A/N: Yes, I know, I know. I haven't updated in what's going on a year. I'm mortified with myself for it. I nearly shot myself in the foot twice when I saw how long it'd been since I updated, and resolved to fix this issue. So enjoy, and please don't murder me, my imaginary readers. -Sam Belk ;)
Mira stood as another guard passed her. Yet again, there was a sensation of being trapped. Not like imprisonment, exactly, but like a herd of cattle, waiting to be kept alive until they've outlived their usefulness.
As she stared after the guard, she wondered at her stupidity. Thinking Reaver would be true to his word was easily the most naïve thought she could've possibly entertained. Yet entertained it she had, and now she paid the price.
Not just me, she mentally reminded herself. She'd seen Rhona, bruised, scratched, and utterly terrified, being dragged back past her cell-like box. Horrified, she'd ran to the wall closest to them and tried to destroy it, with little success; her gauntlets had been confiscated and she couldn't use the little Will she had been able to conjure without them. So she watched, unable to help her adopted daughter, feeling absolutely worthless. She hadn't seen her since.
Life was depressing here. Kids, adults, of every sort Mira had thought possible and some she hadn't. All gathered simply for sale as a slave or as a sacrifice to the Shadow Court. She was of the latter; a Hero, after all, could be used an indefinite amount of times, and she was still in her twenties at that. A perfect subject to the experiment of how many times a Hero could be sacrificed, since her father had survived quite reasonably.
Speak of the devil, she thought bitterly when she spotted Reaver striding towards her.
"Well, hel-lo there, my extravagantly costly Queen." Reaver hissed irritably. "Do you know how much you've cost me just to keep you hidden, let alone with the good grace I have to keep you fed and clean." Silence. Mira gave him a stare devoid of emotion. Inside, she knew he was correct. No one would miss the absence of their queen. They'd begin searching within a day or two. The clean part was an outright fabrication. She'd been here for two and a half weeks, and it showed. Dark circles under her eyes, dirty face stained with bruises and spatters of blood. She hadn't slept the entirety of her stay. The guards got stupidly drunk every other day, causing them to decide it was a good idea to harass the prisoners, particularly the females. The first three times, it wasn't too difficult to swat them away. But as the week wore on, she knew something was wrong. It quickly became harder to fight them, and they knew it. Their sneers, the enebriated laughs when she fails to bat them away, grins when they get ahold of her. She was peppered with cuts, bruises, and a black eye.
Reaver went on with his self-absorbed ranting, but Mira could no longer hear him. She was focused on the guard from earlier, walking quickly with a monstrous grin that sent chills down her spine.
"Ah, there she is," Reaver drawled, "The little conniving brat that nearly ruined my entire well-invested enterprise." The guard yanked something forward-no, someone. A small, terrified someone that caused Mira to cry out in an uncharacteristic brashness.
"Rhona!"
"I simply knew you'd be overjoyed. Now, you two can live out your pathetic days together."
"You sick bastard! I'll kill you!" Mira screamed, clawing through the door's bars. Reaver, unperturbed, shot her in the chest, sending her tumbling backwards.
"Mi, no!" Rhona kicked against the guard, but to no avail. He quickly tossed her inside, slamming the door before she could rise.
"Adieu, mon cher." Reaver said flippantly, grinning at the sight of her on the ground, glaring. He sauntered away.
Still on the floor, Mira shifted her weight and unceremoniously spat on the ground. It was stained red.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah," She murmured. "I'll be fine. It didn't hit anything vital, I think."
She slowly pulled her palm away, revealing a heavy coat of blood on her clothing. She cringed, and Rhona yelped in horror. She quickly recovered it when Rhona gave a terrified whimper and began to hyperventilate.
"Shh," she murmured, hugging Rhona with her free hand. "I'll be fine, it'll heal." This was a lie. Mira knew by now her Hero abilities were dormant, although she wasn't certain why.
"Maybe we won't make it after all..." Rhona whimpered. Mira blinked; this was news.
"Wait, sweetie, what do you mean?"
"He said if we wait, he'll find us. But how can he save dead people?"
"'He'? Who?" Mira asked. But part of her knew the answer, and she was hardly surprised when Rhona gave her reply.
"Ben."