The Arrogant One
Chapter 4: The Price of Innocence
Disclaimers: I do not own any of the characters except those which I created and in no way I am being paid to write this.
Author's Notes: At last! ^_^ Success! I have found some great Tala pictures! Well, one of them was especially cute with him in a wolfy costume (not SD). He looked really…devastating. O.O Wow, can't believe I just wrote that. Oh well, on with the fic then! Read, review, and enjoy!
Warning: This chapter contains a lot of torture. Better brace yourselves for it if you're the squeamish type.
Marron awoke late that afternoon and as she noted she was still in the hospital wing of the school, she also noticed that her two best friends were long gone. She peered over her thick blanket and saw the orange glow of the afternoon sun slowly setting. With much effort, Marron stood up and headed off to the next room.
"So you're awake, dear?" Came a soft voice from a small desk to the right of the infirmary.
"Uh-huh." She managed a reply.
"It's going to be getting quite dark soon. I've told your friends to leave hours ago…" The nurse trailed off.
"It's alright." Marron stated with a slight smile as she grabbed the edge of a metallic medicine table near her.
"Oh, are you sure you will be able to manage? You've sprained an ankle and you have a slight cut on your forehead. Lucky really, it's nothing worse." The nurse said, putting the pen she was twirling delicately around her slender fingers down and stood up to help Marron with some bandages around the ankle.
"Yeah. I can manage." Marron said and bowed to the nurse in slight gratitude. After all that done, she finally headed home.
"What a first day." She sighed as she made her way back to the orphanage she hardly passed as her home, not knowing that Tala, the class demon, was having one hell of a time.
...
Tala made no move to resist his upcoming lashing. In fact, he made no movement at all amidst all the questioning glances shot at him by all the other kids who were staring at him from behind the cold bars of steel that imprisoned him. He was stripped of his shirt, revealing his bare chest and back as thick shackles held his wrist and his ankles with chains extending behind connection to the stone walls of the dungeon.
An agonizing hour passed as the whole abbey was brought down to watch the whipping about to take place. Not only for the offender's complete humiliation, but also as a lesson to anyone who dares step out of line. Just like he did.
After another minute, the crowds gathered around Tala parted and two men in black cloaks unlocked his cage and unfastened the chains that held him to the wall. They tugged at the chains roughly, not seeming to care at all about the boy held by it. They stopped as they reached a wooden stage in the middle of the open space in the dungeon with about a hundred more people staring down at him from above Balkov abbey. The two monks fastened the chains of his shackles to the two metallic poles sticking out on the four sides of the stage.
"Well, well, Tala." A cold voice sounded silently, as the muttering stopped and dead silence followed.
Tala looked up to see the apparent grimace on Boris' face. Feeling much like a man on the guillotine, he lowered his head again and braced himself for what was coming.
"I heard," Boris began, his voice rose in volume a notch for everyone to hear, "that you made quite a spectacle of yourself at school.
Boris stepped up the stage and tipped Tala's chin up so he could see the boy's face clearly. Tala forced his eyes on Boris' cool expression and felt himself shiver slightly at the man's steady stare.
"This kind of conduct in not acceptable, Tala. Twice you have disgraced me, and now, one must face the consequences of one's own foolishness, no?" Boris stated calmly, releasing the boy's chin as he straightened. One of the monks went up to him and briefly handed him a long black whip, it's handle encased in ragged white cloth. Tala forced himself not to show any signs of fear or emotion as he swallowed the lump in his throat.
"I will make you learn, one way or another, how one should act. Now you will pay dearly for humiliating the name of Biovolt!" Boris' last words were emphasized as the lash of his whip sang through the air, landing squarely on Tala's sagging shoulders. A rush of blinding pain followed as Tala realized blood dripping slowly down his front from the assault. He saw Boris' arm lift again for a second slash.
Without even giving the boy time to recover from the previous assault, Boris lashed him again, this time around the back, sending Tala down on his knees. With a satisfied smirk at himself, Boris lifted his arm again and sent the whip slicing through the air once more on Tala's other shoulder.
Tala grit his teeth and clenched his fist so hard that it drew blood. Before he knew it, the black whip came down on his naked back again…and again…and again.
The stunned silence of the crowd was so intense that one could actually hear the water dripping from a leak in the ceiling. Finally, Tala's endurance to the mind shattering blows being heaped on him collapsed. He could not hold it in any longer. As the whip came down on him again, he let out a harsh cry of relinquishment and bit his tongue in the process as the whip sang down again for the next painful blow.
Tala could no longer keep track of how long he'd been there, screaming his head off in pure blinding pain. He no longer cared about his dignity or pride. He only wished for this torture to come to an end, and soon. Apparently though, that would not be the case. Lash after lash continued with no respite. Finally, he felt his entire body fall limp on the chains that held him, only jerking spasmodically during each blow.
The blows continued on, the dark labyrinth echoing with the redhead's screams of endless agony. The crowd was still silent, watching this inhuman torture progress. A wave of relief for the boy and the crowd when finally the last blow landed on Tala's bloodied back.
"Hmm, maybe now you will learn your place in this world and cease this impudent habit of disobedience." Boris said softly to the beaten boy's ear before throwing the whip back to one of the monks.
All Tala could muster for a reply was a strangled cry caught in his throat. Boris smirked and stepped down the wooden stage and out of sight. The monks untied him and released him from his shackles. They made no move to bring him to the abbey's infirmary, instead, they shoved him back into his room without so much as a care in the world and left him lying on the stone flagged floor, blood spilling and seeping through the cracks.
Tala closed his eyes, willing himself to a restless sleep. His back now felt completely numb and was bleeding profusely. "Congratulations, Miss Marron..."
...
Marron jerked awake at the horrible scene. Was that Tala? She thought, her voice caught up in her throat. She could still clearly recall the boy's harsh screams of pain. The way he staggered forward blow after blow. Marron reluctantly shook her head.
"No, he's probably sleeping without a care in the world right now." Marron stated to herself aloud, trying to reassure herself somehow. A grunt sounded beside her as her roommate stirred in bed.
Marron let it off with a sigh. "Yes, that's right. Tala's fine. I'm just being silly, thinking about things like that. It's only a freaky nightmare…just a freaky nightmare." She assured herself further as she stated falling back into the warmth of her bed. Not realizing that the boy in her dreams was trembling in agonizing pain at this very second. In a little abbey called Balkov.
End Notes: Well, pretty short for a chapter I guess. But nonetheless, it puts me in a nice position with the next. Expect chapter five out sooner than you think. ^-^ Well, send me your vote. Should little Marron find out and come care for the poor baby, or does she stay 'innocent' and leave him be until his suspensions over? (I just can't make up my mind =P) Please send tell me so the next part can be out sooner. Thank you! Oh, by the way, review please!