The rats weren't good company. They stole Quinn's food, made scratching noises, and were even dirtier than her. But they were company nonetheless.
Quinn missed Valor. She wished she could just whistle for him to come, and help her out of this shithole. There was no light in her cell apart from the faint flickering of the torch in the corridor. She had no way of knowing which time of the day it was, apart from her observation of the guards' patroling routine.
Every time she heard the sound of their boots on the paved ground, she started trembling like a leaf. Maybe Jarvan's threat was enough to keep them away, but Quinn's body wasn't ready to forget the beating and intrusion they had forced on her. Her neck was still painful from the bites, and Quinn was anxious she would keep the scars for life.
Quinn had overheard the guards speak about the Noxian prisoner. They kept him alive for information, on order of the King. She ignored what kind of abuse he had been through, but he was still there. There was hope. This new knowledge helped her in not breaking completely.
Someone stopped in front of the door of her cell. Through the bars of the small window, the person was watching her. Quinn stopped moving and breathing like a rat caught in the act. Physical pain was already automatically rushing in her limbs, bringing back the fear of being hurt again, and again.
"It's a shame you can't come to the execution." Quinn recognized Kendrick's voice, the guard who abused her, while she was staring at the tiles of the floor.
The word execution awakened a deep terror in Quinn. For the first time, she willingly spoke to her torturer.
"Who?" Quinn was struck by the hoarseness of her voice. It was so broken it sounded like it didn't belong to her.
"Hmm..." Kendrick reveled in her anguish. "I might tell you... Or not."
"Why not?"
"Maybe I want something from you." His lecherous smile made Quinn want to vomit.
"I don't have anything left. You took all I had."
Kendrick snickered.
"Maybe if you lick my boots I tell you. You can still do that, right?"
Quinn had a small, lifeless laugh.
"I have no guarantee you tell me after I do it."
"That's right, you don't." The vicious man was having so much fun it was ugly to watch.
Quinn didn't answer, and turned herself away from the man. She put her forehead on her knees and tried to forget his presence with what little strength she had left. But it wasn't to Kendrick's liking.
"Was it good when he fucked you, filthy whore?"
Quinn closed her eyes.
"I bet you couldn't find a decent Demacian man. Such a shame... Do they have a bigger one in Noxus?"
Quinn didn't want to show any reaction to his insults. She knew this guy was sick in the head, and wanted to find his pleasure in her misery.
"I must admit he's a tough one. Didn't speak a word yet... It'll be all the more fun to break him. I can't wait to see him cry like a baby. Too bad you won't see."
He marked a pause, and stuck his face to the bars of the door's window.
"He's not so pretty to look at anymore. Sorry darling... You might need to find yourself a Demacian cock now... Why not my..."
"Ken, come, it's starting soon!" Called him a voice from the top of the stairs.
Quinn could hear a large group of guards were headed to the execution. She still had no idea if this was Talon, but according to what Kendrick had said, they were still keeping him. Someone else was being executed on this day.
Kendrick blew a kiss in Quinn's direction as if to mark a sickening promise, and rejoined his colleagues. When she knew she was finally left alone, Quinn cried. She was surprised to see she still had tears left, but at least she didn't show them to the filthy man. Her body shook in despair over the thought of Talon being tortured endlessly.
Time was getting long. Although Quinn had been there for some days already, she had gotten used to the patterns of the guards and to the recurrent fear of being harmed again in their presence... But there was not a living soul in the dungeon. And no one had come back.
Quinn was weak, but could still stand. She walked up to the small opening in her door, and tried, for the first time in days, to take knowledge of her surroundings. The torches had been left there for so long that their light was dying. Had the dungeon been abandoned? Had she been abandoned?
Suddenly, a wisp of air touched her face as she heard the sound of a door being opened. It was soon followed by footsteps in the staircase, and faint voices. But they were not the loud voices of the guards...
"... Must be there."
"Don't worry Lux, we'll keep looking."
