Six Will Stand (First Draft)

Chapter 10

Riv blinked open her eyes to see...well, not too much in front of her. Squinting in the darkness, she spotted Alregon sitting in front of her, sharpening his blade. She was strapped down on some sort of board, but she was upright, not laying down. Alregon looked up at her shuffling.

"Ah, good. You're awake." He came over to her, his blood red blade in his clenched fist. "Are you ready for some fun, daughter of Ilya?"

She yawned, feeling bored. "Yeah, whatever. I don't know about your kind of fun, but I have a feeling I don't really have a choice, so...."

"No, you don't have a choice." He put his blade under her throat. "Let's give that wretched Cade an absolutely horrifying nightmare, yes?"

Great, Riv thought. He gets to watch my torture. Lovely. She said nothing, but kept her unimpressed expression.

"Why do you want to kill me anyway?" She might as well figure out why.

Alregon's eyes narrowed. "You are to play an important part in the prophecy, it's better to eliminate you before then." His grim face broke into a malicious smile. "But, what do you think about this, dear?" He took his blade and slowly dug it into her bare forearm. Pain flared in her arm, and she grit her teeth. She did however, stay silent.

He took the blade out and slashed it across her entire arm, leaving a deep scratch running along it. She winced, but refused to scream.

Alregon leaned in to Riv, his breath stinging her face. "Why aren't you screaming, girl?"

Riv groaned slightly, "I don't feel like it. I don't like screaming for torture sessions."

Alregon brought his blade up to her face and slashed her cheek. Blood trickled down the side of her face. Alregon spoke again, almost friendly, like he was just making conversation. "You've been tortured before?" He ran his blade down her left hand.

She winced. "Once or twice. There was that one time that someone wanted information on Fai, so they tried to force it out of me. Joke's on them though," she smiled in memory, "I escaped and saved him from that forest fire."

Alregon looked mildly surprised. "That was you?"

Riv rolled her eyes at him. "Who else? I got him out of the fire, dressed his wounds, and left before he could discover who had done it. I think he still doesn't know."

Riv was discreetly undoing her bonds, but she knew she had to keep Alregon's attention. He took his knife and made another scratch along her right arm. "Well, I guess you're just used to the pain then."

Her body was extremely weak, but her tongue was still sharp. "Alregon, I just somehow survived an unwinding spell. A little pain never hurt anyone."

Alregon stopped, mild confusion of his face. "That's the entire point of pain."

Riv rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She was not letting him in on how much pain she was in though. She didn't want him to feel any satisfaction. Plus, only a minute more until she was free....

He slashed her neck lightly, enough to be painful, but without killing her yet. He was really taking his time with this whole thing. Riv knew he hated her, but she didn't expect this.

"You see, dear, I am no longer a part of the guardian council. I—" he broke off with a yell as she stabbed him with an ice dagger. She leapt down from the board and dashed the other direction. She stumbled a moment, probably from weakness and blood loss, but regained her footing, thanking Cade for falling asleep at the right time so the ground didn't move.

While running, she formed two more ice daggers, planning to use them only if he got too close. She looked down to check her injuries and gasped. Why could she see the ground through the rest of her body? That couldn't be good.