Hidden Truths - Ethan

19 - The Silver lining

"Once more," the knight commands for the recruit to start attacking me with the stick in his hand. I'm already totally out of breath and my hair and the ripped clothes stick to my sweaty body. Hell couldn't be any worst.

At some days in that dark cell I wished they would just give me some light and bring me outside, and when they started to do so, I wished they would have left me in the darkness. It's true that I stole, but is this what I earn? Why do they feed me and keep me alive, only to do that to me?

I take a turn to get away just in time for a hit on my feet but stumble. The stick hits my face and I spit out some more blood. I try to crawl away on all fours.

I need to concentrate or I'll die here and I got told that there is nothing good waiting for me in the afterlife. I haven't spoken to anybody for months, but I can see that some of these men enjoy my screams and crying.

The only self-defense I have is to learn to avoid screaming and crying. There is no way I'll give them satisfaction anymore. All my anxiousness got replaced with anger a while ago. It's still mingled with the feeling of being powerless of my own fate. Someday I'm strong enough to get out of here. Another hit on my back.

I'll never stop fighting.

The man in front of me is barely older than me, but he is training and I'm just their overall punching bag. It feels like a lifetime when I finally get unconsciousness. God shows some mercy on me, but I'm sure I'll wake up in darkness and the game will start again.

Opening my eyes there is darkness, as I thought. To my surprise, there is also the knight who arrested me so long ago. Since then he tried to kill me slowly by feeding his recruits with my blood in the course of their training.

"Welcome back, street rat," he says and the shackles around my feet clank against each other when I try to roll myself into a more defensive position. At least I learned how to protect my most sensitive body parts. Even though, a moan escapes my mouth when I move my aching, and at the same time stiff, body.

"I have good news for you. I decided that the fact you are still stubborn and try to fight back should be honored.

Isn't that generous?" he chuckles.

Last time he had good news for me, I found myself bound to a pole in the middle of a spacious plaza. He told me that the sun will be good for me and my pale skin, but it actually just got sunburnt and dried out. I was there for three full days. He will never be able to steal my pride.

"We are a bit short of soldiers in the front rows. I wonder what you can do if we would give you a weapon," he scratches his beard on the chin and I sit up. A weapon, that's my chance.

***

After I locked my obviously confessed offender in a guest room I started looking out to find Tristan. To my surprise, I found him in one of the salons. He is politely talking and laughing with a group of vampires that started to surround him.

Mister Holmwood will go nowhere so I take a silent stand next to the entrance and wait for him to finish his talks. Lightning myself a cigarette I can't help myself but watch
Tristan. He is the radiant middle of the room. People are searching for his presence and company; he is the total opposite of me. I try to distract my mind with something different.

The appearance of Charles Holmwood, for example, gives me some riddles. The overall bearing makes me think he is a coward. That he rather likes running than fighting, but the scar on his face and the fact that he came here and that he killed his own fosterling doesn't really fit for that.

Watching Tristan being happy to fulfill his duties gives me a bit of peace. At some point, his look crosses mine and I

can hear him sigh dramatically, before telling the vampires around him that work is calling him. Without another word to me, he leaves the salon and I follow. We walk in silence until we reach Tristan's rooms.