Ch. 2

Talaassa woke to an unbearable dry mouth and being cold to her very core. She tried to move but found her muscles were stiff and the sound metal against metal brought her to a realization. She raised her head up from his awkward position, her cat eyes easily getting used to the dim lights. She found herself in a dungeon. She was in a cage, chained to the cold stone wall and half naked. She shivered as she looked around her through the cages bars, finding the place she was in was more like a torture chamber then a dungeon for prisoners. There was a strange wood table with straps and a crank below. She turned her head and saw a few other cages that were pretty empty except for an Argonian. She couldn't tell if they were alive or not. She pushed with her sore legs to relieve the pull on her already raw wrists. She winced at the effort as she felt her joins pop loudly. She looked down at herself in a grimace. Her skin and fur was filthy, covered in grim. She had a few scratches and bruises on her from her tumble down the waterfall. Talaassa cleared her throat and braved to speak.

"H-hello?" She croaked out, her throat dry like sandpaper. She cleared her throat and tried to pull at the cuffs around her wrists. She needed to get out of these bonds, too afraid to see who had taken her prisoner this time.

The echo of footsteps resonated around the room as some approached the metal door that led out of the torture-dungeon. The sound of keys could be heard before the door swung open with ease. A man dressed in black robes came inside, a hood covering his eyes. He was different then the first man she had seen. He was broad shouldered and carried a sword at his waist. He stopped when he reached her cage door.

"Finally awake I see." He spoke, his voice thick with an accent she didn't know.

"W-where is she?" She asked him, trying to keep her fear from showing in her words.

The man looked confused for a moment before realization came over his face. "That's right, you Khajiit speak in Third-person." He nodded to himself before pulling down the hood on his head. "You are in our hold, a slave to suffer countless torture of all kinds." He didn't feel the need to sugar coat anything he said, knowing she would find out soon enough what will happen to her.

If she could go paler, she sure as hell did. "…why? She just wants to go home…please let this one go." Her voice was nearly a whisper as she slumped down submissively.

The man just stared at her before bursting into dark laughter. "I'm sorry but, we won't be letting you go. No, you are useful to our head mage. He wants to test a few new spells on you. And maybe if you live through them, we will put you out of your misery." He opened the cage with a brass key and stepped inside. "Now, I am here to make you healthy for your first ordeal. So be a nice kitty and drink up." He pulled out a red bottle and popped off the cork. He grabbed her chin before forcing her mouth open and pouring the liquid into her maw. When he shut her mouth and heard her swallow did he let go and step back.

For Talaassa it was like an automatic affect. Her body grew warm and the raw skin on her wrists healed over and her bruises seemed to vanish almost immediately. She couldn't help but sigh in relief and close her eyes at the feeling.

"Is that better kitten?" The man asked her. She nodded her head, not opening her eyes to look at him or at what he was doing, forgetting that she was in fact in a dungeon. The sound of shuffling robes brought her back to her senses just as she felt something lash across her abdomen. She shrieked in pain, writhing and pulling at the chains holding her in place. He had a whip in his hand with three tails with iron balls at the ends. He wore a sadistic grin upon his face as he juggled the whip in his hands. "Oh man, your screams give me chills. Such a sensation…" He licked his lips before pulling arm back and doing again, forcing her to cry out in pain.

It felt like hours of him tormenting her over and over again until her finally stopped. Talaassa's head hung low, her body quivering and limp. She was covered in dark, near black, bruises. In some places he had hit her so hard the broke the skin, coating her fur in red.

"Awwww is the kitten done already? Did I beat her into submission already?" He mocked as he stared at her beaten and bruised body.

He had broken her body, but her spirit was still on fire. She forced her face up and despite the still streaming tears, she glared at him, flattening her ears. "W-when she get's out of here… She is going to enjoy making your life a living hell!" She spat at him.

"Now that, is what I like to hear! My friends will be so happy to hear you haven't broken on your first day!" He laughed loudly before stepping out of her cage. "To you alive, I'll send someone to nurse those cuts you have." He kept the cage door open as he exited the dungeon, the door slamming behind him.

When she knew he was gone and slumped back down, letting herself a moment of solace. She kept her sobs soft, hoping they wouldn't hear her. After a few moments, she heard footsteps and the door open again. She was expecting to see the same man but was surprised when it was older mage. He was nearly hunched over as he came into the dungeon with a bucket of steaming water. From the looks of it, it took him quite a bit to carry it by himself as he entered her cage.

She growled and hiss at him as he stopped short of her. "Oh hush it now lass. You'll only wear out your voice more." The old man croaked out as he pulled out some clean cloth from his robes. "I am only here to help you."

