Beginning: Victoria
Chapter 22
The man steps forward slowly with the same grin cracking on the corner of his lips as in the dungeon forest. Sira's breathing is heavy; she is frightened. Why can't she die in peace? What does this man want? She wants him to leave her home, but doesn't have the strength to remove him.
"Funny," he says. "I always see you in such a pitiful state."
"Funny..." says Sira rolling her head to the right against the wall.
"Why don't you fight it?" he asks.
Fight it? She wonders in her silent outrage.She can barely move.
"You f ought it last time," says the man smiling. "You f ought me."
"What do you want?" asks Sira panting a little.
"Your spirit," says the man bluntly.
"What?" asks Sira... could he mean?
"I came here to gain something else, but you were a particularly interesting and surprising find," continues the man. "I didn't know what you were capable of then, or what I should do, so I backed away. It's always best to be cautious when dealing with your kind."
"My kind...?" she asks.
"Don't play the fool with me," says the man. "Or is it that you are not aware of your own potential?"
"You mean the dragon spirit?" asks Sira looking the man in the eyes coldly.
"Smart girl," says the man. "Although I would not have been surprised if you were completely oblivious to your true nature."
Sira groans as a pain strikes her side; she coughs.
"Now I will ask you kindly," he continues. "Show me your spirit, or I will have to force it out."
The man leans down on his knees in front of Sira and cups her face in his hands.
"Why would I?" she asks.
"If you do," he says. "Your death will be swift. If not... It will be long and painful."
"Why?" asks Sira.
"Because I want it," says the man standing. "I need it."
"In that case," says Sira. "You can burn in hell you murderous fiend."
"I'm sorry you had to choose that road," chuckles the man. "Actually... I'm not all that sorry."
Sira feels something press against her stomach and cries out in pain. She looks down to see the man pressing his foot against a wound on her side. The pain is overwhelming, she can hardly breathe.
"A dragon's spirit can be summoned 3 ways," he says whispering in her ear. "One, it can be called upon if you are able to completely control it. Two, it can come in a moment where you are overcome by a very strong emotion of sadness or anger. Finally, three, it can come in a moment of extreme pain and desperation. A survival instinct. Now let me tell you a story. And this story is relevant, little girl. Because you see, it is your societies own fault that I will torture you until you release it. I know you have not been taught in the ways of the Dragon Knight; therefore, the first way of getting you to release it is futile. I need to resort to more… harsh measures."
He leans away from her and uses his foot to knock her onto her side.
"Do you know what the leaders of this land have been doing for years?" he asks with a cackle.
He swings his foot and plunges it toes first into the spear girl's stomach. She curls up and coughs, feeling the tinkle of blood slide from the corner of her mouth.
"Do you know what they do to people like you?" he says.
The man kneels next to Sira and takes a blade from his cloak.
"They kill you," he hisses, his lips almost touching her ear. "They fear you…"
Sira sees a flash of her father's funeral service, but remains silent. She couldn't speak even if she had wanted to. She feels like she will be sick; an overwhelming feeling moves up her throat. The man slides his knife blade along her throat scratching the surface enough to make it bleed. She groans, trying to push the man away but he grips her hair and pulls her closer.
"They kill you because they fear you," he says looking her in the eyes. "They will kill your entire blood line to make sure there is no impure blood flowing freely in this world... Do you have family?"
Sira's anger rises. Her father... She can hear her mothers voice in her head as she looks passed the man towards a broken wooden table where she once sat with her family for dinner each night. "Your father f aught bravely against the fiends, but it was too much for him to handle alone. He was a proud man, he continued to fight... until the end." She remembers the distant look and blank tone her mother had that day, as though she had rehearsed saying those lines.
Is she crying? Is the man watching her cry? Is he enjoying it? Sira is angered by her thoughts of this man taking such pleasure in her suffering The man's grip loosens and she watches him stand. He kicks her once again, this time she rolls onto her stomach, resting her face against the cold dirt floor. Her lips lined with blood soak up the dust; she can taste it; the blood and dirt. The man is talking, but she doesn't hear him. He presses his foot down on her back; she can't breath. He releases and she gasps for air.
"Stop," she manages to say.
"Aw," says the man. "Does it hurt? Imagine the pain your predecessors felt. Imagine the pain your family felt. Does it hurt more?"
She wants it to end. She wants this man gone. She wants him dead, but she is powerless. She can hear something familiar... a drum beating in the distance. Her eyes widen; it's not a drum. She can feel her heart beating strongly against her chest. How can someone be as cruel as this man? What was the purpose of his massacre? Her heart is beating, beating violently.
"Why did you do it?" Sira growls. "Why did you kill all those people?"
"Oh dear," says the man. "That was not my plan either. It was an exchange you see. I freed the beast in the underground sanctuary and before he would do my bidding, he asked for vengeance. I allowed it. A small price to pay if I do say so myself."
"Your bidding?" she asks.
"Ah, you do not know who I am," says the man smiling. "I am what the kind folk in Ossyria call a skill eater. Strange name... I know. My people need a little assistance; the beast will provide it… So will your spirit."
The man can sense Sira's anger and presses his foot against her wound again.
A familiar feeling is taking over Sira's limbs. She fights it; she doesn't want to give him what he wants. As she struggles to calm herself, her heart continues to pound erratically. She closes her eyes and her breathing rapidly increases. 'Stop' she whispers. She thinks her chest will explode. 'Stop' she says again. She can hear the man cackling at her attempts to calm herself. It's futile... The man plunges a knife into her stomach and a flush of relief spreads through her body. She opens her eyes with burning fury to behold her vision once again stained with the color of blood.
