Smoldered Flames: Part I of the Edonia Series
Chapter 40

Valeri

I’ve lost track of how many sessions the King put me through. I stopped counting after ten. I was later moved to a room where the tortures took place. It came with a window, surprisingly. The window was actually a barred hole that I couldn’t escape from. It allowed the outside temperature to slowly seep in and make my bones stiff. That little roaring flame that swelled brightly from within my soul flickered and died out. The only reprieve and solace my eyes have sought after was the moon. The growing pale beauty helps me keep track of time. The sharp edge of the waning crescent tells me I’ve been here for almost three months.

King Broderick was very imaginative when it came to torture. He focused more on the psychological terror than physical. It was a game to him. He even ordered his guards to tear away at my dress, leaving me in just lingerie and humiliation. I shudder at the way King Broderick’s eyes lit with morbid curiosity when my opulent mark was revealed. Oddly enough, the vile king left my eyepatch alone.

There wasn’t a mirror, but when glancing at my body, I could see the small bites and welts of various creatures King Broderick used on me. My body’s healing process slowed tremendously. I was covered in my own blood, with matted hair, and an empty stomach. It’s been a long since I’ve had a decent meal.

As the days go by, I can hear a slight swishing going around my head and have determined it becomes swiss cheese. I don’t know why I’m putting up such a fight to begin with. It would be easier to just surrender.

Absolutely not! Shouts my alter ego

And why shouldn’t I? I demanded.

Why would you give the enemy the satisfaction of submission? She retorted

Don’t you want to figure out what the hell is going on? I asked

My alter ego is quiet as she ruminates her next words. Yes. I do want to know what has become of the missing victims, she says reluctantly. But do you know what this will mean?

What will it mean?

It means that I will be bound until that bastard sees fit to release me.

Why you, and not me?

I thought you would’ve figured it out by now… She sighs impatiently. I’m Helena Tafari.

Again, why you and not me?

Thousands of years ago, we were one and the same. Our personalities were non-distinct. But alas, on one fateful day we were separated in spirit.

I hope one day you will tell me about this “fateful day”.

One day, but not today. She states with indifference. Now, when he bounds me we won’t be able to communicate. You will be on your own. Follow your instincts.

So… does that mean I will still have free will? Despite the prison the king will place you in?

Yes, my dear. You must not give yourself away. You must look compliant and stupid. Void your eyes of ANY and ALL emotion. Otherwise they will know.

How do you know this?

Because… I was here ten years ago.

It was moon high by the time I had company. The long screech of the cement door indicated another round of pain and hysteria. The barreled idiots from before stroll in with their stupid grins. I decided to name them Dumb One and Dumb Two because of they similar permanent scowls. Dumb One had mop of blonde hair and Dumb Two had brown tresses.

They gather my arms and drag me to a new destination. I’m spent by my most recent session. King Broderick had a two-headed venomous snake the size of an anaconda. It wrapped its body around -gently might I had- and bit my torso. My mind was later filled with fields of fire and tortured souls shrieking for freedom I couldn’t provide.

The skin along my legs and feet are left open to the freezing cement floors. Wall torches barely lit the empty hallways. We step down a few steps and I eventually lift my head to see cells filled with various species on either side of the walls.

Dumb One and Two exit out from the cells and a large wooden door stands in front of us. The door creaks as it opens slowly. A thrumming glow emanates from the left side of the room. They drag me to that sinister light, and a bald man wearing only a pale red cloak holds a splayed thick spined book in his hands.

The bald man points to a pentagram. “Put her there, gentleman.”

I tried to buck out of their grasp, but they were brawny as hell. Dumb One and Two chuckle from deep within their bellies as they toss me inside the pentagram. Dark, pale orange walls shoot from the ground and towards the ceiling. I bang on the nano-esque walls with no use. King Broderick strolls in as if enjoying a late summer day. A maniacal grin covers his face

“Perfect!” the king says, with hands now spread out like he was addressing a crowd. “Just perfect! Look at you. Bloodied, beaten, and ready for me.” he then sighs and takes in the scene in front of him. It was like he wanted to soak in the moment for later.

