Treachery : book 2 of Codex Elysium

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Eva screamed her frustration and fury at the top her lungs, her raw and hoarse voice echoing of the damp stone walls. She tugged violently on the chains that restrained her, causing fresh blood to spill from her chafed wrists. Eva had lost all sense of time, the dungeon she was in had no windows or any view of the outside world. Hours? Days? Who knew? Her legs had gone from painful to numb to nothing. She was chained to the wall with arms above her head, forcing her to maintain a standing positon. She had found that her senses had sharpened and even though it was total dark, she could make out things. There were other sets of chains hanging from the walls, none of them occupied. The faint smells of dried blood and human waste hung in the air, the only feature on the bare stone floor was a drain. Across the room from her was the one and only doorway, the dungeon door was open and three black cats sat in it, their emerald green eyes glowing in the dark and all of them fixed on her. Eva barked out a coarse laugh, here she was chained up and imprisoned. Her prison guards were three of the magical cats that she had trusted, that she had fought side by side with. Now they had turned on her. She fixed her stare on the central cat and let out a string of murderous curses. Seren had been her friend, her companion, had slept at the foot of the bed she shared with Jason and now the ungrateful beast was holding her prisoner? Why? What had she done? Eva screamed her fury again and kept tugging on her chains. Black wind spoke to the other two cats, his voice was extremely deep.

"This is hopeless! She is a lost cause, let's just kill this rabid scum and put her out of her misery"

"No!" Seren Hissed and spat at Black wind "The high one believes she can be saved, we just need to calm her down!"

Eva screamed in fury, rattling the chains even harder, small cracks began to from in the stones above her head.

"Calm!" she screamed "I'll give you calm, you traitors! You chain me up, hold me prisoner and then expect me to be calm?"

Eva broke out in another long string of murderous curses, rattling her chains even harder. Shadow was watching the bracket that held the chains to the wall and the way the stone work was starting to crumble

"Just what use will her calming down achieve?"

Seren watched Eva struggle, when she spoke her voice full of sadness

"It will allow Eva to return to her human form. At least that is the theory"

Eva paused in her cursing and struggling as the cats words sunk in. change back into my human form? What the hell did that mean? Now she thought about it, Eva didn't feel even remotely human. Something was very off, she realised that her senses were more than just heightened. She could actually see in the total darkness, she could see her three captors clearly but more than that, she could smell them, hear their soft breathing. Somewhere in the distance she could hear water trickling down a stone wall. What the hell is happening to me? An animal rage was coursing through her veins, it surged again and Eva arched her back, letting out a scream that was primal and savage before going back to work on breaking her bonds.

"Damn it" said Seren "I had thought that it was over"

"What has she become?" asked Shadow "I do not know this form she has taken"

"No neither do I but the high one seems to know"

"Of course he knows!" snapped Black wind "I say this beast is feral and must be put down, I will go and talk to him again"

Black wind turned and fled the chamber Shadow quickly following on his heels. Seren took a tentative step forward and said

"Eva please calm down, we are still your friends, and we just want to help you. Please believe me, we mean you no harm"

Eva screamed again and fixed her stare on the little black cat

"You lie! When I break these bonds I am going to beat you to death with these chains, then we will see who means no harm!"

Eva gave another sharp jerk on the chains, the bolts began to give and showers of dust rained down on Eva's head. Seren watched the dust fall and the cracks growing, she shook her head and said sadly

"Eva, are we really going to do this?"

Eva spat vile insults at the cat then said

"I will rip your legs off and beat you senseless with them"

Seren sighed deeply then began to convulse and twitch, muscles and tendons shifting beneath her fur. Eva stopped struggling and watched as the cat began to grow in size, her lips peeled back in a vicious snarl that revealed elongated and very sharp canines. Eva's gaze never left that cat as it shook its massive shoulders. Seren had become her fully grown Sabre toothed form and was glaring at Eva

"Please, let's not do this"