Flames, p.7
Flames, page 7
“Shut up.”
“Makes sense to me. After everything you went through with Clarke, why would you want to trade that in for some new model you have no history with. You’ve fought hard for Clarke, and you’ve even driven off the opposition—no more Logan. You should get the prize. The only problem is your pesky mate waiting in the wings.”
“Would you stop babbling and let me get some sleep?”
“What if I told you that I knew a way to get rid of the mating bond?” said Cunningham.
I tensed on my bed. What?
“What?” said Naelen, his voice a little louder.
“That got your attention.” I could hear the smile in Cunningham’s voice. “It’s simple, actually. The objects. You get all the objects together and you do the ritual to bring over Jacques, and you’d have enough power to break the mating bond.”
I sagged against the bed. Damn. For a second there, I thought he might have actually known something.
“And then I’d be possessed by Jacques,” said Naelen. “No thanks.”
“You could hold him off,” said Cunningham. “You’re a dragon, and you’re very powerful. You could resist him.”
“Bullshit,” said Naelen. “I know you thought you could resist Jacques, but you were deluding yourself. Which reminds me, don’t you want the power of the objects for yourself?”
“I do,” said Cunningham. “But right now, I’m trapped in a cell. I don’t have any magic, and I don’t have access to one single object. So, I figure it’s time to lower my ambitions a bit. My current aim is to get out of this place. I think we could do it together. I don’t stand much of a chance myself. I might be able to get out, but I wouldn’t make it far. You, on the other hand, can breathe fire, and you could give me some of your blood, and my magic would be charged up, and Clarke’s got some kind of power to completely resist magic—”
“That requires her monocle,” said Naelen. “Which they took from her.”
“Oh,” said Cunningham, disappointed. “Damn. Still, with the three of us, we could get out of here. We could go get that monocle thing, and then we could take back all the objects. And then, once we’re free, it’d be every man for himself with regards to the objects. Maybe you’d get to keep them. Maybe I would. But either way, we’d all be out of this place, and we’d be better off for it.”
Naelen was quiet.
“Think about it,” said Cunningham, his voice low and lilting. “The power to end the mating bond completely. No more temptation. No more annoying sexual attraction. No more of anything except the woman you really want.”
Still nothing from Naelen.
I had to get up at that point. I stalked up to the front of my cell. “You can’t be seriously considering this, Naelen.”
“Clarke?” Naelen said. “Does no one sleep in this place?”
“We can’t work with Cunningham,” I said. “He would betray us at the first chance. And he’s probably lying about the objects being able to break the mating bond, anyway. Nothing breaks the mating bond.”
“The objects do,” said Cunningham. “And it is possible to resist Jacques. Say what you like about me, Clarke, but I’m not an idiot. If I had thought that there was no way to resist Jacques, I would never have planned to use the objects myself. And I assure you that I did my research. It could work for you and Naelen. Now… I can’t say that you’ll be able to get the objects once we’re out of this place, but you’ll have my complete loyalty inside these walls.”
I scoffed. “Your loyalty? What’s that worth?”
“I keep my word,” Cunningham insisted. “Have I ever lied to you?”
I was sure that he had, but I couldn’t think of an example.
“It’ll be a temporary truce,” said Cunningham. “We work together for a common goal, and when we’re free, you can go back to trying to kill me. It’s a win-win.”
“No,” I said. “Naelen, back me up here.”
Naelen didn’t say anything.
“Naelen.”
“No,” he said. “We will never work with you, Cunningham.”
* * *
The next day, Merida Price came in with two of the guards in white jumpsuits. They brought a straight-back chair with them. She walked up and down between our cells and surveyed us all.
“I’m here to ask about the location of the bell,” said Merida.
“The bell?” I said to Cunningham. “That’s the one you hid? The one you stole from Santa Claus?”
“I didn’t steal it. It was a negotiation,” said Cunningham.
Merida gave me an odd look. “Santa Claus?”
