CHAPTER 2

I woke up one night in a cold sweat in a strange stone room. As I surveyed my surroundings I found I was apparently in a dungeon of some sort. I attempted to stand and as I did so felt some slight resistance and heard the metal on stone scraping of chains. I stood and looked around the dank dark cell, I was very dizzy for some reason. My leg had apparently healed already which led me to believe I had been down here for at least a month or two unconscious. I was surprised I was still alive. Hunger pains suddenly shot through my stomach and I buckled over, my vision blurred as I tried to focus through the intense darkness. I could not even see five feet in front of me when my vision wasn't blurred, now I could hardly see my hand in front of my own face.

I fell to my knees and onto my side as the hunger pains slowly died away. My vision came slowly back into focus as I slowly looked around and concentrated on focusing through the dark. As I clutched my stomach I felt cold iron clasps around my wrists and waist that I had not noticed before. I also noticed that my clothes had changed, I was now dressed in a rough burlap outfit. My senses were slowly starting to return to me now and I sat up woozily. After my eyes had focused a bit more I could barely make out the outline of iron bars in front of me. The dank smell of rotting flash and blood assaulted my nose. My ears were still ringing heavily and the noise blocked out all others except for the elevated sound of my own heartbeat inside of my chest.

After a few hours of surveying my area and trying to think clearly a small light came from the wall a few feet outside of my cell. It was a doorway and somebody was coming towards it with a light. The yellow orangish glow slowly began to grow brighter and brighter until it shone from the edges of the door like a lamp. There was small pause as I strained my still ringing ears to pick up some sot of sound. Mere seconds later the heavy wood and iron door swung open and the bright light burst into the room. I covered my eyes instinctively for a few moments as I let my eyes adjust. After a few minutes I was able to look up again, but the person had already passed, while the light was coming from a torch the person was carrying was still in the area I took the chance to look around.

In the cell directly across from me I saw the mutilated figure of what seemed was once a very beautiful woman. She had been beaten and cut and whipped and starved to near death from the looks of her. She was unusually thin and had cuts and bruises all over her. I could not tell exactly who it was or what their face was like but I could tell they had black hair, though it was matted and strung over their face. She was dressed in brown burlap clothes nearly identical to mine. There was a noise to my side and I looked over. The person in the cell next to me was coughing and spitting up blood. I looked for the person that had come in a few minutes ago and noticed they were making their way back towards the door.

I tried to think of a good way to escape while I had the chance butt my brain was nearly blank. I noticed the person had placed the torch on the wall and from that I deducted they would be staying a bit. As the person came closer I noticed they were masked in a black executioners mask. I decided this was probably a safety measure taken by the people who did this so if anyone did escape they wouldn't be revealed. The executioner move to my cell and looked in at me, soon afterwards the person let off a low crackling laugh followed by a harsh and unforgiving voice that I could hardly make out because of the ringing in my ears "Finally awake I see, good, you are just in time to see something special."

I didn't like the way that sounded but I continued to watch. As the person stood in front of me I took the chance to observe the executioners appearance. The person wore heavy black boots and had the build of a man but I could not let that rule out the possibility of a large woman. This person had on a tan long sleeved shirt and black gloves. The shirt was apparently spattered in dried blood that more than likely refused to come out of the clothing when washed. The executioner also more a pair of black pants with a black leather apron over it that was also spattered in dried blood. On this executioners hip was a large dagger that had a hilt decorated with large emeralds on the very end, though one emerald was missing and had been replaced by a fake one that was very discolored. The handle itself was gold and was sheathed in a decorated leather scabbard with burned engravings and a small clasp to keep the dagger from falling to the side and falling out of the sheath completely.

The executioner turned away from me and I let a small sigh of relief escape my lips. Hoping that this meant I would live to escape another day, or at least attempt an escape. The person moved the cell across from mine and as they did I noticed that the person inside was shackled tightly to the wall and sitting down. She was shackled by her waist directly to the corner and her ankles were shackled tight to the ground. The only thing free was her neck. The executioner banged one fist against the bars and yelled at the poor woman, "WAKE UP BITCH!"

The woman slowly looked up at the person and spit in the executioners face from where she was. It was a considerable distance but she did it just as well as if she was directly in this persons face. The executioner growled out a few incomprehensible curses before wiping the spit away and reaching for a set of keys. The executioner opened the gate and walked in, saying something nearly inaudible for me, "Your going to die now bitch!", and then the person pulled the decorated dagger from its sheath and held it to the womans throat.

The woman slowly looked up and caught eyes with me. Even through the dim light of the torch I could see the most stunning emerald eyes I had ever seen in my life. I knew instantly it was her and I jumped from the ground trying to scream and yell at the person with the dagger but no sound came from my throat. My breath was suddenly restricted as if invisible hands had clamped around my throat. My body became incredibly weak to the point where I fell to my knees. My vision blurred and my head swam. My ears began to ring even more at this point and sweat seemed to be rolling off of my body everywhere. I tried to struggle but failed. I was beginning to get desperate and I fought harder. I tried to get my vision for focus again as I started to black out. I was able to focus enough to see the executioner drag the bloody blade of the dagger over her throat and push her head back to the allow the blood to spray from the wound with each pump of her heart. I panicked and tried to scream again but my strength had left me completely now. I felt my body falling and I felt as if it took me forever to get to the ground. I watched as the hard stone floor rushed up to greet me even though it seemed to be in slow motion. I felt my body hit the floor and blacked out completely.