Sorry, writer's block. Busy the entire hols. Anyway, thank ya all for your reviews! Really pushed me to pick up my pen again (or keyboard, or whatever.)
Njrd – was it that obvious? Oops… hehe, thanks for staying with me.
Bima – Sandra rocks, huh? J Thank you for your review!
BatPhace – think of starting? Go on! It's never too late. Thank you!
Vinbaby19 – thank you! I will keep it up!
On with the show…err, chapter.
Chapter 4 -
'Sandra, there's no need to hide anything from me.'
Sure, you killed my mother and ruined my life, what else can I hide from you? She thought bitterly, keeping her eyes busy on her hands in her lap. She hated such sessions: Woolworth interrogating his daughter for information she got throughout her night of entertaining the guests.
Woolworth paced slowly in front of Sandra, patiently waiting for her to speak. It has been a good hour since he brought her into his room, and she hasn't spoken a word save for 'good morning, father', words that he knew was never sincere and genuine.
Sandra felt like kicking herself for revealing her father's evil schemes to Riddick. She knew, from past experience, what he would do to 'wrong doers'. And it sucks.
'He must have told you something,' Woolworth sighed, stopping before her with his arms crossed. He regarded her with kind, fatherly eyes…eyes that have witnessed hundreds of executions and murders that ended countless innocent lives with a simple nod of his head. Sandra shivered inwardly at the thought. Just as that crossed her mind, another eyes flashed at her…bottomless, endless voids of silver…
'He told me nothing,' she blurted out without thinking. Oh, shit! What the-?
Steady, kid…
Her eyes widened. …Riddick? She wondered, stunned to hear his voice in her ears, though he was nowhere to be seen. You…why are you in my head? Shh... he growled. Literally.
'Nothing?' Woolworth frowned. 'That cannot be,' he shook his head. 'He must have said something.'
You were his bed warmer all night long. Sandra would have laughed out loud at such an absurd lie. The entire palace knew that she will remain a virgin until there's a ring on her finger.
He won't buy it, ass.
The next insult will cost you your vocal arpeggios. Just say it, he returned firmly.
'I was…ah, trying to live up to his expectations,' Sandra said quickly.
'Expectations?'
'The physical sort,' she stammered. Woolworth raised an eyebrow, apparently quite shocked. He knew his daughter was a hardcore fan of Abstinence from Sex till Marriage campaign.
'Sandra, I want you to know how much I appreciate your sacrifices all this while,' he said softly, laying a gentle fatherly hand between her shoulder blades on the small of her back. Sandra stiffened, but forced herself to relax. Damn you, now they think I'm some sort of whore spy? She glanced down at her feet again. Damn you Riddick.
Shut up princess.
'Now, seeing that you have gone this far down the road,' Woolworth straightened, and went in front of her again. Sandra's eyes followed him warily. 'I will need you to get him out of here, my dear.'
'Here…what here?'
'Representatives from Garunda are arriving this afternoon,' Woolworth explained. 'The Lord Marshall… I don't want him to be aware of it, alright? Get him to bring you somewhere…a nightclub or something, so long as you get him away from the palace.'
She looked bewildered, as if he had just told her that he had started subscribing to Asshole Times. 'What do you think he thinks of me? Some royal bitch that he's willing to spend his entire day with in the city?'
'Judging from what you said about what you did last night,' Woolworth allowed a small insensitive smirk. 'Yeah, I think he'd be willing.'
Sandra looked away. She sighed. 'When is all this going to end?' she whispered. She glanced up at him, her eyes fiery with emotion. 'When are you going to stop fooling around with their lives like toys and wooden blocks?'
The next thing she knew, she had flown from her seat to the floor, cheek burning and side on fire from the landing. Woolworth dusted his hands dramatically. He stared down at his scarred daughter with cold, empty eyes. Inside, his heart twisted painfully for the need of such brutal force. If only she'd learn...He moved to help her up, but stopped in hesitation when Sandra returned his stare; grey eyes resembling himself, but red hot passion gleaming in them, passion that reflected dreadful hate. Hate for him.
