Page 98 of The Fury She Holds
Torture was strange. There came a point where the pain washed over her, coating her soul in poisoned fire. It became a part of her. It never dulled, never became easier, but Tal reached a point where she couldn’t muster the energy tofeelit. Her screams dulled to a cry, a whimper. Her fury had returned long ago, but she couldn’t call it. It hid within her, beaten into a shadow of itself. It could not comfort her. Tal was alone. With nothing to give but blood, she was ruined. And each time the mage returned, she anticipated the burning pain of the slashes, no longer braced herself for it. She welcomed it. Shewaspain.
26
Everywhere Tal looked, she found nothing but ash. Beside her stood a familiar figure with hypnotizing eyes and a playful smile. He reached out a hand and she took it. A sensation like electricity traveled up her arm and filled her body.Let go, his voice whispered. It filled her mind like a warm embrace. She felt the tension in her chest release and his face lit up with a glow that emanated from her. He held up her hand to show the glow on her skin and kissed it. Tal took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
She opened them to the same wooden ceiling. The pain crept its way back into her senses and she groaned. She needed water. She needed healing elixir. She needed a lot of things. Tal wondered how long she’d been tortured for. How long had she been missing? Did her friends realize she’d been taken? They had to have noticed her absence by now. Did Faron know? Did she care if he knew? She silently scoffed at herself for that last thought. Of course she cared. She wouldn’t be so angry at him if she didn’t care.
She tried not to imagine them coming for her. She didn’t want them risking their lives for her sake. She didn’t want that even if it meant she died there on that table. No, Tal would get herself out of this mess. She needed energy.
And then, there was the paralyzing spell. It had held for days, without needing to be recast. Would killing the mage remove it? Did the mage have defenses she couldn’t sense? Would she be able to gather enough energy to kill him on the first try? Because gods knew if she missed, she’d never get another chance.
There had to be another way to release the spell. She took a deep breath and would have doubled over in pain if she’d been able to. She forgot about the raking claw marks across her chest, the dislocated shoulder, the slash to her middle, almost like he had whipped her with his magic.
Tal remembered the last time a mage had used a spell like that on her. She had almost died from the blood loss the night she had helped rescue the servant girl. Nola had also been restrained by magic, though they had used a magicked rope that couldn’t be cut. Tal actually had been attacked by the slashing spell because she tested out her fury on the rope—
Her mind reeled. She forgot about the rope. Her fury could burn through the magic on them like a flame to a string. It might be able to burn through the spell paralyzing her too. She closed her eyes and reached into herself, searching for her fury, and there it was, brushing against its walls like a gentle caress. It never abandoned her. It bided its time until Tal knew what to do. Tal focused on it and called to it, but it slipped back into her with each pull. She was too weak. The magic was too heavy. She exhaled a defeated breath. She needed her energy back.
A noise outside her small prison alerted her to something new. She stiffened, anticipating the mage’s return, but the door didn’t open. Instead, someone cried out and then chaos ensued.
A bright flash of green light showed through the gaps around the door and illuminated the room around her. When it dimmed, the noise outside the room erupted. All at once, it sounded as if a small army fought beyond her door.
“Check the rooms!” yelled the familiar voice of her intelligent, calculating friend.
Weakly, Tal sobbed out her relief. They’d come for her. She tried to call out to them, but she had no energy. All the fight had been tortured out of her. What hope did she have of burning through the spell if she couldn’t even call out to her friends?
A door slammed in the distance amid the fighting. They sounded so far away. Tal could only wait while they fought their way through the mage’s defenses.
“Syb! Some guidance!” Carrick yelled.
“Somewhere dark, west side!” came the seer’s response.
Tal closed her eyes and forced herself to concentrate. If they made it to her, she would still need to break through the spell. She pulled at her fury, but it was like trying to grab onto water.
Another two doors slammed, but not hers. “Come on,” she urged them, tears in her eyes. The fighting continued, and her worry over them increased with each clash of metal and every battle cry.
Her door burst open in a spray of wood and dust. The fighting accosted her ears, but it was the frantic, “In here!” that she focused on. An enormous form blocked out the light, and Tal fought back tears.
“Tal.” Carrick’s hands reached for her face.
“Carrick,” she croaked. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone out.” Her breath came in short gasps.
He shushed her and brushed the hair away from her face. He assessed her injuries, horror destroying his boyish features. He shook his head. “Shit, Tal. What did they do to you?” He placeda gentle hand on her shin, and she cried out. His hand flinched away. “Where are you hurt?”
“Everywhere.”
Without a word, he stomped to the door and called out, “Faron! Elixirs!”
At the mention of his name, Tal sobbed. She had hoped, but didn’t expect him to have come. Carrick ran out into the fray when another figure filled the doorway. In a moment that took less than a breath and entirely too long at the same time, he was there, touching her face, kissing her forehead, hands hovering over her broken body. She could think of no words to say to him about her recent behavior. She could only cry and pray they survived long enough for her to apologize.
Thepop!of a cork being removed from a small glass bottle filled the space. “Drink.” He held the elixir up to her lips, and she swallowed the honey-sweet liquid greedily. In mere moments, she could feel sweet relief from the pain. And with it, her fury began to build within her chest. The renewed energy calmed her agony and gave her a renewed purpose. The mage would burn.
“Gods, Tal. What happened?”
“Aren’t you going to say how tired you are of rescuing me?”
He smiled gently. “Exhausted.”
“Faron, I’m sorry. I—”
