Her Saving Curse
Chapter 1 - Taken
The first sensation Kelsey was aware of was that of a throbbing headache. The next was prickles of pain shooting through the back of her head, like someone was relentlessly attacking her brain with an ice pick. Slowly, she sat up, letting out a weak sound of protest as sharp jolts were sent through her aching body by the movement.
Dazed brown eyes opened, then shut immediately as light from the barred window opposite her flooded in. Any other time Kelsey wouldn't really have minded having a window in her prison cell, but - wait. Cell?
She ignored the pain and scrambled up onto her knees, squinting around the cell as her head turned wildly from side to side. Confusion was etched onto her dirty, bruised face. Cold, gray stone walls surrounded her on three sides, the fourth occupied by floor-to-ceiling metal bars.
"Ren?" Her voice came out hoarse, like a frog. She started to call out again, but nothing came out but a dry, raspy sound. Her throat felt like a wildfire was raging inside of it. That was when it hit her, like a brick to the already-scratched face.
Lokesh. The ship... Her capture.
Her knees buckled, and Kelsey sank down the wall to land in a heap on the floor. She stared blankly at the bars of her window, no emotion showing except for disbelief. Surely it was a dream - a bad one - he hadn't actually gotten his hands on her? And so she sat, unmoving, until a metallic clang brought her back to her senses.
A guard was placing a tray of food on the floor, eyes trained on the prisoner; looking almost fearful; it was quite clear he wanted away from her as fast as possible. Kelsey simply stared at him in bemusement, wondering what exactly Lokesh had said about her to make a man well over twice her size fear her so. Several more minutes had passed before she bothered to rouse herself and move towards the tray.
Her steps were as unsteady as a drunk's, but eventually she made her way over, despite how the world - well, her cell, to be accurate- was spinning 360's around her. The 'food' on the tray, as it turned out, was a hunk of stale bread, cold soup, and a jug of lukewarm water. Kelsey heaved a sigh, but pushed the tray across the floor to the window with a resigned air. After all, if there was anyway possible to escape, it wasn't going to be by collapsing of hunger because she turned her nose up. Beggars - or prisoners, for that matter - couldn't be choosers.
As she sat cross-legged before the tray, the young woman had to bite back a gasp as her reflection appeared below her. She felt awful, but she hadn't expected to look so dreadful. The murky brown liquid was no doubt distorting her appearance, but it couldn't have been responsible for all of it.
Her brown locks were matted with wild rat's nests, and there was even dried blood in it on one side. One eye was dark with bruising; her face was smeared with dirt, and marred by various small cuts and bruises. Her lips were cracked, chapped, and tasted of blood when she licked them. Judging by her aches, the rest of her body wasn't faring much better.
Resignedly ignoring the gruesome image before her, Kelsey picked up the spoon with her right hand and stirred the concoction she was calling dinner. It obviously had vegetables of some kind in it, but they were slimy and indiscernible except for one soggy carrot chunk. Occupied with the task of trying not to think about what she was eating, her thoughts turned elsewhere.
She remembered Kadam and Nilima vanishing; the thought that they might be somewhere safe lifted her spirits somewhat. She thought of dropping Fanindra off the side of the boat with a triumphant sort of air - she'd figuratively gotten to spit in Lokesh's face with that one, at least. He hadn't gotten the snake, and he hadn't gotten the princes - at least, she hoped not. She knew without a doubt that her tigers would stop at no ends to get her back, and that was both comforting and worrying at the same time.
Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt with the next spoonful of soup. A piece of meat of a questionable identity was floating in the muddy brown water. Cow tongue? Lamb meat? Last week's road kill? There was no way of knowing, but the sight of it was so repulsive it took all Kelsey had not to cough up what she'd already managed to swallow. She polished off the bread out of sheer willpower; any appetite she'd had had gone done the drain by that point, and the rest of the soup was poured out the window.
She rinsed the bowl out with a bit of the water after drinking her fill, then filled it once more. Kneeling, she splashed the face that, sadly, was as battered as it had seemed beforehand. With none-too-few winces and quiet yelps, she scrubbed at her face and arms until she was certain her fingernails had scraped off an entire layer of skin. Then the real work began - her hair. By the time she could comb her fingers through with relative ease, her arms were burning with exhaustion, and the water remaining in the bowl was a squirm-worthy russet-brown color from blood and dirt. That too was thrown out the window, and the tray, minus the remaining water, was placed by the door.
Keeping busy had kept her mind off of things, but now she was at a loss as to what to do. In the end she settled for getting the wet, stringy hair out of her face. It was braided in a few short minutes, tied off with a piece of cloth ripped from the hem of her battered jeans.
Now that the world was no longer spinning, Kelsey leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes, listening to the silence all around her. Being around Ren and Kishan constantly, she was used to noise - squabbling over food, squabbling over her, picking at each other - it was never really a quiet affair unless something was wrong. The inky blackness of night was settling over the landscape outside her window, and it wasn't long until she succumbed to her fatigue and entered dreamland.
So, I love the Tiger Saga & the mythology (even though sometimes Kelsey irritates me, haha), and I've had this idea for ages. I'm not joking - aaaages. I've finally gotten around to the first chapter (obviously, as you've just read it. ;)) Reviews are always loved - tell me what you think! Flames welcomed - they'll be used to toast my marshmallows! :) Chapter two, coming right up!