2. Lea
2
LEA
W hen I came to again, I was being dragged down the hallway by two guards.
My body was so tired that I didn’t feel any pain anymore.
“I miss when you used to cooperate.” Dewitt, the short, stout guard, snarled as he threw me into the cell and watched me hit the floor.
“Happy to disappoint, Dimwit.” I laughed before spitting out the foul copper taste in my mouth.
“Why do you insist on antagonizing him? It’s bad enough that you don’t give the Warden what she wants.” Eniko reprimanded me as he helped me up. He was one of the more recent additions to the cell. He had only been here a week, poor fellow. He didn’t know yet what it was like to be broken down by this place.
I was confused for a moment as I tried to collect myself. It wasn’t until I tried to sit up that I remembered.
By now, my raw skin had time to stick to my new set of roughly spun clothes, so the fabric felt one with my skin when I pulled.
I hissed, digging my nails into the dirt and stone beneath me. “And let her win? Yeah, right.”
“Look around us, Lea. What are we winning?” He had a point.
“It’s the little battles that win the war, isn’t it?” I couldn’t even bring myself to laugh; I was in too much pain.
Eniko only frowned at me, and I sighed.
“She wants me to be her mole. I’m not interested in helping them in any way. The people that are locked up here are good.” I wasn’t going to be the one responsible for furthering their “punishment.” It was bad enough that most people were here for political reasons.
Our conversation was interrupted by more footsteps coming down the hallway.
A shiver of fear ran through my body.
Were they coming back for me? Those ruthless bastards.
My skin was practically screaming as it was.
This time, the guard was different. It was the tall one who had less trouble opening the cell door, and he wasn’t alone either.
Though the guard’s torch was faint, I could see it flicker against the face of the person I had grown the closest to since being placed here in this Lunaira-forsaken place.
She was huddled into herself and quivering all over, but it was definitely her.
The guard threw her into the cell and locked the door behind her. “Maybe next time, you’ll give us better information.”
“Dineta!” I crawled over to her, ignoring my pain as I huddled her close to me.
She was freezing.
By Lunaira’s grace! What did they do to her?
“My back stings, Lea.” Dineta blubbered into my arm.
I could feel that her back was wet, but I couldn’t tell what it was.
“Here.” Eniko slid closer to us, producing a Flume Light from his pocket.
“How did you get that past the guards?” I stared at him in accusation.
There’s no way he snuck that in. Could Eniko be a mole?
For the first time, I saw this cellmate as someone else… Someone dangerous.
“Do you want to ask questions, or do you want to help your friend?” His brows furrowed at me.
My stomach twisted with realization.
Who is this man?
I tried to recall anything suspicious about him since his appearance a week ago.
I dropped my eyes and found myself distracted by the sight of deep red bleeding through Dineta’s white tunic. It wasn’t a small amount of blood either.
My throat closed up with anxiety.
My fingers prickled helplessly.
Suddenly, I couldn’t care less if Eniko was out to get me.
“She needs medical attention.” Eniko was quick to suggest.
“They won’t take her to the Infirmary if they threw her in here like this. It’s like they wanted her to—” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word. I needed to help her on my own.
My eyes darted around in thought.
What could I do?
My sights paused on the toilet on the far side of the room.
I gritted my teeth as I weighed my options.
It’s risky. Not to mention, I don’t have that much supply left.
I looked back at Eniko momentarily.
And what about him? What will he do when he sees what I am about to do?
I let out a deep sigh, consigning myself to my fate.
“It can’t be helped then.” I moved Dineta slowly so that I could stand up. I pushed the toilet, which was only a wooden box with a hole cut out, but it hid my contraband. I pulled out my purple satchel of ingredients and a small, poorly sewn-together book filled with potion recipes.
“There isn’t much here, but I should be able to make a healing potion from it,” I reassured her. “Eniko, hold the light over here, and don’t move.”
I removed some purple sand from the Gorrogan Sea and Etern Moss as a binder.
It was just missing one other thing…
Despite the fact that I was sure I didn’t have a heart anymore, I felt it ache as I looked over at my singular stand of mint leaves hanging out of a crack in the otherwise unblemished wall.
I plucked it, and whatever string held my heart in place snapped. I could feel it sinking into my stomach. I kept it to my nose and breathed in its hopeful scent one last time before crushing it into my mixture with my hands. I would have cried if I thought I was capable of it, but that was the old me. I didn’t feel deep, gentle things anymore.
I held the salve to my lips and whispered a prayer into it. “Dulcis mater sana, protege.”
Under what I said, Eniko repeated it in his native tongue: “Sweet healing mother, protect.”
