23 Prisoner

"Here you are." Said a sadistic voice. She could feel it nearing towards her hiding place. It was sooner or later that they would end this cat and mouse game, but Anna kept hoping for a miracle. She kept hoping but it was all in vain.

From behind the thick red curtain, a disfigured creature appeared. Its eyes sardonically glared at Anna, entertained by her futile struggles. You could say that the rat enjoyed playing this game a little too much.

"Let's get you back." Said the rat while a green mist covered Anna restraining her movements. She found herself floating inches above the grey concrete floor. She tried yelling but this was also useless.

"There is no point in struggling my Princess. You are powerless. Garbage as you will always be useless." Said the rat while they were returning to the dungeon.

On the way there, a small boy, around fourteen years old almost bumped into Anna. With a surprised look, the boy dropped to his knees and bowed.

"Even this worm before us is more precious than you. Do you know why?" asked the rat while glancing disgusted at the boy with light brunette hair.

Anna did not know why the rat was so talkative and why it wanted to let her know why a peasant was more precious than a princess but since she could not utter a word her troubled eyes spoke for her.

"You are a curse!" spat the rat but he continued. "Mixtures like you should not exist in this world. You disgust even the most benevolent of the Gods. You are not even worthy of our blessings." The rat became even angrier than before.

Anna looked at the kid who dared to look back at her. Soon, he lowered his head and began shaking as soon as the rat mentioned him. He was very afraid of this rat.

'So, he is also a God' thought Anna. Maybe he was like Angus or maybe even more powerful. Knowing that Angus did not even present himself in front of her in this time of peril Anna decided to forget him and his big mouth.

He never helped her when she needed it. Why would he help her now?

The rat seemed not to know what she was thinking, but it ignored her so he did not see her troubled gaze. Anna did not know why there was a god on the earth since all magical creatures died after the Great Vendetta.

According to Angus, none of the great Gods that humans revered had any interaction except when blessing a child at birth. Even this act did not require their presence, only a priest who can see what the child's powers are. They essentially did nothing; it even begged the question as to why humans even think of Gods so highly when they do not seem to care if they die or not.

'Do all priest have a similar ring to this one? Or is it just this one?' Anna pondered on this subject since she could not move.

The priest does not seem to have any magical power. But it could also be the fact that he is too high for Anna to detect. She decided to be cautious and not risk annoying the rat again. Not for today at least.

She had seen what happened to the man earlier and she did not plan on following him to death.

"Ho-ho you took your time." Said the old man sarcastically. He was still standing near the table with his hands crossed while his index finger was tapping his elbow. He was visibly irritated but seemed to have calmed down a bit since earlier. Seeing Anna effortless coming his way, his smile reached his ears, showing his crooked teeth.

"Now then princess let's get you readied up." Said the man tying her to the table. Anna could not even resist nor speak so she helplessly looked at the ceiling.

~

It has been days since Anna was tied to the same table. She could not feel her legs and she could barely move her wrists. She lost track of time, days and nights were the same to her now.

Every time the old man came thought the oak door of the chamber, right foot first Anna lost a piece of her sanity. She lost all hope that her guards, her maids or even Pedro will find her. Heck! She was in the middle of God knows where. There was no way to find her, she did not even go outside. Not once.

She was barely fed anything, just enough for her not to die but not something to properly feed her growing body. She was made to do chores in the dungeon, never the upper levels of the church.

At some point throughout the day he would make her stop doing chores and place her back on the table using the rats magic. He seemed to be conducting experiments on Anna. He would often place magic gems around her, humming something in an unknown language but it will always fail. No matter what he did it always seemed to fail.

"You wrench! You can't even do this right!" yelled the man while grabbing Anna by the hair and tossing her in a corner on the floor. Anna laid there, unable to move she closed her eyes and passed out.

The rat next to him sat in thought not saying anything. He could not figure out why the experiment was not working. They tried it so many times on other kids and it worked. However, they never lasted more than two hours after which they will explode or dissipate into nothing.

"It should work on her." murmured the man.

Anna, on the other hand, did not even accept the magic they infused into her. No, rather it would enter her body, but it would be sucked into something and never resurface into her body. She should be in pain every time they did another experiment, but Anna lay there on the table without even flinching.

"Does she not feel anything?" asked the rat looking at Anna with suspicion.

"What does that mean?" asked the priest coming closer to the rat. He looked like he had lost his mind and sanity trying to make Anna the successful experiment. They knew what would happen if they don't finish this in time or even worst…if they fail.

"Does this mean she is no good? We…We are ruined. She will kill us." laughed the priest while tears were running down his wrinkled face.

"Shut up!" roared the rat. They will not fail. They cannot…

"We are ruined! We are! Haha-" a green whiplash sent the priest crashing into the wall. The wall shook for a when the old man landed, and small pieces of debris fell on the ground. The priest laid there not moving. Silence settled in.

"I still have time." Said the rat, reassuring himself. Nodding his head, the rat left the room, leaving Anna and the priest alone.

A long time after the rat left, a young-looking man entered the room. Cautiously he watched his every step, trying to make little no noise and consequently attracting attention. The boy looked feeble but was in a better state than Anna was when she was awake. He had a pale long face with big round eyes the colour of autumn leaves and a small nose filled with freckles.