“It’s a long story,” I muttered.
“Anyway,” she said, “I’m hoping that you’ll be willing to cooperate with us today and tell us the location of the bell.”
All of us were silent.
She sighed. “Really, this could be easy. Why don’t you make it easy on yourselves? If you’d just let us know now, we wouldn’t have to resort to more excessive forms of convincing.”
What did that mean?
She waited, as if she expected one of us to just come right out with the answer or something.
None of us did. I didn’t know why she thought either Naelen or I would know the location of the bell, anyway. Had she missed the part where we hated Cunningham and wanted to kill him? He was our enemy, and we’d been trying to get the objects away from him. Surely, she should realize we wouldn’t know where he’d hid anything.
“Very well, then,” said Merida. “You’ve chosen the difficult path. I’m saddened but not particularly surprised.” She gestured to the guards. “Take the dragon out of his cell.”
The two guards went over to Naelen’s cell. Because it was right next to mine, I could no longer see them, but I could hear them talking. Their voices rang out, echoing against the back wall. “Come forward and put your arms through the bars.”
“Don’t do it, Naelen,” I called over to him.
“Wasn’t planning on it,” he said.
“You’ll have to knock him out,” said Merida. “Use the tranquilizer gun.”
I couldn’t see it, but I heard the sound of a gun being fired. I heard Naelen’s yell. I rushed forward to the bars to try to see, but it was useless.
“We picked the dragon,” said Merida, “because he is the most powerful of all of you, and because I want you to see that you don’t stand a chance against us. We debated using you, Clarke. After all, both of them have affection for you. But you also have affection for the dragon. And Cunningham.” She spun around to face him. “You like the dragon too.”
“Do not,” said Cunningham. “Never liked him at all. I think he’s a ponce.”
Merida made a tut-tut sound. “Try to deny it all you like, Cunningham. These two are special to you. More than just mindless pets like the others you have abused. These two, and their gargoyle companion, are the closest things you’ve got to friends.”
“Oh, well, that makes me sound pathetic,” said Cunningham. He considered. “True enough, though, I suppose.”
I gave him a withering look. If we were Cunningham’s friends, I’d hate to see the way he treated his enemies. And I was feeling very confused. What was it that Merida was going on about? What had they chosen Naelen for?
By now, the guards were dragging him out of his cell. He was passed out, and one guard had him under the armpits. The other had him by the legs.
Merida gestured to the straight-back chair. “Secure him to the chair.”
The guards draped Naelen’s motionless body over the chair and secured his hands behind the railings with handcuffs. His head lolled forward against his chest.
Merida gave me a nasty smile. “Last chance, Clarke. Tell me where the bell is.”
I was starting to feel sweaty and my heart was picking up speed.
“No?” she said.
“I don’t know where it is,” I said.
“Fine,” she said as if she didn’t believe me. She turned to Cunningham. “And you? Will you tell me?”
“Why would I?” said Cunningham. “I’m supposed to be quaking because you’ve got him tied to a sodding chair? I don’t think so.”
Merida shrugged. “Well, then, let’s begin.” She rolled her head on her shoulders, stretched her arms, cracked her knuckles. And then she thrust both of her palms forward and a bolt of purplish power emanated from them. The power slammed into Naelen’s chest.
His eyes snapped open and a throaty scream ripped from him.
I gripped the bars of the cell and cried out as well. “No!” I yelled.
CHAPTER NINE
It went on and on.
Naelen’s shirt hung in tatters against his body, because the power that Merida kept pumping into him had singed holes in it. There were holes in his skin as well. Burn marks and bruises and blisters. He was sweaty and exhausted. He would have fallen off the chair if they hadn’t had him tied to it. There was a hollow look in his eyes. A long time ago, he’d seemed to switch off. He still made noise when she hurt him, but there was no real energy in it. He’d let go, surrendered to the fact that he was going to be hurt.
She broken something in him.
