Chapter 8: Captive
Your Perspective From Life Comes From The Cage You Were Held Captive In
~Shannon L, Alder
Sage
"What has gotten into you! To go into the city and kidnap a mundane for the queen's infatuation. What will the conclave say when they find out the news about what's been going on here? She is the queen, her words they will not dare question, your words will mean nothing to them."
Sage heard a voice shriek.
Something solid was against his rear. His muscles ached when he tried to turn he felt as if he had just gotten hit by a thousand pound bulldozer. Sage scooted near the rough object he was correct; they had him lying down on a cool floor. He sought to shift himself up, but someone trapped his fists in cloth. Giving his arms a good shake, he made certain not to attract attention to himself. Wherever he was something was near him, a stream he could hear rushing liquid.
He should have been dreading and pissing himself, however, at the same time he was an agent of the Agency. There were generals who instructed them through strenuous detainee training with Saki there to punish whoever failed the test. He sucked in a deep breath from his sideway's position. Afterward, he counted to ten before he breathed out his frustration. Saki taught him the process would help ease his tension to deal with whatever foe that kept him captive. He took in a few breaths as his heart rate slowed to his usual flow.
It worked! His nerves settled down, and his breathing became regular as he paid mind to his background as he accessed his two senses. Sight, he scratched out since he couldn't see. He assumed they blind folded, his wrist bound, and his legs circled in rope.
With the rustic feel of stones beneath him, he rolled to his backside and maneuvered to a seating position. Putrid air creeped into his nostrils as he rose off the floor. He searched the small cell for a makeshift weapon for partial protection at least and found nothing to salvage. The scraggy corner of the minerals felt of sandpaper, the cell walls layered with brick. He stuck his tongue out. Be a man, he thought to himself, gearing himself up for the vilest decision he had ever made. He scrunched his upper lip as it grazed the grubby floor, soiled prints budding on the boneless meat. His shoulders shot up; He knew where he was in an underground prison.
"You say it like I have other options can't you see i'm running out of time as we speak.I cannot just turn down the queen's request and live to chatter about it, she will have my head delivered in the cave with those creatures she calls pet's, and they are not the least bit friendly,"
He recognized that sound anywhere it was Daniella, the same Daniella he assumed was his ally. She had stuck a dagger in his rear and shoved him into a chamber.
"I am mindful of her sneaky tactics, but Daniella, how will this proceed will your past hinder today's decision ? This mortal will not be enough for her; she will sell him to the merchants for rubies before she takes him in. She is going to assign you to yet another excuse of a mission so that she can escape her word.Your blindly walking into her royal trap.She is in control of every fiber in your bone.
"I woke up this dawn to Bring her to him.He holds importance to her, she demands us to be in her throne room today with an audience.Your right the queen has plenty of thorns in my side that is why I have been proficient on the recent assignments she has sent me on" she paused and Sage could hear her clear her throat." she has no choice but to deliver her words in front of all her people. What queen will deny a request in front of her kingdom?."
Who the hell was the Queen? And where was he?
"I know you want him back, as much as we do, but please cousin stay realistic, the queen is complex, being a trickster is in her nature," she would spout lies before she did anything that was honest.
Daniella smacked her lips, "He needs to be out of her palace, he hasn't eaten in days the guards won't feed him on her demands.What am I supposed to do?How do I sleep peacefully at night knowing my little brothers in a prison cell for something I did.He is innocent he deserves to be free, no matter if it takes every resource I have I will find him and free him you can quote me on that.
He could hear a clashing sound, like someone kicking over buckets.
"She is supposed to make an announcement at sunlights end, wait until then she may give him time served and lead him to you.This man has done you no wrong Danni we need to be better for the sake of our kingdom.Let him go back to his home,we will get him out soon enough aunt Dahlia and me are working three jobs plus the cash we get from the bakery.Well get him out we will in the meantime just have patience." The woman cried as her voice spiked with an edge to it.
