Chapter Seven

The guard threw Helena into the cell with such force, her back hit the wall as Valentine ran to help.

"No more mischief," snarled the guard. He then exited the basement.

"Helena, are you ok? Here, be careful…." he said as tried to hold Helena's shoulders up.

"Ow, ow..." Helena closed her eyes as she tried to prop herself up against the wall.

"I've tried everything, but the bars won't budge, and the guard has the key. I'm afraid we're out of options."

"Ah…well …" she paused, looking around the room. That was when she noticed a strange spot on Valentine's face, right below the end of his mask. She leaned in closer.

"What's that on your face? Are you bleeding?" she asked urgently.

He placed his hand on his cheek, smearing the trail of blood, and then looked at his fingertips.

"Oh that…the guard just cuffed me there, that's all..."

Abruptly, Helena touched her fingers along his cheek, where the blood had been.

They stared at each other for a few minutes, until Helena looked away and pretended to dust off her shirt. Valentine looked off and ran his finger along the iron bars in the little cell. They both rested along the back wall for a while.

Helena woke up from a door slamming open. Searching for the source of the noise, the cell door opened and two muscled arms seized her shoulders, and dragged her out as she screamed.

Valentine, in his dream, was merrily lying on a nice fluffy bed. A large plate with delectable fruit was sitting on it, and he and Helena were laughing about something, there was a sparkle in her eyes…and then in a terrible moment, a piercing scream came from her lips…

"Valentine! Heeelp!"

He opened his eyes to Helena being yanked out of the cell, the look in her eyes as frightening as anything he'd ever seen.

"Helena! What are you doing to her?"

"I don't believe that is any of your business, now is it?"

Gerald was peering at him mockingly through the cell bars.

"We're going to have a small chat, she and I. You wait here, like a good idiot," he sneered.

Valentine tried to get up, but a violent ache caused him to fall back down to his knees.

He last saw Helena being lead out a different entryway in the cellar, by the guard, while Gerald took a last glance at him and closed the door.

During the rest of the day, he could not figure out what this child wanted with his Tower, and more importantly, why he had taken Helena. She didn't do anything at all to deserve this. He had stooped down below the window holding his chin with one arm, wondering.

To his horror, when the sun began to sink, and the shadows on the floor stretched, he began hearing disturbing things. Through the walls, he thought he heard talking, followed by terrible screams, Helena's screams. They tortured him.

"Helena…my Helena…why…" he whispered to himself. He held his head in his hands.

He woke up again, but this time, it was still dark in the room. The other door had opened, and a black hand thrust the cell door ajar, casting Helena from the darkness. She skidded delicately along the floor, not very far from Valentine.

"Helena!" he scrambled along the floor, pulling her gently into his arms.

"You animal! You coward! She has nothing to do with my Tower!" he howled.

All he heard in return was a door slam shut. Helena, semi-conscious, curled up in Valentines arms. He was trying to help tend to a scrape on her forehead. Patting it softly, he cleaned it up. Almost automatically, he bent down and kissed her forehead. In an awkward moment, he realized what he had just done; however, he just sighed, and laid his head back along the wall.

In the morning, it was silent in the cell. Helena was awake, gazing at Valentine while he was still asleep. Or she thought he was. It was hard to tell through the silly looking mask he wore. She was still groggy from the interrogation, in which the guard had tied her to a chain, and every wrong answer to Gerald meant being dropped inch by inch into a cage with an aggressive, shaggy creature. It had been too overwhelming to not cry out, she had attempted to stay calm and assertive, but the creature had convulsed and leaped at her, and she truly thought she was going to die there. She had no idea why he was asking her any questions at all, especially about Valentine's Tower. Most of it was a complete mystery to her, other than it had arguments with Valentine and it flew. That brutish child was nothing like his mother and almost exactly like the Princess, she thought.

Valentine fluttered his eyes a bit, then focused them on what seemed to be Helena, looking closely at him.

"What's this? What'd I do now?" he whispered, then smiled. "You ok?"

"Yeah. Just some bad nightmares."

Valentine scooted over a little. "Not to pry, but are you ok from last night, I mean?"

Helena sat still for a minute. "Yeah, yeah, he just tried to ask me about your Tower, but I just told him off." She didn't want him to know about the shaggy beast they had threatened her with.

"That bloody little monster, he's after me Tower for his own greedy purposes. I tell ya, no one has respect for a man's Tower nowadays…"he remarked, shaking his head.

"What do we do now?"

Valentine paused. "I'm not sure."