Moongrace

Part 3

"At least I don't have to be ashamed going out with you. Like this you even top me with all my pimples. But if you always looked like, what you just showed me, I would be embarrassed like hell!" he joked.

"Well, a week ago you would not have said so. You looked like a warthog." she laughed. He pushed her a little away, trying to look offended.

Laughing they went back, enjoying their time together. Both put the thoughts of the next day away.

The next morning, he woke up with her already gone. He quickly changed into his clothes and tried to cover most of his still infected skin. Then he stepped out of his room. Before he could see the buzz of activity in the corridor in front of his room, huge guards got hold of him and dragged him away.

He was put into a huge iron cage on one side of the great hall of the palace, hidden from the rushing servants by a curtain. They told him not to say a word or they would gag him. Sitting in this cage he had to wait for the ceremony to begin left with nothing to do but think of Eleeza. He was sick of fear for her. Shifting uneasy he tried to sit comfortably, but the iron bars kept being painful no matter.

Eventually he heard the servants go and people enter the room, chattering. Then a gong stroke and everyone fell silent. The queen entered with the sounds of trumpets and the clapping of the crowd. The door opened again, again the trumpets. That must have been Nasca. The queen held a speech but he could not listen to it, he pressed his hands to his ears. He did not want to listen to anything that happened out there. But then the curtain was lifted, light flooded the darkness of the cage. He was aware that many people stared at him. He lifted his gaze.

He saw that every side of the hall was filled with cages like his and in that every single cage some unfortunate human was caught. The people on the chairs stared at them, pointed at them and some laughed. He felt like an animal, caught in a cage to amuse people. He looked on the floor, not moving. He didn't want to draw any attention, wishing himself far away.

The queen's voice rose again, stopping the babble of the audience.

"Nasca, your first task, shall be to fix the eyes of everyone sitting in the cages on the happenings up here. So that they will have to watch everything that you will do with your magic and let their fear grow. They shall have no excuse to look away or close their eyes."

She was cruel, so cruel. How shall Evan manage to watch Eleeza be humiliated by Nasca? He found himself despairing, sweating from fear. He had not paid attention to the happenings in the hall, but suddenly he felt a rush, then a pull that forced his eyes to look on the stage. He struggled to keep his eyes fixed on the ground and when that was no longer possible he closed his eyes. His head was turned towards Nasca without him being able to stop it. Then his eyes were pulled open. He yelped, like most people in the other cages. He lifted his arms to hold his hands before his eyes, but even this movement was stopped by Nasca's magic and his hands were forced to the ground. There they were held and he could not move them a single centimetre.

He had to watch Nasca bewitching servants and people he did not know. Important people of the audience seemed to give her tasks. Nasca was blowing people up, changing their forms, made them do things, caused them pain, shrank them, one she made a three meter long nose, she humiliated everyone as best as she could. Evan had to watch, knowing the worst was yet to come.

After what seemed like hours Eleeza was brought to the stage. People laughed at her ugly face and some stupid comments were said out loud. But Eleeza had learned to ignore them and didn't let them get to her. She walked on her own unlike the others who had been dragged to the stage. And she was not bound to the wooden construct to be kept still. She stood in front of Nasca without fear showing on her face.

He was proud of her, so proud. But he could not stop a tear flowing down his cheek. He remembered her words and her wish that he may not show any signs of fear. He tried his best to look neutral.

He wished he could at least look away but his eyes were fixed on her and Nasca. He heard them say that Nasca had come up with an own enchantment and that she should show it on Eleeza. He saw a mean smile on Nasca face when she started to speak the witch words. He knew now, that this would be the worst trick this evening, it would be the highlight and would be really bad to Eleeza. He had already figured, like all the servants, that Nasca was way meaner than her mother. He wished himself far away, again.

Nasca finished the enchantment. Eleeza got all pale and fell on her knees. But nothing else seemed to happen. Murmurs in the audience made Nasca explain: "This magic needs its time; you will see the results in one week, when my admittance to the witch circle will be announced. But you can see the beginning of the change that will happen to her already. Show your fingertips!" Nasca hissed loud at Eleeza who voluntarily lifted her hand. Nasca got hold of her fingers, pulled at them and said: "Here, you see this pink bubble. This is the start. But I do not want her, or her servant friends to hear what will happen to her. So let me just close their ears."

She spoke some words and everything around Evan fell silent. He saw Nasca speak to the people and the surprise that emerged on their faces. Then the curtain fell. It was dark again and he still could not hear a single sound.

Only hours later his ears seemed to work again. Soon after that the curtain was lifted and he was pulled out of the cage by some guards. "Move", they shouted, but his legs would give in when Evan tried to walk. They were stiff from sitting all day in the cage without being able to move.

So, he was dragged back to his room and dumped in it. He got onto his mattress then he sank down and started crying. He cried out all this fear for Eleeza, his anger towards Nasca and the queen and the helplessness he had felt all day.