The Crystal Mines

2 Faolan

Nik was a fucking goddess, and I couldn't have loved her more than I did when she turned to look at me, despite the risk. Her mouth was dripping blood like a wolf after a fresh kill. She had clearly bitten her tongue to suppress screaming out in pain. Her breasts were scratched and raw and the way they hung freely, only made her look all the more fearsome. But the real wonder was her back. In the few seconds it took her to turn to me and smile, the shreds had begun to piece together.

Everyone could feel the moment she had accessed her power. There was nothing to see physically. But it was felt across the island. Like a magical tidal wave, it hit us with a force that took our breath away. Many looked to Viorica when Nik access her magic. Prisoners and guards alike, waited to see what the woman would do. She only watched and waited. The only indication of anger was the movement of her tongue moving against her teeth behind her lips.

When some officers escorted Nik and the man she was with, out, the rest of us were herded back to our cells. Tension and hope mixed through the atmosphere. I knew Viorica would indeed address what we had all felt. But the fact that magic could indeed be accessed, even with so much iron in and around our bodies, produced an array of hope long since thought no longer obtainable.

After the showers, I followed the line of drying prisoners to the cells. I had chosen to wash my body and sacrifice my hair again. Ignus would be the day we were to receive new garments. Though we were in prison, Viorica preferred our clothes to be cleaned at least one a week. So, I had to place the same dirty shirt back on and wait a few days. I entered my cell behind by cellmate and we both collapsed to the floor, ignoring the single bed. In the past months, I learned that his name was Sorin, and he has been at the prison mine for many years. Some others whispered at lunch one day that he had started in maximum security, where Nik was normally held. Apparently, my stoic cell mate, once had a harsh temper.

I watched him twist his hair back into tresses after the water destroyed them. He was a large man and would spend time each morning working out the lower half of his body and core. We talked occasionally, but the culture in the prison seemed to be silence. The less that was said, the less you got to know someone. And then attachments couldn't be made. Attachments created undesired emotions when watching them get whipped or worse. Like today. Watching Nik and the man be punished unfairly was traumatizing. I guess that they had gotten whipped before hand for something and didn't make quota from the pain. I had only managed to get whipped the first few times after arriving. Nik and I had been through it together then. When I was able to ward them off, she wasn't. Whatever extra torture they provided those in maximum security, had her weaker than I had ever seen her. The only time I had seen her eyes so void of emotion was when she returned from Asuraville after learning that the man she thought was her father, wasn't.

I shut my thoughts down. Thinking about the past would only bring of the people in it. Which meant thinking of him. And that was a spiral I wasn't willing to go around after the events of today. I sighed and laid my head against the wall as we waited for dinner to arrive.

"You know her, don't you?" Sorin asked while twisting away at the back of his hair. Shit. If he figured it out, then... "Don't worry, it wasn't that obvious. I don't think anyone else noticed." I blinked and wondered if he was serious or sarcastic. Unsure of how to respond, I just watched him. Finally, he met my eyes. He was serious then. I nodded.

"Yes. She's my best friend." My voice was hoarse from being unused.

"How do you know her?" A dangerous question. I was an open book. Everything about myself I lay bare for all to see. But in the prison, I went against my nature and shut it all down. I sat there, conflicted with my personality and logic. I found a middle ground and went with vague.

"We were sent here together," I answered and massaged my sore hands.

Sorin didn't say anything at first. The silence wasn't uncomfortable or comfortable. It wasn't anything, just numbing. An emotionless apathy. Finally, he looked up and spoke carefully, "So, you're from the university too?" I nodded once and looked down, unable to hold contact with his sepia-colored eyes.

"Erix is a bastard."

I snapped my head up and right as I opened my mouth to respond, a guard with dinner had arrived and shoved the tray through the slot to us. We ate quickly and silently and shoved the tray back within a few minutes. I could see another question brewing within Sorin. He didn't ask right away. That was how he was. He was deliberate and thought long about things before moving forward. Each step calculated.

"Why she is here is no secret. But why are you here?"

"I fell in love with one of Erix's sons," I answered on impulse, forgetting myself while high on the emotion of remembering Evander's beautiful face.

Sorin laughed dark and low. "Erix hates anything that doesn't abide by the way he thinks it should look. Which brother?"

I didn't like where the conversation was going. He knew too much and asked even more. I rested my arms on my knees. "No. If I share anymore, you will have to give something of yourself first. Why are you here?"

He gave me a once over, reading my face and body language. I saw the moment he made a decision. The corner of his mouth twitched. "The short answer, I was born."

"What's the long answer?"

"That, my friend, is something you will have to earn with severe trust."

Therest of the night, I stared out the small window looking to the sky, wishingupon stars that never answered and gods long since forgotten.