Thread: The Witch and her Apprentice (books and Witch)

Sixty four. There were sixty four stones in the wall opposite Mira. Forty eight to the wall to her left and behind her another sixty four, good and solid even numbers. To her right were twenty iron bars, two of which were coated in rust. She had yet to count the stones in the floor or the ceiling of her cell the young woman was saving that for the day when the monotony of counting the same stones and bars over and over again grew too much. That day was not today, so she simply restarted her count of the wall opposite her. The twenty three year old looked dreadful, a shadow of her former beauty. Prison had not been kind to her, that much was for certain. Her pale flesh was dirty and unwashed, her black hair matted and clumped in an unruly mess. Her figure had become much thinner as a result of infrequent meals, her once beautiful face having become gaunt and her features more sharp. A dirty prison tunic and ripped trousers was her only clothing, not doing much too keep out the chill of the prison. Mira pulled her legs closer up against her on her cot, trying to fight back the chill. It didnt help that it was likely winter by now, though that was just a guess. Time mattered little here. The sound of booted feet against stone sounded out through the hall beyond her cell, drawing her dark eyes to the torch lit area. A pair of guards stopped outside of her cell and opened the door before stepping inside. Mira kicked out at them however one easily caught her foot and dragged her off onto the floor. She still thrashed and lashed out as best she could, which was hardy much given her rather weakened state. Let me go! Let me go! Im not going, you cant make me go! Unhand me! Mira screamed. It seemed very much as though they could as they easily started dragging her out of the cell by her arms, her resistance hardly meaning anything. The only thing she got from dragging her heels on the ground was a cut foot from a particularly sharp rock in the path. She yelped, that had not exactly been the most pleasant of experiences. The guards simply dragged her through the hallway heedless, not bothering to speak to her or even respond with violence towards her. She might as well have been a sack of potatoes. Mira felt fear cross her heart as they were drawing closer and closer to their destination. She noted that along the walls were marks made in the stone, places where someone had clawed at the walls to prevent from being taken where they were going. She had heard the pained screams, they were frequent where they were going and it always happened after the guards took someone from their cell. Mira didnt want to know what happened beyond the door they were dragging her towards. She wanted to go home, she wanted her nice warm bed again, and she wanted this to be some nightmare. She begged, anything to save her hide from what was to come. Please, let me go! I didn't do anything wrong! Please, I'll do anything! No response from her captors, they just continued to drag her along. The door swung wide and Mira was presented with the sight of a large X shaped restraining device. A device she noted with immediate nausea was stained with blood, some relatively fresh by the looks of it. She did everything she could to avoid being placed on the device, which was not much as the guards fixed the leather straps to her wrists and ankles before leaving the chamber. The prisoner struggled against the straps, straining her wrists and ankles to no avail. Instead the young woman simply slumped, her muscles going slack as she waited there on the device. Tears sprung into her eyes and she sniffled miserably, desperate fear settling inside of her. She was going to die here. In pain and tortured most likely and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. All because she had been at the wrong place at the wrong time, on the other side of a line on the map. For all she knew her father was dead as well, in exactly the same way that whomever was going to enter this room was going to do her in.