"Wait until she tires of him or wait until she sees no more use for him.I have offered her a trade and I won't be backing down from it.
"Is that your final solution?" "how very hypocritical of you to talk of innocence to turn around and trade a life for another."
"I suppose so, yes, I would do anything for him even if I had to make a deal with the devil himself." The words carved in stone It was final the decisions been made he was to be traded to the queen.
The intensity ceased as the subject changed.
"I better be on my way. Aunt Dahlia is cooking tonight. She loathes me with an intensity when I am late entering the shack, she says I disturb her concentration on her preparation of dinner. She claims my feet are enormous. She swears they will be my downfall,"
Daniella snorted."Aunt Dahlia, old in appearances but young in the bones.A elder who is sassy as she is very rare now a days.She is not making that savory potato bread is she? I would bathe myself in that famous broth of hers."
"She is, this time she's mentioned to me she is putting burg meat inside of it, stuffed peppers and tomatoes don't understand why she won't just keep it the same, anymore adding of ingredients and it will combust.I better start heading back.I will be waiting for the announcements message me when the queen dismisses you from the throne room.
"I will, bye," Daniella said with curtly no room for discussion of her prisoner."Notify your sister and auntie I'm predicting to be over tomorrow when the birds sing. She better be filling the table with some delish trays."
"Okay, Danni"The other girl murmured as she left the grungy chamber cells.
Sage knew when the young lady parted ways. She walked with two left feet, which must have been immense. He chuckled inwardly.
"I guess she is ready for you now" Daniella whispered to herself. Sage heard a clang and clatter. He was right; he was in a cell Daniella's steps warned him she would approach soon without further ado; he jostled his move aside from her. His back slamming into the rock. He lifted his collarbone. He wanted to give Daniella a piece of his mind, but he was met with wet cloth blocking his words. He narrowed his brows, gripping the cloth with furiosity sparkling in his orbs.they were smart; the cloth soaked in water so that he didn't die from dehydration. Just how long was he held down here?
Daniella let out a low snicker. "Oh, please don't even try, he felt pressure on his limbs as Daniella sat on his thigh bone, She smoothed one slender finger down his rib cage, he flexed from the unforeseen touch. "Be wiser of you to give in, the quicker it will rid you of me." she hissed in his ear like a fly he wanted to swat her to the ground.
Sage avoided her caress as she freed the cloth from his sore mouth. He spat, "If you're looking for begging then you have mistaken me for a fool.You won't get your brother back from the queen with a trade for me.You have tied me up and brought me here for no reason."He said in a calm manner.Friends are not supposed to deceive each other he could see right now who she was a Shark in the sea.She broke his trust, and that was something he could not look past or forgive.There was no doubt in his mind that the friendship they shared had been broken to pieces.
Even her voice was annoying him. She held the place of the criminals he dealt with daily." His emotions were genuine. He liked Daniella, he just put no one over himself, too much blood spilled when he did and she damn sure wasn't anyone over that rank.She was a measly Human.
Daniella ticked her tongue and arranged herself on top of his groin."Pretty nasty words are coming out of my Sages perky mouth.If you keep talking those insignificant hands will become my new night toy, "she laughed and smacked him across the face, his neck cracked from the impact. She rocked her hip on his groin. "Do you even know who the queen is.How much power she holds in this kingdom?" she said as she jolted him back and forth.
What could he have possibly know about a kingdom he had never studied.Angela was better suited for this not him in that moment he could hear her telling him to stop being a coward and kill the bat shit woman in front of him.He should of because she deceived him.Her character twisting into this new identity.We all had demons waiting to slither in the shadows he had never thought Daniella was on of them.From the conversation earlier with the two women he found out Daniella brother is a prisoner here in this country.Why did she not ask him for help instead of kidnapping him here to trade him in for her brother.At least he would be able to assist her in the rescue.He wanted to ask her, but he thought better of it. It was none of his concern. He kept telling himself that he did not care.the question nagging at him while she talked.This queen must have held a weight over her. "No, Danni, I am not interested in a game. I want you to tell me why the hell I'm in this place." He tested his fists repeatedly. His attempts were unsuccessful, damn.
