Rise of a Queen

Chapter 45

The shearing sound of metal against metal clamored loudly throughout the room as the flat face of a hammer beat against the nail with a sharp and sadistic ringing of bells. The nail drove deep into Dustin's hand – shredding past skin and crunching through bone, then embedded in the wood below.

In the moments following that first swing, Dustin's eyes snapped shut and his mouth dropped open on a silent scream. His body jolted beneath the Count's weight that kept him pinned. The other men had difficulty holding Dustin down and more hands arrived to lean on his arms and legs. With reinforcements at his disposal, the Count produced a demented cackle and he rose that hammer high once more.

Then he slammed it down on the nail again, with all the force and anger of a god.

"Stop!" I screamed at him. I fought my way closer and the man acting as my guard had to grab my arms in order to restrain me, as one would hold back a dog. But I only fought harder, careless for whether my heart gave out in the process if I meant I could end this heinous cruelty, "Stop! You have to stop!"

"Get the hell away from him!" Lumiere was mindlessly ripping at his leg and blood sprayed in all directions. He was desperate to free himself, to reach Dustin before-

The Count swung again and the head of the nail butted against Dustin's palm. Blood puddled around the nail and gushed up from where Dustin was still resisting restraint. His head slammed against the wood below him, over and over to dull his pain, jaw clenched so tight that it made the veins on his neck and forehead protrude under sweat lined skin from where the strain of absolute agony was crushing him.

But no sound escaped him. Not even a whimper.

And it drove the Count mad.

"Come on boy, even now you won't scream for me?" Count Marx reached for another nail and lined it up at the center of Dustin's other hand, "I have been waiting so long to hear you sing, why do you make me work so hard to hear your sweet song?" He lifted that hammer and he stared directly into Dustin's eyes, "Scream for me!"

Dustin blew rapid breaths between gritted teeth and he spit out a headstrong, "No."

Count Marx swung down again and the same sickening sounds exploded through the room; metal against metal, metal through flesh and then through bone, a dull and hollow thud of a nail splintering through wood. Dustin's writhing body caused his back to snap at a sharp angle and sent his legs kicking at the planks below him, nearly bucking the Count from where he was kneeling on Dustin's sternum.

"How about now?" Hair had tumbled into the Count's face from his efforts and it curtained across his eye. His panting breaths matched each of Dustin's, harmonious with one another in sickening balance, "Won't you scream for me now?"

Dustin bit into his lip hard enough to draw blood and his eyes squeezed shut so tightly.

But still, he was silent.

"Do you honestly think this makes you strong? Do you think defying me proves something? Because the only thing it proves is how stupid you are. I will not stop until you give me what I want so save me the bother, and just scream." The Count used a third nail to tauntingly trace small 'X' motions all along Dustin's chest, "Scream loud."

I have to stop this, I am the only one who can stop this! Lumiere is chained, Erie is guarded, Brandon is dead, and Dustin is fighting a war with no allies to front his lines. He is against an adversary that no mortal man could ever hope to defeat and he needs help, even though I have nothing to offer. I can't do much, but I have to do something!

Through my tearful vision, I found the knee of the man holding me back and I jammed my elbow against the vulnerable joint. It cracked to the side and he dropped with a yelp of pain.