Beginning of the End

From the Guards to My Father

Zianna POV

My eyes flutter open to absolute darkness. I stand up to try to feel my way around my cell only to be jerked backwards by what appears to be chains around my wrists, feet and neck. The guards must have moved me late last night and chained me up. I allow the slim possibility of escape fade from my mind. As my eyes adjust to the darkness, I look down and see nothing where Arianna's silver crown should be. The guards must have taken it and now they want to torture me to find out how it had ever landed in my possession.

"Time to bleed you like a stuck pig." a guard carrying a knife and red-hot poker in his hands says with a blood-curdling laugh.

"Please... do not hurt me!" I plead, stumbling into the corner of my new cell. "I will tell you every last detail you want, do not hurt me."

But the guard shows no mercy. He only walks closer to me causing my body to quiver in fear.

"No one can save you now, little princess. We guards here show no mercy!" he says, only stepping closer until he stops just inches away from my trembling body. The man stabs the knife in my right shoulder, making me scream in pain. Tears flow down from my eyes, as fresh blood drips from the wound in my shoulder.

Stabbing another rusted knife into my already wounded leg, I clench my teeth to keep a scream at bay and the guard says, holding up the crown, " Are you going to tell me how came you by this?"

"I found it in my old cell, hanging from the ceiling bars, so I climbed up to get it." I tell him, being careful to keep from him the secret of the forgotten prophecy. I think he senses it and digs the poker into my arm. My screams pierce the air and I look down slowly to see the word "traitor" branded onto my pale skin. "I am no traitor! In fact, I seen to be the only one in this condemned city who still has eyes enough to see through this veil of endless betrayal and mindless chaos. This was only brought upon us by one whom you guard, so keep with her and keep the darkness; your choice." I shout as more tears stream down my cheeks.

"Maybe you have not yet succumbed to the chaos, but betraying the King only causes more, not lessen it as you may have hoped." he laughs. "I know you have knowledge of the Norvian Prophecy of Old written by Queen Miralia of Vana so long ago. But, sadly, there is nothing you can do to stop it. To rule Norvia is in your mother's destiny. Only the stars can change that, and seeing the stars shine not in this land, destiny will overcome your petty plots."

I ignore his prophetic thoughts, pretending this so-called prophecy is news to my young ears. Waves of pain crash over my body, sprouting from my various wounds. The smell of my own blood makes me sick to my stomach, the presence of the guard making matters worse.

He raises the poker, still glowing hot and I brace my body for the next wave of intense pain to hit me like a wall of water crashing down onto the sandy shore. The guard touches to poker to the tip of my foot. Despite my efforts to stay strong, I scream again, my shrill voice reaching to every passage and prisoner in the entire dungeon. I wonder, through the sickening pain, if my father has been listening to my tortured screams. If he has, he has almost certainly been laughing with pleasure at my suffering. His icy red eyes piercing the gaze of all who stare and his deep voice, hollow and free of emotion echoing through the city.

The pain doubles when my other foot burns and I struggle to run out the open door, but my chains and collar hold me back. I am left to deal with the pain and suffering. I think back to before Arianna had died, how I though I understood the sadness in her eyes. I never did, and only now that I have experienced pain and suffering can I say I understand how she felt before her untimely death.

I look up to see the guard gone and the cell door locked from the outside. He must have left when I was thinking and made his exit quiet enough for me not to hear or see him leave. Now it is just me and my bloody wounds. I tear pieces of my red robes and try to bandage my wounds, when I see my father unlock the cell door and walk towards me. He is holding his ceremonial sword in his hand, which means something serious is happening.

"Come with me." he says coldly, unlocking my chains and roughly pulling me by the hands out of the cell. Pain rips though my broken body as I am led through passages of white stone I have never seen before.

My father says nothing as we walk, until we come to a pair of stone doors. Through these doors I can hear the screams not of a prisoner, but of a crowd of people chanting something about wanting blood. Never have I  heard such a chant in my life. I tell myself I will get out, despite the pain I feel all over my body. The doors open and I am given a rusty, iron sword by my father, who pushes me forward before following me through the door.

"People of Torah, peasants and lords alike, I wish to introduce to you the Lady Aramina and my own daughter, the traitor, Princess Zianna!" he addresses the large crowd sitting in what appears to be the arena I never knew Torah had.

The crowd roars when they hear my name and the horrid title of traitor place before it. I see Aramina lock eyes with me, tears brimming over her eyelids. Her long, yet elegant red curls tied back behind her head instead of flowing over her shoulders, like a cascading waterfall. Despite her always evident advantage, her lean frame reeks of fear; fear of what I do not have the strength to see.

"Fight." my father hisses, causing me to jump.

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