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Almost in slow motion, Briseis watched as the spit flew through the air, immediately cursing her own stupidity as soon as the gob had left her mouth and before it landed with a small splash – right on King Thorin's left cheek.
There was a moment where it seemed that everyone, including the two standing on top of the platform, forgot how to breathe; dead silence settling over the crowd before a commotion broke out.
The girl with the steel grey eyes was grabbed by about a dozen royal guards, half with their swords unsheathed as they aimed pointedly at Briseis. But she had been expecting that, what she hadn't been anticipating however was the tumultuous cheering that had erupted from the crowd.
Unfortunately, there was little time for the effect of her actions on the citizens of Erebor to bring her satisfaction as she was staring at the psychotically calm Dwarf King.
The girl actually found herself wishing that he was angry instead, but he simply stared up at her with his cold, lifeless eyes - his face completely blank as he simply held up a hand, ordering his guards to stand down before he wiped Briseis' spit off his face.
She watched, her heart beating frantically with fear, as he examined the palm of his huge hand where her saliva was now smeared and shining in the sun. She was only a foot and a half taller than the dwarf but the angle she looked at him from now made her realize just how young he was; his hair was streaked with white, but there were only faint traces of wrinkles on his otherwise smooth skin and it made her wonder what had happened to make him so sick and twisted so soon.
And then without even registering the King's movement, he wound up and smacked Briseis across the face with a force that made the girl's head nearly come off her shoulders.
Her entire body was thrown to a side, her eyes watering and her head ringing as she heard the resounding echo of the Dwarf's blow. She stumbled over, almost tripping over her shackles, but the girl simply refused to fall down. Even though her brain had been nearly dislodged from her skull, she would not fall to her knees in front of this animal.
She was hunched over as she tried to regain her composure, staring at the floor of the wooden platform and blinking rapidly to get rid of the little black spots swimming in front of her eyes as she felt a white hot stinging sensation begin to engulf the entire side of her face.
Briseis' breath came in low, shallow gasps and before she could straighten herself out, she felt a fist knot into her hair. The girl was yanked upright and almost had her scalp ripped off as she was brought to face King Thorin's pale blue eyes.
She fought his grip at the back of her skull, thrashing and trying to hit him with her elbows as she glared down at him with utter fury, but his fist never loosened and instead he pulled her into him as she continued to struggle.
Then a sick smirk twisted upon the Dwarf's lips and Briseis felt something hard begin to poke her on the lower half of her left thigh. It took the girl a few seconds to register the sensation and she nearly threw up when she realized that it was the King's manhood; that this deranged ruler found pleasure in watching her suffer and squirm.
"You have some fight in you," King Thorin said quietly, his voice was rich and deep, commanding the attention of everyone around him, but he simply stared into the girl's steel grey eyes with an unreadable expression in his own and leaned in closer to her. "I like that."
In spite of herself, Briseis went rigid and tried desperately to ignore the growing stiffness on her thigh which made her stomach heave. The Dwarf stared at her for a few more seconds in silence before he turned his head to the throng of guards still waiting for their leader to order them around.
"Take her."
It was funny how those two little words were enough to make the girl's entire spirit shatter, and in that split second before the guards approached her, she saw her mother's beaming face as she made breakfast in the kitchen, her father's stern look whenever she broke the rules and her little brother's innocent smile when she pinched his cheeks.
She closed her eyes and held the images there, burning their faces into her memory as she was never going to see any of them again.
Despite the scorching heat, Briseis had never felt colder in her life, shivering when the guards approached her with a white cloak.
But before they had a chance to cover the woman, the King spoke again.
"No-Leave her the way she is." The girl's heart sank even lower, even though she could barely register what was being said through the numbness which flooded her veins. And when the Dwarf spoke again, she could almost hear the smirk in his voice. "Have one of the others drop her off to my chambers... I'm going to teach her some manners."
And with that the guards grabbed a empty minded Briseis and led her towards the prison where she would rot away under the demented command of King Thorin.