Sorceress

THE DUNGEON (Ruby P.O.V)

I don't know what has woken me up: the sound of the water dripping, the disgusting musty stench or my frozen feet. Groggily, I open my eyes to see... darkness. Well, not exactly, there's flickering candle at the back of the room behind some iron bars, creating a gentle diffuse lighting. I have a horrible headache, like if I stayed up drinking a barrel of beer last night and I had the worst hangover ever right now. The problem is that I barely drink and, when I do it, I never have a hangover... because I'm a vampire. In addition to this, I'm supposed to be able to see in the dark without the help of a candle and I'm too strong and fast to be captured and locked in a dungeon... like this one.

I'm fully awake now that I've realized where I'm and I try to remember what the hell has happened: I was making breakfast, Lucifer was with me, I was rinsing some strawberries thinking that they're Iselen's favourites... and nothing else. My mind's a blank after that. Obviously someone cast a spell on me and it must be a quite powerful one to knock me out long enough to take me away from home and drag me here: I'm probably dealing with a necromancer with a vast knowledge in magic. Suddenly, a sharp pain in my stomach gets my attention and I look down trying to find out what it is but I see nothing. I'm feeling it inside my body... fear... it's been centuries since the last time I felt so scared. I find this fascinating... why am I scared?

"Because you don't know what has happened to Iselen and Lucifer, because you don't know if she's wounded or suffering pain, because you don't know if you're going to see her again..." My mind can't go on with the reasons I have to be scared because I'm starting to breathe heavily and getting dizzy. I rely on my meditation exercises to try to calm down, I won't help my girl if I faint due to a nervous breakdown. "All right Ruby," I think while I focus on breathing slowly. "First of all is to find out where you're and how to get out of here."

I'm sitting on the floor, leaning my back against a wall in a grey stone room with a rectangular shape and a low ceiling. The space is separated in two areas by the iron bars: I'm one side and the table with the candle is on the other one, they don't seem very strong so it should be easy for me to bend them with a little of magic. I lift my hand trying to gather a pulse of energy in order to get the hell out of here and I notice two things: first one is that my hands are handcuffed and second one is that the energy doesn't come when I call it. "Okay Ruby, let's try again..." I focus on, lift my hand... and nothing happens. That sharp pain comes back to my stomach and this time I'm even feeling sick. I don't know why but it seems that I've lost my magical power all of a sudden... however I'm a fucking vampire and it means that I'm way stronger than an average human, I'm pretty sure I can bend those bars. I get up slowly feeling slightly dizzy and I walk some steps till I'm able to put my hand around one of the bars. I take a deep breath, pull hard... and nothing happens. "What the hell...?" I struggle with the bar but it doesn't move an inch, I'm getting really nervous right now... I can't get out of this place.

- How is this possible? – I whisper confused and scared at the same time, shivering with cold in this damp room wearing only my linen pants and shirt. I've never felt so helpless in my whole life and I don't like it.

- It's because of the handcuffs – King Gana's deep voice brings me back to reality. He gets closer to the table slowly and lights more candles, the golden trims of his clothes shine every time he moves.

I stare at him cautiously while my mind is working at full speed trying to find a way to escape from here, at least I still have my intelligence and it will have to do for now. The king doesn't look like the lovely old man from these past days, he's still old and elegant in his manners but his eyes doesn't show kindness anymore but severity and determination and his mouth is pursed in a bitter grimace. He sits down at the table and stares at me from head to toe with displeasure while I raise an eyebrow; I know that I don't look very nice right now but there's no need to stare at me like that.