"The Queen requested you be here, She said it is and I repeat," she said mockingly. "That it is very grave to her that you are in the kingdom,once you're here I can take my brother with me." She said as she played with his curls." I have no dilemma towards you.This is simply for my brother and you were an easy trade after I told her about your healing abilities.I mean it only took us what? six months of knowing each other, not a big deal. She doesn't want to hurt you, only talk to you. I hope you understand.
"She knows of my ability! his brows furrowed together. He reeled his thoughts in as his legs shook in pent up frustration." Let me get this straight. You knocked me out with some voodoo shit and lied to me throughout our entire friendship, to trade me for your brother who is in prison for something you did." It was a statement more than a question."What have you told her of my ability and why the hell does she want me and for the sake of it all where the heck am I?" None of it made sense because a sizable chunk of information was missing."This is not right and you know it.How do you know I can heal myself? have you been keeping tabs on me this whole time?To bring me here?" he seethed.Was this a trap by the agency no Daniella must have known about him prior to their meeting.
"So long story short I have been watching you since you were a infant, I was born on January, 17,1869 I have been waiting for this moment my whole life.Today is the day I can feel it." She said with a sense of pride.
He was tiring of her avoiding the simple questions. He took a deep breath before he asked his next one, his gut clenching from the prospect of it. "Daniella, for the death of me, take a break from your games and answer me!" his hands were sweaty enough to slip through the ties. He had a plan in his head all he had to do was keep her talking. No matter how hard it was for him to stay calm.
"Fine, if you want to choose not to believe me then that's on you, I'll just spit it out then, you're in the country of Austria, Kingdom of Khoullabet known as the ghoul kingdom," She curiously stared at Sage through his blindfold. One brow flinging upward. "Is that better for you?" she asked.
"Like being prisoner to the ghouls is so damn jolly.I don't choose to believe anything.What you are implying doesn't make sense."He shook his bush of curls, fury fueling the fire.His orbs in a storm of clouds."It is impossible we are the same age.How could you be the same age as me if you persist you have been watching me."She was delusional.
"The planes in this realm work differently in your world,we age slower here our physical appearance does not make who we are unlike the elderly standard in your world.''He felt her shift off his lap and walk towards the cell door.What the fuck was really going on here.
If that was so she would be older than him in centuries.What kind of species was he up against? He was a mouse waiting for the cheese, a trap they had him right where they wanted him.Bound to Daniella's treachery.Was her name ever real at this second he questioned everything about her."Who the hell are you and what do you want with me?" he was drowning in shadows.
She was beside him as her Her cool breath teased his ear."I am Hideia Danielle Perimis, siren princess of the sea.' She hummed a tune to herself, the alluring melody ravishing his mind as she swayed her hips accompanied with a light bounce on one foot as she danced to him.Her hands wildly flinging about.
She said it like he had a clue of where he was. The feeling of being trapped never sat well with him. The location the agency never briefed them about, the fucking species he never knew about either. He wondered just what other shit the agency kept hidden from them. Oh, he was angry and pissed. His fingers clenched mindlessly. All he knew was he had to get the hell out of here. He pulled on his slippery hands from behind.Another dead affect. No matter, keep her talking. If he kept her talking, he could distract her and think of a new plan to get out of this forsaken country, the smell of sewer almost made him gag.His legs itched to pull up,He closed his eyes since it made no difference to keep them open through the blindfold. All he saw were hues of color here, and there he felt the fabric constrict his ears. Whatever,He was on his own once they were caught the agency deemed them to be "a trivial matter" similar words haunted his dreams.Hell, he never dreamed they were always nightmares.
There it was again, her voice daunting him into submission.It whispered to him as if it were a piece of his subconscious.The sirens song of passionless heat.It captured with its bewitching features his moss orbs paled as he was mentally held captive.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone