Gwen woke on a hard stone floor. Her head ached where she had been hit but she at least didn't feel like she had a fever. She opened her eyes just a sliver to look around. She was not in Maggur's bedroom like she had thought she would be. She was in a small ten by ten cell with a small chamber pot in one corner and a pile of straw in another. There was no window. She turned over slightly to look at the door. It was completely solid iron except up towards the top where a small half-moon barred opening let torchlight through from the hallway on the other side.
She sat up to assess the situation. She was likely in Hamrkeng in the castle again. She had no idea how long she had been out, but aside from the ache where she had been hit in the head she felt alright. She still was wearing the shirt, breeches, and leather slippers she had pulled on to go out to her sitting room. Reaching up she realized the necklace Ivan had given her was gone, though not taken. It was sitting on her vanity back in her bedroom. It was not something she had thought to grab and put on to go out to her sitting room while looking for Ivan. She started to berate herself for being stupid for not wearing it all of the time; after all, she knew she wasn't safe in her room. The first time she had been attacked was in the middle of the night. Maybe if she hadn't been fevered she would have realized the door had not been open when she had walked past it the first time and would have been suspicious. Then she stopped, because it wasn't going to do her any good wasting her energy on calling herself names.
Her mind turned to worry, not for herself, but for her friends and Ivan. How would Ivan be told? Would Dom write to him right away or would he wait until Ivan returned? Would he blame himself for not being there? Was the call even real or was it something that was meant to draw Ivan off? Had the mage been observing her? Would he know Ivan was her lover or that he had taken her at an opportune time?
A thousand possibilities for every question and every scenario that had led up to her being taken flashed through her mind. She was looking for answers though she didn't have any. She did not like not knowing how much information her enemies had or if they had just happened in at the right time. It would do her no good to worry now. They had her and she would just have to wait to find her opportunity to escape. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and realized her wrists and ankles were chained. Her eyes followed the chain to the exact center of the room. She would be able to get to all four corners of her cell without a problem but she would not be able to get out into the hall if the door opened ever. With an internal sigh she crawled over to one of the walls that flanked the door and leaned against it to wait for whatever was supposed to happen.
Many hours went by. She knew because the guards changed several times outside of her door. They all spoke in Scanran though she had not learned a lick of the language. That was her mistake. The only break in time was a slit in the door opening up and a small tray being passed through with a hard roll and a cup of water. She dipped the bread in the water to soften it and ate slowly each time, letting her body adjust to the rations. She wondered if Maggur meant to make her go insane with solitary confinement. Without anyone to talk to, mere days could turn into years in the mind of a sane person. She smiled to herself and realized she probably wasn't sane to begin with. To combat paranoid thoughts about time and loneliness, she told herself the stories she had been teaching Kai. She told herself the stories she had been learning from Tortallan culture to start teaching Kai. She told herself the stories of all of the books she could remember reading from both back home and from Tortall.
She made a point to sleep after every small meal that came through the slit in the door if only for a few hours at a time. Then she would do ten laps around her cell dragging the chains. Routine would keep her sane. She gave up on time. The unchanging light gave her no indication of the days and the changing of the guard schedule was lost to her. She couldn't even tell if she was getting three meals a day or two, just that she was getting them and each time it was the same thing. Somewhere in the back of her mind, between the stories, the laps, the meals, and sleeping, she remembered she promised Ivan she would find a way to come home to him if she was ever taken again. She tried not to focus too much on it because she knew if he saw the situation she was in, he would know she did not yet have an opportunity to escape.
After what felt like a very long time with the monotonous food, routine, and ever changing guards, she began to wonder if she would spend the rest of her life imprisoned and alone. Was it really all that bad? Compared to the alternatives of torture of being forced into bed with Maggur? No. But she had no chance to escape or even know what was going on. She would grow old and die down in the dungeon without fulfilling her duty to be the Godssent. She prayed to the Goddess, to Mithros, to Kyprioth, even to the Graveyard Hag. She needed an out. She needed something to change so she could start to figure things out. She was doing no good down in this cell. She received no answer. She knew she wouldn't. She prayed to the earth itself for an answer. She prayed to Father Universe and Mother Flame because they had power in her world too. She prayed for help of any kind. She received no answer.
She started to think back to memories that made her smile. Ivan. Dom. Roald. Kai. That first moment when she pinched herself in the hallway to make sure this was real. Blowing out the candles on her birthday cake and hearing her family singing a very off key version of Happy Birthday. Her dad's cat, Fred, and his ability to stand on his back paws and be tall enough to touch the middle of her back somehow. Planting flowers in the garden with her mom. Hiking with her friends. Singing silly songs in choir and the feeling of mastering a very hard song. Graduating from high school. Dancing in the kitchen while baking. Her brother teaching her how to build a computer. Her sister showing her how to wear make-up. Mastering a move in figure skating. Her dad dancing in the kitchen with her after ballet classes. Sitting on her dad's lap while he gently sprayed his precious orchids he kept in the basement telling her the name of each one.
Iron clanking on iron made her shake free from her thoughts. She turned to look directly at the mage that had been the subject of many changes in her new life as the Godssent. She knew she should probably fear him, but instead she was angry. She hated him for everything bad that had been happening to her in this world. She hated that he thought he could control her like he controlled his immortals. He knelt down in front of her and touched the spot on her head that he had hit when he had taken her from the balcony.
