I'm sorry for the lack of length in this chapter and how long it took me to put it up, but I'm experiencing some technical difficulties at the moment ::coughfinalscough:: and I have the next chapter up as soon as possible.
Chapter 29
::"I see you still haven't attained the full use your Sight yet, my dolly." said a foreboding, all-too-familiar voice; Yackle.
"Why are you here?" I asked, drawing the blankets up hurriedly and pinning them under my arms. "What kind of havoc are you trying to wreak on my mind?"
""You haven't managed the Sight of the visions you've been sent through your younger self. Very disappointing, my dearie, I expected better of you."
"I know that, I've tried to See them, I have to work at them more tomorrow-"
"Tomorrow's too late!"the old woman said in a tone, almost a laugh, that made it sound as if she took some perverse pleasure from foretelling what fate would throw at me. Then she really laughed, her old, cracked cackling resonating through my head as she faded from view, abrasive and painful until-::
I was awakened by rough hands closing vice-like around my arm, pulling me upright and thrusting me to the floor. It was happening so fast; one moment I was lying curled up against Fiyero, being comforted by the feel of his skin against mine, and the next I was being thrown to the cold wooden boards, my head snapping back up off them as it connected with them.
"Well, well, well, what have we here? We never expected to find you, of all people, alive, now, did we, boys?"
It was the Gale Forcer from what little I had been able to See of the second vision, smiling in the same hungry way, his eyes glittering with malicious intent. I presumed him to be the leader of those few other Gale Forcers present. He was painfully familiar, but his name was not forthcoming.
The other soldiers nodded, wide, triumphant grins spreading across their faces. The head of the party kicked me moderately hard in the small of the back, adding pain to the fear and the humiliation I was already feeling. It sent sharp waves of pain lancing up my spine; my back arched away from his boot, but he only tapped my spine with his toe once more, slightly harder this time, before speaking again.
"Oh, how sickeningly sweet, she's even taken a lover to bed with her." He turned and unsheathed his dagger, laying the flat of his blade under the hinge of Fiyero's jaw, lifting his chin and turning his face to better examine him.
"This one doesn't look dangerous; he probably never had the strength of mind to compete with her magic. The Witch probably picked him up on a whim, to use for a night and be rid of. Or do you think it could actually be possible that she loves him? No matter, I doubt any living creature could ever come close to loving something like her." That drew a derisive laugh from the rest of the men assembled, and intense hatred and hurt to flare in my eyes. He returned the blade back to it's scabbard, and his hand hovered over the holster where his pistol was housed.
"You three, stay here. The rest of you, downstairs. I need you to get the rest of them loafing around outside ready to move. Tell them we've got someone; someone they never expected to see." the leader barked to the other two, jerking his head toward the open trapdoor. The men obeyed, their raucous laughter and cutting mockery echoing off the stone of the tower walls.
"Dress, both of you!" he snarled at Fiyero and me, drawing his pistol from its holster and pointing it at me. My face flamed with humiliation, fury and fear. I did as I was bid, throwing the closest thing to me - the white dress - over my head, hate and rage blazing rampant in my eyes; I didn't even bother to cloak the heat in them. I took a good look at those still assembled, the leading officer in particular, as my face contorted with fury. He was a decorated officer, with gold epaulets on his shoulders and medals pinned to the jacket; I guessed he was of a rather high rank, which infuriated me even more, for some reason, as well as the fact that I still couldn't call his name to mind. I knew he was the same officer that Liir had chosen to follow like some lovesick puppy when they'd first forced their way into the fortress a year or two ago, before they'd taken Fiyero's family to their base and killed them all, all but Nor. A passionate hate rose in my throat, a hate so strong that if looks could kill, that man would've been ashes on the floor by now.
I surveyed the rest of the room, taking in the others; they seemed slightly afraid now that their number had shrunk. I could probably play with their minds some to make them fear me enough to let me be able to get a request fulfilled every now and then, but weighing that against my circumstances, if I led them to believe I really was a witch, they'd more than definitely see me as a bigger threat than they already believed and take it as an excuse to kill me, or worse. As my eyes scanned the room a third time, I noticed that Chistery was nowhere to be seen.
::That little beast was damn smart to get out of here when he did.::
It took everything I had to force myself to remain silent; if I lashed out at them like I wanted to nothing good could come of it. It was bad enough as it was. Once I had myself clothed again I tried to stand, but the leader of the small crew cocked the gun, the menacing click sharply descending on my ears. I tried not to show any fear but I flinched at the sound anyway and lowered myself back to my knees; it wasn't the prospect of being shot of which I was afraid, but the fact that the officer had turned the barrel of the gun away from me and onto Fiyero.
"Hmmn, he could work to our advantage." the leading officer murmured thoughtfully, glancing from me to Fiyero and then back to me, his lip curled and his gun unmoving from it's current position.
"D'you think we ought to take them both, or just the Witch?" asked one of the other soldiers, pulling his weapon from his belt.
"Put your gun away, Dancith, you imbecile. Open your eyes! I think even they know that their position right now isn't one that'll allow them any leave to fight us!" He knocked the gun from the hand of his underling, sending it skiddering across the floor, dangerously within my reach. Dancith hurried to pick it up before I could register what kind of an advantage the weapon might've given me.
"We might as well take them both;" the officer drawled, finally getting around to answering Dancith's question, "the man might be of use to us in the long run, if only as a sort of bribe or scare tactic, if you will, to frighten her into obedience if it comes to that."
I snorted at that comment; if he thought I was going to give him an easy time with this he was sadly mistaken.
"Get them down the stairs and outside. We've got to get them back to our base. Once we're there I'll radio the City and see what the commander wants us to do with them. Whatever it is, I should enjoy it." He lowered his pistol some, turning toward me, and he grinned with dark anticipation over his shoulder at his comrades, who mirrored his expectancy with identical expressions. Fury rose like bile in my throat, burning in it's descent back to my stomach, but I held to my silence, so long as the man kept his weapon turned away from Fiyero.
"Take them downstairs. The sooner we get out of this little niche of hell out in the middle of nowhere the better." As he ordered his subordinates scurried to obey, taking me roughly by the arms and yanking me up to my feet, doing the same to Fiyero.
"I can stand on my own, dammit." I spat at the soldier who'd been ordered to me, clenching my hands into fists, but forcing myself to ease them back to the way they were, hanging limp at my sides. The soldier, a waxen, washed-out looking sort of man, was taken aback at my words; he hadn't expected me to speak at all, and he cringed at the sound, as if I could hex him to death by just aiming a comment in his direction.
::Weak-minded idiot.:: I thought, glaring stonily at him, watching him squirm under my gaze. ::Well, being a "witch" does have at least one advantage.::
"Well, so she isn't a mute after all."said the head of this twisted little party, glancing back at me, a cruel smile playing over his mouth."It'd be best if you kept your mouth shut, before I have to shut it for you." He fingered the barrel of his gun and looked at Fiyero, and I silenced.
I went meekly down the stairs despite the hate and self-blame roiling through me, wishing I hadn't reinforced the stairs the way I'd done last night. It would've been amusing if they'd fallen through the weak boards, and possibly would've given Fiyero and me a slight chance of escape; a head start away from them, if nothing else.
::If only I'd tried a little harder to See all this madness...I was so close yesterday...Why didn't I pay more attention to the little I did See? And now I'll probably never have the chance to try again...:: I thought. ::I acted as though I had all the time in the world, despite the Tiger's last words to me. What the hell was I thinking? And now, look where I've managed to get us.:: I looked over at Fiyero as the leading officer heaved the doors of the fortress open, my eyes pleading with him to forgive me. The fear in his eyes mirrored mine, and I hoped he could see how sorry I was to have failed to prevent this.
Soon enough I was being pushed roughly out into the early morning daylight, just managing to keep my balance enough to not fall on my face. The sky was turning from dawn pink to hazy blue, and the air had a chill to it, being early autumn as it was. I shivered a little in the breeze despite myself.
"Sir, should we mount and have them walk, or what?" asked a soldier I didn't recognize as one of those that'd been in the tower before.
The head of the party thought on it for a moment, then replied, "No, give them one of the horses. We want to make sure they aren't harmed any until we have explicit orders from the commander-in-chief. But it'll be easier to deal with them if we can guarantee they won't be able to fight." The man grabbed a few lengths of rope from the open saddlebag of the horse that appeared to belong to him, and tossed the coils to two other soldiers. The men commenced to seize my and Fiyero's wrists and secure them together in front of us, then commanded one of the horses to kneel so we'd be able to climb up onto it. I was first on it's back, Fiyero behind me. The extra rope attached to that which bound our hands was then secured to a metal ring on the saddle in an intricate knot the likes of which I'd never seen. Then the horse stood. I was hard pressed to keep my balance and was close to falling until Fiyero leaned forward slightly and nudged the horse into turning a certain way so I could steady myself. The horse was then tied behind one of the animals belonging to another soldier; they were most definitely not going to let us steer the creature ourselves.
"Keep your mouths shut and you'll be able to remain relatively painless for the time being." the leading officer said, walking his horse to the front and taking off.
We rode for the better part of the day, forced to listen to the obscene comments and raucous laughter of the soldiers. Fiyero leaned his forehead against the back of my shoulder and picked his face up after a moment or two, pressing a soft kiss to the back of my neck, a small comfort in this largely uncertain situation.
Later on, towards evening, the head of the soldiers slowed his steed until he was riding beside Fiyero and me.
"I don't believe I ever introduced myself." he addressed me. "You might remember me from a few years ago, Commander Cherrystone?"
"Oh, how could I forget you?" I snapped, "You're the one who had them all killed."
"And who, may I ask, might 'them all' be referring to?" he asked, a corner of his mouth twitching.
"You know very well who I mean." I spat, trying to control my rage.
"That's right, reign yourself in, witch. You don't know who you're dealing with." he muttered.
"And why should I care? I've done nothing to deserve this but breathe. You, sir, are more deserving of what I've been put through than anyone else alive."
"Oh?"
"You have terminated more innocent lives than I care to mention."
"And when have I ever killed an innocent person of my own accord? Tell me what I've done to deserve your wrath."
"You and your men slaughtered the family that used to live in that fortress! You my not have been the one who called for their deaths, but you did as you were bid with no regard for guilt or innocence or anything of the like!"
I felt Fiyero flinch and exhale heavily at my accusations of Cherrystone; he still needed time to heal from the shock of their deaths, and I wasn't helping that any. My heart went out to him, but I wasn't quite finished with Cherrystone just yet.
"When you have a superior the like of Oz's former Wizard you have no choice but to do as you're told! Guilt and innocence are irrelevant to whatever actions your superior calls for. And if I'm not mistaken, the man called for your death as well, witch. I'm just carrying out the orders that the ten-year-old girl he sent to rid Oz of you failed to execute!"
"So you have no feeling whatsoever toward who you kill or who you spare?"
"You can't care about who deserves to die and who doesn't when you're told to carry out orders!" his face stony, he set his eyes to bore through mine.
"You're not human." I said softly, shaking my head in disbelief, "You can't be human if you have no qualms about being the hand that stills someone's heart." I refused to speak any longer, turning my head away from Cherrystone and squeezing my eyes shut. He kicked his horse into moving and resumed his place at the front of the party.