Quinn froze. So this feminine voice belonged to her friend? What the hell was she even doing in this dark and gloomy dungeon?
"There!"
The footsteps had stopped in front of her cell. Quinn made a few steps back, unsure of what was to come. A vivid light appeared at once, but it was clearer and brighter than the light of a torch. Through the bars, Quinn saw it was coming fom Lux' hand.
"Quinn! You're there!"
It could be heard in her voice that Lux had cried. Quinn didn't have the strength to answer her, still taken aback by the strangeness of the situation.
"Quinn, walk back." Said a masculine voice she had never heard before.
She obeyed.
All of a sudden, the lock and handle of the iron door exploded. Quinn instinctively protected her face with her weak arms from the blast of the explosion.
Soon after the smoke fell down, Lux burst in the room and held Quinn in her arms. The familiar perfume of the blonde instantly brought back memories of what Quinn's life was before. Lux was freely crying, hugging her too tightly for what she was able to bear.
"Oh Quinn... I'm so sorry you've been through all this..." Lux passed a reassuring hand in Quinn's hair, although she was probably reassuring herself first of all.
"Come on, Lux. We don't have much time on our hands."
Quinn had indeed never seen the man standing in the destroyed doorway. He was clad in rags, and his wrists were enclosed in two large chained cuffs made of stone. He had long hair, a beard, and the most determined eyes that Quinn had ever seen.
"Who... Are you?"
"His name is Sylas... I can't tell you everything now, Quinn. We must go."
Lux helped Quinn up while Sylas left the cell first.
"Wait... Lux... I can't leave now... Talon..."
"We know, Quinn. We're getting him too."
Quinn's heartbeat increased. Talon was being saved. She was going to see him again.
They walked to the end of the corridor. Not a single torch was burning there, and Lux created a new beam of light from the very palm of her hands to illuminate their path. Quinn decided not to ask any questions now, and she watched as Sylas performed the same explosion of the cell's door with his bare hands.
She wasn't the first to walk in the cell. She followed Lux, and almost fainted when she saw what her friend's light revealed...
The man before them was kneeling on the ground, his arms held up by thick metallic chains. His head hung low and made him appear unconscious. But it is the state of his backside that appalled Quinn the most.
There was not a single inch of intact skin left. He had been struck so many times and so harshly with a lash that the long gashes streaking his back were still bleeding. Tears came to Quinn's eyes as she fell to her knees right next to Talon. She didn't even dare touch him, for she was afraid she would revive his pain.
"My love..." She whispered in his ear.
Talon's eyes remained closed. But Quinn noticed his chest was still heaving. It was even surprising that he remained silent for so long during the torture. She remembered his screams of pain with a shiver. Those were tones of his voice she should have never heard.
Sylas brought his burning palms to the chains around Talon's wrists and made them melt. Quinn could tell it took him an immense concentration to produce the right amount of heat. When Talon's hands went free, he almost fell down. But before Quinn could catch him, his own hands reacted and supported his weight. He hissed when he lifted himself up.
His eyes found Quinn's. They bore the trace of the excruciating pain he had been through the last days, but a small flame seemed to be burning deep inside them too.
"Quinn."
If her own voice was hoarse, then Talon's was almost completely destroyed. Quinn brought her hand to his cheek and gently caressed him with her thumb.
"What have they done to you..." She blew out.
Talon didn't answer. He furrowed his brow, and tried to stand up on his legs. Quinn and Sylas helped him up while Lux lit the way.
They walked in silence through the dungeon. Quinn was always panicked by the slightest noise: she expected guards to be waiting for them at any corner. But they never saw anyone... The dungeon was empty.
"Where are the guards?" Quinn asked.
"Uhm... They are..." Lux started timidly.
"Dead." Sylas simply said.
"Dead? How?" Quinn didn't believe her ears.
Sylas turned his head to her.
"I killed them."
"You... All of them?" It was hard for Quinn to talk, but she absolutely wanted to know.
