Dead and Buryd

Chapter 37: The Inmate and the Influential

The cell Georgianna was pushed into was one of three that stood alone from the other blocks. Built next to each other, one wall of bars opened up the cell to light from a thin corridor that Georgianna knew from experience led out towards the yard.

A couple of times when visiting the compound, she had been led to these cells instead of the block. A fight had broken out in the yard, meaning that these cells were the closest place an inmate could be locked and left until she arrived. The cell she’d been put in, the furthest from the yard, had a dull, brown bloodstain on the concrete, a large pool where she remembered she’d been unable to stop the bleeding in time.

There had been next to no discussion or ceremony before she was shoved into the cell, the barred door slamming closed behind her. For a few minutes she had stood against the bars, listening to the conversation between Maarqyn and the Adveni guard. They continued speaking in Adtvenis as they walked away and despite being unable to understand more than a few words of the discussion, she listened until their voices faded down the corridor.

After that, when the only sounds were the distant movements of the block and yard, Georgianna took a seat on the edge of the bed, twisting her wrists within the ropes in the hope of scratching the skin beneath the rough binds. Each time she tried, almost able to get her fingers underneath the rope, it only scratched the skin on the other wrist. She gave up, resting her elbows on her knees and lowering her head into her hands.

Her fingers traced the rounded edge of the cinystalq collar still clamped around her neck. She twisted it, searching for the ridge that indicated the join in the metal. When she was sure she’d twisted it all the way around at least twice, she finally left off. The collar was made to such perfection that the join was indistinguishable from the rest of the device. Next, her thumb swept along the smooth surface, searching out a marking that she had seen on Nyah and Alec’s collars. She couldn’t find it and, unsure whether she felt relief at that fact, she sighed.

She had never seen an inmate of the compound with a collar clamped around their neck. From what Jacob had said, the collars were expensive, and as the inmates wouldn’t be going anywhere, the guards probably saw little point. However, the fact that they’d not removed it already terrified her. What if, like Alec, she would be sold within hours of her capture? Would Maarqyn be able to organise her sale so fast? He had done so with a Belsa. It wouldn’t be surprising if purchasing a medic was well within his grasp.

Closing her eyes, she wanted to picture her father’s face. She wanted to see Keiran or her brother, some image that would give her comfort. Instead, the only face that she could picture was Maarqyn’s, leering over her in the hot sun. She shook her head. She rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes, but over and over, Maarqyn’s eyes were the ones that glared back at her.

When she finally opened her eyes, a pair of black, heavy boots stood in the corner of her vision. Slowly, she lifted her head, her gaze locking onto the dark expression of the guard, Edtroka.

Georgianna opened her mouth, but she couldn’t think of a single thing to say to him. She didn’t know why she wanted to apologise. He was an Adveni, a guard to the compound that would be her prison until they saw fit to sell her on.

“Edtro…”

“It’s Guard Grystch,” he answered coolly.

Georgianna looked down at her knees.

The door slid open, the metal grinding against the concrete. She flinched, but didn’t move as Edtroka stepped into the cell, closing the door behind him. For a moment he simply stood staring down, but finally he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tsentyl. He swiped it open and Georgianna finally looked up at him.