The morning alarm hadn't been rung yet when a sharp piercing scream tore through the servants quarters. I froze misstep, clutching the bucket I had in my hand.
Rushing to the corridor, I saw a guard had cornered a young girl, she was barely ten, I knew she was a low ranking wolf, her thin hand raised to shield her face as the leather whip cracked through the air.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...." The second strike silenced her. My body moved before I could think.
"Stop!" My voice echoed in the corridor. The guard stopped and turned to me and that was when I realized what I had just done.
Oh no!
"Did a slave just speak?" My heart hammered in my chest. I had just welcomed trouble to my doorstep. I knew better than to meet his gaze but the girls sobs filled the corridor.
"She didn't do anything wrong" I said trembling, "It was my fault, I dropped it" I lied without reasoning.
The guard sneered, his lips curling into a disgusting smile.
"You have to pay the price then" he grabbed my arm and I dropped the bucket I was holding, water spilling all over the ground. The child ran, vanishing down the hall. I looked at the guard and his eyes were a glint of cruel delight.
"Hold her" he said and I turned to see another guard in the shadow. My heart beat two times faster.
What did I get myself into? All kinds of thought ran through my mind of what they intended to do to me and none of them were good. The other guard pinned my hand against the wall.
"Please....."
The first strike of the whip split my hand open. I cried out, choking on the sound. The next tore through the fabric of my dress.
"Stupid wretch" the guard hissed, striking me again and again irrespective of my pleas, he didn't stop even when my knees gave way. The smell of blood was pungent. My blood.
"This would remind you what you are" he yanked my wrist. I saw the branding iron in his hand, I had seen it countless times. The tip glowed red, the scent of fire cutting through the air.
"No....please,I have...."
The metal pressed against my skin, A piercing scream tore through my throat that I thought my vocal cords would cut. Tears blurred my vision. By the time they let me go, the corridor was empty. The guards walked away laughing, leaving me trembling on the cold floor.
I crawled to my bed, my wrist throbbing and my back ached from pain. The blood clung to my skin like cloth.
"I rushed when I heard the servants whispering. What did you do?" I saw that pitiful look in her eyes.
"I saved a child?" I said weakly.
"You saved a child? When you need saving yourself. I told you to be careful around the wolves"
"I couldn't let the child be punished for something as little as that. She was barely ten"
"See where it landed you. Let me get something to clean your wounds" she said and went to get a rag and warm water.
As she tried to clean my wounds, I screamed from the pain.
"Sorry, this would take sometime to heal. I've warmed you countless times. It's better we deal with the other slaves than the guard. You are lucky they didn't do something worse to you" she was now removing my dress that was stuck to my wound.
"Thank you" I could barely hear my own voice.
"You need to rest now, I'll bring you something to eat later at night when everyone must have left the kitchen" I smiled weakly at her.
Time passed and the pain turned to fever. By the time night fell, my body burned. My vision blurred and the world turned into shadows. And then I was no longer in the servants quarters.
*I was standing in the courtyard again, I was ten years old clutching my mother's hand. The air smelled of fire and blood. My mother knelt before the Alpha king, her face swollen and streaked with tears.
"Please" my mother whispered. "It was a mistake" the king's laugh was wicked which made goosebumps creep onto my skin. That was the first and last time I saw the Alpha king.
"A slave who thinks she can talk to me?"
A guard stepped forward and dragged me away from my mother.
"Mama" I cried out. She turned and mouthed the words 'I love you'. Another guard moved to her, the sound of steel sliding from its sheath and the guard raised it.
"Noooooooo" I screamed. My mother's head turned to me one last time and I saw a lone tear leave her eyes as she whispers 'Close your eyes'
I heard the sound of steel and I knew my mother had been killed. I opened my eyes and I screamed as I saw my mother's head on the floor.
'The girl should replace her mother' a firm command.
I was dragged away and that's when all my suffering began.
Next, I was in a garden with beautiful flowers, I was awed by the place that I never wanted to leave it. I saw a figure walking towards me but the face was blurry. It was only when the person was closer I could tell who it was.
"Mama?" I ran and held her so tight.
"I've missed you mama. Why did you leave me?" I said, tears leaving my eyes.
"I'm always with you my daughter. I have never left you for a day"
"This place is so beautiful. I don't want to leave her. I want to stay here with you forever"
"No my child. You have to go back and fulfill your destiny"
"There's no destiny for me without you. I don't want to leave" I held her hands tightly, she gave me a kiss on my forehead and turned to leave" *
"Don't go" I screamed, jerking up and I was sweating profusely.