Until Tomorrow

CHAPTER 5 – Until Tomorrow

                “Until Tomorrow.” The Prince turned his multi-colored eyes away from me, and stormed off. My father let out a hefty sigh before turning to look at me.

                “That sounded like a warning. This is not good Aspen, who knows what his plans are.” My Fathers voice shook, and he lowered his head to hold back his tears. The threat of death was inching closer and closer to our little family, and there was nothing we could do about it. We were rabbits waiting for the slaughter, and not an escape route to be found.

                “Death is not the worst punishment.” I said quietly, and my father whipped his head back up to look at me. He opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again, mimicking a fish out of water. There was nothing that could be said, and nothing could be done and he knew that. If we were not executed, I would be bred like a dog to create the monsters for the Kingdom. We had to wait and see what the Prince had in store for us. My father ran his fingers down my long hair, untangling knots as he worked his way down to the bottom.

                “Beautiful, and fierce like Fern.” He kissed the top of my head, and I rolled my eyes. Even in the most horrible of situations, my mother was the last person I wanted to hear about.

                “Even if she walked through the door to save our sorry souls right now, I would never forgive her for walking out on us.” I bluntly stated, and my father shook his head in disapproval.

“You weren’t old enough to remember her, I don’t understand how you can still be so angry with someone who is nothing but a ghost to you.” My father said sadly. My mother had left a year after I was born. My father woke up one morning to the small wedding band sitting on her side of the bed, and small glass moon with a note that said it belonged to me. The moon was nothing special, just a painted glass heirloom passed down throughout her family, and was the only thing I had from her.  She had not taken her clothing, food, or any personal belongings. It was as if she had vanished into the wind, and left my father to pick up the pieces with a small baby laying in the crib next to him. My father rarely talked about her, but he had never once used a word against her. Instead, his eyes were full of love and absolute sorrow. Every time her name was mentioned, I could almost hear the audible snap of another piece of his heart breaking off and leaving to float off to wherever she was.

                “Let’s not bring up the witch, and figure out the problem at hand.” I snapped, fury settling deep into my stomach. My father flinched at my tone, and my heart softened. “We need to find a way out of here where we both get out of here alive.”

                “Well, I have a plan, but you’re not going to like it.” My Father all but whispered. I set my mouth in grim line. If this was a plan that actually worked, I was not in a position to argue.

                “Let’s hear it.” I said softly. My father quickly and quietly reviewed that details of his plan. He was right, it was horrendous. I absolutely hated it, but it could work. There were huge gaping holes that stared back at us, but we had one shot of escaping this hell hole, and I was willing to do anything to take it. We spent the night going silently over the details, speaking is quick hushed tones so the guards did not hear us. There was no light in the cell, but I could feel the exhaustion hit me as if it was the middle of the night. I was sure the moon would be high in the sky by now, and the crickets singing their song across the fields that were just arms reach away from the dirty and damp stone we were trapped in. My father pulled me into his arms the best he could with my arms shackled above my head, and kissed the back of my hair.

                “Sleep Aspin, you’re going to need it for tomorrow.” He whispered into my ear. I nodded slowly, unable to argue. I was bruised and broken, and it was amazing I had made it this long with my injuries. Faerie usually heal rather quickly, but with the iron keeping my powers at bay I was left to suffer the inflected wounds. I closed my eyes and let darkness swallow me whole, trying not to think of this faulty and desperate plan for tomorrow.

                I was startled awake by the sound of men and footsteps coming down the long corridor. My breath caught, and my heartbeat increased. Adrenaline slamming into my veins like ice, and causing me to shake at the sudden start. I attempted to move, but was caught by the chains around my wrists, and let out a small yelp of pain. I could feel the sweat start to form across my chest in fear when a warm hand smelling of sandalwood and citrus placed itself on my cheek. My Father. My heartbeat slowed, and I took a few shaking breaths before looking into his dark green eyes.

                “They’re here Aspin.” His voice caught in his throat, and I saw the glint of fear flash through his face as his dark eyes swirled with emotion. “I love you until the stars burn out.” The words sounded final, and my heart thumped in pain. This could be the last time I hear those words ever again if I didn’t play my part correctly today.