I lifted Dineta’s tunic and rubbed the mixture on her deep lacerations.
She hissed at the pain at first, but the potion quickly diminished the pain.
“Sorry, it won’t be as effective unless you drink the rest of it.” I rubbed her shoulder, taking care not to touch her wounds. I helped her sit up, and she sipped down the remainder of the potion.
She smiled at me, barely lifting her head. “It tastes… minty. Thank you, Lea.”
I pulled her tunic back down carefully and moved away so she could lie down.
Only after this did I notice Eniko was still staring at me.
His demeanor had changed entirely.
“Why are you here?” I questioned him without even looking in his direction. “The Ransoms? I can’t imagine who else.”
“You’re a sharp one, Lea. You know, I wasn’t sure if you were the one I was looking for until now. You just created a healing salve from some scrap material given to you by a guard you bribed.”
“That did me a lot of good. He was one of the nice guards, but he was dumb enough to get caught selling contraband to prisoners.” I threw my head back and let out a dry laugh. “Wait, how do you know about that? Who are you?”
A small smile pulled into the corner of his mouth as he raised his pointer finger to his lips.
He didn’t plan on telling me who he was, but there was one thing for sure:
I needed to keep a close eye on him.
The adrenaline dissipated.
The pain from the torture I underwent remained.
I should have saved some of the potion for myself. No matter. At least Dineta will heal.
My vision went blurry, and my body felt cold.
I just need to lay down…
My eyes closed first, and I heard my skull crack against the stone floor as I fell over.
M y eyes opened slowly to a brightly lit room.
I was even lying in a bed.
Did I die?
I tried to move, but my whole body screamed in pain.
Yeah, right. Death wouldn’t hurt this much.
“Oh, good. You’re awake.” A grainy, familiar voice spoke to me.
My eyes slowly cascaded to the side of me. I saw a face I recognized, but that was it.
“Eniko?” I whispered in confusion.
He was one of the newcomers to my cell, or so I thought.
Now, I see him dressed in a fine grey tunic with a symbol of the Bureau of Potions Regulations on his sleeve.
“Who are you really?”
“Allow me to introduce myself properly. I’m agent Eniko Lee. You can still call me Eniko. I planted myself in your cell because I thought you could help me, and I wanted to see what kind of person you were.” He gave me a gentle smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Did you get your fill of whatever you needed to see?” I nearly spat the words out at him.
“Very much so. I discovered you are not the kind of person that should be in prison. Which leads me to question how in the hell you got here.” He leaned forward, pressing his elbows into his knees.
“What do you want from me? If you’re here to try and make me sell out one of my cellmates, I won’t do it. You’ll have to kill me.” I wasn’t stupid.
Most of the people imprisoned here didn’t belong here. So, what made me so special?
I thought back to a conversation I had with my parents when I was younger.
They imprisoned people for political reasons under the guise of innocuous crimes.
I wished they were still alive so I could tell them how right they were.
“Don’t worry; I’m not here to make you rat out your friends. Actually, there’s a bigger fish I want you to help me fry.” He reached into his cloak and pulled out a picture of a man I hadn’t seen in fifteen years.
Fire and brimstone billowed up from my stomach and into my chest.
Cold sweat dripped down the back of my neck.
“Do you recognize this man?” He could tell from my facial expression that I did, but he asked the question anyway.
“That’s Diesel Ransom.” I gritted my teeth against each other as I glared up at Eniko.
“Excellent. I want you to help me take down Diesel Ransom and his illegal empire.” He took the photo away again and folded his hands in front of him. He stared at me with such intensity and without blinking.
I scoffed before pushing myself up off the bed, ignoring the massive amount of pain I was in. “And what do I get in return if I do this for you?”
“Don’t play coy with me, Miss Nadir. I know you want to see this man crumble more than most. I know that he is responsible for the death of your family. He has taken everything from you and probably has a lot to do with your imprisonment.” Eniko’s cool demeanor cracked for a moment at my nonchalant response. He hoped to get a rise out of me with his knowledge, but he failed. Then he sighed heavily and shook his head. “If you agree to help me with this, I’ll grant you your freedom.”
The word rang in my ears over and over.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I even toyed with the idea that a guard hit me over the head and caused me to hallucinate. “Freedom?”
His cold exterior crumbled momentarily, and he seemed to commiserate with me. “Yes, I don’t believe that people like you belong here.”
How was I supposed to respond? I couldn’t think of what to say. That was when I heard laughter, but it wasn’t coming from Eniko. It was coming from me. I was laughing.
Why was I laughing? I didn’t find anything about this funny.
My hands cupped my face, and I felt hot tears pouring out of my eyes.
I didn’t know what I felt.
