A court of shadow and spying (Azriel X OC)

a helping hand

Warning: this chapter may holds some disturbing explainations of torture and mistreatment.

I want you to break our bargain, and I want you to break it now.
His hand closed around my neck and he heaved me up from the floor and pushed me against the nearby wall. His face a grimace of anger and embarrassment that I disobeyed him, but I didn't mind. I had come here with the intention that he would dissolve this contract between us, one I had made with him long before. I knew even then that I would regret this agreement with him, but I had to do it. i had been in a situation from which I had seen no other way out than this, but it had paid off.
His thick hand was still pressed against my neck, but I could still breathe. Keir's face was in front of mine and I would have liked to spit at him, but I left it at that. But then Keir his face changed from anger to anticipation. He had me slumped against the wall and I choked up briefly as I grabbed my neck.
'Why would I do that? You asked for it, you little whore, so I guess you better not complain.'
'I have money, I have customers who have status, I could introduce them to you', I said quietly and submissively, it was best to play this role now in front of him, otherwise he would actually still suspect that I had something other than sex with him in mind. God how tempting my knife would look in his throat, but it was surely rather Mor to do this. Despite that, it was a beautiful image to finally see the man lying on the floor bleeding, who had filled my life with trauma and fear. I knew I could never really turn off the fear of him, it was always there in the back of my mind, throbbing and constantly reminding me to submit so I wouldn't have to feel the pain that was coming. But I needed that fear so I didn't face Keir with too much confidence. Overconfidence is a mistake you only make once.
Keir hissed as he walked toward me, his men as if carved from stone as they watched us. I knew no one would come to my aid here, but I had already exhausted the situation. I counted six men, seven with Keir included, but they could be dealt with.

If you use the right strategy, Cassian's voice hummed in my ear, and now I was grateful for his constant lessons during training. Keir's hand got caught in my hair and he pulled hard, jerking my head up.
'I know everyone in this fucking city, I don't need any of your contacts and if I needed your money, it would already be in my hand, believe me.'
He dragged me to the bed and I pushed down the panic inside me, trying to think of what he might need. I knew I could hardly bribe Keir for his family or anything else, he already had everything he needed, barring....
'Some of my contacts are healers', I whispered as he tossed me onto the bed. And he paused. And I cursed myself for letting that important detail slip out, because how the hell would a little prostitute know that Keir needed a fucking healer.
'For your slaves Sir', I tried to make up as I saw one of them at the back door, but she disappeared as quickly as she had come. No one here would come. No one would stand against Keir. Not in this room. But when Keir turned to me, I knew he didn't believe me. I knew I would have to blow my cover soon if I wanted to get out of here alive, but the fear seemed to be throbbing louder now, a back door in my head that usually remained closed. Keir eyed me intently with a sadistic glint in his eye.
'Chain her to the bed', he said, and I knew it was time to get the hell out of there.
I jumped up as Keir was bundled into the corner of the room by two of his guards and the other four came running toward me, but I was prepared. First, the ones who keep the lowest profile, meaning the one who is mostly in the background.
They let the strong ones get the start in hopes of not having to do it themselves.
If I got out of here alive, I would thank Cassian, and sincerely, even if I was a little displeased to see his grin afterwards, but his advice had been worth it. I escaped the first soldier who tried to encircle me on the bed and lunged at the one behind. My dagger quietly drove out of my sleeve, it was a hooker's privilege not to be patted down when she entered, as she would soon discard everything anyway. That was a mistake.
The dagger slid across the throat of the first and he slumped to the ground. The others drew swords and I had to stick to not fighting them all at once.
Look at the weaknesses first, look at the rhythm, everyone has a shadow.
The soldier to my left was limping with his right leg barely alert, an injury perhaps which could have been years ago, yet it never seemed to have healed properly, he was the weak link. I dodged swords again and launched the attack. I rolled to the side so that I was next to the soldier before ramming my dagger into his knee, there so I had made out, seemed to be the injury. And fact, the man cried out and fell to the ground, blood spurting from his knee before I rammed my foot into it and the kneecap sprang from his. With the howling of him in my ears, I prepared to take on the others, but this proved more difficult than I had thought. I was now besieged from both sides and it became harder to dodge the swords as they cornered me. Keir watched everything from the side-lines, his two guards still at his side. That was good, so I didn't have to concentrate on three guards at once again.
A sword grazed my upper arm, it was not deep nor was blood oozing from it, it was thankfully only a scratch, yet I flinched a little more. I had to think. What would the Illyrians tell me?
Try to play them off against each other, I remembered. Get one to hurt or kill the other with one blow.
The left flank of one soldier was free, I noticed that he had no armor on and leathers protecting him, but that wouldn't do much good against a sword. The other one, on the other hand, was dressed in armor which I would have a hard time getting to, but for now I had to take care of the other one. The soldier in armor seemed to be lunging rather far, which was good, because then he could strike with more force, which also meant that he might not be able to stop the momentum should he deal a particularly heavy blow. When I saw a chance to approach the soldier in leather, I did. I jumped to his side and briefly stabbed him in the side with my dagger before I had to wriggle away from his side and ducked before rolling backwards, away from the other soldier's path so that I could just avoid him. He had already lunged, as I had hoped, he seemed to have hoped I wouldn't be so nimble on my feet, but I had found practice in being nimble and little, partly because of my job as a prostitute, partly because of training. Still, his sword was already at the soldier's side and he had too much power not to ram the sword deep into him. I gasped briefly as I got back to my feet and saw the third soldier go down bleeding. I focused on the last soldier, who was now coming at me with a bleeding sword, rage contorting his face because he had killed or severely wounded his fellow soldier, exactly I couldn't tell. I bared my teeth, my arms were getting sluggish, but I knew I was nowhere close to being free if I gave up now.
I dodged his first blow and when he lunged again, I threw my dagger. It was stupid and risky to hope that it would hit his neck or his head, but it was my only chance. I couldn't penetrate anywhere else because of the armor he wore. I knew my aim was bad and the dagger flew millimetres past his neck. But when I saw the man groping for his neck and when he found blood on his hand, I ran up to him and rammed my hand on the part of his neck that made him lose consciousness and fall on the ground. I looked at Keir and saw that his eyes were wide from what I had done, but too late I caught the guard's eye, the one, not the two and not a second later I felt a blade at his neck. I cursed myself, I had been too distracted by Keir's stunned look to turn around in time to notice that the other guard had taken up position behind me. But how had he been able to move there so quickly? I hadn't even been able to perceive a shadow or a sound from him, and now he was behind me.
'Move', he said, and pushed me toward the bed on which the hand and foot cuffs were lying, and I felt sick. I looked for a way out. Would it do any good to ram my foot into this man's balls? It was mean, but the only thing I could think of now. I lunged and was about to smash my leg backwards with all my might, when all of a sudden, the man was in front of me and I fell backwards onto my butt.
How the hell could there be? How had he been able to move so lightning fast without a premonition or body reaction that would have alerted me? It was impossible.
His blade was against my chest as he grinned sardonically at me.
'On the bed, come on', he said, pressing the blade harder against me before I stood up and moved toward the bed. I wouldn't stand a chance against someone who could move like air. It certainly hadn't been winnow, or there would be the faint metallic smell in the air now, whenever magic was used. This had not been the case, so how was it possible?
I felt him push me onto the bed and heave me onto my stomach. I tried to fight back, but the other soldier now held the blade to my neck. I knew I had picked up information today that would be important to Rhys and I would have to share it with him. I had to get out of here, but I had no idea how. Soon all my limbs were chained to the bed, my legs spread, and I felt the anticipation from the men like cold shivers.
'Well, well, well, what happened to the little whore?'
He was so damn close to my face that I could have bitten his nose off if I wanted to. But I kept my gaze lowered.
'Take the clothes off, get the equipment.'
My stomach sank and I understood what was about to happen. Keir wouldn't let me go until he knew who I was and who I worked for. And he would painfully demand that of me. I felt my clothes being cut from me, felt them pulling them from under me until I was naked and exposed on the bed with the men standing behind me watching my backside.
'And little one, any idea what we're about to do to you?', Keir asked, tracing his slick fingers over my naked back. I knew how it would end, of course, and I had been foolish to think that I could have handled this situation on my own. I checked my connection to Az, the barrier which I was now reinforcing brick by brick, he couldn't know what was happening or he would come and Keir would know everything. I didn't want that to happen. I would either die or go through with it, not to mention if anyone would save me.
I didn't believe it, I hadn't even told Mor who I was going to and maybe that would have been my mistake, one I wouldn't make again.
I felt Keir pleasuring himself with my position, naked, legs spread so wide he could see everything and he made me feel miserable. Small, fragile, like the first time. Everything came back at me and I focused only on the barrier, stone by stone, more solid, more impenetrable.
The first blow came unexpectedly and I shuddered as the pain spread.
