Chapter 11 - Caught

V wanted to run, to hide, to do anything at all, but her body refused to move. Violetta tilted her head and blinked. Was she searching for the best way to strike? V closed her eyes and said the only words she could.

" No die! No die! "

Violetta seized her left hand, and she found herself being pulled free from the bush and into the open. Giving a peek, V found that even standing at full height she came up to Violetta’s stomach and that the female was looking her over with a strange expression. Then her right hand was seized, and she watched helplessly as the bandage was removed with care. She spoke words, but V did not understand them at all. Why? Why could she not understand even one word now?

Violetta looked at the burn closely and V stared at her own hand as well. The burns covered the top joint of her four fingers and the upper part of her thumb and only a small part of her palm. The fleshy green pad was concave and red blood and pus seeped from the wound. Violetta kneeled down and seemed to be pondering something, uttering one simple word as a question.

" Belos? "

V nodded and Violetta let out a short little laugh before raising V’s hand to her mouth. V did not know if she should pull away or not, but Violetta suddenly stuck V’s index finger into her mouth. V’s ears twitched and she whimpered as she expected to have her finger bitten off, but she felt nothing of the sort. An utterance, of a word she could not comprehend, pressed itself into her flesh. It prompted a strange revulsion from deep within her. Pulling her finger free, she saw her finger glisten and felt a surge of heat as her body began to heal. Her entire hand was healing. Her body secreted a clear liquid and began to burn like it was aflame as her skin reformed. In the place of the wounds were squishy, wet blisters that hardened like old calluses, and each one was marked with a distinct flame-touched scar.

V pulled her hand back as Violetta made a sour face and spit onto the ground. Good to know she did not taste good. Violetta recovered quickly and followed it up with a gesture of clasping her hands over her breasts and bowing her head to her chest and closing her eyes, " Belos saved her? "

" Saved… ", V repeated as Violetta began to utter a strange chant.

In this moment she could have taken the dagger and drove it through her heart. From somewhere deep within a voice cried out for her to kill. A desperate plea throughout her entire being. She had never wanted to kill before, but this female Mahn made her blood, and bones scream in a way her gut never had compelled her to. Why? Why! The burning sensation in her body continued to build and build. Her vision clouded, she stumbled forward, her hand reaching out for the dagger on Violetta’s hip. She hit something and she heard a voice before falling unconscious.

" Maelyn, save her. "

V found herself reliving the dream. Standing upon the stage, sword in hand and opposite Maelyn. It was already inescapable. She would be impaled and die upon the sword that was not a sword. This place was false, their clothing was false, everything about this was false. To her back were thousands of seated figures, an audience watching their every movement. It was… a theater. Yes. That was the word.

She looked at herself in this false armor, this body of a male Mahn and struggled to break away, to change the dream. This was not her. This was not real. This was the dream. Her thoughts meant nothing here. The sword was readied, the fatal attack announced well and clear.

" Let me die! " V heard a voice in her head. It was Maelyn’s voice?

The world shifted and she was in the body of Maelyn, staring at the sword. It moved closer. Death glinted on in the light. The point touched her outfit and slid through the leather and flesh. Agony burst through her chest, and she felt her arms and legs go limp and the sensation of falling. The void closed in.

V awoke by the campfire. Her body felt frozen, drenched in sweat. A weight upon her shoulders and the sensation of a different type of cloth was hardly noticeable, but she was tucked into a thick blanket that smelled like flowers and just ever so lightly of sweat. She could not move at all, even when she tried. Sitting opposite of her was Violetta, engrossed in whatever that unfurled thing was. Sounds came from the cave, the striking of rocks and angry calls. Violetta sat around as the males worked. Yes. She was in charge. Wasn’t she?

How did she get so weak? What had happened to her? Was she poisoned by the saliva from her mouth? Like a snake? She was here by the fire. Were they going to roast her? No. If she wanted her dead, then it would already be so. It would have been easy. She was kept alive for a reason. But what was it?

Her head hurt so much. She could not think why. Did they want to know where she came from? Did they want to make her a slave? There was a chance she could prove herself useful and escape. Yes. Play a trick and escape! But how?

Violetta took notice that she was awake and rolled the strange thin object back up and tucked it away in her backpack. It was obviously incredibly important to her. It seems like it would burn too. Her eyes scanned the camp for things to use, but being unable to move all but condemned her to whatever plans Violetta had.

Violetta smirked at her and said in a soft voice, speaking in strangely accented Gobbo, “Greetings, Priestess of Belos. I am Violetta, Chosen of Maelyn. You will help with the Akeon or you will die. Blink twice if you agree to help.”

V’s eyes widened and Violetta’s smirk only deepened.

She blinked twice.