Dark Heart #4
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Months went by, and Laila found herself used to her situation. The feeding tube was still an uncomfortable nuisance, but Mads had found a way to slip a straw beneath her mask. She nearly cried in relief when those first drops of water soothed her dry, irritated throat. She did cry when Mads brought her a bottle of sweet fruit juice after so long of having nothing besides the bare necessities.
As one of the top revolutionaries, Mads was a busy woman. Still, she made time to visit Laila, to bathe her and wash her hair, to bring her water and juice and wine, or hot cider and tea and thick blankets when winter came. And she always, always gave warning if she had to leave for a mission.
She had left the week prior, bidding Laila goodbye with a stack of enchanted novels that allowed her to flip the pages with her mind, an impossible task for someone with bound hands. The books were entertaining, full of high-stakes tales of adventure, swoon-worthy romance, and emotional scenes that made her heart swell and drop. Even so, they could not compare to Mads’ steadfast presence, nor her jokes and sweet touches.
Twelve days after Mads’ departure, alarm bells began to ring. In the distance, muffled by the thick walls and the long hallway that stretched between Laila’s cell and the rest of the dungeons, she heard sounds of commotion. Armor clanging, panicked shouts, guns cocking, heavy boots thrumming againsst the floor. Shoving her books to the side, Laila swung her feet over the edge of the bed and crept as close to the door as the chains bolted into the wall allowed her to go. Their length wasn’t nearly enough, and the barred window lay too high on the door for her to look through.
The bells grew louder, more urgent. A door slammed open, the force causing the walls to shudder. Someone yelled, and she strained closer to hear, muscles protesting from the strain.
“Here…King’s army…they…!”
Gritting her teeth, she forced herself forward. The chains creaked and groaned.
“Attacked…waiting…reinforcements…”
An acrid smell wafted through the bars. Laila wrinkled her nose.
“Need all the hands…put out…keeps spreading…”
“Fire!” someone shrieked.
Even in her isolated space, she could hear the prisoners clamoring. They rattled the bars, yelled and jeered at the fleeing guards. She stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over her chains. They weren’t going to let anyone go, certainly not her. She was going to die down here. Would asphixiation from the smoke take her first, or would she be stuck waiting for the flames to engulf her? Heart hammering, she yanked at the chains. No matter how hard she tugged, bracing herself with her feet against the wall, the bolted plate didn’t give. She panted, every inhale bringing the steadily increasing trickle of smoke into her lungs. Her knees hit the floor, fear making her too weak to stand.
No, no, I don’t want to die, she thought desperately. Not here, please not here, not alone!
She could hear the flames approaching, their roar overpowering everything else. The screams, the thundering footsteps above her, the relentless gun and cannon fire. The other prisoners begged to guards that were not there. They threw themselves against the bars, and Laila would’ve done the same could she move close enough to the door. The smoke swept in like a horde of phantoms, a thick, cloudy gray that obscured her vision and burned her throat. She curled into herself, pressing the neckline of her tunic over her nose and mouth.
Please, she wept. Please, tell me you’ll come back.
“Hey!” a prisoner yelled.
She didn’t have the strength to lift her head up.
“Hey, lady! Where are you going? Let us out!”
The door flew open. Laila shifted to her side, trying to catch a glimpse of who had come.
Is it you? It must be, right?
Tears leaked out of her burning eyes as she looked up at the figure in the doorway.
Mads rushed through the smoke, dropping to her knees at Laila’s side. With a swipe of her sword, the chains connecting Laila to the wall fell to the ground. She swept Laila into her arms like she weighed nothing, carrying her out of that wretched cell and through dungeon hallways, unlocking each cell with a flick of her hand all the while.
You came.
Mads smiled down at her.
“Of course I did.”
That smile was the last thing she saw before her vision faded to black.