Truth or Dare?

here is a little something from the book i'm currently working on. ;) I'm quite fond of this one.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whistling awakens me. I open my eyes and sit up from the cold stone floor. It’s dark with only little light emerging from the small barred window far above my head.

“Where am I?” I ask the whistler, whose silhouette sits in the far corner outside my cell. The large figure stands and says, “You’re at the thrones of the thirteen.” He walks forward and steps inside my cell.

“Thrones of the-?”

“Don’t speak their name!” he yells spitting, “Their name shouldn’t be spoken and tainted by a human’s tongue.” His glowing eyes give me a look of disgust.

Human? What the…

The man jerks me roughly to my feet, and I stumble a bit, my legs not really working. How am I here? Where was I? Why does my ankle and head hurt so much? The large man puts heavy chains on my hands and pushes me forward.

“You are going before the thirteen to plead your case. Do not speak directly to them. Do not look anyone in the eye. Keep your eyes on the ground. No speaking unless asked a question and no not question.” He pushes me through the dark hallways and until I see a bright light up ahead, “If you break any of those rules…”

He brings me into the light. Noise breaks out all around me and the light stings my eyes for only a moment. I look around and it’s a great beautiful room, crowds and crowds of people are around, sitting in the sides. They scream and yell as I appear and in the middle of it all sits thirteen high thrones.

“…you die.” He whispers in my ear with a laugh.

I’m thrown onto the ground; I try to stand, but a hard hand is on my shoulder keeping me kneeling. My eyes are on the polished floor.

“Silence!” a voice booms over the noise, making the crowed hush in an instant.

“Alora Calantha, human daughter, is charged with the knowledge of the blessed ones. On the week of the fallen hunts the human addressed one of our own high that sits to the right of the large thrones of the thirteen with the words, ‘I know your secret.’ Human plead your case.”

With a firm hand on my shoulder, I’m only able to look down, “I-It was a-“

“You will speak to them as the most high! You must say ‘With respect holy ones’ before you speak! Did you not tell her one thing, Kai, keeper of the keys?”

“My apologizes, Holy one.” a man above me says.

  “Continue human!” someone orders.

“Wi-with respect ho-holy ones, It was only a dare, a joke. I don’t even know him.” My whole body is shaking with fear. The hair on the back of my neck and my arms stand on end, a cold sweat is forming on my forehead and my voice quivers.

A small mummer goes through the room.

“It may be telling the truth, holy ones. There is no way this simple human girl would know.” A person from behind me states.

I thank that person in my head.

“She was in close contact with one of the fallen ones. He had her in his trance. She witnessed him killing one of his own with his commands. She has seen us, even though she might not know of us. She’s been here; she’s been in our courts. We can’t let her wander free on the earth after that. We take away all potential threats, is this lowly human an exception?”

Whispers go through the crowds, “What do you suggest, Conway, holy hound of the plain?” an angelic voice says from high above, most likely one that sits on a throne, “You were the one that has watched her all these weeks. You’ve observed her the most. What do you believe her fate shall be?”

 “We should kill her, blessed one. She is a threat, Fitzhugh, son of intelligence, has established that. All threats are taken away, are they not?”

My heart sinks, and I start to push to my feet, to run away, but the hand on my shoulder only becomes stronger, pushing me farther onto the ground.

‘Yes, kill her!”

‘Rid us of all threats!’

‘Take her away!’

Cheers go through the room, loud and demanding of my death. Fear, shakes my body. They’re going to kill me. They all want to kill me. I have to get away. I have to run!

“SILENCE!”

The voice gets what it has requested, utter and complete silence. The only noise is my fast beating heart.

“Stand her up, Kai, keeper of the keys.”

The man placing the hand on my shoulder lifts me from the ground and I stumble trying to stand. I don’t look at the thrones before me, as instructed. I look down at myself, why am I so weak? Why am I in so much pain? I look down at my once designer clothes and see them torn and bloody. Cuts line my body.

What? What happened to me?

“Why is it so battered, Conway, holy hound of the plain?” a voice high above asks.

“Holy one, I ran into some…complications fetching her. I had to stop her before she made a scene.”

“How?”

“I ran her," he clears his voice, "I ran her off the side of a mountain.”

Then I remember. He was standing in the middle of the road. He was too close, it was too late. I couldn’t stop. I swerved, when I should have hit the bastard. I went right through the guard rails and with a loud scream went down the large hill, flipping the entire way, hitting my head on the glass windows and finally coming to a stop when I hit a tree. I was dragged from the car and saw its metal frame twisted around the trunk. I remember thinking, ‘how on earth did I survive?’ and I looked up into the eyes of the man, or Conway, before I gave into the black.

 Gasps and laughter go throughout the room, but is silenced once again.

“And she lived? This one must be strong.”

I don’t dare look around; I keep my eyes focused on my cut feet. My bottom lip quivers and tears threaten to spill out my eyes. I can’t die yet. I’m so young! I have dreams, places I want to see, things I want to be! Hell, I’ve never been in love yet! I’m still a virgin for Christ sake! I have my whole life ahead of me! It’s like my life line is a long beautiful silk thread and these people are holding their scissors dangerously close.

I can run, but I don’t know where I am. Hide? They’ll find me. Fight? There is no way I can take down even one of those giants!

“I can taste your fear girl.” A voice says from above, “I can smell your dreams and wants. You want to live even after all this? After what we’ll do to you?”

“I pity the poor child.” Another says, “Let’s just be merciful and go ahead and put it out of its misery? Should we truly make it suffer like the others? I see no fault in this one.”

“But it may be of some use to us, if it makes it through the torture.” One interjects thus resulting in a long drawn out discussion on either I live or die. Every passing comment I grow weaker, more tired. My heart pounds in my chest and my knees wobble as they begin to give way. The only thing keeping me steady is Kai.

“Enough! The thrones will have a vote. The results we be let known to all on the passing day of the rest. We grow tired of this matter.”

And with that I'm dragged from the room.