Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 2: No Time for Sulking

It seemed as if time stopped for a moment as their eyes locked.

She knew what the queen was thinking; she was accusing the immortal warrior-maiden of failure.

The cleaver came down and her head was severed next.

The female fairy did not scream.

Pollyanna watched with unexpected tears in her eyes and did not look away. She did not deserve to.

I promised myself I would never fail! I promised I would prove to myself and everyone else on this sorry earth that neither I, nor the Arrozans are to be trifled with! I cannot accept this failure!

Next, they grabbed the oldest Arrozan boy. They tore him from Eory's arms as the younger brother screamed over the din of the crowd for his brother with his arms outstretched.

Gershom looked back at his brother regretfully and forced a smile. Pollyana imagined that he must be telling his younger brother to be brave.

Within the crowd, a waif climbed up on the dais and seized the arm of the deceitful cook, Laurence, who had been cheering along with the crowd at the king and queen's death.

The waif pointed at the older Arrozan boy and then threw herself on her knees before Laurence. Laurence shook his head, however, and then brought the waif into his comforting arms and didn't allow her to look at Gershom's grisly fate.

The oldest Arrozan boy closed his eyes as he was pushed onto the apparatus. Tears that were accepting of his fate cascaded down his cheeks.

The rope was pulled again and the cleaver easily severed the fairy's head.

Lastly, the executioner turned to the last Arrozan boy who was on his knees and weeping.

The waif—who Pollyanna recognized as Kori, one of the only waifs in all of Maribel—broke free from the king's embrace and threw her arms around the younger boy. She glared at Laurence with her face dripping with hateful venom. The executioner pushed her roughly off the boy and dragged the screaming child by the wrist toward the guillotine.

With a determined look on her face, the waif pushed herself to her feet and had a heated conversation with Laurence.

It took only a moment for Laurence to hold up a hand to the executioner who reluctantly released the boy. Kori called to the boy and he ran into her arms and wept bitterly.

Pollyanna was dragged away after that and saw no more of what happened. She was thrown in the back of a caravan with four guards still holding all four of her chains so that she could not move.

She was sure that, even if the youngest Arrozan child was spared for now, they would kill him very soon, and that would be the end of her.

As long as my family line survives, you will too. But if they are all extinguished, you will be, too. Fjorn's voice teased her in her mind.

And so, Pollyanna was forcibly fed more sedatives and the soldiers dragged her to a securely built tower in the Dwarven kingdom of Laok, where, night and day, she was kept chained on the freezing rooftop between two pillars so that she could not move.

She had given up and waited to die.

Her failure haunted her.

If I am not the best at fighting—if I am not the best soldier—then what am I?

The cold bit at her day and night; her wrists were rubbed raw from the manacles digging into them. Her skin peeled, and if she had looked unsightly before, she did so even more now. The dwarven guards would come by and taunt her from time-to-time.

She was put through such unforgettable pain on that tower as the dwarves tore at her body in an attempt to find a way to kill her for good.

As long as Eory lived, there was nothing that could, however.

Time passed, and Pollyanna had little else to do but count the days that passed with it. And count them she did.

A week passed, and then another, and she was still alive. And then a month passed, and still, she lived.

And suddenly, Pollyanna felt a burst of confidence and realized that there was no reason to sulk.

The boy must be alive! Pollyanna thought to herself. They must be sparing him for good!

She smirked.

She stepped forward as far as she could and pulled all the chains taut; she could hear the stone that her chains were attached to beginning to crumble and give way.

She stopped for a moment and panted. Finally, with one last grunt of exertion, she yanked her arms and legs forward and her chains were pulled from the pillars.

Gods! Why should I sulk? He's not dead yet. I may as well give it my all!

By the time she was done with that tower, not a soul was left alive.

Pollyanna grinned at the memory as the adult Eory slept on her shoulder. Together, they waited for the caravan that would drive them the rest of the way to the Crater of Resentment to begin moving.

I've killed so many people to ensure your safety. I am willing to kill hundreds more I never want to think of your mother's disapproving eyes on my face again. I will not fail ever again. She thought to herself as she looked upon his sweet face.