"That's healed over nicely." He stated simply.
"Go shove your fist up your arse." She told him feeling the venom leaking into her voice.
"Now, now, that's not very fitting language for a lady." He told her, shaking his finger in her face. She eyed the finger that was very close to hitting her. In a flash she moved forward and clamped her teeth down on the offending finger with enough force she felt the bone give a little. The mage screamed and tried to shake his hand to free it. She bit harder until she tasted blood. Guard rushed into the room and she was lifted off of the ground and her jaw was forced open. She started to kick out with both feet now that she was free of the ground to use both at the same time as the chains required. She connected squarely with one of the guards' knees causing him to fall to the ground. The guard holding her was being cautious in putting her down. She aimed carefully as she got closer to the floor and kicked the guard she had already dropped in the head. He went down to the ground, out cold. She felt herself being thrown and hit the floor with a thud. She turned in time to see the guard she had kicked being drug out and the mage holding his bloody finger before the door was slammed shut again.
Part of her acknowledged that Peachblossom would probably have appreciated her well timed bite and her unwillingness to let go. Ivan and Dom would have appreciated her use of being lifted off of the ground to her advantage. The mage and the guards would be more cautious next time. They knew she was not broken yet. If anything she was more dangerous. She was like an injured animal, ready to attack anything that came near it. Yet she was more coordinated than that. Injured animals were unpredictable and usually uncoordinated in their attacks. Her mind was still in thinking order. She planned to keep it in thinking order at all costs. She tripled her laps around the cell and mentally went through her exercises she did with Dom and Ivan. Then she went through mental exercises of math, patterns, and logic.
She expected punishment of some kind to follow her little stunt, but the food kept coming at set intervals and the guards kept changing out. She decided she needed to take small victories where she could get them. She waited for the tray to come through the door. Usually a finger or two was always visible. She was quick to snatch the cup and bread and then slam down her hand on the fingers she had in reach. After the third guard ended up with broken fingers, they got smart and kept their fingers back. No punishment came and she had the sneaking suspicion no one was telling Maggur that a small little girl had caused them damage of any kind. So she decided it was time to play on their nerves. Every now and then, she would giggle or start singing creepy little tunes. Sometimes she sang in Latin. Sometimes she spoke with the voice of a child, quoting lines from scary movies involving child. Though she didn't understand Scanran she could feel their anxiety and fear coming through the door. She could hear their nerves in their voices. Sometimes she made it sound like she was conversing with the Gods about them, talking about what happened to those who kept the Godssent from her duties.
Despite being imprisoned and sleeping in a pile of straw and using a chamber pot that magically emptied itself every day. She was having a sick and twisted kind of fun messing with the guards. She was always watchful for new guards too. They always made the mistake of their fingers being in the way when she slammed her hand down. The creepier she got, the more frequently new guards were placed at her door. The newer ones always started out with an arrogance, after all, how hard was it to guard the door of one little girl. And always right before they were replaced she could taste their fear in the air.
The mage returned after some time. This time he tried to maintain his distance but she stood and moved towards him, a devilish smile on her face. "Stay back!" He told her his finger outstretched again. She made sure to eye it. He pulled it back when she faked a lunge for it. She kept moving towards him, circling slightly and forcing him back against the wall she had come from. Realizing he had nowhere to move away to, he raised a yellow glowing hand. "Stay back or I'll, I'll," he gulped.
"You'll what? Try and control me?" She cackled and gave her chains a firm tug. Upon forcing him in her little circle, she had put the excess chain behind his feet. The chain snapped under him causing him to lose his balance. She helped him fall, straddled his lap to kneel down on his hands while simultaneously pushing two fingers against his forehead. "Tell me what Maggur thinks he is doing with me." She kept her voice calm.
"I don't have to put up with this," the mage told her and tried to stand up. The two fingers held him in place as she knew they would. "What sorcery is this?" He demanded. She knew it was no sorcery, just basic fact. Very few people could rise with even the gentlest pressure on their forehead. With his hands pinned, she was doing quite well.
"What does Maggur have planned for me?" She asked again, this time a bit more malice in her voice.
"Guards!" The mage yelled and the door slammed open again. She made sure that the moment she was lifted she was lashing out, using the chain like a whip while she kicked and swung her arms around. She hit one guard in the stomach with her fists clubbed together, another in the groin with her feet. A third guard put up with her kicking him firmly in the shins long enough to deposit her in the pile of hay and pull the mage from her cell.
After that she began to stand at the door and whisper things in Latin like "morieris" die, "edam anima vestra" I will eat your soul, and her favorite was "ora pro morte" pray for death. She chanted them, emphasizing the words differently each time. The guards had no choice but to listen to her quiet chants. One day when she felt the fear and tension in the air she stood on her tip toes to get at close to the opening as possible and in a very calm voice told the guards, "This can all be over with if you just open the door and let me go."
The door did not open. She did not expect it to, at least not yet. She would wear the guards down. They knew how to make it stop and eventually they would run out of guards willing to guard her door. After her tenth or so time of saying those words to a pair of very terrified guards, she thought she was getting closer to freedom. She thought she would break and let her go soon. Maybe not this time, but maybe the next or the time after that. She would walk to Tortall again. She would be free. She went on believing that until one day the door opened again and she stood thinking it would be the mage. Instead she was met by the clean, crisp looking nightmare of King Maggur as he smiled down at her a whip in hand.