A Lifetime Ago

Chapter 21

TW: Abuse

(19 years old - November)

The air was cold, the ground and fallen leaves a damp mush beneath my feet. We were deep in one of Linphea's many forests. Bronte, Andreas, Saul and I were hidden within some shrub waiting for an extract team. We'd been hunting a group of Burned Ones when we found ourselves in Volger land. We'd thought we had gotten away, but of course that wasn't the case.

"Stand up slowly. No funny business." A strong voice spoke from behind us.

Slowly I stood from my crouching position, my hands raised by my shoulders.

"What are you guys doing?" Andreas hissed at the three of us, not making any attempt at standing.

"Trying not to get killed." I hissed back, and reluctantly he slowly got up.

There were way more of them than I had expected, all surrounding us. I had a bad feeling this was not going to go overwell, especially if Andreas kept up with this attitude.

The bag that had been placed over my head, was now roughly pulled off. I blinked a few times trying to adjust to the light of the room. I looked around, surveying my surroundings and situation. It was a small, stone room. None of the others were here, a guard dressed in all black with a red vest stood in the corner by a steel door. Zip ties kept my ankles secured to the legs of the metal chair I was seated on and metal bands secured my wrists to the arms of said chair. I'd seen these before in one of my modern magic classes at Alfea, Alter Bands. The Eraklyon government had tried to implement them for use as a substitution to Runic Limiters, yet there was some controversy over their effectiveness. I was still regaining my thoughts when the steel door opened and then just as quickly slammed shut, echoing through the room. There was another person in the room now, more casually dressed and not in uniform like the guard that stood still by the door.

"Who sent you after us? You're Solarian, that much I know. King George? Was it him? Or someone lower down the food chain? Or better yet, the Linpheans?" The man asked.

I stayed quiet. Not wanting to accidentally make a bad situation worse. One of the few good things that came out of my Alfean education was my ability to stay calm in situations involving life and death. Nothing good comes for those who panic. He seemed to wait for an answer, yet when still met with my silence as an answer he grew impatient.

"Would be such a travesty if anything were to happen to your companions." I could hear his voice from somewhere behind where I was seated.

"Where are they?" I asked, my voice low and steady.

"I don't think I've made it clear who's asking the questions here" He replied, making his way in front of me and into my eye sight. "Who sent you?" He asked, more forcefully, pulling my face up, roughly with his hand so I was looking up at him.

"Fuck you." I replied through gritted teeth. His hand swatted across my face and my left cheek felt as if on fire.

"Maybe I'll leave you sometime to ponder your next move." He left, but a few moments after two guards entered. The look of the things they carried meant nothing good.

My voice was hoarse. The painful hour or so I had just endured was definitely up there in competition with Rosalind's many. When the door opened again I made no attempt to lift my head that hung down against my chest.

"Christ, don't you look like shit." I shot my head up - which I regretted slightly when the pain hit. Andreas. The guard by the door had left his post, Andreas looked a little disheveled, with his hands zip tied in front of him.