Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Messa

Chapter 12 Punishments

Daine awoke with a start from her uneasy sleep. She'd spent the entire night worrying that Ozorne would catch her pair of friends before they were able to escape. She looked around trying to figure out what had woken her up. At her window was two songbirds giving off a shrill warning. Sure enough, two seconds later, in came Ozorne looking very upset and slamming the door.

"Where are they, you stupid Wrench?" he demanded, loudly, "Where are you hiding them?"

"Where are who?" Daine asked, timidly though she was completely aware of whom he was referring to.

"Don't play coy with me, you idiot!" He shouted, "I know you know where they are!"

Daine took in a ragged breath, "Who! I don't have any idea what you're talking about!"

"My nephew and his idiot teacher! Where are they!" Ozorne yelled grabbing a hold of her hard and shaking.

"I…I d-don't know…" Daine barely managed to get out.

"Oh, don't give me any of that," he said, roughly flinging her across the causing her to hit a bed post, hard. "I know you knew about my plan. You are the only person in this country who would try to prevent it."

"W-What plan? I don't know what you're talking about? I didn't even know Lindhall and Kaddar were missing." Daine lied through her teeth.

"Yeah, right, and you weren't seeing them secretly behind my back, either," Ozorne remarked in disbelief while advancing on her.

"I wasn't. I haven't seen them except at balls since that day."

"I know you have, Daine," Daine knew she was in trouble, he never used her real name. "You were caught by one of my spies. Did you really think I wouldn't find out about it?"

"It's a lie. We weren't going against you, we would never go against you."

"A lie!" he shouted grabbing hold of her again, "The only lie is what you are telling me. Guess what, though, that's going to change right now," Ozorne hit her with all he had causing her to cry out, "Where are they? You will tell me or you will pay the price."

"I…don't…know," Daine said in defiance. She'd rather die than tell him anything.

"LIAR!" He yelled at her and went at her with everything he had, physical strength as well as magical, "YOU…FILTHY…LYING…COMMON…WHORE…OF…A…WITCH. I…KNOW…YOU'RE…LYING!"

All Daine could do by this point was lay on the ground. She hurt too much to move a muscle. With each word, he'd zapped her with magic or kicked he as hard as he could. She was little more than a bloody pulp at the moment. Still, though, she still didn't tell him anything.

"So, you're still not saying anything, huh? Well, then I guess I'll have to do something more drastic then," Ozorne said going up and grabbing her wrist with the Acyle bracelet on it, "No, you while either tell me where they are in the next five seconds or you will lose your precious ability to talk to animals for the next month. Five…Four…Three…Two…Are you sure you want to do this? Okay, then…One," b And with that, the world went black for Daine.

When she woke back up, it was to Messa tending her wounds. She let out a loud yell.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Daine. I didn't mean to hurt you, it's just the only way to heal these wounds."

"It's okay, Messa. How long have I been out?"

"About an hour. I'm sorry, I should have done something, anything. Then you wouldn't be hurt this bad," Messa said, hanging her head.

"Messa, how many times do I have to tell you, you can't help or you'll end up worse then I will because you are expendable as a slave? I'm not as the future empress, at least until I give him children."

"Gods, don't even say that," Messa replied, shuddering at the very thought of what Ozorne's children would be like. Just then, Daine started shaking, hard. It worried Messa. "Daine, what's going on? What's wrong?"

"Quiet…It's so quiet. It's never been this quiet. Not in my whole life has it been this quiet. I don't like it. I don't like the silence. I feel so alone."

"Daine, what are you talking about? It's just the same as alwa…" realization hit, "he took away you powers. Oh, Daine, I'm so sorry." Messa said, drawing Daine into her so she could cry all she wanted. Daine just pushed her off and ran outside.

"Do you hear me? Can you understand?" she yelled on her way to the stables, scaring hundreds of birds into flight. She ran straight to the stall that held Cloud. She threw her arms around the startled mare's neck and started to cry. She kept saying the same things over and over: "He took them away…I can't hear you…It's so quiet." The last thing she said before she fell asleep and slept the rest of the day and night was, "I wish Numair was here." The fight with Ozorne, losing her powers, and crying had taken a lot of energy out of her in a very short time frame. Messa decided to leave her alone and went about normal business, though kept messing things up because she was so worried.

When Daine woke up, all her animal friends surrounded her. This made her realize that although Ozorne had taken away her ability to hear them, he hadn't taken away her connection to them. That would always be there. This gave her hope and the will to see this month through. She would get through this month with her head held high and prove to Ozorne that he couldn't keep her down.

A/N: Thanks to all the following for their reviews, I really appreciate that you take the time to write them and they brighten up my days:

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