Assassins Crown

Chapter 5

My back is in shreds, just thin strips of skin. The burning pain is almost unbearable. But I was not dead yet.

After about the fourth lash of the barbed whip, I gave up trying to hold in my screams. I don't know if I was on the sixth, 13th, or 18th lash, but it was all excruciating. The lashes of the whip all kind of blended together now.

CRACK!

I scream and fall forward into my knees. I could feel hot angry tears on my face.

"Get her on her feet! I will break her! She will die for her betrayal!" the captain shouts.

My torture soldiers lift me back on my feet that shot a burst of white pain through me. I call out in pain. I'm hardly breathing. Every breath I take is a whole new level of pain. Every breath is like needles piercing in and out of me.

I will not be broken.

CRACK!

Another scream.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" a voice calls out.

My legs can't support me anymore in the slightest. I begin to fall before my torture soldiers haul me back up. My throat is throbbing and feels like sandpaper. I just groan in response, too weak to do much else.

"What do you think you are doing?! I think she has suffered enough," says the voice angrily.

I don't have the strength left to lift my head to see the defiant voice's identity. All I see is the puddle of my blood beneath me and the throbbing pain that burns like rubbing salt in a knife wound.

I feel light-headed and dizzy, so I focus on the pain. But I still can't get rid of the black edges that had appeared at the fringe of my vision.

"Who are you to--" The captain gasps audibly. I hear the whip dropping to the ground. "Your Highness! I was. . . I was just. . . but she--"

"Are you yet to be satisfied?"

"Your Highness! This girl has committed the highest level of betrayal against the Royal Crown! She must be punished for such defiance, Your Highness."

I can hear the captain's panic and astonishment in his voice.

And what is with this 'Your Highness' stuff? Is there some relative to the Royal Crown here? But only the Royal Crown's direct family were called that. Who is this person? And why are they here anyway?

But despite my questions, I don't try to lift my eyes. Instead, I feel my anger rising inside me.

How dare I get into this position in the first place! How naive am I to be at the total mercy of someone else?

But I can't get the feeling of total bewilderment to leave me.

This stranger, this total stranger, was trying to save me from this wretched pain. Someone that's not me, was trying to keep me alive.

Somehow, that piece of knowledge paralyzes me in astonishment and momentarily makes me forget about the pain.

Only one other person would do that for me, but they were dead. This random person, that knew nothing about me, was trying to help me.

My mind is full of so many different emotions that I can't tell the difference from any of them. But all of them are covered and surrounded with uncertainty.

This is a new emotion for me to realize, to accept, that someone else, besides myself, cares about what happens to me.

My head feels like it is about to explode. Everything is full of confusion, worry, caution, and uncertainty, that for the first time in my life, I don't know what to do.

It's a trick. It's just a trick. I think to myself.

Yes, that's it, this is all a trick. It's the only logical reason for someone to even care for me.

It's all a trick.

Gradually, my mind comes back together and now I feel more reassured and certain of my conclusion.

Of course it's a trick, why would I even start to think it was something else?

Of course, it's just a trick.

I feel my anger and hatred coming back to me and I don't hesitate to grab hold of it to strengthen myself.

How dare this person think they could trick me!

No, I decide. No, I will use this to my full advantage.

"You have no need to continue this punishment, Captain," says the voice. This time, I recognize it as a girl's voice.

"What do you mean, Your Highness?" asks the captain.

"I mean that this girl will be released from your care and be taken back with me," says the girl's voice.

A stunned silence follows.

Then a new voice enters the conversation.

"Her Highness doesn't mean that. We will be leaving immediately, carry on Captain." It was a male voice that came from the same direction of the girl's voice.

"No! No. She is coming with us, Winston! I demand it," the girl's voice calls out in a rush.

If this is a trick, it's a very elaborate one.

"Your Highness, I don't think that's a good--"

"Winston. She is coming with us. I can't stand to see someone in this condition," the girl's voice turns into a plea. "Please, Winston."

After a moments pause, the man--Winston--speaks.

"Yes, Your Highness." The man's voice is devoid of all emotion. More like a robots voice than human.

"Captain. You will assign three of your top soldiers to escort her to my palace, I expect her to get there before dark tomorrow. Am I understood, Captain?" says the girl's voice.

I can almost imagine the look of total and absolute disbelief in the captain's expression.

"Yes, Your Highness. It will be done."

"Good. I will expect to see her tomorrow night. Good day, Captain." And with that, I hear footsteps heading away.

And I manage a small smile.

No, I will not die today.

I will live.