Chapter 4:
My eyes opened to new surroundings. A painful throbbing radiated from the back of my head. I went to move my hand to touch it and realized that both of my arms were chained. I looked around me and could see black stone walls, dimly illuminated by torch light. Thick black bars enclosed my small cell. The smooth black floor was wet. Blurred reflections of the torch flames glittered and danced on the surface. My arms screamed in agony and I could feel the cuffs of my chains working slowly into the skin of my wrists. I started to cry. It became apparent to me where I was. I knew that I had finally made it to the black fortress, just not in the way I had hoped for. I assumed the throbbing from my head was probably from being hit. It would explain the bright flash and the blackness. What tortures awaited me here?
New despair washed over me as I realized that I had failed. I would soon just be new blood for the Red River and if Andrew was still alive I would never see him again. I let out a tortured sob. He would never know I tried. He would never know how far I had come, the lengths I had went to in the name of our love, in the name of the only sacred thing that I knew.
I let it fall out of me, the screams and the tears I had held back as I had climbed through the tunnel. I let go of the strength that I had clung to for survival. I tried to resign myself to the thought of already being dead and that soon I would know peace, if this weren’t hell that I was already in. I hung my head and cried hysterically. I felt a great release, but at the same time, I could feel that the release was dangerous. I knew I was teetering on the brink of madness. I decided that maybe that was better. Maybe if I was mad I wouldn’t be afraid when they slaughtered me. Maybe the queen herself would greet me as they sharpened the blades. Maybe I would have the chance to spit in her face before they cut me open and drained me dry. I prayed for that, for one moment’s justice. I screamed as loud as I could. I wanted whatever world was out there to hear it, to share in my agony. Maybe my screams would make them come faster. Maybe they would hurry up and get the execution over with if I irritated them enough.
For what seemed like hours I cried and screamed until my voice was gone completely. I was utterly exhausted. Nothing and no one came. From time to time I would see a rodent scurry across the floor. My destroyed shoulder kept me from passing out. It felt as if someone was stabbing it over and over. I wasn’t sure if it was an infection or the angle at which I was chained which caused this exquisite pain. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.
A few moments later I heard someone or something approaching. I felt fear stirring within me. I guess emotion never really runs dry. I saw the shadow of whatever approached on the hall floor beyond the bars of my cell. Finally I saw it. It was a gangleus. Its black form wavered, never taking a permanent shape. It looked in on me with its evil red eyes.
“What the fuck are you looking at?!” I attempted to scream at it. My words came out only as a raspy whisper. My vocal chords still had not recovered from the hours before.
It tilted the blob that was its head to the side and its body shook with the laughter that proceeded. It had a deep booming laugh, the kind that you would imagine a monster in a cheesy horror movie would have.
“Such brave words coming from such a brave girl,” it said, every word saturated in ridicule and sarcasm. “I believe the answer to your question would be I am looking at a prisoner, a pathetic little girl who could not get the job done.” It laughed again.
Fury filled me. This thing laughed at my failure, at my agony. I wanted to claw at it and beat it until my hands were covered in its blood, if it had any. I wanted to make it feel as I felt. If only my hands were free, I would make this creature suffer inexplicable pain.
“What are you going to do now? You are chained to a wall. Your journey is over. Whatever the queen decides to do with you is the only future that you have now. Maybe she will make you her pet,” he laughed cruelly again.
“Where is Andrew?” I said; my raspy words filled with hate.
“Oh yes, Andrew, I almost forgot,” he chuckled, “the whole reason you are here. Well, Andrew is right here, in this very fortress. He is alive. I think the queen has taken a real liking to him. Maybe he will be her future king.”
“I will kill her! I will slice her throat! I will cut out her heart and rip it to shreds!” I had found my voice once more as it echoed through the cell and down the hall.
“How exactly do you plan to do that? You are chained to a wall. You are defeated. The queen gets what she wants and if your Andrew is what she wants she will have him. Maybe if you’re really good, she will let you live and serve them like the pathetic sniveling slave you are.”
“Andrew loves me, he would never submit,” I said with complete confidence. I spit on the floor in the monster’s general direction.
“Perhaps you are right. Either way I hope I get to see how it works out. Leaving you alive and in agony would be so much more entertaining than killing you.”
I struggled against the chains. I wanted nothing more to be free so that I could destroy the gangleus and whatever stood in my path to Andrew. I vowed to myself that if I found the opportunity I would escape and cause such suffering that even if any of the creatures or the queen lived, they would be too afraid to ever inflict such misery on anyone again.