I was sobbing. I had long since given up trying to get through the bars at Merida or the guards, long since stopped screaming swear words at them and promising retribution.
Even Merida seemed affected by how long it had all gone on. She had stopped asking about the bell in between onslaughts. Now, I was fairly sure that she was only hurting Naelen for the fun of it. She wanted to see how far she could push him. Maybe she wanted to kill him. I hated her.
Cunningham had retreated into his cell, somewhere into one of the corners where I couldn’t see him. His cell was diagonal to mine, and not straight across, so I didn’t have a complete view of it. But he certainly hadn’t been the least bit swayed by what Merida was doing to Naelen. At least, not swayed enough to tell her where the bell was and end the torture.
I didn’t want Merida and the Order to have the bell and I knew that, but I did want to save Naelen. Moment after moment passed, and I became more and more convinced she was going to kill him. I began thinking of telling her that I did know where the bell was. I could make up an obscure place and send them all there to find it. Why not? If it would buy Naelen some time, it was worth it.
But before I could give voice to this plan, abruptly, Merida stopped.
She let out a noise of disgust, threw her hands in the air, and simply walked out of the cell block.
There was no sound except for Naelen’s labored breathing.
The guards stepped forward to uncuff him from the chair. They freed him, and he fell in a heap on the floor.
I reached out for him. “Put him in here with me,” I pleaded. “He needs me.”
But the guards only smirked at that. They didn’t even bother to respond. They picked Naelen up and hauled him back to his cell. Then they shut him inside and left, going after Merida.
Once they were gone, it was quiet.
I thrust my hands out of the cell, trying to reach around to Naelen’s next to me. “Naelen?” I said. “Crawl over to me. Touch my fingers.”
“I wouldn’t,” said Cunningham. “You’ll get him zapped.”
I pulled my hands back, agonized.
Naelen drew in a breath and then let out a hacking cough.
“Naelen!” I said.
“I’m… all right,” he said.
“No, you’re not,” I said. “You’re not at all.”
* * *
Later, they brought us food. They had fed us before. We seemed to get one meal a day, and it was filling, but not necessarily nutritious. We’d been given some sort of rice mush the day before. Today, we got hunks of dry bread and cheese.
Gina brought them. She slid mine into the food slot on the door to my cell.
“Really?” I said, staring down at the food. “They’re giving us the dungeon cliche food?”
“I’m fairly sure in most dungeons, you’re not given cheese,” said Cunningham.
“Shut up,” I said. I didn’t touch the food. “Gina, you have to help us. You see what they did to Naelen? I know you never wanted him to be this badly hurt.”
“He wouldn’t have been,” said Gina, “if you’d simply told them where the bell was.”
“How many times do I have to say that I don’t know where the damned bell is?” I exploded.
Gina crossed her arms over her chest. “Listen, I know this is hard for you, Clarke—”
“Hard?” I said. “I thought she was going to kill him.”
“She would never do something like that.”
“He can hardly move,” I said. “He needs to shift. He can heal all the wounds if he shifts. Please, let us out of here, Gina. We’ll protect you from them. Please, Gina, please. You’re my sister.”
“I am your sister,” she said. “And that’s why I can’t understand why you won’t just tell me where the bell is.”
I let out a cry of frustration.
She approached my cell and stopped, just out of my reach. “Merida isn’t going to stop, do you understand that, Clarke? She’s going to keep going. So, this will happen again. If you care about Naelen, try to cooperate, please.”
“Gina,” I whispered. “I don’t know where it is.” But if they did anything to Naelen ever again, I was going to make something up. I wouldn’t let them hurt him anymore. I was worried he wouldn’t survive as it was.
* * *
“How are you doing?” I said softly in the darkness. “Does it hurt too much to talk?”
Naelen’s voice was a rasp. “I’m fine, like I said.”
“Stop saying that!” I said. “You’re not fine. I saw what they did to you.” It was night now, or at least I thought it was. They had turned the lights off some time ago, so that must mean it was night, right?
