SHORT STORY - Lena and the Band of Assassins - Part 05

Lena was sitting in the corner of the storage room, eyes gazing into nothingness. The pain she had felt – the one that surged all across her body when she woke up in this nightmare – was gone. Instead, now she felt a throbbing pain in her sides whenever she took a breath. It was somehow worse.

She was dumbstruck. Unable – no, unwilling – to accept what had happened. Mama, she must be in another cell altogether. Whenever they would feed her she would ask how mama was doing. And they would always say the same deceitful lie – that she was gone.

They fed her scraps. Leftovers. Chewed meat on bones and stale bread. They dined and feasted while she and her mama slowly died in these ‘cells’. She was not sure how much time had passed. Fever dreams did little to help in that regard. It could have been days – or weeks. She was not sure.

Lena heard rumblings coming from outside. She got up, although her sides hurt like hell while doing it. She stood there, one hand wrapped around her waist, the other against the wall for support. The door opened, and this time it was the red haired scoundrel that was behind it.

“You’re still alive?” He said with a smirk.

“Disappointed?” Lena spat.

“No. I knew you wouldn’t die in a mere couple of days. We were just roughening you up, you see.” He turned. “Follow me, princess.”

Lena narrowed her eyes, face red from an overflow of emotions. She timidly started to walk. One foot in front of the other. Were they going to reunite her with mama? Was this torture some sick pastime they did where these men were from?

Lena exited the room. The horror of the kitchen had lessened. There were no people lying motionless. But the stains of blood had yet to be wiped away. No servants left to clean the mess…

No. They were not going to reunite her with anyone. Lena was slowly realizing that the world was maybe not as pleasant as she thought it was. She didn’t want to believe that. She didn’t want her entire life to be a lie. At least for now. There was little choice in the matter. She would still be the ignorant, naïve, pampered girl. She had to be. Otherwise, she doubted that she would be able to survive.

She followed her captor. He didn’t as much as make a twitch towards her. Of course he wouldn’t, she was no threat. Lena couldn’t harm this man in her wildest dreams. She was weak… Useless…

Lena gasped as they entered the dining room. The Estate. Her home. The place she grew up in, the place where her and mama would learn and play, the place Lena made love in for the first time. It was gone. The paintings were gone, the carpet was gone, the table was empty. She saw a pile of what she had thought was normal everyday tatt in the corner: books, cutlery, candle holders. Was all of that really that valuable. Was everything that happened to them really paying off for these vile men?

He led her to the backdoor, the one that made way for the Estate’s lush gardens. Lena could see that it was night and that it was raining. The man turned looking her up and down. She wondered how she must look then. A frail creature barely able to stand.

“You have one job for the night.” The man said.

“J-job?” Lena asked, voice cracking.

“Yes, job.” He said, opening the door. The cold threatened to make Lena fall on her knees. If the weather bothered her captor however, he didn’t let it show. “Complete it, and we just might see to your wounds and emptying belly. Fail, and you will die here tonight.”

“P-please,” Lena said. “I’m cold.”

“This is a test, princess.” The man said. “Where I am from. This ritual is sacred. It marks change, and a new beginning. I have never heard of this being offered to a conquered enemy. You are being greatly honored here.”

“We-, we were not y-your e-e-enemy.”

“I will permit you to talk more if you survive this night.” He said, leaving the door and moving passed her, making Lena flinched as he did so. The door to the hallway behind her shut close. The one in front of her was still wide open.

What is this? Am I supposed to go out there and…die? She thought, standing there in the chilly hallway. Hands around her waist. I can escape now. I could –

No. The thought exited her mind as soon as it entered. This was her island. These were her people. On top of that, where would she go? This island was all she knew. It was her entire world. And leaving it meant leaving everything. She couldn’t leave everything.

Lena entered her gardens. She had always found them frightening at night. Like a sort of grassy prison. The huge ornamented bushes lay on its outside, as a sort of fence. She remembered being able to play in these gardens without any intrusion. She now wished that those bushes were cut down and gone, that someone else could see her. Help her.

What was she supposed to do? The air was brisk, not as cold as she originally suspected, but it still affected her. The rain was composed of small droplets, but it was constant. Combined with her weakened state, she really did feel like she could die out here. She needed to figure out this test. And fast.

Lena’s thoughts drifted to the other citizens of the island. Were they ok? Did these men bring other bad men and capture the entire island while she and her mama rotted in –

She tripped. And fell in a hole. She spat dirt. Why was there a hole this big in the gardens? She tried to get up, her sides protesting furiously.

She then saw her mama’s eyes staring right at her. Only they didn’t have the vigor Lena was used to seeing in them. The mischievous spark. They were lifeless – dead.

Dead, dead, dead…

Lena screamed as she got out of the hole – the grave. She could no longer feel her pains, nor the chilly weather, nor the rain. “Mama, I’m here mama.” She grabbed her face, but she felt nothing. It was stone… “Those men turned you into stone, mama.”

Lena knelt on the cold, soggy earth. Her mother’s face in her hands. Tears streaming down her cheeks. Inside, her barriers started to crack. They turned our paradise into the devil’s den. She caressed her mama’s head in her lap. We, the ambassadors of peace mama. We were the ones to be chosen for the slaughter. Her tears stopped coming out, and her barriers cracked some more. Look what they did to you… Look what they are forcing me to do now…

The world was not a pleasant place. Crack. Everything that she had believed in, had crumbled. Crack. Her survival had been ensured, it was not earned. Crack. Peace. Peace had been destroyed and thrown into the rain to be buried. Crack. Her life was… her life was a lie… and she couldn’t pretend anymore…

Crack!

These men had come to her island. They had destroyed her world, and she could never get it back. They had killed her mama, and she could never get her back. They had killed her staff, her friends. And she could never get them back. They took her paradise, and she could never get it back.

But the island… she could get that back…

Lena knelt in those haunting gardens, the rain turning into a drizzle. Her head was a storm. The barriers were finally broken and all her fears and anxieties were loose. She embraced them like they were old friends.

Lena pushed her mother into the hole. She didn’t react to the thump mama made when she fell. Lena started to push the dirt inside. She was burying her mother, burying her old life, her old ways, her old self.

Lena knelt there, pushing dirt. The seeds of revenge already taking root in her mind.