"The filthy pigs wanted to kill me and my magic. I simply gave them a taste of it." Sylas spat with hatred.
Quinn knew her instinct wanted her to be scared of the man, but after the horrors they put her and Talon through, she couldn't find a part of her who still cared about the lives of those nameless guards.
"It's a bit my fault too..." guiltily said Lux.
"No, darling. It's thanks to you."
"But most of them were innocent... They were simply doing their job..." Lux started sobbing.
The more the light of the outside approached, the more Quinn saw colours... And Lux' eyes were red from all the tears she had shed before even coming here. Quinn also thought how proud the deranged Kendrick had been about doing his job. She didn't want to tell Lux though.
"Not as innocent as you think, little light." Answered Sylas. Quinn could tell he was sparing her a lot of the truth.
When they were finally out of the dungeon, Quinn was blinded by the sunlight. Her dirty skin instantly felt less uncomfortable when the familiar heat touched it again.
"He needs medical care." Quinn said when she looked at Talon.
"I can take you to a healer. It's a few hours from here." Said Sylas. "After this, I'll have to go."
Quinn didn't ask where. She wanted to be out of this mass-murder situation as fast as she could.
"Where is Valor?"
"I sent him to Uwendale." Lux said. "He's with your parents."
Quinn took her friend's hand.
"Thank you Lux. Thank you for everything." She paused, and looked at her thoughtfully. "Where will you go now?"
"Sylas... He's the man I told you about." Lux was blushing. "I will follow him... Wherever he goes."
"So... We won't see each other again?'
"Don't speak such nonsense! Of course we will." Lux patted Quinn's back.
"Let's get going. This place will soon be swarming with soldiers." Sylas warned.
They were soon out of the castle. By the side of the road, four hourses were waiting for them. They all had the Crownguard emblem on them. Quinn understood Lux had taken them from her own family's stables, and then wondered how much the blonde had to sacrifice on this day. Probably as much as her.
Lux and Sylas helped Talon and her get on the horses. They both had been deprived of food and sleep for far too long for their muscles to be strong enough. The horses started trotting, and the small group disappeared on a forest trail.
The hours of horse riding had been more painful than Quinn had expected. She had never liked horses that much, and though the one she was riding was well-behaved, its movements awakened the soreness of her body. She worriedly looked back at Talon. He seemed to have enough consciousness to maneuver his own horse, which was following the others anyway.
The Sun slowly lowered behind the trees, and the sky took a dark orange colour. They came in sight of a small cottage hidden in a thick grove. The chimney blew out volutes of smoke, and martin birds chirped under its thatched roof.
Sylas knocked on the door hastily. A woman in her fifties opened it, and warmly smiled when she saw the man. She had frizzy red hair and bright eyes. She then saw the rest of the group, and her face fell apart in a second.
"Sylas... What happened?"
"I can't tell you now, Vianna. I'm in a hurry. Can you help these two while I'm away?" he designated Quinn and Talon.
"You only need to ask. But Sylas... Dear boy... Don't do anything stupid."
Sylas had a sad smile.
"I had no choice. You'll see it's for the best."
Vianna pinched the bridge of her nose in worry.
"If only you had listened to me..."
Sylas closed his face to her.
"I did what needed to be done long ago."
Lux clenched Sylas' arm. Quinn was surprised with how protective the shy blonde suddenly became of her man. Sylas bid goodbye to Vianna and the two of them, and Lux tightly held Quinn, pressing against her hurting ribs. She let a few tears escape her eyes before leaving with Sylas at nightfall. The strange woman then turned to Quinn.
"So... Will you tell me what happened to you?" Vianna asked Quinn.
"I will... In time. My... friend... Needs some urgent care."
Vianna eyed Quinn curiously.
"Alright. Come inside, let's see what I can do."
[A/N: I love it when I have enough time to write. I'm curious about your feedback about this chapter and the previous one. It's taking a direction you maybe didn't expect. Lots of love.]