The gangleus walked off and called out to me over his shoulders, “Sweet dreams.”
I smoldered. I had so much rage inside that I felt it would consume me and burn me to a cinder. I wished they had just taken action; that the queen would just decide on what sick sadistic cruel torture she wanted given. I thought of Andrew alive in this fortress. The gangleus said that the queen had taken a liking to him. I sneered at the thought. I wondered if he was in a cell like I was or if she had him in some room captive. My mind flashed back to the nightmare I had in the tunnel; the look of horror on Andrews face. It infuriated me that I was so close to him now, that maybe only down the hallway Andrew was waiting, like me, for the end of everything. Maybe they would slaughter us together, or make one of us watch the other die before dying. My mind roamed over all of the morbid possibilities. I found myself numb to the horror of the different scenes my imagination played out. After all, even if you inflict wounds over and over, doesn’t a person go into shock at some point? Maybe it was possible that my mind had reached that point.
At some point I fell asleep. No nightmares tormented me. My body had finally given in to the complete and total emotional and physical exhaustion that plagued me. I awoke to a burning sensation on my leg. It was very dull at first and then progressed to an excruciating pain that spread across my right calf. I felt little legs crawling up my leg now. My mind took me back to the conversation Meep and I had exchanged before I entered the tunnel. The part about fire spiders came to mind.
Though I was in great pain, I made myself stay perfectly still. I had no idea how much damage was done to my leg, but whatever it was would not be made better by encouraging the spider to inflict another injury. The spider moved it way up my abdomen, its tiny legs tickling my skin. I restrained against the urge to squirm. I knew if the acid was potent enough to eat a hole, that an abdomen injury would mean certain death. It moved its way up my breast, and across my nipple, making it stand erect in response to the tickling of its legs. I cringed, waiting for the acid to hit, but the spider just kept moving. It moved up my neck onto my face. Luckily I had thought enough to close my mouth before it had reached this point. It crawled up onto the bridge of my nose and paused. I stared at its fiery red body. I could see its black eyes staring at me, as if to taunt me. Many minutes passed. The spider just stared on. The burning sensation on my calf was driving me mad. Even worse, I felt as though I might sneeze. Almost as if it sensed this, it crawled up the bridge of my nose to my forehead and jumped onto my left hand. All of the sudden I heard a sizzling sound. Had it spit on my hand? I didn’t feel anything.
All of the sudden I felt the air hit the sweat on my wrist where the cuff had been. I looked up to see th
at the cuff now had a gaping hole in it. I slid my hand out and looked up just in time to see the spider spit on the right cuff and watch it corrode as the left had. I pulled my other arm out and collapsed to the floor. I looked up at the spider and watched it crawl into one of the crevices in the wall.
I was completely dumbfounded. Why would the spider have helped me? It had injured me and then helped me. My head tried to wrap itself around the idea. Maybe the spider had seen the misery and desperation in my eyes. Maybe the spider had only spit on my leg because I had startled it by moving in my sleep. Regardless of why it had done what it had done I was deeply thankful. I looked down now at my calf. A large oozing wound covered most of the surface. I was relieved that it wasn’t worse. The spider must have used a much larger amount of acid on the cuffs or my leg would be eaten down to the bone. I knew that I had to try and stand up, first to see if I could stand, and then so I could maybe look for a way out. I pushed myself up with my exhausted arms, putting most of my weight on my left leg at first and then trying to transfer some of the weight to my right. My right calf protested in agony and I shifted the weight back over to my left side. I had almost screamed but had stopped myself, not wanting to bring the gangleus back before I had some sort of plan or escape route. I slowly put weight back on my right leg again. I bit down on my bottom lip as I equalized the weight. It was no time to be a pussy. I had to be able to walk, or no escape would work.
I made myself shuffle around the small cell that held me. At first I was only able to take slow tiny steps, but as time progressed, so did my stride. The pain lessened, or so it seemed. I entertained the possibility that I was just growing numb to it. Once I was sure that I could walk at least semi-decently, I approached the barred entrance of my cell to look for any week points. I examined each bar closely. They all seemed to be strong and in good upkeep. I tried squeezing my way through the bars, but found that as I suspected I was much too big. I started scouring the walls, looking for loose stones. I found nothing. The only thing left to do was to form some sort of plan.