“He’s not fine,” said Cunningham.
I pointed at him through the bars, even though it was far too dark for him to see me. “You shut up.”
“I’ve been watching him before they brought the lights down,” said Cunningham. “He’s in a bad way. He could barely climb into his bed.”
“Fuck you,” said Naelen darkly. “I’m fine.”
“In light of new developments,” said Cunningham, “maybe you want to reconsider teaming up?”
“What are you talking about?” I said. “No, wait. Don’t tell me, because I don’t actually care. Shut up and go away.”
“I’m talking about busting out of here,” said Cunningham. “Finding your monocle thing, finding a place for Naelen to shift and heal, and getting all of the objects.”
I decided to ignore Cunningham. I didn’t have the patience to deal with his cheerful, self-centered disposition. I wanted to hurt him and badly. It seemed to me that he was the cause of all of this. Everything had started when Cunningham had stolen Naelen’s sister, and things had just spiraled from there, worsening as they twisted on themselves.
“Naelen, tell me where it hurts,” I said. “Does it hurt to breathe? Did she damage your lungs? Can you move all your limbs?”
“Stop it, Clarke, I’m fine,” he said.
“I know you’re trying to shut me down on principle,” said Cunningham, “but if we don’t team up and get out of here, then we’re both being stupid. We can work together, and that’s what we need to do. Listen, I’ll even through in the location of the damned bell. Hell, I’ll take you there myself.”
“We don’t want the stupid bell,” I said.
“Well,” said Naelen in a labored voice, “we don’t want him to have it.”
“True,” I said. “But he’d just go back on that once we were free. He’d never knowingly surrender an object.”
“The key phrase there being ‘when we’re free,’” said Cunningham.
“How would we possibly get out of here?” I said. “Naelen’s in no shape to fight.”
“We’ll find someplace for him to shift,” said Cunningham. “And as for how we get out of here, it’s best not to plan these things too much. Just be vigilant and wait for the right opportunity.”
“Are you serious?” I said. “That’s idiotic.”
“It’s actually brilliant,” said Cunningham. “I’m good at thinking on my feet, and I’m good at influencing people, even without any magic. Just tell me you’re in.”
“Clarke,” said Naelen, “maybe what he’s saying makes sense.”
I sighed. “Working with Cunningham?”
“What choice do we have?”
“Fine,” I muttered. “Fine, Cunningham, we’ll do it.”
CHAPTER TEN
But the next day, Cunningham was ill. Violently and disgustingly ill. He vomited all over his cell. He even threw up on the bars at the front of the cell, which seemed to cause some kind of magical short in them or something, because they started emitting purple and green sparks and sending little bursts of bright electricity from bar to bar.
After that happened, he started yelling for the guards. He yelled and yelled until someone showed up, all the while lying on the floor of his cell and clutching his stomach.
“Shut your mouth,” said the guard, “or I’m going to have to tranquilize you.”
Cunningham groaned. “Do it, mate. I’d appreciate it. I’m in complete misery here. I’ve never felt this bad. I didn’t think vampires were supposed to get sick. Do you have magical viruses here or something?”
“Sick?” said the guard. That was when he noticed that he was standing two inches from a pile of Cunningham’s vomit. “So that’s what this smell is?”
“I think I broke the bars.” Cunningham raised his head from the stone floor and half-heartedly pointed to where the bars of his cell were sparking.
“Yeah, I see that,” muttered the guard.
“Just move me to the cell next door,” said Cunningham. “It’s empty, isn’t it?”
The guard sighed. He gingerly went over to examine the sparking bars, but kept his distance. “What the hell did you do?”
“It’s not what I did, it’s what you did to me,” said Cunningham. He shut his eyes. “Oh, I get it. This is all part of your plan, isn’t it? You want me to tell you where the bell is, and that’s why you’re doing this to me.”
