Realm Drifter: Cruel King

~Chapter Twenty-One~

Chapter Twenty; Cruel Consequences 

~

She laid curled on the bed. Her hands curled in front of her face as she wept. Her feet bandaged tight, legs laid flat against the stiff surface. She wore a simple sack dress the doctors had given her. The scratchy material was nothing against the searing pain that raged through her legs. It felt like fire was running the length of her legs, and the slightest move would create an inferno. 

No training could prepare her mind and body for this level of cruelty. Forced to hunt each other, waking up in a living tomb, days of pure torture and then this. One after the other. Days lapping each other, lack of sleep, lack of food and simple humanity. The faces of the dead flashing before her eyes. Sylvia. The thought was cruel but Alannah glad she had a quick death. She glad Sylvia didn't make it to the second trial, or even the third. The torture she barely withstood, Sylvia would have lost everything that made her who she was. Innocent. Pure. 

~

Why'd you leave me? Why did you have to succumb and leave me behind? Why haven't you found me, mama? Why do I have to go through this for you, why do I have to face death after death, just to see you again? Just to feel your warmth around me. To hear your voice. To know you are still out there. I'm so lost. I've gotten too deep and I don't know how to get out. Please help me, mama, please. 

I don't know what I expected, but I thought, perhaps somewhere I'd find her. She'd embrace me, and we would find somewhere to live. But, I knew as well as anyone, that you didn't choose where you drift to. You just hoped for the best. So, even if I did find her, we wouldn't be able to leave and find a peaceful place to live. She'd be lost again. And the chances of finding her in an actual peaceful place would be incredibly slim. The only reason I had previously been able to drift with her, was because I was not even a mere babe yet. I had still been inside her, growing. 

I still remember the story she told me when I was young. The day of my birth.

~

"I want to tell you a story, darling." Her wispy voice spoke, her gentle eyes coaxing me to rest in her lap with a slight tap of her hand. 

Once I had settled, my innocent eyes gazing up at my mother with a childish excitement. 

"Now, this story has a happy beginning, a not so happy middle, but a very happy ending. This is life, you have to go through the bad stuff to get the good. 

"Like I was saying, your father- do you remember what I told you about him?" 

I squealed, "Ye-s! He-He was tall and, and wif dark hair. Smwelled like a for-forest." Her eyes danced with an unknown emotion. She gave a light kiss to my forehead before letting out a chuckle.

"Yes, darling. He was so brave, he would protect us, no matter what. But one day, the bad men had found us..." She suddenly got choked up, her eyes glazing over before she quickly cleared her throat. 

"Well, they found us. They would never stop following us, and when they did. They wanted to exterminate us. Do you know what that means?" She asked softly. 

"No, mama" 

"Good, you're too little. Later in life, you will know."

"I-I'm not wittle!" 

"Hmm, of course not. You're completely right!" She chuckled.

"Now, back to the story. They came to hurt mummy, but daddy saved us. He hid us beneath the floor- you were just in mama's tummy- and he... well he gave us enough time to escape. And we drifted and drifted until we found a safe place. When the time came to go back home, well... daddy was no longer with us. 

"And then it happened, the grief caused me to go into labour- labour means it was time to give birth to you. Mummy was in so much pain that I kept drifting through different realms, and I couldn't get a hold of it. If you came out and I drifted, you'd be lost forever. So I concentrated so hard, and I stopped. Right in the place, we call home, and you were born. Safe and sound, and in my arms." 

~

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a guard pushing his way into the room. 

"By orders of The King, you are to present at the formal feast tonight." His voice was monotone, no emotion basking in his words as his sputtered his words.

"H-how do you expect me to-" I hissed, accidentally moving my legs as I raised my head up to glare at the guard, "How do you expect me to go anywhere in this state?" I spat, venom coating my words. 

With that, the guard spun around, bending over to pull out a simple movable chair from behind him. 

He quickly set it up, before presenting it before me. 

"Dress appropriately and conservatively before arriving in the banquet hall by dusk." With that, he exited the room. Leaving the chair behind.

How do I even get to the chair?

~

With a lot of effort and struggle, and multiple tears, I was dressed and I sat weakly on the movable chair. 

I was in excruciating pain, extreme amounts of pain burst through my legs at even the slightest twitch. My plan had failed miserably and I was suffering the consequences. 

I don't know why I thought the punishment would just be extra guards and less trust. He was a Cruel King, his punishments were not lenient. But I do suppose he could have done worse, like remove my legs or hands. Thankfully he needs me whole on the odd chance I do win this tournament. 

Unexpectedly, a loud knock resounded against the wooden door, and in stepped four armed guards, waiting for me to exit the room so they could escort me to the banquet hall. 

What was I expecting, they gave me a mode of transport. If I can move, I can run. 

~