Author's Ramblings: This one is a short chapter, but it is definitely necessary. Enjoy reading! Thanks once again for all of your reviews! -
Disclaimer: Me no own.
Chapter Twelve: Rescue?
-On the Curansian Leviship-
"Oooo!" squealed Calis. "I am having so much fun making you suffer! And when you hurt, Dragon Boy hurts! This is too good!"
"Please stop," Hitomi managed to plea. Several of her ribs were broken now, as a result of being beaten with the club. Last night's wounds from the whip had mysteriously vanished, and she assumed that it was because of Folken's Energist. Though she was still very scared, Hitomi had come to realize that if she could just put up with the pain for long enough, Van would surely come to her rescue. She knew he wasn't dead or injured, since Calis wouldn't be torturing her if he was. Van…her mind sounded. It was the only word that would come to her, most of the time.
She managed to block out the feeling of the now resumed flogging. Calis had planned to use the mace now, but to Hitomi's everlasting joy it had broken. And in a fit of rage, Calis threw it out of the window with disgust. Of course, now that she was all angry, she took it out on Hitomi with the whip. But the whip is better than the mace…Hitomi told herself.
And suddenly, with a shatter of glass, the one person she wanted to see the most came to her rescue.
Van screamed something unintelligible, propelling himself off of Escaflowne as soon as it shattered the window to the room, his wings instinctually bursting out of his back. He flew speedily over to Hitomi, and shielded her battered, bruised, and broken body with his body.
Calis's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "This is new!" she exclaimed. "Dragon Boy is a…Draconian! A demon!"
Hitomi immediately rose to his defense. "He…is…not a…demon, you…evil… witch!" she exclaimed in broken wording because of her broken ribs.
Van, not wanting to show his true thankfulness in front of Calis, ruffled his feathers so that Hitomi would know his appreciation for her assertion.
Calis continued with her shrill laughter. "This is too easy! I get to beat up both Dragon Boy and Seer in one day!" She readied the whip in one hand, preparing to strike at either Van or Hitomi: whoever was more convenient. Van knew he couldn't draw his sword, because if he did then Hitomi would be left vulnerable because he would be forced to fight. I will stand here…he told himself. I will stand here, and take the lashings for her…
And he did.
Hitomi listened to his stifled grunts of pain as the whip beat his exposed chest repeatedly. She could tell he was trying not to cry out in agony, for if he did that he would expose weakness to Calis.
Calis. She looked on with satisfaction in her eyes, still cackling as always. She whipped and whipped repeatedly at her loathed Dragon Boy, and she whipped harder when she thought she wasn't hurting him enough. Finally, she decided she had enough of simply flogging him. "How did that feel, Dragon Boy? Did it hurt? Or did it feel good, thinking that you are protecting your beloved Seer?"
Van kept quiet.
"Fine then! Don't answer me!" she snapped as she selected the club. "But you will pay dearly for ignoring Princess Calis of Curanse! Turn around, you vile creature! Turn around, so that I may beat your back like I whipped your front!"
Van knew immediately what she was planning to do. She's going to break them…she's going to break my wings! If it were any other circumstance, he would have reabsorbed his wings. But he was protecting Hitomi with those wings; if they were gone, she wouldn't be covered as much. She would be vulnerable, even more so in her already abused and weakened state.
And so he did as Calis ordered. He turned around. He was now face to face with the one he loved, with his Draconian wings exposed to Calis. "I love you, Hitomi," he managed to whisper in his beloved's ear before the beating commenced.
Before Hitomi could make any response, Van's eyes watered and he gasped in pain. Calis had hit him—hard on his right wing. Being shackled to the wall, Hitomi could do nothing but gaze into his eyes.
"I'm so sorry," she wheezed.
"Don't be," he grunted.
Calis laughed the loudest ever, a crazed maniacal gleam present in her red eyes. She beat Van's wings repeatedly, breaking the hollow bones that allowed him to fly.
Suddenly, though, she stopped.
Van stood still, expecting her to beat him again. Instead, the wicked princess ordered him to turn around again.
He obeyed.
"Now let's get rid of both of you for good!" she shouted. "Since I've rendered you wingless, Dragon Boy, it'll do neither of you any good if I push you out the window, will it? I'll get rid of both my problems in one shot!"
In what seemed like seconds, both Van and Hitomi were pushed out of the window. They were holding each other as they fell through the sky, unable to escape their deaths.
"I'm so sorry," Hitomi apologized again.
"It's alright," Van assured her. "I only have…one regret: that we didn't live to have our child we…wanted to have," he finished brokenly, as the air tugged at his beaten and useless wings.
How do you think things will end, my dear readers? Will Van and Hitomi die from the fall? Or will they be saved? Find out in the next chapter!