“Is that a ‘yes?’” Eniko pushed for an answer.
This is everything I’ve wanted for the last fifteen years. So, why can’t I just agree immediately?
Dineta’s face flashed into my mind at that moment.
My heart sank.
That was what held me back.
I couldn’t leave her behind. “I’ll do it… If you grant my cellmate, Dineta, her freedom as well.”
Eniko’s face twisted. He wasn’t too keen on promising another prisoner’s freedom, but he knew I wouldn’t accept his terms without negotiation. He shut his eyes briefly, no doubt reining back his irritation. “Fine.”
The entire world stopped for a moment.
The air hitched in my lungs.
I just kept staring at him in disbelief. If this was a dream, let me never wake up.
“Just give me the day to sort out the paperwork. I’ll have you and your friend paroled by morning.” Eniko pressed his hand into his knee as he stood up from his chair.
I was still trying to regain my ability to breathe. So the room was dead quiet when he glanced over his shoulder at me as he walked out the door. “And don’t even think about double-crossing me.”
I scowled at him and didn’t respond.
I didn’t need him to threaten me.
I wasn’t interested in double-crossing anyone. There was only one thing I wanted… Vengeance.
I made my way to the cafeteria once I could move again.
By then, it had to be close to sunset.
I hated having to wait all day to tell Dineta the good news. I was practically bursting at the seams.
I would have to brush up on my mixology when I got out of here. After seventeen years, I was sure to be rusty… It’s still better than Jax, though.
My insides burned with the rage I felt just recalling his name.
I heard from some of the newcomers to the cell that Jax was a Potion Master now.
A derisive scoff expelled from my chest.
That jackass couldn’t mix water and vinegar together, and now he is some kind of prodigy?
I hated that he got everything he wanted.
He deserved to rot in a pit after what he did to me!
Two guards escorted me to a table where my other cellmates sat.
Dineta’s face lit up, and her eyes filled with tears when she saw me. “Lea, thank Solara, you’re alright. I was worried when you didn’t come back for breakfast.”
I smiled a little wider than usual, but I couldn’t tell her in front of all these people that we were getting out of here. It would only end in a riot.
The sound of shackles pulled my attention away from Dineta. It was the sound of a prisoner on tray-dropping duty. He was shackled so that he couldn’t try anything while freely moving about the cafeteria.
My stomach rumbled almost on command, just from the sound.
After such a long day, I was starving.
The shackled prisoner came to our table and slammed the trays on the other end.
I glanced up at the prisoner as I looked over to see what sort of slop they were serving us.
She had a dead stare at me, and her mangled teeth flashed a disturbing smile.
Something about how she looked at me chilled me to my core. Did I know her from somewhere? Was she a friend or a foe?
She approached Dineta and me, dropping our trays before us while whispering, “Enjoy.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat as she finally walked away from the table, and my body was allowed to relax.
Something felt wrong, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
I looked down the table at my cellmates, who didn’t seem to notice.
Even Dineta was already chowing down.
Maybe I imagined it. I had been here for so long that I could have become paranoid. I picked up my fork and stabbed the pile of beige-speckled slob in the middle of my tray.
The food never tasted good, but it was filling. That was good, at least.
I took a bite and was surprised to find the food was sweet.
Strange. It has never been sweet before.
I took another bite, still trying to analyze it, when I realized I recognized the taste. It was something I ate when I was younger. I tried to think back.
All I could picture was my parents’ faces. They looked so worried.
Then my eyes shot open, and I spat out what I had in my mouth.
I knew this taste because it was a plant that grew in my village… The Hynedea plant. It had a sweet smell and taste, but it was highly deadly.
My parents had to rush me to the health center because I tried to eat it when I was a kid.
“Stop! Don’t eat any—!” I tried to speak, but my throat started to close up. I watched in horror as Dineta began panicking.
She scratched at her throat and started falling out of her seat.
No! Why her?
Dineta's face was blue now.
I leaped across the table, trying to help her but powerless to save her.
I was so close… We were so close to escaping this place.
Suddenly, a group of men in grey tunics burst into the cafeteria, which caused panic among prisoners and guards.
The only face I recognized was Eniko’s.
He spotted me first and rushed toward me.
My throat closed up completely, and my insides shredded into pieces.
My vision wavered as I collapsed to the floor.
My body turned cold as I struggled to move.
The last thing I saw was Dineta staring at me with her mouth agape.
She wasn’t moving.
She wasn’t breathing.
She wasn’t staring at me.
She was dead.
Eniko grabbed me up from the ground and forced me to look at him. He was talking to me hysterically, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
Then everything became blurred, and it all faded to black.
The bastard finally got me…