                “I love you until the moon shatters.” I said back to him, our mantra since I was little. We have only ever had each other, and it wasn’t perfect, but we loved each other fiercely. He kissed my temple and looked over at the entrance to the cell, awaiting our fate. I knew then that even if I didn’t make it out of here, I would ensure my Fathers safety. He might not have magic, but I would protect him with everything I had.

                “Ah, here are the roaches.” A large guard approached the bars with a disgusting smile plastered across his face, obviously the leader of the group. His filthy yellow teeth shining in the small amount of light in the cells. “Not so tough are we now little bird?” I felt bile rising to my throat as he laughed and pulled out a large key to unlock the rusted iron gate keeping us in the cell. I had been glaring at that door for the past two days, but now I stared longingly at it, as it was the only thing keeping them away from us. It swung open with a large creak, and four guards piled into the small cell. Hands roughly grabbed the chains around my wrists, and pulled me to my feet, causing a hiss of pain against my wrists that were now rubbed raw from the iron. Another large guard held the chains in the air, leaving my arms stretched up above my body, and placed me in front of the leader of their group. He bent down to look at my face, as his large frame towered over my petite stature. He drew a finger slowly down my cheek, causing me to shutter away from him, and his evil grin spread wider across his face. He leaned into me; his face so close to mine I could feel his breath fan across my skin. I resisted the urge to vomit against his disgusting smell, and turned my head away. The guard roughly grabbed my chin and forced me back to looking at him. “You are so beautiful, a pity you have to be killed” the guard purred, it sounded like grinding metal. “Maybe I’ll have my way with you before I take you upstairs.” His eyes scanned my body up down, and my heart thumped rapidly in my chest. The guard placed his hand on my thigh and squeezed, making my skin itch in disgust as he slowly ran it up, dragging my dirty blue sundress to my upper thigh. I was frozen in fear, this wasn’t part of our plan. My heart pounded in my chest, and I could feel tears start to sting the back of my eyes. This couldn’t be happening. I could hear fighting as my eyes left the guard and darted over to my father. He was being detained by two of the guards, but fighting hard to get to me. The fear evident in his eyes mixed with boiling anger.

                “Don’t fucking touch her!” He growled; he whipped his head back into the guard that was just barely restraining him. A sickening crack rang out in the cell, and I knew he had broken the guard’s nose. The guard stumbled back with a hand across his face, gushing blood, and released his grip long enough for my Father to shake himself from him. He darted in my direction, ducking another guard as he swung to hit him. He wasn’t fast enough for the guard in front of me though, who swung under my Fathers chin, knocking him off his feet and to the ground. He hit the ground with a sickening thud, and remained still.

                “Dad!” I screamed, and thrashed against my captors to try and get to him. Straining my arms against the iron chains, my wrists screaming at me in pain. I wasn’t strong enough to pull from his grasps. The metal had weakened me to the point of being immobile, and all I could do was look helplessly as my father lay still on the ground. Hope flared in my chest as I saw his chest rise and fall with a breath, but was quickly snuffed out when the guard turned back around and clamped a hand over my mouth; preventing me from screaming again. Amusement was glinting in his evil eyes, as if knocking my father out was just a slight nuisance to his day.

                “Where were we little bird.” He whispered in my ear, sending chills of terror up my spine. His rough fingers found the skin on my leg again, and began working themselves up my thigh. Hot tears started to slide down my face, splashing onto the guard’s hand that was clamped around my mouth. I barely choked out a sob as his fingers ran under waistband of my underwear, and he pulled the elastic out to let it snap back against my skin. He pressed his leg against my thigh, forcing my legs open while I was standing. “Let’s get you out of this dress little bird,” he spat out at me, filthy lust radiating in his eyes. He grabbed a handful of my dress in his large dirty hand, a malicious chuckle ripping from his mouth, and pulled on at the fabric. I clamped my eyes shut and waited for my skin to bared to the guards, not wanting to see what was going to happen next. The air never hit my skin though, as I heard a loud grunt and then a large thump of a body hitting the floor. The pressure of the hand that was over my mouth disappeared, and light hands reached up and pulled my dress back down over my legs. I flinched away from the touch, nervous of the new assailant. A warm hand reached up and pulled the chains from the guard that was holding my arms tightly in the air, settling them down in front of my body. My wrists ached, and my heart was pounding. I opened my eyes slowly to look at who had saved me, only to come face to face again with a pair of furious eyes. One blue, and one brown.