"Talaassa don't need help from the like of you!" She shouted. She received a sigh in response as he plunged the rage into the bucket, before bringing one up. It dripped with hot water as he squeezed it out.

"If I don't, they will beat me if I let you die so soon. Being trapped in here will caught an infection to build and trust me, you don't want that." He told her as he stepped over and started cleaning off the blood from the cuts and broken skin.

She hissed in pain and discomfort at the rough texture of the rag going over her sensitive skin. She looked up at her already raw wrists, seeing fresh blood run lightly down her arm. She growled to herself, hating herself and the people here. "She should have let that beast kill her…better off dead…" She mumbled to herself before looking to the stone floor that was splattered with droplets of her blood and clumps of fur.

"what was that?" The old man looked up at her face in confusion. "Why would you want to waste your young life like that?" He paused before looking down at the bucket. "It may be better then this but, you can probably escape from here." He sighed before dipping the rag back into the bucket. "unlike me, who will probably die in this rat hole."

"Why does she have better chance then you? You walk free, she…she is chained to a wall!" She spat barring her teeth.

What surprised her more was the fact he began to laugh. He stood up from his spot on the floor and looked at her. "Because, even if I have just met you, I feel this inexplicit desire to help you get free, to get out of this place." He told her, a twinkle in his dark eyes.

She looked at him curiously and with caution. "What's the catch?" She asked him, feeling like there would be one.

"ah yes…" He paused before clearing his throat. "You would have to go through the torture, every day. And everyday when I come and clean your wounds, I will teach you some of the spells I know. We won't start today but, I will give you a bit of a reprieve." He held out his hands. He closed his eyes and a swirling golden glow emanated from his palms. Talaassa watched in awe as it seemed to surround her body, coating her in a warm blanket that seemed to suck away the pain and aches. Just like the potion from before, it healed her cuts and bruises. He put down his hands after the light faded away. "That should help, just know it won't be anymore pleasant tomorrow then today. You may even get a worse torture and I may not even get to heal some of your wounds with magicka" He sighed, looking more tired than he had before.

"…Thank you…" She whispered as he gathered the bucket and rags into his hands. He looked back at her and smiled at her. He didn't say anything as he walked out of the dungeon.

Just like he had promised, the next day after her daily dose of torture he came in with the same bucket of water filled with more warm water. Talaassa's skin was barred with burns from the last guy deciding it was a good idea to use "lightning therapy." She had sworn her heart had stopped a few times when she blacked out only to be brought back with more pain.

"What did they do this time?" He asked, looking at her streaked burns with pity in his eyes.

"Lightning…She can still feel it course through her… it hurts so much." She whimpered as she tensed up at the feeling of the dabs against her skin. She heard him curse to himself before pulling his hand back. "what is wrong?" She asked, rather wanting to sleep instead of bothering with this agreed upon routine.

"Its nothing. Just relax lass." He told her before going back to work. "I will try to convince them you aren't fighting back and hopefully get you off this wall."

She shivered a little, wanting nothing more then to hug herself to keep herself from getting colder. As she found out last night, the temperature dropped significantly low, like they left the back door open just to make her freeze. "That would be nice…"

The old man paused before looking to the door then pulled something from inside his robes. It was a worn book with a brown leather cover and a symbol on the cover. To her it looked like a flame. "I brought this from my things. It's a destruction spell tome. Its for a basic lightning spell. Once it is read by someone who doesn't know it, it is destroyed." He informed her, stroking the cover.

"Why bring this one this? You read." She told him, looking down at it in distaste.

He sighed before shaking his head. "I already know it. Now you on the other hand, I doubt you know this, do you? I brought it here for you to read. You will need to know more spells in order to make it out of here." He told her before opening the book to her.

"She doesn't…She can't read." She turned her face away from it.

"You don't have to read it, just look. Its not just filled with words, it has images in it. It will work the same way." He rolled his eyes. "If you want, not right now, I can help you learn to read." He inputted when she looked at the book.

It was like a flash the moment she even gazed at the page that contained symbols she couldn't read. In a moment it was gone and like magicka, she could see the spell in her mind, like a list was being made there. She audibly gasped and blinked a few times. "She knows it now! How?" She asked him leaning forward against her bonds, leading to sparks zig zag across the fur on her shoulders.

He chuckled as he stood up and reached out his hands again. "I don't know, that would be a question for the Mages at Winterhold College. Now hold still, I'll heal you just a bit. I do have to warn you, not to use any spells on them or they will find out I am helping you. Then they will just kill you and be done with it." He told her as the familiar feeling of warmth swept over her body for a moment.

"Even if it gets intense?" she asked him when he pulled his hands away.

"Especially then. I know you can control your self young one. You just need to try."

After that he left, leaving her to her thoughts.