I sat on the floor for a very long time, pondering on how to go about my attempt to escape. I had decided that I should wait for the gangleus to come whenever it next decided to come instead of causing a commotion to draw its attention. Hopefully, like the last time, it would come alone. It would be challenging regardless of how many came, but with only one it was much more feasible. I could slip my arms back up into the chains when the gangleus approached. Perhaps it would be coming to collect me for whatever torture I was due and open the entrance to the cell. I would wait for it to cross over far enough from the entrance so that I could attack it. Upon defeating it, I would exit the cell and try to find something to serve as a weapon to protect myself as I searched for Andrew. The likelihood of things working out the way that I imagined was very slim, but it was worth a shot.
I stretched my muscles and rested up as I waited to hear the gangleus approach. I needed all the strength that I could conjure after sustaining so many injuries and being so physically taxed. I knew this would be my last attempt. I would either overcome the gangleus or die trying. I decided it was time for me to have a conversation with god for the first time in over ten years of my life. I wasn’t a religious person, but since I was facing death, I figured it wise to make my peace.
“God, I know you and I haven’t really been that close over the past decade. I know I have done some bad things and made some even worse choices. I can honestly say I have tried my best up to this point, and if given the chance to keep living, I promise to try even harder. If I do die here in this cell, please watch over Andrew and keep him safe. If we should meet today, I hope that you can look upon me in forgiveness and that you can let me find peace. Thanks for all I was ever given,” and I left it at that.
No sooner had I quit speaking than I heard shuffling coming down the hall. I quietly stood up and tiptoed back over to the wall. I placed my hands in the corroded cuffs and grabbed them to cover the holes with my fingers. I hoped that it was dim enough for the gangleus to not take notice of how unnatural the position of my hands probably looked.
The gangleus looked in on me. He stared for a few moments and began to speak, “What, no smart words this time?”
I simply returned his stare saying nothing in return.
“Perhaps you have learned your place. Either way, I was sent to get you. The queen wants you cleaned up and brought to see her.”
I felt a stir of panic. Though I had originally planned to attack, it seemed that it might be wiser to allow myself to be taken to the queen. I would have a better idea of the layout of the castle. Perhaps she would have Andrew with her. Maybe I could destroy her and get Andrew back at the same time.
The gangleus spread out its undefined arms and brought them back together. The cell door opened. It seemed that it did not need a key to get in and out. What magic was at work here? It made the same movement a few feet in front of me and I allowed my arms to drop as if the cuffs had been unlocked. The gangleus didn’t seem to take notice of anything being awry. It waved its arms to motioning me forward, and suddenly my feet were no longer touching the ground. I was being carried by some unseen force. I suddenly became very aware that if I had attacked this creature, if that was even possible to begin with, that I would have been on the losing side of the battle. The gangleus walked forward out of the cell and I floated just behind it. I tried to move my legs, to see if I would be able to resist if necessary. My legs remained completely still despite my greatest effort. I decided to focus on my surroundings, to try to create a mental map in my mind of the places that we passed through incase I needed to find my way around the fortress if Andrew and I could escape.
We floated down the hall past several cells. There were creatures of all varieties contained within them. To the left we passed what looked like a lion with a horse’s head. Its golden fur seemed tattered and dirty. Its tail was bent and broken in several places. The mane of hair surrounding its head was in knots and tangles. Its eyes burned a fiery blue and in those eyes I saw despair. At the end of its snout, a white mist came from its nostrils. It whinnied and my heart jumped. All I could do was look away helplessly. I looked to my right and was startled to see three lackels locked up together, snarling at me and drooling as I pass by. In the next cell was a creature with a womanly shape, pink skin, a pink, snout-like nose, and hooves on her hands and feet. Her eyes look wild and frightened as she snorted and squealed while we passed by. I thought to myself that all of these creatures would soon meet some sort of ugly fate. I wondered what their crimes were or if they had even committed any crimes at all. After all, I hadn’t committed any crimes, and I was being put through unimaginable suffering.
Upon reaching the end of the hallway we started to climb a spiral staircase. It too was built with black stones and had smooth black stairs. Torches lit the way every few feet. We climbed for what seemed to be four stories. There were several hallways and stairways that branched out from the one we were on. This place was obviously massive. The gangleus stepped off of the stairway and through a red velvet curtain. The hallway we entered was a much different scene than what I had seen coming up.