Vylek's face twists into a sneer as his crimson red eyes grind me down. He lifts his slender fingers into the air and flicks his wrist in a quick twist.
My levitating body shoots through the air, gusting me with musty wind, and my back crunches into the wall of the rocky cave. Pain trembles through my spine and a stinging headache narrows my eyes. My head wobbles in place as I stare across the cave at Vylek and Hyrda, woozy and throbbing with pain.
Hyrda steps toward me, her long legs traversing the gap between us, until she's close enough for me to smell the musty soot scent emanating from her body. A smirk shrivels her tight lips as her angled eyes stare me down.
"She's so weak." Her voice slinks through the cave like the hiss of a snake. "I can't wait to see you break all her fragile little bones."
"You'd die trying." I curl my lip, giving her the best glare I can manage through the pain.
"I can't believe this dumb thing is actually trying to speak." She snickers, crossing her arms and cocking a sharp brow. "You really think you could lay a finger on any of us, with the state you're in? Maybe you're even dumber than you look. Anyway, Vy, it's your fun. I'm just here to watch."
"Sure you don't want to do it for me? I don't want to touch Mexx's..." Vylek slinks up behind Hyrda. "...pet, or whatever it is."
"Well, I want to touch it even less." Hyrda huffs, rolling her eyes. "You brought it here. Do it."
Vylek's eyes narrow and his brow tenses as he glowers down at me. He kneels in front of me, raises his fingertip, and places it in the center of my forehead. A light buzz travels from the spot he's touching to my temples and down the back of my neck.
"Tell me where the chrysallite is." His fiery gaze feels like it's pressing into my soul. I draw in a deep breath of air, trying to ignore the pressure accumulating in my head. I grit my teeth and glare back, pinching my mouth shut, and his upper lip twitches.
"You want to be a brat? Fine." He pushes his fingertip hard into my skin and a searing pain - like a swirl of lightning and fire - burns through my head, blanketing my vision. My body shakes like a rag doll but I can't move, can't stop the pain or the seizing.
If I had any idea where the thing actually was, I would have screamed it out. If I even had any hint I knew of as to where it was, I would have given it to Vylek. After an unbearably long stretch of the most intense pain I've ever felt, Vylek lowers his hand and shrieks.
"That dumb animal resisted you?" Hyrda's smirk grows even wider, exposing thin, sharp teeth. "I knew you'd grown weak, but that is pathetic. Perhaps I should have helped. Do you have no magick left in you?"
A muscle in Vylek's jaw twitches and the corners of his mouth tense in a tight frown.
Hyrda steps forward, opening her mouth to say more.
"Of course she didn't resist me!" Vylek screams, turning his hand toward Hyrda and slamming his palm into her temple. Her body erupts with green light and shudders. Her eyeballs roll up in her head and she screams. He jerks his hand away and she falls to the ground. "Not. Another. Word. I know she knows. She must know. I will get the information out of her."
"How dare you, Vylek!" Hyrda wheels back up from the ground and lurches toward him. Her legs tremble and she staggers backward. Her face twists in a scowl, realizing her weakness.
"Perhaps you're the weak one, little half-sister." Vylek leans in close and bares his teeth - sharper than Hyrda's - at her. "Why don't you just run along and leave me to my own business, now?"
Hyrda hisses and storms out of the cave. I look up at Vylek, ready to be tortured again, but he lowers his hands to his sides. I glance up and down at him. He looks tired.
Perhaps the magick drained him. Could these Draconians be in search of Master Synn's object because they're running out of power?
He sluggishly lifts and yanks me into a small alcove within the cave that has a metal barred door attached. It resembles a small cage. He tosses me inside.
He didn't use magick to move me. He really must be exhausted.
Did he use the last of his power killing Master Synn?
His fingers fumble with the lock, pressing it together lazily. His face is older than his brother's up close, weathered with tiny wrinkles and hints of dark circles. I hadn't noticed Master Synn's teeth being as pointed as his siblings, either.
Vylek turns and heads back through the cave, vanishing into the darkness. Once his footsteps cease their echoes, my mind wanders.
I miss Master Synn.
The thought enters my head before I can stop it, constricting my chest and twisting my stomach. Seeing him tossed against the wall, motionless, is an image that will remain with me forever. I hadn't fully realized how much I'd grown to care for him during our brief time together, but now that he's gone, I feel it deeply.
But...did he feel the same way? Was I just a servant to him or was I...something more? If he was alive right now, would he be coming after me? Would he save me, or would I just be a disposable slave who served her purpose?
I close my eyes.
I need to stop thinking about it. It doesn't matter now.
What's important is that these Draconians have captured me because they think I know something. If I can figure it out, maybe I can give them the information and they'll let me go.
Would they let me go? Or would they just kill me?
What if...I got to it first?
If these withering Draconians need this "chrysallite" so badly then surely it could give me some sort of power, couldn't it?
I wrack my brain, trying desperately to identify some clue Master Synn may have given me about his whereabouts.
When Vylek searched my brain, he couldn't find anything because I didn't KNOW, right? I hadn't thought to myself, "This is where it is."
But maybe I do have some idea if I think hard enough about it.
I recall all of my memories with Master Synn and my mind stumbles back to the last meal we had before I was taken away. His words dance through my head.
At the bottom of the mountain I lived on, there was a large gnarled tree that led into a cavern full of crystals. It was a very private and beautiful place. I went there often to relax.
Crystal? Chrysallite? Cave at the bottom of a mountain?
It looks like I'm in a cave at the middle or top of a mountain right now. Could it be around here? IS the chrysallite some sort of crystal?
I shift inside the cage, feeling uncomfortable from sitting in the same spot for too long, and my leg presses against the latched door.
The latch wobbles, clicks undone, and the door creaks open. My eyes widen and I gently press on the cage door again. It opens wider.
Vylek didn't fully secure the lock.