Chapter 12 #2
Wait… no, I wasn’t the one being poked, the hourglass was. Was I being told where the hourglass is? A whole lot of help it does me when I can’t see anything. I could be in that very room for all I know and not be able to see it.
My body smacks against something as I discover that my cellmate has lovingly tossed me over his shoulder and is hanging me there by holding on to my legs.
“I feel like a bride being carried off to my wedding bed,” I mumble.
“If your mouth works, I have to assume your limbs do too,” he says while he sets me on my feet only for me to melt to the ground.
I really did try hard to keep my legs locked.
“What are you doing? Keep moving!” someone shouts, and I feel my cellmate grab my hands and start dragging me.
“I bet you’re a blast at parties,” I mutter.
“At least I don’t murder everyone at the party,” he retorts.
“I don’t fucking remember anything beyond the last thirty-six years. How many times would you like me to repeat that?”
“Your voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard. All I can hear is a screeching noise every time you speak.”
“Help me up,” I demand, but he just grabs one arm and one leg and proceeds to drag me after him like that.
“You are the most irritating person I’ve ever met in my life,” I inform him.
“Good,” he says, and I try to grab him and pull myself up so I’m not being dragged. It’s only partially successful and obviously not worth much as he drops me onto the floor.
“Oh, your great bitchiness, your humble servant has brought you this hollering man,” my cellmate announces, making me think that we’re facing Onyx… who he doesn’t seem to like and who is probably the one who locked him up in the cell.
“I heard you were in trouble,” Onyx says, voice soft when she speaks to me. It also sounds like she’s on my level, so she might be kneeling in front of me.
“The curse is ripping me apart. I need my stuff to fix it, please,” I beg.
“I really wish we could, but we cannot,” she says. I try not to narrow my eyes at her and think about how I really wish I could use my magic against her. Fuck her and her calm and soothing voice.
“Please. I will die without it,” I plead as the tremors tear through my body.
She gives absolutely zero shits. I almost feel like she’s thinking, “Well, I hope he dies, which would solve at least one of my problems.”
“Vero, please tell us you’re willing to work with us, and then we would have the resources to help your friend here,” Onyx says.
“I actually don’t care what happens to him, your great holy bitchiness. Was planning on killing him myself,” my cellmate replies. At least I have a name to refer to him by… not that he wants me to talk to him.
“I don’t know why you try to reason with this man. Gods are not to be reasoned with. They are to be controlled,” a man with a hoarse voice says.
It makes me wonder if it’s the sickly man I’d seen in my mind earlier and if that means that my hourglass is in this very room. But if it is, I’m surprised I can’t feel it better.
The man clears his throat. “Drag him to the fountain. Chain him down and leave him there until I permit him to rise again.”
“You will regret fucking with me,” Vero yells.
“What do I have to fear from a broken god? You can’t even fight against us. You are nothing,” the man says before he laughs, but it throws him into a coughing fit.
I can hear Vero being dragged past me while he fights against them.
Someone ends up slamming into me, and I fall away from them.
I use the distraction to try to move forward, but someone grabs my arms and jerks me back as I hear the splash of water.
They’re shouting and fighting, and I really wish I could see what’s going on.
And then suddenly, all is still.
“W-What are you doing?” I ask, not quite sure what happened to Vero. Did they just chain him beneath the water to drown him?
“No need to be frightened,” Onyx says, as if soothing me with her voice will be enough to make up for whatever is happening around me. “He is not a good man. But don’t fret, he’s a god, so he won’t die. It’s just a place for him to cool his head.”
“You’re drowning him? You think that’s a place to cool your head?” I ask incredulously.
“He is a god. It won’t bother him.”
Yes, but it seems like he’s a god drained of power like Torin is. No, it won’t kill him, but it’ll make him feel like he’s dying over and over again, especially while in the weakened, humanlike state he’s found himself in.
“Riley, was it? I’d like to introduce you to my father,” Onyx says. “This is my father Flint. He’s very excited to hear about your world.”
I’m not sure what to say. Do I tell them it’s a magnificent world with powerful people in the hope of keeping her out of it, or do I lie and tell them it’s a weak world that’s falling to ruin like theirs so they have no interest in it?
Nothing good would come of it. These people are monsters and that’s blatantly clear.
Thankfully, I don’t have to think up anything or try out my acting skills, because I’m hit with another attack as I wince while feeling lightheaded.
“I really need the hourglass,” I beg.
“I’m sorry, but it was already destroyed,” Onyx says, sounding devastated. “We don’t allow any magical devices inside the capital. It was destroyed the second it left your person. I’m so sorry. We have doctors here who can help you.”
Someone reaches for me. I try to shove them back, but I can’t get them off me as I wonder where the water is that they’ve thrown Vero into. It didn’t sound too far from here, but I doubt they’d stand back and let me retrieve him.
“Take him away. Have someone reopen the Door and send five scouts through. I want to know everything about their world,” Flint orders in his raspy voice.
“You will not be welcome there,” I snap.
It looks like this realm is doing a splendid job of destroying itself without the horseman even present. But I definitely don’t want these people anywhere near my world.
“We don’t have to be welcome,” he says with a laugh. “What naive thinking.”
“Father, let me handle this,” Onyx says. “Come along, Riley. Let’s see what we can do to help you.”
I’m pulled after her and into a room where I sit, blind to my surroundings as I listen to whispered voices outside the door and wait for someone to enter.
But after a long while, I begin to question if anyone is even coming back for me, and I switch to Kit’s eyes to check on what the others are doing.
I see that they’re somewhere dark, and I can’t hear what they’re saying, but Kit randomly glances over at something. It takes me a moment to realize it’s a note Torin wrote in Shaarunen.
I want to come retrieve you now but am being told that it’s unsafe and I should wait until the attack on the capital.
I don’t think I can wait that long. I will play along with their demands until I figure out where you are and then I’m busting you out.
I promise everything will be okay. I’ll keep you safe.
You mean the world to me. And I love you with my whole heart.
I bite my lip as I try not to get lost in the sweet letter. It brings a smile to my face, which is how they find me when they open the door.
“Something amusing going on?” a man asks.
“Just contemplating my level of luck. I come over here thinking I’d help and instead find myself imprisoned, accused, and being left to die because you guys won’t believe me that I need my stuff or I will die.”
“We can help you,” the man says as he rudely yanks me over to a chair and sits me down in it. “Tell me your problems.”
“Oh sure, of course. So I was cursed by one of those horrible magic users, and now the only way I can survive is by having my necklace pressed against my skin.”
He must notice the tremors in my hand because he reaches for a glove and pulls it off before stilling. Then he pushes my sleeve up before jerking back and hastily exiting the room.
“Wow! You’re a miracle doctor! I’ve been cured!” I shout with ample sarcasm so he’s aware that I’m not impressed.
Apparently, I’m beyond healing because no one returns.
After I wander and stumble into literally every single item in the room, I finally find the door, but it’s locked.
I stagger a few feet before my head feels like someone’s pushed it through a strainer, and I decide that maybe I could spare a minute for a quick break before sinking down to the floor.