This is Prompt No. 78-Air
Mitchie gasped as her whole body was submerged in the cold water. She struggled against the hands that held her, fighting a momentary sense of panic as she realized that they didn't intend to pull her from the trough. She twisted around and bucked, feeling her feet connect with something relatively soft. The hands that held her plunged her into the trough deeper for a moment, and then pulled her out. Mitchie spluttered, gasping in air as quickly as she could. She looked around wildly and found George hunched over, gasping as he held her as far away from him as he could. She grinned momentarily as she realized that she had dealt a hard blow to his stomach.
"Who are you working for?" Lonnie asked, suddenly appearing in front of Mitchie's face. She pulled away from him as far as her neck would physically allow, and then hissed, "I'll never tell either of you."
"Fine," Lonnie hissed back, and then he nodded to George, who slammed Mitchie back under the water, holding her there until she had almost run out of air.
She was pulled up, gasping again for oxygen she desperately needed, and Lonnie tried again. "Who are you working for?"
Mitchie shook her head. "Never," she cried, but the last few phonetics of the word were cut off as George submerged her again in the water. Mitchie tried desperately to press against the bottom of the trough, hoping to use her weight to take her to the surface, but George held her down, using two hands when she began to gain an advantage.
With her lungs beginning to spasm, Mitchie was drug from the water, held aloft by George and feeling very much like a drowned rat. She was sure that she looked like one. She coughed, emptying her lungs of some of the extra water. "Ugh," she muttered, groaning as her brain began to feel waterlogged.
"One more time," Lonnie said, coming to stand in front of her and grabbing her by the neck of her now-ruined dress. Momentarily, Mitchie had the ironic thought that she was glad that this had been one of her rental dresses and not one of the ones she had brought. "Who sent you?"
Mitchie barely resisted the urge to spit in his face. "Someone who you will never know," she told him smugly.
This time, it was Lonnie who plunged her into the water, holding her down until Mitchie's vision became dotted with black spots. She fought in the murky water, snapping her eyes shut as her head hit the hard bottom of the trough. She struggled against him, but Lonnie continued to hold her down. Mitchie panicked once again, sure that he was going to drown her. "Oh Shane," she thought, "I love you!"
But at the very end, when Mitchie was sure her lungs could not hold out for another moment, Lonnie dragged her out from the trough. He threw her to the ground, and she lay, coughing and spluttering, taking in greedy gulps of air. She twisted, avoiding putting pressure on her leg, and she coughed up a generous amount of water.
George bent down, and Mitchie's eyes flickered down below his waist, judging how far she would have to lash out, and just how long it would take her. He saw her gaze and quickly moved up closer to her head, making it almost impossible for her to strike at him. "Just tell us where you were sent from, and we'll stop. We might even arrange to have you 'escape,'" he told her, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
For a moment, Mitchie hesitated. She could give him a false address. She could lead them to some out of the way place, and then she would be free to go home, to see her family! But then she realized by the grin that Lonnie was desperately trying to hide as he watched her hesitate, that they would never let her go.
"That's betraying your queen," she said carefully.
Lonnie shrugged. "Sometimes there's a means to an end," he said. "She's helpful, until we need something else, then we'll move on."
Mitchie muttered a name under her breath that was neither foul nor complimentary, and George cried, "Hey!" He moved to backhand her, but Lonnie stopped him with a laugh.
"I've never heard a woman say that before," he said, chuckling.
Mitchie coughed, bringing forth more water, and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "What can I say?" she asked sarcastically. "You bring out the best in me."
Lonnie grinned and shook his head. "Wildcat," he muttered.
George glared at her for a moment. "Who sent you," he persisted.
Mitchie looked him squarely in the eyes and said, "I'm not telling you."
Obviously the one with a quicker temper, George let out a roar and leapt towards Mitchie. She curled herself up and raised her fists, ready to attack even though in the position she was in, she was almost completely unprotected. When she realized that George was not aiming for her face, but for her leg, Mitchie closed her eyes and sucked in enough air so that she could hold her breath indefinitely.
But the blow never came. At that moment, there was a crash from inside the stables, metal continuously clanging against metal, and George halted in his attack. Mitchie opened her eyes to see him and Lonnie staring at the stables, their eyes fearful and nervous. "Soldiers!" George whispered.
"Let's get out of here!" Lonnie cried.
They each grabbed one of Mitchie's arms and hauled her back into the castle, making their way down to the dungeon as fast as they could. Neither of them noticed as the stable boy stepped out of the shadows, hands crossed over his chest, and watched as they returned to their domain with their prisoner. When he was sure that they weren't coming back, he turned carefully and picked up all the metal horse buckets he had clanged together and set them back in their proper places before disappearing once more into the shadows.
A/N: To those of you who asked, the boy is NOT Shane, but he has his own special part to play...! What's going to happen next? Review and tell me!!! Thanks so much to all of you who reviewed last chapter!!! I got back from taking special admitting college tests to find all your reviews in my inbox! So awesome!! You rock! :D
