Four
1049 Words
Frankie:
Shuffling and muffled conversation rooted me to the earth. My head spun, my rage escalated, and the thoughts of escaping came to mind more than once.
I wondered if I had run how far I would make it before they caught me in my current state.
I bet it wouldn’t be far.
“What do you mean? This takes more importance, don’t you think?” Clarity burst through my mind, releasing me from my prison of thought just in time to brace myself as I was dropped back onto the stone floor and left for mouse food all over again.
Through the leather mask, I screamed and begged; letting go of my dignity was easy when I knew if I didn’t do something, those mice would eat me alive before my death sentence could be carried out at all.
Still, no one came.
Or, at least, I didn’t think anyone came.
The moment the scurrying little balls of rot came close to me again, a large boot came down right on top of one. I shivered in disgust when its entrails splayed across my side. But I dare not try and speak. I wanted whoever that was to stay right there. I wanted them to watch as intently as I was for the little eyes to light in the night.
What I hadn’t expected was for them to speak instead.
“I don’t have very much time before they return for you. So, answer me this. How long have you known?” I don’t know what the kind guard was thinking. He knew the mask would keep me silenced, yet he kept asking me questions I could not answer.
“What are you?”
“What kind of being can do what you just did?”
That last one really stumped me. What had I done that he deemed so bad?
But, instead of trying to gain insight into whatever all this was, I turned my head to face him. I looked him in the eyes while he looked at my mangled back.
“Can you do it again?” I didn’t know what he was referring to, so I stayed still.
I kept myself barely above a soft breath until my silence pissed him off. He stepped forward in a rage, stopping short of his massive boot meeting my ribs when a storm of stomping boots poured down the dungeon stairs.
“She has requested the orphan… now.” My skin ignited, burning again. Fear was rushing my system like a drug I wanted no part of partaking in.
Now, it was my turn to ask questions.
Who was she?
What did she want with me?
The only woman I could think of was Charlotte, and the moment her name crossed my mind, I raged, using what energy I had left to fight the grip on my arm from whom I had thought was the kind guard. Fighting so ruthlessly that by the time my bare toes touched the grass, I was being wrangled by more than three Pinnala guards along the grounds like a madman… no… like a wild animal. My humanity had long slipped. I was ready to eat a rat moments ago, and now I was prepared to shift and run until I found protection in the wilderness.
“Not yet.” That same strange whisper flooded my mind, easing the rage building up in my bones.
Something about those two words bound me to my body, bound me to the desires of the whispers of my heart. Maybe it was my bones whispering instead… the way my heart was racing from my chest, there was no way my heart didn’t want me to explode the way my skin craved and make a dash toward freedom.
The way my heart raced, it wanted me to burn as brightly as the morning sun and escape this hell hole once and for all.
It beat wildly, so wildly that I had forgotten to fight, forgotten to run, until I was on my knees with Tyner’s stench filling my nose.
They had brought me to her, to them.
Had I not suffered enough?
“Release her!” A command that rattled my soul called from my right. My head snapped so quickly in her direction that I thought I snapped my neck beneath the weight of the chains wrapped around me.
Slowly, one by one, my shackles were released. It should have only taken seconds, but it felt like an eternity. The whispering of my bones began to ring loudly again. Only this time, no words came to stop it, to stop me.
“By the light of the moon in the shadows of night, let what lies dormant now take flight.
From the depths of our soul, rise and ignite,
unleash the strength hidden from sight.
With the light of our flame, I break these binds,
This curse shall hold no magic confined.
Ignis.
Ignis.
Ignis.”
When my skin began to burn, Tyner became my sole focus.
Ignis.
Ignis.
Ignis.
The word replayed like a beacon calling me home, so when those chains slipped, and that mask was removed, I let my bones move me as they desired.
“I accept your rejection, Tyner!” I said as my feet bound for him, watching as he fell to his knees at my feet.
“Ignis!” I yelled, exploding in the burning flame that my skin had kept contained for far too long, and I wrapped my fingers around Tyner’s slimy goose neck, choking him until the stranger who demanded my release called my name.
“Francesca!” I turned to her at the call of my name, I realized then that her body, like mine had been swallowed in a black flame. Both of us burned so brightly we lit the village up, we were blinding, and wild.
"My name is Rowan. I've been looking for you. I—I need your help. In exchange for your cooperation, I will ensure you never have to set foot on this dirt again." With her words came more whispers, only this time, it was but one word. Trust… and with that one word came one answer.
"You got a deal, and you can call me Frankie."
- Writer
