Susan was huddled up in the cold, lonely corner of her cell. She was desperately trying to hold back the tears that threatened to start pouring from her eyes, but considering the dreadful living conditions she was in that proved to be next to impossible. The thin blanket made it horribly uncomfortable to sleep on the stone floor. Her face was starting to turn purple from Melora slapping her the other day. Her once silky, flowing black hair was now disheveled. This was certainly no way for a queen to live.
"I want to get out of here and go home," Susan moaned to herself.
"Not if my queen has anything to say about it."
Susan lifted her tear-stained face up and was scared to see Brack filling in the doorway of her cell, a whip in his hand. She backed up into the corner, hoping that by some slim miracle she would wake up from this nightmare, but it proved useless.
"Come with me, girl. My mistress requires your presence."
Susan cringed in the corner as this gigantic creature walked menacingly over to her and grabbed her roughly by her dress collar. Her fright level increased as the hideous ogre practically dragged her out of the cell. She really didn't want to find out what Melora had in store for her this time since it would probably entail more mistreatment.
"Walk to my mistress with dignity, girl, and show her respect," Brack snarled, noticing how Susan was trembling.
"I have a name, you know."
"Your name means nothing in here; you're just a worthless prisoner."
Susan cursed the ogre under her breath at that comment. She knew she was far from being a worthless prisoner, but she was quite scared after just one horrid day in this lonely, isolated dungeon. And it was about to get worse when Brack lead her into a small room that was empty except for one stool in the middle and Melora standing in the corner, a wicked gleam in her eye.
"Ah yes, Queen Susan the Gentle. But when I get done with you, you won't be so gentle anymore."
"And what makes you think that?"
"You will see after we are finished with you."
Brack proceeded to grip Susan's shoulder and forced her quite hard into sitting on the stool. The young queen was now starting to shake with fear, especially as Brack walked around behind her and held the whip up to her back.
"Don't you dare move," he whispered in her ear.
Susan cringed in the stool as Melora walked up to her and bent over so the two of them were eye to eye. Now she got a terrible feeling in her stomach that told her whatever these two were going to do would indeed involve more abuse.
"Little girl, I know your family will come to find you. I will let them do that, but it won't be easy for them. So tell me: how skilled are they as warriors?" Melora asked harshly.
Susan looked into Melora's glaring blue eyes, which were filled with anger and hatred. She narrowed her own eyes as she stared at the witch and declared "I will not betray my family."
Melora's expression grew stormier as she glanced up at Brack and nodded her head at him. The ogre took a step back and flicked his wrist, causing the whip to snap against the floor. Susan clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut, mentally preparing herself for what was about to happen next.
Brack raised his arm, whip in hand, and brought it down hard on Susan's back. The young queen could feel her nails digging into her palms as the hard leather struck against her shoulder through the thin fabric of her dress. She cried out as the burning pain seared throughout her body and she collapsed onto her knees. Brack promptly grabbed her dress collar and yanked her back into a sitting position on the stool, but Susan kept her lips tightly sealed and would not reveal anything about her family.
"I said, tell me how skilled your family is with their weapons," Melora demanded.
"Never."
Infuriated, Melora nodded at Brack. The ogre raised up the whip and lashed it across Susan's shoulders again. Susan was struck so hard she was knocked off the stool and landed flat on her stomach. She bit her tongue, desperate not to cry through the searing pain that radiated across her back. She straightened out her shaking arms and tried to push herself back up, but immediately felt another whipping of leather.
"That one is for disrespecting my queen!"
"Very good, Brack. Very good. Now I think we should let our 'guest' here think about the meaning of respect for a little while."
Susan yelped in pain again as Melora yanked her off the floor by her hair. Now the tears were really threatening to flow from her eyes as the vile witch pulled her along the hall back to her cell. But Susan was desperately trying to stay strong and not show her captors how frightened she really was.
You are Susan the Gentle, Queen of Narnia. You are stronger than they realize. You will get through this, Susan thought to herself.
"Now get in there!" Melora yelled and Susan was jerked out of her thoughts as she was roughly shoved back inside her cell.
"I'll never betray my family to the likes of you! You will never get anything from me!"
"We will see, little girl. For now, you need to think about how much longer you will last if you do not talk soon."
Susan could not resist her tears any longer. As soon as Melora slammed the door shut, they flowed from her gentle eyes. She knew in her heart that she would never willingly betray her brothers and sister to this vicious woman, but at the same time she was terrified about what Melora might do to them. As she slid down onto her knees, she looked up at the ceiling and said a quiet prayer to Aslan for help.
"Aslan, please hear me. Don't let Melora harm my family. They mean the world to me and I love them more than anything. I know they'll find me, I know they will. So please Aslan, watch over Peter, Edmund, and Lucy. Don't make their journey harder than it needs to be."
In the camp
It was a quiet breakfast that morning as Peter, Edmund, and Lucy had some toast and tea around the small fire pit. None of them were particularly cheerful, especially Peter and Edmund. They had taken turns sleeping and keeping watch over the camp, as they didn't want to risk another harpy attack. They had been all been thinking about Susan's well being since the journey began, but it was Lucy who had been thinking about it the most. It showed during breakfast as she was unusually quiet.
"Lu, are you alright?" Peter asked.
"I shouldn't be eating this. What if Susan isn't getting anything to eat?"
Sighing, Peter put his arm around Lucy's shoulder and said to her, "I don't think starving yourself is going to make this journey any easier. Do you think Susan would want to see you feeling hungry?"
"He has a point, Lu. You're the valiant one and you need to be strong," Edmund agreed.
Lucy sighed as she ate the last bite of her toast. The only thought that had been on her mind was how Susan was faring in the hands of this vile witch.
"Come on, Lu. We should be off now; we've got a long journey ahead of us," Edmund said.
"What if we don't make it in time?"
"Lucy, we will make it in time and rescue Susan. We have to have faith that we will accomplish this. Now why don't you go get Dria ready to go?" Peter said.
Lucy just nodded at her brother and went to grab Dria's saddle and bridle. She just couldn't shake this awful feeling from her mind that Susan was in serious trouble. As she placed the saddle onto Dria, she thought about how Susan was probably being treated by Melora at that moment. She had to take a deep breath to keep from crying at the thought of her sister being abused.
"Susan, don't give up. I love you. Don't let her beat you down," Lucy whispered to herself.