He was dressed in a brown pair of shirt and trousers that were sizes smaller than him. The long trousers did not cover more than half his calves, and the shirt which would have been white a long time ago, it now had a yellowish tint to it.

The boy firstly checked on the priest. Tilting his head, the boy took a better look at the old man who had confined him there for more than three months. He crouched next to him and tilted his head brushing aside some of his long hair. He placed two fingers near his nose and quickly retracted them in terror. He was shocked that the man had survived such a hit. The young boy retreated a couple of steps his face pale as a sheet of paper.

"How?" asked the boy in a timid voice. At this point a figure moved slightly. His head darted towards the source of the commotion, only to find Anna struggling to lift her arm towards him. Her pitiful appearance distressed even the boy who had seen the terrors of this prison.

Her hair had not been washed since she left the port and had lost so much weight it was surprising that she was still alive. The wound the man had inflicted upon her body did not show signs of recovery even months after they had appeared.

"he-lp" said Anna with a broken voice. She saw the boy that entered the room, but she was not sure if she was seeing things or if the boy was present in the room.

She could not feel anything, so she was not sure where she was now. When she lifted her gaze and saw the same old celling she had seen for the past days, she knew she had still not died.

"Are you alright?" whispered the boy inching closer to her. He put his hand on her forehead. She was burning, while beads of sweat formed on her ghastly face.

Anna slowly closed her eyes as she could not utter a single word. Her voice had broken down slowly over these past few days due to the lack of water.

The boy took something out of his front pocket. It was a worn-out waterskin, but it had what Anna needed the most. Water.

He lifted her head and gently placed the waterskin near her dried lips. He drank the water, soothing her dried throat. It burned her throat and Anna started coughing soon after drinking a few gulps.

"Cough-cough!" Anna turned her head away from the boy as she tried to endure the pain.

"You need to drink this. It's good for you." Said the boy with a timid voice but did not dare to move Anna's head out of fear it might break.

"No-can't…" said Anna trough coughs. The boy glanced at the old man afraid that he had woken up from the commotion. Fortunately, he was still down and not moving an inch. The boy directed his gaze back on Anna and laid her head back down on the stone with the utmost care.

A pained expression clouded his face while he reached for something else form his pockets. It was a slice of bread, that was mouldy in a corner. It was his ratio for today, but Anna needed it more than him.

He broke the mouldy side and placed it in his mouth. He chewed on it while he broke a better piece for Anna. As with the water, he placed it on her dried lips and let her chew on it making sure she was not chocking.

"Come on, this is the last bit." Said the boy while he placed the last piece of bread in her hands. By now Anna could somewhat move her arms, although in a lethargic way.

"Thank you." Whispered Anna and quickly ate the bread. This boy sat beside her while she ate, taking care of her as a sibling would.

"No need to thank me. Just get better soon." Said the boy hurriedly.

"Hmm?" asked Anna confused.

"I found a way out of here. The other kids plan on leaving in a fortnight. The church will be busy with the preparation of the Emperor birthday." Replied the boy with a pained smile. Finally, they would be able to escape.

He knew that there had been numerous attempts at escaping but not everyone managed. Until now he did not have the courage. Seeing how the rat treated the kids as nothing more than dirt, he knew what would happen to him if he got caught attempting to escape.

"Emperor's birthday?" is it winter already? This means Anna had spent more than a couple of weeks as she first counted. Since she was passing out often, she would only wake up when the old man forced her to. She lost all sense of time, but she did not imagine that so much time had passed since she saw the light of the sun.

"Yes! Are you not familiar with the celebrations?" asked the boy curiously.

She was accustomed to the traditions; however, she had never attended her father's celebration party. She had improved her relationship with her dad, but she was still not allowed to ball. Her father still did not think Anna was mature enough to attend such parties. Her sister was going, at least during the day, but Anna was thought to have a bad personality so she was never invited.

"Oh…"Anna pondered in silence. If they could escape, then what? Her maids and guards were most probably dead by now for failing to protect her.

"Huff…" she sighed exasperatedly. She felt bad for dragging more people down for her mistakes. If only she did not leave that night. Then she would not be in this situation. Then her people would not have to suffer for her.

Although she was not emotionally attached to them since they all had their own reasons to be with her, she still felt like it was her fault their lives ended a bit too early. Especially Violeta, the sergeant that escorted her. She was working towards the rank of a captain and she had a lot of potentials. But now…

Seeing that Anna said nothing more, the boy gathered his belongings and looked behind him one more time. He had to go now before anyone notices that he had been missing from his duties.

"I have to go." The boy broke the silence. He jumped on his feet and ran towards the door.

"Hey! Wait!" yelled Anna only to realise that the man was still in the room with her.

The boy stopped and turned towards her smiling. It was a genuine smile, one that could lift someone's spirits by just seeing it. Anna blinked a couple of times, looking at the boy as in a trance.

"What?" asked the boy gently.

"Ah…What is your name?" questioned Anna with a voice a note higher than usual. The boy's smile deepened and replied:

"Helm." And with that, he was out the door leaving Anna fazed.