He steeled his jaw, and strode out of the room, shoes clicking soundly on the polished floor. Sandra released a ragged breath, hot tears trailing down her cheeks. There was no sign of Riddick's voice in her head, but she could tell he was there, silent and not saying any smart ass comment he must have thought of. She slowly picked herself up, and brushed the moisture on her face away with the back of her hand.
'Tell me what to do,' she said out loud.
What?
You heard me.
My room. 2 minutes.
It was all wide-eyed awe when Sandra entered the Necromongers' military ship, parked at the port. It was nothing like how she had imagined. It was surprisingly quiet, unlike the noisy and bustling situation in her father's ship. The Necromongers, silent and dangerous looking people, moved with a quiet confidence, bowing to the small group that held Sandra.
'So…this is the Necromongers,' she breathed. Lord Vaako, her newly introduced guide, nodded. His head was held slightly higher, feeling a quiet pride welling up in him. Behind him was Lady Vinara, Riddick's newly appointed personal assistant, following the entourage silently.
Vinara was quite a sight to behold. Sandra had stood a full 5 seconds staring at her when she answered the door to Riddick's residence. The tall woman was striking, with her white shock of revelry-like hair, a long and pale face, red glossed lips that smirked at her, and her eyes. Vinara's eyes were the scariest—besides Riddick's—Sandra has ever seen. One was a normal icy-blue. The other—her right eye—was the product of a successful shine job, glittering silver and dangerous. Quite a beautiful Cyclops, Sandra had thought. I wouldn't be surprised if Riddick's slept with her.
'The Necromongers…they are all men,' Sandra said pointedly.
'No female is allowed on board,' Vaako explained. 'Unless, of course, it is the Lady Vinara. Orders from the Lord.' He shot a dirty look over his shoulder. Vinara smiled down at him in return.
'Rid—Lord Marshall gave her special allowance to be on the ship?' Sandra was surprised. Even more surprising, she felt a pang of jealousy. Annoyed at herself, she pushed it away.
'The Ice Lady wins again,' Vaako remarked.
'You envy me, kid?' Vinara asked, smiling artfully as she took the lead and led them up a ramp way towards a raised platform.
'I don't!' Sandra had retorted on an automatic impulse. Vinara glanced back at her with her silvery eye, and cocked an eyebrow in amusement.
'Whatever, kid,' she said dismissively. Secretly, she despised the girl. Her hair was too wavy for her taste, and she looked like a spoilt princess, judging her way of dressing and talking. She seemed so immature…Vinara thought she had better things to do than being tour guide to this bratty looking girl. No matter how much she racked her brain, she just couldn't find a single reason why Riddick had ordered them to bring her on board. Well, she thought, I'll know now.
They had arrived onto a platform bathed in red light where Sandra identified as the control panel centre. Several main coordinators were working away diligently, communicating silently with whomever outside Kudakasut. Vaako led them through an adjoining door, to a big dark room, modestly furnished.
'Where are we?' Sandra wondered out aloud.
'I told you to be here in two minutes. It's already ten.'
She turned at the familiar voice. Riddick slid the door close, and set on the lock. Suddenly she realized she was without Vaako and Vinara—as if they had vanished into thin air. She swore Vaako was right in front of her before Riddick appeared—also out from nowhere.
'Doesn't matter so long as I am here,' Sandra said, crossing her arms. Riddick approached her, eyes glittering perilously, like a jaguar waiting to pounce. He took one deep breath, and let it out slowly. Sandra narrowed her eyes. You'd better not do what I think you're going to do.
He stood there for a moment, then another, until she felt that he was waiting for her to say something. When she thought that he was really waiting, he suddenly growled, shattering the silence save the intake and exhale of breath. 'You were crying.'
'I thought the room you meant was the one in my home.'
'You thought wrong.'