A whip, he was using a fucking whip. It was made of leather, a welt which settled on my body. I swallowed the scream, along with the despair that welled up inside me.
Stone by stone, the barrier had to hold. Stone by stone.
The whip cracked again, violently, brutally, but Keir wasn't aiming for my back, he was aiming for my private parts, my bottom, my lower back. Pain flashed through me, setting my body on fire, and tears stood in my eyes. In vain I tried to close my legs, to repress the pain that was falling on me like blocks full of stones, hard and with such weight that I would melt under them. I jerked at my cuffs, trying to get them open, trying to find a way out, but my thoughts kept creeping back to the crack of the whip, to waiting for the next blow, because I never knew when it was coming. To the sadistic grin of the men behind me and everything went all grey and a wave of panic came over me, hot and strong and the tears began to flow.
Stone after stone. Thick walls had to protect my mind, nothing on it, just the silence, the emptiness.
The next blow came, the bang resounded in the room again and I bit my lip, so that blood came. I felt the pain, hot and eager for more, eager for destruction and I felt the welts forming on my butt and my sex, felt them spreading with each new blow and at some point, I began to scream.
Stone by stone I built the wall, stone by stone and on and on.
'And little bird, are you ready to chirp?'
Keir was close to my ear, licking it, sending shivers of disgust down my spine, making me jerk up as he squeezed my bottom, massaging the welts he had given me.
Yet I would give him nothing but my life. No information would he get from me, for I knew to whom my allegiance was, and this I would hold to the death. His smooth hands, how I wished they were the scarred ones of my beloved? I sobbed out, God how I needed him now.
But stone after stone prevented it. Stone after stone kept him away from the agony I was going through, he wouldn't have to know, would I be alive. He wouldn't have to know, no one would have to, as long as it healed.
Stone and stone and stone.
'All right, little bird, sing for me then.'
The whip cracked and I sang.
After what seemed to me an eternity, the door swung open and I almost cried out in relief. My body was drained, all I felt was the pulsing twitch of pain that ran through my body when I moved, when I did anything.
'Sir, the experiments failed again Leonardo and Ashbu-'
He stopped at Keir's command, but I had heard enough. I had to get out of here, everything I had heard sounded just terrible for what was coming. But even the ambassador didn't mind seeing a naked, tortured woman on the bed, trembling with pain and sobbing from the despair that threatened to swallow her. But this was the Hewn City, am needed no reasons for anything.
Keir continued to talk to him quietly, I didn't understand him in my delirium of pain, but it looked like an argument from the way they were both acting. Finally, Keir walked over to me.
'Little bird, you will tell us everything soon, but I have to do something important before I can come back to you.'
I almost sighed with joy.
'But I'll leave you my two boys, they will certainly have a lot of fun with you, I promise you that', he laughed in my ear, a laugh that would haunt me, I knew that. I buried my face in the pillow and cried out hotter as Keir lowered his hand to my bottom. My heart was racing, I wouldn't be able to hold on much longer before the darkness took me. I heard the door close and sobbed desperately. I felt the whip on my skin as the soldier dragged it over my body with relish, as if I hadn't already been bruised and broken by it.
I coughed up tears and sobs as the whip cracked again. Pain erupted and I screamed, I couldn't take it anymore. How many hours had passed since he had started, how long would it be before I finally disappeared into the darkness and shadows?
I heard the laughter of the two soldiers that were left, the rest were either taken to the piles of corpses or to be healed, leaving only the two bodyguards of Keir. They would not stop, that I had hoped, but deep down I knew that no one in the Hewn City had even a shred of compassion or honour in them.
I heard a whistling sound and braced myself for the next blow, but it failed to come. Confused, I tried to look around, but my body protested in every way. I just lay there listening into the silent room wondering what had happened. Suddenly a figure crouched in front of me and I backed away as best I could.
'It's me.'
A raspy voice, one I had heard earlier today. I opened my eyes and saw the man from the bar. I sobbed and the tears started all over again, I didn't know why. I didn't know this man and I had no idea what he would do to me.
'I'm going to take off your chains now and let you have my coat. Is that okay?', he asked gently and I nodded, tears welling up in my vision as I realized I could free my legs and then finally move my arms. I felt something warm and soft, the coat.
'Can you sit up, or stand?', he asked, gently stroking the hair from my sticky face. I shook my head; no I don't think I would be able to.
'Who are you?,
'No one.'
'Who are you?', I asked again, my voice thick with desperation, I didn't want to run into the arms of the next murderer.
'I am here to save you.'