The Cage Of A Sovereign: Book One Of The Kieran Series

Chapter Fifteen

I open my eyes and slowly move my head from the left to the right, observing the room around me. It was the medical ward, my back stung and burned like I couldn't believe, I could feel something wet on my back, I just hoped it was some sort of salve and not blood, Goddess knows I had already lost enough, I can still feel the blood streaming down my back like water from a shower head, if only there wasn't the stinging bite of braided leather to interrupt what I am sure would have been an enjoyable shower.

"Amara? You're finally up!" Diane sits up from her chair, interrupting me from my thoughts, I look at her blankly, trying not to show her how much pain I was in, she was right all along, I should've listened to her, maybe if I had then I wouldn't be in this situation right now. "I know you're probably feeling the burn right now, but we can't give you much else apart from the numbing salve, oddly enough the Zillah are purely devoted to herbal remedies and medicine.

They won't accept human made drugs onto the island and on top of that they won't permit me to get you drunk, but I think part of it is just High Zillah wanting to feel mighty and show the Low Zillah a lesson on what happens when we disobey them. I'm sorry that this happened to you, I was the one who forced you to train on the running track, maybe if I hadn't then this wouldn't have happened." I scoff at her words even though it makes my pain worse, I couldn't help it, she was acting so stupid.

"You and I both know that this isn't anyone's fault but mine. They would have found me whether I was running on the track or lying on my bed in our room, and I would have foolishly and angrily acted the same way. You are not allowed to take the blame for this, I won't let you, besides you gave me your blood to help heal me, so I believe you are officially out of blame, completely no matter what you say." She looks at me with worry in her eyes, I may not be able to see my back, but I could feel it and see the emotion in her eyes, it was bad, really bad.

"But if it wasn't for me, maybe you would have screamed before all of that pain happened instead of showing me how strong you are." I shake my head at her even though it pains me to do so, you never quite realize how much the skin on your back shifts and wrinkles when you move until you have a back injury.

"I did not do that for you, don't even think that my extra punishment had anything to do with you. It didn't, it hurts to remember it, but I know I have to tell you in case I somehow forget again. That whipping brought back memories, painful ones." She looks at me with shock and confusion, which I could understand, I had practically told her my life story and never mentioned having been whipped before.

"Memories? Painful ones? What do you mean? You were whipped before!" I nod slowly as she looks at me with utter shock, as if not quite believing I could be telling the truth, or maybe she didn't want to believe that I had been whipped before.

"They are from the blank year, I remember things I didn't before. I know that we were kept by a male, against our will, he threatened my sister's life if I didn't obey him, though I am not sure what I was doing for him in the first place. He had subjects, so he is someone important, I don't think he was human, the vague impressions I got were far too cruel and creative for a human, besides when I think about him, even though I don't know his name, I remember sharp teeth and red eyes." She looks at me with a gaped mouth, seeming to finally understand my confusion and fear about the blank year.

"My Goddess, that sounds horrible Amara. I am glad you escaped and while this information is better than no information it doesn't help us much. Lots of creatures can have red eyes in certain situations and even more can have sharp teeth." I almost felt sad that I couldn't remember anything else, but I was so happy that I remembered anything at all.

"It doesn't matter whether it is meaningless information, its something that I didn't have before, it narrows down my search for answers from billions of people to probably only a few hundred thousand, right? I think that is an amazing feat unto itself." She looks at me with a reluctant smile, realizing my point but also realizing that while a few hundred thousand wasn't as much as a billion, it would still be impossible to narrow down the search without anymore information.