Aleera.
She didn't know how long exactly she'd been there, but it had taken a good toll on her. Her name was Aleera and she trapped in basically Hell on Earth. It was supposedly a holy place, but nothing was holy about what they were doing. Crazy, devil monks had put her in a cell with another women in it. The other women had dark hair, seemed strong, and really pretty if you looked through the dirt, bruises, and dried blood. They never quite had the chance to talk to much, since it just caused the monks to hurt them more.
The wife of the owner here, would sometimes bring in small bits of food for them. It wasn't much and didn't quench their hunger, but it helped give them enough strength to have some life. After being there for who knew how long, they brought some more people in. What seem to be a family with a mother, father, teen daughter, and little boy, no more than eight and that could be pushing it. Then next to them was someone else, not their family, but a captive. At first Aleera didn't get a look at her, but nearly had a heart attack when she did. It was her best friend, Annelise. A small tear fell down her face, but she quickly wiped it so the monks couldn't see.
If they saw that you cared for someone here, they would beat that person extra hard in front of you. That was the main reason her and the other women, who's name was Guinevere, didn't talk anymore, they cared too much for each other. Now a family and her best friend was in that place. All she could think was, Spirit above help us. Annelise saw her and was about to say something, but Aleera shook her head lightly. They couldn't speak, if the monks knew their closeness who knew the pain it would bring. Aleer wanted to spare her friend as much as she could.
A few days later, the monks seemed to forget about Aleera and the women. They didn't even really do anything to Annelise, yet, save starving and some bruises. They were focusing on the family. Within a the course of what seemed a few days they'd managed to hurt the boy, torture to near death the sister, and killed the parents. Today they had taken the boy out and after a course of some hours they had broken his arm. His scream echoed off the walls and broke all of the captives' hearts.
"No!!" His sister screamed through her cell. Tears were going down her face at watching her baby brother suffer.
"Shut up!" One of the monks said, kicking her cell door.
"Please! Hurt me instead, just leave him be. Kill me if you wish, but leave my baby brother be!" she was pleading with them. They seemed to be considering, then accepted it. Putting the boy back in his cell, they took her out.
"No!" the boy yelled. The monk holding him, slapped him to make him quiet and shut his cell.
"Quiet brat. Be thankful to your sister." Within half an hour they had, as she suggested, killed her. She was already weak and near death, they just finished the task. With the girls last breath, she told her brother she loved him.
"Bastards!" Aleera heard Annelise yell out. One kicked her cell door to warn her to be quiet. "You sons of bitches!" she yelled again.
"Shut up girl and save your strength! You'll need it. Tomorrow we'll have to teach you some manners." With that the two monks left to switch out with another two. That would give them at least ten or so minutes.
They could hear the small boy's crying at his sisters' death. The women's hearts broke again.
"Lucan, it'll be alright. Things may seem horrible and all, but they'll get better. I swear." Aleera said. All of them had learned his name.
"Listen to her, Lucan. None of us would lie to you. Things will get better. We can't replace your family, but we'll protect you with our lives." Guinevere said, hoarsely, but loud enough to be heard.
"Lucan? Don't let them know that they've hurt you. That'll just make them enjoy it. Make them think they haven't broken you. Like the other one said, we'll protect you if they try anything else with you. Don't let your family's death upset you too much. It's alright to grieve, but know that they're in a much better place." Annelise said. Lucan's cries weren't as loud as they had been, but you could still hear them.
Guinevere started to hum a song slowly Aleera and Annelise each joined in, though neither knew it. They continued humming till the door above them opened for the new monks to come. During their humming, Lucan had become quiet and eventually fell asleep. After sometime each woman in turn went to sleep as well, though uneasy, it was a small bit of rest.
Aleera woke with a jolt and had a strange feeling. It wasn't the usual sick or hate feeling, it was one of almost hope and relief. She couldn't understand why she had it, but it got stronger. There was only one monk there, somewhat strange but she didn't care. The less of them there, the better it was. He was chanting something, but from her time there she'd learned to zone it out. Suddenly, she heard a sound, like walls crumbling and then the sound of braking wood.
From her spot, she saw Guinevere open a small slit in her eye and glance out. Aleera, who was in the back spot, tried to peer out and couldn't move her neck much, it was stiff. Voices reached her ears, but she was close to falling asleep again, so they made no sense to her. There was yelling, then some metal against metal and the cell doors were being open. She vaguely saw a big man call out, then lift Lucan out and start to caring him out of there.
One man said something to the larger one with Lucan, he answered back with something, than the man and boy left. Then her and Guinevere's cell was opened and two men looked in. At first they only saw Guinevere so Aleera tried to make a sound, but nothing came out. Guinevere was able to lift her hand and give a tired point to her friend, before becoming to weak. One man who seemed the leader took Guinevere, while the other one moved in and took her. Aleera could sense that none of the people there would hurt any of them so she didn't fight back, also being that she didn't have the strength.
As they were walking up the stairs out of the Hell hole, panic struck her. Annelise! She hadn't seen anyone get her friend out of there. Some kind of strength came to her long enough to make a sound. The man looked down at her with concerned eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked, holding still a moment. Her mouth moved a bit, but she couldn't quite be loud enough for him to hear her. He lifted her up slightly and bent his head down to listen. She mustered up everything she had to speak.
"Annelise..still there..don't leave..her." she spoke softly, but tried to make it loud. He could hear her well enough, with having moved her closer and now looked at her with worried eyes.
"There's someone else down there?" he asked. She merely nodded, not being able to talk anymore without feeling as if her throat would bleed.
"She's still alive?" he made sure, not wanted to bring out a dead body. She nodded again, more fiercely. "Alright. I'll have someone get her."
He continued to walk her out and she shoved her head into his chest when the sun reached them. It hurt at first making her feel as if she were burning, but then gradually felt better and hurt less.
The man laid her down on the grass, put his cloak around her and told her he'd be right back. She watched him to and talked to the man with Guinevere, whom in turn said something to someone on a horse. The man on the horse, who looked familiar, got off and walked down the stairs. Aleera knew he went to Annelise. Soon the man who got her, came back with a small flask.
He held her up, leaning her on his chest and started to give her some water. She spit it out at first, causing her to cough, but then started to drink it down. It felt good, though also seemed to burn from not having contact with her for so long. Once she was finished she started to feel drowsy. The last thing she saw was the man coming from the dungeon helping hold up her friend, and then her friend rush to her.
Annelise reached her friend, right after Aleera went asleep or fainted. She herself was feeling slightly weak, but wouldn't let it show. The man holding her friend up started to pick her up. She went to her friends' side and gave him a look.
"I wont hurt her. I'm taking her to our healer, where she can rest." The man spoke and started to walk her to a caravan (that the right word for it? I almost put wagon.)
She walked, nearly in a trance after her friend. She saw Guinevere there was well, Aleera was placed next to her, and Lucan was up front. A big man, whom she'd seen earlier was with him. Once her friend was put in side, she moved to lay next to her, putting her between Guinevere and Aleera. Slowing she fell into the same sleep as the other freed captives in the caravan.