Hellfire On The Other Side

Chapter 15

(A/N This next scene is a little bit more gruesome than the rest, if you cannot handle blood and a bit of torture, than please skip this last scene. It will be explained without to much detail of the torture later when Clara tells Shane.)

Clara felt her wrists shackled to wooden planks spread out, the same with her ankles. Her head was hanging down low, her back facing up. It took her a second to realize what was going on and then it clicked. Her eyes shot open and she tried to move, but the only thing she could do was move her head up and clench her hands into fists. She was shackled to a Saint Andrews Cross. She struggled but it was no use. She was in a stone room, lit by only a few torches on the wall. Behind her, she could hear burning coals, a forge was behind her somewhere. She heard footsteps until she saw her father come into eyesight. He walked close to her face, and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Foolish girl!" He said throwing her head down again. "I give you specific and clear rules, and you go and deliberately disobey them! Not only did you run away from your home, blindside me when you were supposed to pledge yourself to the church, you have been sneaking out to see this jester boy, a son of one my enemies at that! And now, you are breaking the rule I gave you on marriage. This isn't even mentioning the fact you seem to have seem to become a gypsy yourself! My daughter, a gypsy! And if you have been reunited with your mother, I assume you still have contact with the Facilier boy!" Frollo said angrily turning his back to Clara. "Yeah, well at least I'm not the one breaking the rules of not using voodoo! You brought Dr. Facilier back!" Clara growled. "Watch your tongue, Clara! I did what I had to do to get you back, and that was the way to go," Frollo snapped. Clara's eyes narrowed as she muttered, "Your the one who lied for eighteen years..." "Speak up girl!" Frollo commanded of her. "YOU'VE BEEN LYING TO ME FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS!" Clara screamed. Frollo looked to her, anger and coldness spilling out of his eyes. "Yeah, I know! I know how you had mom sacrificed! She didn't do it herself! I know she is a gypsy, part of the Court Of Miracles! How you forced her to marry you! To choose you!" Clara spat. "Well, it seems as if your mother has decided to think for herself again and stay away from us. She left you when she could easily have freed you. She is a better sword fighter than she says. If it wasn't for getting pregnant with you, no doubt she would have been able to fight out of my grasps. She trained with the Facilier boy's mother. No doubt she was one of the best sword fighters in Paris." Frollo said coldly. Clara knew villains lied but it was obvious, this one time, he wasn't. Claude Frollo was speaking the truth. Everything in his body language said it, which meant... Roma lied when she said she was just okay to Shane. She let Clara be taken, it was confirmed. Roma chose the Court over her own daughter. Roma betrayed her. "How did you find out all of this Clara?" Frollo asked. "Maybe, when dealing with people who know voodoo, you should keep an eye out to make sure it's not their son in disguise with a phone out," Clara responded. She never had been this angry and she didn't even know who she was more angry at. Her father for lying, her mother for betraying her, or herself for letting herself be manipulated and lied to. Frollo slapped her but this time she didn't yelp, she was prepared for it. "You really are foolish Clara! If you want to be a villain, then you need to learn! You are a Frollo! Stop acting like a hero!" Clara stayed silent and bit her lip, thinking to herself, "Maybe it's time to be my own person like Claytin and Shane always said..." "What if... what if I am not a villain?!" Clara challenged. Frollo froze, his back to her again. "You are a Frollo, like me. You are born to be a villain," he said simply not facing her. "I am also born of gypsy blood!" Clara yelled. Frollo didn't say anything at first but after a moment of silence, his cold voice said something that sent a shiver down Clara's spine. "Well, then, if you want to act like a gypsy, you will be punished as one." Frollo snapped his fingers. In a few split seconds, Clara realized she was no longer wearing her black cloak and blue performance dress but a white dress that exposed her back. Then, she felt a sting on her back, a bad, horrible, painful sting. She bit her tongue to hold back a scream. She wasn't giving her father the satisfaction. Then she was hit again. A guard was flogging her. She gasped in pain and she felt some blood sliding down her back. Then another hit, and another and another. Each time, the pain got worse. Tears fell and she felt more blood staining her skin. Frollo had turned and was watching, an evil look on his face as he watched his daughter flogged and in pain. A slight annoyed and disappointed look was on his face. He wanted her screaming in pain, he wanted to break her. Clara bit her tongue as each hit came. her skin was not screaming in agony even when she wasn't getting the sting of pain as more cuts, and blood came from her back. Suddenly, after an extra hard hit that almost got her to scream out in pain, Frollo put his hand up and the guard who was flogging her stopped. Clara felt relief but hid it before Frollo could see it and change his mind. He walked up to her and grabbed her face, covered in tears. She spit in his face angrily. He slapped her. "This could have been avoided," he whispered. He walked behind her. She thought he was leaving but then she heard something medal near where the forge would be. After a few moments, she heard him right behind her, a smell of fire close. "Move her hair," Frollo ordered the guard. The guard grabbed her long dark brown hair and moved it to the side She started trying to struggle again but she couldn't move. Then, the worst pain she even felt hit the middle of the back of her neck. A burning fire hit her neck and dug into her flesh. She screamed, loudly. Her scream was a cry of pain, a screech. A screech of pain that all of Paris could hear.