Rain in the Meadow

Chapter Sixteen: The Seen and Unseen

Chapter Sixteen: The Seen and Unseen

"You have her, then?" I listened as the voices conversed upstairs.

"Yes...She's here." That was the man that had told me about the school.

"Good. Have you touched her?" The first voice again, definitely male.

"No, not as much as I'd have liked to."

A laugh. "Of course not. Anyway, I have to go, but continue on with the plan."

"But...you just got here."

"Yes. And now I am leaving." I heard the door slam closed then, and I readied myself to struggle against that man again, but then I heard another voice.

"So, can we go see her, then?" I had gone back to tugging on the ropes, but when I heard that voice, I froze, not even daring to breathe.

"We ought to go over our plan first. The elf can wait; I mean she's stuck here for the rest of her life." I bit my lip, not daring to believe what I heard. It couldn't be them. Please, don't let it be them. I didn't even care that they were saying that I'd be here the rest of my life.

"Fine. So what're we doing?"

"Well, I think he said-" That was my human captor.

"Shhh. She can hear us, you idiot. Let's take this elsewhere." The moved farther into the house until I couldn't make out their voices anymore.

Panic was rising like a tide inside of me. Could it really be those two men? The ones planning to take over Acrosia? Could they really be here, with complete knowledge of where I was and planning to do bad things to me all over again? My eyes watered, but I wouldn't let myself cry. I needed to find a way out of the restraints before they came back for me.

I looked up at my purple hands. I took a deep breath and then pulled myself up as though doing a pull-up. I could only barely feel the rope cutting past my flesh, but I ignored it. I caught the knot between my teeth and tugged as hard as I could. It loosened, and I figured that was a good sign. Even if my arms were beginning to shake. I tugged a bit harder and I felt myself slip a little. I tugged once more and it came undone.

I fell back to the floor, but quickly used my freed arm to untie the other side of the rope. Finally free, I realized that I had no form of a plan. I grabbed the coat rack as I planned to swing it as whoever came down the stairs first. Several moments later, I could hear them coming. I could hear my human captor saying, "Well, I think it'll go much better with three of us. She's very feisty, you know." I heard laughter from the two who must have been following him.

I gripped the coat rack a little tighter as the hatch opened and the human descended. When he was finally within range, I swung the coat rack at his head. I swung it so hard that the end fell off, leaving the part in my hands sharp like a spear.

I grinned and waited for the first of the other men to descend. When the first one did, I waited silently before spearing him with the coat rack. Both of them had gone down unbelievably quietly, but I thought nothing of it. Instead, I waited for Slade to descend the stairs. He was the one that I really wanted to kill, after all. He was the one who deserved the slow and painful death. He was the one who had carved his name across my shoulders, forever claiming that I was his.

He descended the stairs slowly, as though he knew what was coming. When I thrust the broken coat rack at him, he caught it casually, pulling it out of my grasp. Somehow, he had known.

He aimed the broken tip at me and I froze, panting and scared for my life. He looked me over silently for a moment. "Get on your hands and knees, Rayne." The point of the coat rack aimed at my throat would have held no sway in making me do as he wanted. Instead, it was the cruel hands I felt yanking me down. I wasn't going of my own volition; I was being forced, controlled. I fought against it as much as I could, but in the end, I ended up right where he wanted.

He broke the coat rack so that it was shorter before stepping around me so that he stood behind me. I tried to move, to run, but I was held there by an invisible force. This is what the Amulet does, I thought. Meadow had said that if used, the Amulet of Forests could give any individual the power to control forests, and to control those who dwell within it. Well, what he meant was that it could give Slade the ability to control elves and the forests we lived in, even if we weren't at home.

I couldn't hold back my laughter then. He gripped my chin and brought it up to face him. "What's so funny?" He was glaring at me, but it only made me laugh harder.

"You are." I finished laughing before continuing. "You think you've won. But evil never wins. And you think that I'll scream for you, don't you? Well, I'm not. I've made that mistake before. I know what happens next." I chuckled, but he stepped on my fingers until I heard three of them snap under the pressure. I groaned, but my amusement wasn't gone. "You might be able to control me and the rest of my people, but you still can't win. Eventually the forests will die because of their mistreatment. And my people will die along with them. Then you will have no one to rule over."

He leaned toward me, spitting in my face. "You don't know what I want. Maybe I want your people to die. Did you ever think of that?"

I bit my tongue, suddenly not as amused. I hadn't thought of that. If he wanted my people to die then he would surely get it. I could hear him unzip his pants, but I closed my eyes, too afraid to go through this again. Instead, he leaned forward, his cock pressing against the opening between my legs as he hissed into my face, "Or maybe I just wanted to rape and kill the princess in front of all her people."

With that, the room blurred and tilted and I could feel the human realm melting off me. Then it stopped, and I knew it was too early. It should have gone on for much longer. I opened my eyes to find Slade glaring at a shadowy figure clutching his arm. "That wasn't the deal, Slade. She's been humiliated enough."

Whoever this person was, I wasn't sure if I loved him or hated him in that moment. Slade stared at the figure, but the figure stared right back. "What's the point of having her here if I don't get to have any fun?" Slade asked, his tone neutral.

"We're not doing this for fun, Slade. I expect better from you in the future." With that, the figure simply disappeared. Slade shouted in frustration, and I would have loved to scurry off into a forgotten corner of the room, but I was still rooted to the spot.

He grabbed my neck and hauled me up from the floor. I clawed at his hand, my legs swinging desperately. "Someday I will make you know the depths of my hate for you." He spat into my face.

I swung my leg into his groin area, impressed when it actually made contact and he released me. He crouched over and I turned to run, but I didn't get far before he shouted, "Stop, Rayne!" I stopped without hesitation, thoroughly upset with myself as he forced me to turn toward him and sink to my knees before him. He straightened and smirked at me.

"Make it up to me, Rayne." Before I could even struggle against the unseen force, I had his cock in my mouth and his balls in my hand.