the floor and pressed her against the wall so her head banged against the stone.

"Do you wanna hear what it will sound like when the dragon rips her open? Do you? Like this!" A wet breaking sound came right beside her ear and her cheek got smeared in chicken fat. She was sobbing like she had never sobbed before. She felt like Cilla that day in the barn - helpless and pierced down both by force and by her own shame. She had left her mother. The night in the castle, she had gone with Nico without her. And now even when she could have saved her from the dragons - she hadn't done it.

"Let her go!" A new voice spoke. A voice that seemed familiar but she couldn't quite place it. Nonetheless, the men let go of her and she fell back on the floor. She had to catch her fall with both arms and she felt blood leave her body through her now open wounds. The new voice knelt beside her and held her as she cried. She almost crawled into his lap not caring who he was - all that mattered was that the other men had gone away.

"For Gods' sake, she isn't the one who killed three people." The voice said and stroked her hair like he was her mother - or her father, who she had never known. "Everything is going to be alright. It's not your fault. It's his. And as soon as we know where he is, everything is going to be alright." Dina just wanted to have her hair stroked like that forever while the rest of the cruel world disappeared. Her mind was filled with violent and bloody images and she wanted them to stop. She just wanted to go back home. Just Mom, Melli, Davin and her in Birches. Before Drakan. Before Nico. It was so tempting. To just give in and tell them everything. Maybe everything would then be alright and go back to normal. All she had to do was choose. Nico or her mother. And was that really so hard a choice? How did it come to that? How was she, a 12-year-old girl in charge of so many lives? But if she betrayed Nico, she would be betraying her mother. Choosing her wasn't what she would have wanted. It wasn't right.

"Where is he?"

"I... I don't know." She sniffled. "I really don't!"

"Where did you see him last?" The hand had stopped stroking her hair and it helped her think straight.

"In the corridor by The Dragon Court. He wouldn't take me with him. He said he needed to leave the city and that I would only slow him down. He wouldn't take me with..." It wasn't hard to sound miserable and hurt and her tears soaked the blindfold.

"What did you do then? Where did you get those clothes?" The voice sounded irritated and his touch grew less gentle, but still nothing compared to the previous men who had kicked her.