I wanted to spit in his face, claw his arrogant eyes out, or even cuss him out. The energy that would’ve cost was best spent elsewhere. So instead, I just sat on the ground feeling the white diamond cuffs sapping away at my lifeforce.

The king paces back and forth in front of me. “You are the only one that’s survived this long. Let alone hold out.” he pauses, “why haven’t you gone insane?”

“Believe me, I’m already there.” I mumbled.

He crowed a laugh. Of course, he has the sharp hearing of a vampire. “I was going to summon a few Waddellians tonight, but I have no time. I must return before Alaric burns the place down in my stead.”

I don’t add to his droning monologue. Tuning him out proved impossible because the next thing he said stunned me.

“If you aren’t going to willingly submit, I’m afraid we will have to do this by force.”

Gulping my throat, I ask, “Wha… What do you mean? I was actually going to let you know that I su-”

King Broderick holds a hand up to silence me. “Too late. I want the reassurance that you are bound to me… Fully.”

Oh, dear.

The bald man begins to open his mouth and a strange, Gaelic chant leaves his lips. The temperature drops instantly. I put up my knees to my chest to hold in whatever heat I had, but it was no use. I was flung to the center of the five-pointed star. My hands and legs spread apart. The hair around my head whipped madly in response to the wild wind inside the circle. I was forced to look up at the blank ceiling.

The bald man’s voice grew louder and stronger. Faint features start to materialize in the ceiling. A glint of jagged, sharp teeth here, a deranged black eye there. The more I stared, the more the baleful image took form.

A looming gorilla head appears and roars in my face. I can feel the hot spittle settle along my face and I’m immediately disgusted. It’s breath reeked of sulfur and rotting flesh. I wanted to vomit.

It’s voice ricocheted against the walls like an incoming bomb. “WHY HAVE I BEEN SUMMONED, VOLIAS?”

Volias? That name… it rings a bell.

“Lord Ulysses! I hate to disturb your slumber, but I have a small request tonight,” the king asserted.

“HOW CAN I BE OF USE?” Lord Ulysses thundered.

“You’ve met Helena Tafari, I believe?”

The wild-eyed ape gives me a once over before looking over at the king vampire.

“YES. WHERE DID YOU FIND IT?”

My mouth drops. “I’m clearly female!”

Lord Ulysses snaps his mouth close to me in warning. “IT SEEMS IT’S FORGOTTEN ITS PLACE.” he rumbles. “NAME YOUR REQUEST, VOLIAS.”

“I need her submitted to me. With your assistance, it will be simple. Name your price, and I will give it.”

The mad lord laughed darkly. “I REQUEST NOTHING AT THIS TIME.” he looks down at me before continuing, “FOR NIGH OF TEN YEARS YOU’VE ESCAPED MY SIGHT. NOT THIS TIME.”

An abnormal chill rests in my heart.

“I don’t need anything too extreme. I need to bind her.”

“VERY WELL.”

King Broderick’s baleful eyes turned a bright swirling color of red and black, as did Lord Ulysses’. It was like they were in sync with one another.

I felt a heavy, foreign presence swelling deep in my stomach. It spreads up to my chest and then my mind. I freeze at the probing feeling. I could feel Helena putting up mental barriers to protect herself, and I mimicked the process. But they were too powerful. They overwhelmed us. I cried out as Helena’s presence was wiped from my mind. Her flaming aura left me as an empty shell… a husk of my former self.

“I am deeply disheartened that Helena had to go. I made the mistake of letting her slip from my grasp a long time ago… I will not be made a fool again. Hello, Valeri. I’m so glad to meet you.” King Broderick said smugly.

No response left my lips. The ape lord disappeared. I curled within myself wanting to sink deep into the earth and disappear. I looked within my mind and couldn’t find Helena. It was as though she never existed, and I had no tears left to grieve.

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