'There's no need to point out the obvious. I'm not blind.'
'I will not tolerate you being late if you want to be my spy,' Riddick said, driving the message home when his hand shot up and grabbed her arm, squeezing it slightly to remind her successfully that he would not hesitate to break her like a twig. She resisted the urge to curse at him, but yanked her arm away angrily.
'I get your point, happy?' she said, annoyed that this man had decided that she was one whom could be pushed around with. She had grown up in a luxurious and furnished environment, there was always food on the table, and servants waiting on her, beautiful clothes to choose from. She was living the life of a princess, she knew, but inside, she was an independent one, always on her guard, with the sweet, innocent girl outside as a façade. Riddick hadn't quite got that point across yet.
'So why did you command my ass over?' Sandra asked impatiently.
'For fun,' Riddick shrugged as if it didn't matter. He grabbed a coat—a black and long one with its tail swirling out like a cape—and made for the door.
'What?' she couldn't believe her ears. For what? 'Wait, you brought me here for fun? What kind of shit is that?' she leaped after him, but before she reached the door he had whirled around and jammed it shut. Stunned, she pounded on the steel door with her palm, panic infusing in her. Was he going to starve her to death, or maybe fill the room with acid gas? Or—
Suddenly, she heard the audible and recognizable click of a lock. Damn!
'Great, now what?' she muttered to herself.
An hour later, she was struggling to exit out through an unlocked window. Trying to ease her escape down to the ground that was fifty feet below, she had found a pair of hunting knives with good grips—not those she had polished the night before, of course. She knew she's going to get one hell of a lecture if they found out she had eased her way out of the window by scalding the sleek, black surface of their ship with pock holes, but she didn't really care, anyway.
A cold brisk wind was blowing harshly, and it appeared as if no one was in the area or in sight. Sandra slowly lowered herself out of the window, her feet searching hurriedly for a foothold. There was none, much to her frustration. She freed a hand, grabbed one of the knives from the back of her pants, and let it fall through the air. She caught it between her feet, and stabbed its point into the surface of the ship with all her might. It stuck fast.
Smiling at her handy work, she eased some of her weight onto the handle, relieving her arms. Then, bracing herself, she released the window edge. She felt herself falling through air, and her hands found the handle once more. Now her feet were dangling in mid air, free of support, while her fingers curled around the knife for dear life. She felt a momentary pang of fear. If she fell…well, she didn't want to think about that.
'Alright, Sandra, you can do this,' she muttered under her breath. She squeezed her eyes shut, and released the handle.
She fell through the air, at break neck speed, it seems. She landed hard, rolling sideward to lessen the impact. Her butt hurt, she though as she struggled to still her giddy vision. Rising up on her knees, she clutched her elbow, grimacing with pain and panting from the exhilaration of all of it.
'That took a while,' an all too familiar voice chuckled.
'You could have used a better method than that to escape you know,' Vaako added.
'Kids are always so impatient to get out,' Vinara purred.
Sandra didn't have the strength to ask as she regarded the threesome again wearily. It seemed as if they were waiting there for quite a while already. Riddick was sprawled so-unking-like on the hard ground, hands clasped behind his head, relaxing in the afternoon sun. Vinara and Vaako was standing there with arms crossed, seemingly bored.
'What are you doing here?' she asked, groaning.
'Just seeing whether you'd be escaping,' Vinara shrugged. 'Alright, come on, let's go in. This heat is frying my skin.'
Riddick rose to his feet lazily. He went to Sandra, a moment after Vinara and Vaako left, and offered a hand. Sandra took it, unsure, and allowed him to help her up.
'You're gonna pay for that hole in my ship,' he said, looking down at her. Sandra glanced up at the knife, still poking out like an old branch. Sandra smiled sheepishly, and shrugged. He shook his head. 'Come on, we've got work to do.'
'What work?'
'You'll find out.'
That's all for chapter 4. A little short, but, lah...
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Letreen