16 Prisoner - Part 2

Elizabeth continued to kick, wriggle, struggle, stiffen, and pull harder at the men, as she got dragged along the enormous hallway. By now they had encountered a diversion and this corridor which they had taken, was the most unfamiliar one Beth was yet to go through.

"Kind sirs... Please, please..." cried Elizabeth but no one knight regarded her pleas.

Then she resulted to fury.

"Aargh! Let me go!" blurted Elizabeth as she mustered all her strength to set herself free from their muscular grasps.

What was she thinking? Were they not much stronger than her by tenfold? How could she win against them in power and might?

"Be still, you rascal devil!" demanded one knight as he cast a dreary gaze that met with her eyes.

Beth was unmoved. Was this not a battle for her head which she feared she would lose soon as a result of the king's inconsideration? Thus, she tried another approach, a less aggressive one, but all the more witty.

"Kind sirs, I will not struggle any more but allow me a second to ease up my bladder," said Beth. Next, she started to wince and attempted to reach one of her legs out to the other to show her effort in trying to keep in the discomfort within her.

"Will you behave yourself? When we get to your destination you can do whatever you want to do," said one of the knights with an angry tone.

Elizabeth should have been dissuaded but she wasn't.

'I have read about scenes like this in many books. For say, the king will have a rethink and let me out... or will he not..?"

Then cried Elizabeth as reality dawned on her and her strength began to fail her.

"I want to go home! Please help me plead with his majesty," said Elizabeth with her eyes gathering moist by this time.

"It is not in our place to question our king. You demon! Playing with our emotions won't help you either," said the second knight who had yet to speak to her.

"But... but I am just a girl. Now let me go at once!" said Beth as she started kicking and struggling again. This time she pulled harder.

Where did that strength come from?

They were obviously having a hard time since they couldn't hit her for fear that if she were a demon in disguise, they might suffer the same fate as their comrades whose grotesque corpse they had only observed a while ago.

"Keep shut!" instructed the first knight to speak to her in the beginning.

"Is this any way to treat a lady? Answer me kind mister. Is it?"

This time, however, her words were met with silence...

They led her on, even as she continued to resist them stubbornly.

"I wish I had not worn this gown. I can't even say what state it would be in when it is time to have it returned to the kind old Mr Lynchfield... Oh, and Bessie, my dear Bessie would run out of breath and yield to fainting once she sees how badly the material had wound up...aargh! This is hard indeed!" This, Elizabeth muttered to herself, as they led her still.

——

Elizabeth had struggled and twisted her fragile neck many times in the process, but she remained adamant. Just then she slid her pretty head backwards as she focused her eyes on the platform which lay above their heads. As they kept on walking, she noticed something strange...

"Wha- the sky within the castle can grow? How then is it becoming taller with every pace we cover?" asked Elizabeth, as she remained puzzled.

She thought she had said it in her mind, but the alternative happened to be the case.

Both men sniffed, and sniggered after which, they said nothing. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was bothered.

'Did I say something out of place?'

Instinctively, Beth decided to bring lower, her stare. Little had she done that, when she realized they had infact gotten...

"Underground? Kind sirs, there is a mistake. What evil domination of this fortress, are you entrusting this poor maiden to? Oh mother!" cried Elizabeth.

"Those before you... magical beings that have come by here had managed to escape... Surely, they ought to have informed their fellow about the Dordragon prison should in case they ever got caught," teased the other knight.

"Magical beings? Dor... Dordragon? No, no, there must be a mistake. Surely, his majesty would not have me thrown in such a dark place. I could give up the ghost before dawn," complained Elizabeth, but no one answered her.

They were a long way down by now, and an enormous black gate with rigid iron bars was no longer far from sight. Hence Elizabeth panicked and her heart deserted her.

"Oh, heavens... am I truly going to die this shamefully?"

No answer.

"What is my offence?"

No answer.

"Why did I come to this evil castle?"

No answer.

And then...

"I detest you, Lord Briceus. You are a very evil king!"

Within a twinkle of an eye, one of the knights threw a slap across her face angrily, but his goal was hindered by the other man who quickly gripped his wrist firmly.

Elizabeth hid her face in her arms.

She was a bit shaken up.

It was unexpected, and she felt humiliated.

Hot tears began to trickle down her saffron tint clear skin as she thought of the narrowly escaped smack.

"Why would you attempt to hit her, Maxim? Are you crazy?" asked the one knight to the other.

"You would stand by, and watch her desecrate the sacred name of our Lordship?" asked Maxim.

"No, but she is a woman... in form. We do not hit on women... EVER!" blurted the other knight.

"That is your problem, Yegor. I do not regret my intended act of shutting this brat up for good!" said Maxim in an elevated tone of speaking.

Yegor wanted to deal Maxim to a physical brawl at once because he felt disgusted by what the latter had just done, and for him not to feel the slightest bit of remorse? He was far too shameful!

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was focused on her pain. The memory of the intended slap haunted her thoughts, and did this knight have no shame or morals that he would so quickly hit on a woman? He really would have hit her if the other man had not stepped in?How humiliating! Thought Beth.

But who could save her? They were now several feet below the living area of the mighty palace. Hence, she concluded that even her screams would be of no use.

At this time, Elizabeth resulted to sucking in her pain mindfully, as she swore also to find a way out; a means of escape...

'Once I get free, I will spread the news abroad to any one person I see on my way back, that the new king is a tyrant, as well as those who work under him! He doesn't deserve the throne. I will kill him if I could, for this bitter humiliation,' vowed Elizabeth as she succumbed to be led to the Dordragon pit, in silence.

She no longer struggled, or screamed, or kicked. Even her tears... she let them trickle down her cheeks, unnoticed.

Both Knights, Maxim and Yegor had even loosened their grip on her.

Elizabeth walked freely, unrestrained.

For some reason, Yegor could tell that something was indeed running through her mind at this time.

"What would she do to them? Or what would she do to herself?" pondered Yegor.