Chapter 2

She could only form one coherent thought: Who would imprison a child in such dire surroundings? How dehumanized a mind would it need to do something so monstrously wrong? Another slightly muffled cry spurred her into action.

In a heartbeat she was at the door, desperately trying to perceive anything in the darkness of the tunnel, desperately trying to find out where the voice originated from. In the flickering light she could barely make out another cell door diagonally opposite her own. Other than that there were no more cells as far as she could see.

In a low voice, deliberately tuned down in order to keep the trembling out of it, she called in the direction of the crying: „Hello! I'm here! Who are you? Are you hurt?' … She forced herself to stop and listen - and heard a sharp intake of breath as the crying stopped and after a few seconds which seemed to last hours she heard the voice anew, this time full of hesitation: „Y...Yes... I am" - She was temporarily confused by this reply: „Uhm … yes – what?" - „Yes – I am … I am hurt." It sounded like a mere whisper. But it was definitely a child although not a very young one - and a girl by the sound of it - she decided while answering in a steady voice meant to sound reassuring: „My name is Sarah. I'm a prisoner like you." … Since she received no answer from out of the darkness she went on: „Where are you hurt? Can you move? Can you come to the door?" … „I think … yes" answered the voice.

Then she heard the rustling of clothes and something shuffling over the ground – and suddenly the voice was much closer, saying: „You are the first … in all the time." The voice sounded cautious and kind of raw, like it had not been used for quite a while. Sarah strained her eyes as much as she could – and in the dim light could just make out a ghostly white face directly behind the iron bars of the cell door. It was a girl alright – but hardly a child and more of an adolescent, she now recognized. And beautiful – even in the unflattering cavern light and greased with the dirt of this godforsaken place the girl looked unearthly beautiful – the kind of beauty you would rather find in storybooks than in reality: a narrow face with delicate features, framed by a mass of raven-black hair, elegantly curved lips and expressive eyes. Growing accustomed to the dim light, she was even able to distinguish the color of the girl's eyes: green as emeralds (or at least what Sarah supposed emeralds must look like since she had never seen one in reality). Those eyes were trained upon her now – with question, disbelief and... yes, there was a trace of hope that just flickered for a moment before the guardedness was back.

Sarah recognized the girl was waiting for her to say something, keeping her scrawny body upright by holding onto the bars but swaying visibly, obviously being in pain. She softened her voice even more as to not scare the girl as she asked her: „Where are you hurting? How where you injured?" - The girl looked down and suddenly clutched her stomach and gave a sharp gasp. „My belly … it feels like I've been stabbed with a knife. It's bleeding and I don't know how to stop it!" The look of the girl's eyes grew unsteady and she got more panicky by the second whilst giving Sarah this description. Sarah knew instinctively that she had to stay absolutely calm or otherwise the girl would succumb to a full-blown panic attack without any way for her to reach out and help her. „Please, try to calm down! And tell me: Who did this to you – one the guards? Did they stab you or hit you while bringing you in?" she demanded with a calmness she absolutely did not feel.

„N-No … I … no one was here for days." The girl seemed puzzled, still clutching her abdomen tightly – and Sarah strained to get a look on the wound but couldn't see anything in the darkness. So she had been here for days, with a wound that probably had become infested. Sarah began to have a very bad feeling about this.

Looking at the swaying girl she remembered her first remark:„You said I was the first in the whole time ... What whole time? - For how long have you been here?" - The girl seemed slightly taken aback by this. She averted her eyes and said after quite some time: „I... I don't know." - Now it was Sarah's turn to be puzzled because – honestly – how could one not keep track of the days spent in a place like this? … Or maybe, she pondered, the poor creature had spend more than some days here – maybe weeks, months even. Her clothes and her demeanour certainly looked the part.

So she asked: „What season was it when you were imprisoned?" - „Uhm … I believe it was autumn back then … yes, autumn … William had picked an apple … and tricked me with it", the girl mumbled. - „Alright, so now it's spring time which means you have been here for … oh, Christ! … for half a year!" Sarah exclaimed slightly appalled. Half a year on her own! Just how evil could this Queen be!

„No, you don't understand", the girl said very softly and the sadness in her voice chilled Sarah to the bone. „I have been here for several years, I just don't know how many", she wispered and when she looked up her eyes seemed almost apologetic.

Several years! - No, no, no! This was wrong on so many levels! - „What!" Sarah couldn't help the agonized scream escaping her lips. „This cannot be! What did you even do to deserve this kind of punishment?" - At her outbreak the girl flinched visibly and Sarah struggled to reign herself in and get back to the most important question.

„Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you... So … how did you receive this wound? And how deep is the cut?" she asked in order to determine the severeness of the situation. The answer quite baffled her. „There … uhm … there is no wound. It's bleeding from inside. I... I don't know how … It started when I woke up today. I – OW!" The girl bend down like she had been hit by a cramp. When she looked up again she was beyond terrified, she clearly expected to bleed to death every moment and her eyes pleaded with Sarah. And suddenly it klicked into place: Sarah remembered exactly when it had been her – terrified and pleading for an explanation for the painful cramps and the bleeding. Only back then her mother had been there, taking her into her arms and carefully explaining all about the strange new things that happened because her body changed into that of a woman.

But to go through this major transition all alone – without any guide to hold on to... she couldn't even fathom how scared the girl across from her must feel. Hell – from the sound of it she had not had anyone to guide her through anything in years. So, Sarah decided in that moment, it might have been an awfully weird stroke of fate that had brought them together in this godforsaken place that reeked of death and carried the air of forlorn souls. But at least she could help one poor soul by providing her with something she desperately needed: a guide in the darkness.