"Please, my head is being suffocated, if we are going to work together, you can let me go" Liam murmured against the stone, lips smudged up against it, slightly angry but also amused at his current situation.
His head being shoved in a wall that is.
Reluctantly, and with a grunt, Aloysia released.
Apprehensive of the Prince if he would be stupid enough to retaliate.
To her surprise, he didn't even spare a glance before he began to rub his sore cheek. Half his face now sporting a red glow.
She sniggered to herself.
Wiping away at the slime covering his lips, Liam spoke quietly, facing the direction of the stairs out of this cage.
"How do you plan on escaping then?" He asked, curiously. He wanted to leave too, his own life being in danger if he stayed here- he needed more.
Liams head was pounding, like his brain in the enclosure of his skull was being pushed to its limits.
She really shoved him hard.
"I have my ways.."
Aloysia slipped closer, causing Liam to flick his head toward her "but you won't like it"
Instantly the Prince was bound in her arms, his hands held in place behind his back while a knife, reflecting the only possible light, glinted under the Prince's neck. His entire body was pushed into hers, halting any movement or attempt to escape.
Liam's eyes were in shock, his entire body stood rigid in the hold of his captor.
He couldn't move.
Blinking back a wave of confusion, his heart was pumping at the danger he was presented in and the extreme close proximity he was to Aloysia.
"What-"
A hand shot over his mouth, muffling any spoken words.
He was going to bite it, as to allow him to speak, before Aloysia whispered sanely "scream"
Without hesitation, the Prince screamed, prying and wiggling out of Aloysia's throttling hold that would only prove futile.
His mind was running wild, what was happening!?
Was it part of her plan??
Did she betray him again? Was she cohorts with the king and this was some elaborate plan to kill him?
The damp floor and stone walls only echoed the scream through the lower caverns of the castle drawing attention to their midst.
Around the corner, the 2 guards who he saw earlier had their swords at hand; charging full throttle toward them both, completely disregarding a dark figure lurking behind them.
Aloysia's hand shot out from beneath her hood; the same hand no longer tying the Prince's wrists together.
However, even without physical contact of her soft hands; dark red matter encircled Liams wrists like a manacle in her place, locking them in air unlike any metal cuff before.
It was if it was living matter squirming in the place of chains. Unknown to Liam, it was the same thing that had encircled Aloysia when she had been stabbed in the forest.
Whatever it was, it felt damp and bitter cold; seeping into his bones which shook his entire nervous system, keeping him still and silent.
Aloysia, understanding her impact on the Prince slipped out beneath him standing rigid, to sprint head first at the guards.
Before contact was made, her body twisted, the wounds gaping as she slipped past them into the shadows.
Silence.
The charging guards were left stunned; too overwhelmed by confusion that they didn't realise the dark figure creeping up behind them, eyes glowing red...
The same eyes that belonged to Aloysia.
The guards didn't even have time to scream as death greeted them swiftly, a sword, composed of the same matter that encircled his wrists plunged through them both.
No blood was drawn.
No stain remained.
It was if they had been deleted from very existence.
That was just scratching the surface of what the death stone could do.
And the awe or shock horror could be the only words to describe what his eyes were receding back to his befuddled brain.
Whatever it was, it had him in a force so strong, no resistance could even lay a finger on it.
No words escaped his mouth, nor electrical impulse from his mind telling him to run. His body remained dormant.
Liam was calm.
Almost thankful as he stood vulnerable and utterly powerless compared to walking death. What scared him the most was that he felt the most alive and alike himself then he has in the last few days.
He was surviving, but this time for himself- no one else.
How ironic?
Aloysia's lips crinkled to a grin; the red-living matter that formed a sword vanished into thin air as dust does. The dim lighting only accentuating her deathly stance and highlighting the fact that the two guards were wiped from existence.
She breathed heavily, with a disturbing countenance; holding her position.
Covered by darkness, Aloysia readjusted her standing, glancing toward the stairwell.
"Confused?" She exclaimed, re-merging from the shadows of the cave, sashaying towards him.
As she reached closer, she waved her finger along with her eyes glowing for only a split-second, and his 'cuffs' were released.
It was if his body that was previously under detainment, was just shoved back into mobility.
Blood rushed back, thankful to be allowed to flow, and warning him that those 'cuffs' could stop more than arm movement.
The cage in which she was held was a few metres behind the Prince; stone walls supporting the rigid iron bars.
Liam immediately swooped his wrists together and began stroking them, hissing ever so slightly at the indentation of a bruise turning purple. Even though nothing actually touched him.
How strange.
"How did yo-" a finger fell to his lips, hushing him from answering unnecessary questions.
He blinked invariably in shock, leaning back slightly.
She was steps from him, the cloak hanging off her frame brushing his thigh.
Liam eyed her up and down; Aloysia's clothes, no longer torn or shredded, her body no longer mangled or gushing blood. No screaming wounds or sickly scars; it was if she was pretending to be injured in the first place...
How the h-
Before he could utter a word, she interjected.
"Before you ask the obvious question, I did suffer through all that pain, I'm just so used to it all that it doesn't effect me as badly anymore"
Did she just-
His breath was stolen from him; eyes widening.
"How?" He breathes out, pleading evident from his crinkled forehead and pouty lips to gain any answer.
A silent cry.
Aloysia retreated, blinking heavily as if awaking confused.
"These things that you can't explain, and neither can I are things I have been practising in the empty hours chained here"
It was true, she tried to continue the control she had over it, willing it to certain parts of her body; her hands, feet, wherever she allowed it. For once it seemed to be listening, like it had somehow been swindled in the bliss of its host screaming under death.
That's when she learnt to fuse it into an entity, like a sword. It took numerous attempts and countless failures, but she could hold it there; shakily, and only for a few seconds, but that is all she would need.
As for the other trait it gave- that was accidental.
The guard who had fun torturing her- not as skilled as Aloysia, who, like a musician pulling on strings could coax true agony from anything that could feel- had thought thoughts so clearly that after a few stares in utter spite, could she read them.
Aloysia stood straight, coughing briefly before looking back at the stairwell, contemplating.
The light was incredibly dim, she could hardly see a thing...
"What you are thinking is correct" she blurted out, eyes digging into him, face soft.
Her voice wavered at the fear of truth. No longer having the back up of that other personality that likes to take hold of her.
Liam staggered back unconsciously, bracing his frame against the stone wall laced sticky with condensation.
Aloysia retracted at the sight, her heart sinking slightly at his obvious reaction. A frown formed at her lips as her mind told her she was weak, a useless creature with one purpose in life; to kill.
'No one would accept you.'
Liam's mind, on the other hand, was trying to process this rush of information and failing. First some kind of weird matter, and now this?
His blood ran cold.
"Only slightly though" she corrected, reaching to support the falling Prince. "Just your strongest thoughts and emotions" Aloysia clarified, eyes dropping low in slight embarrassment and shame of deception.
"But to be honest, I'm not really sure, everything is happening so fast that I'm frightened of myself"
She had never truly admitted it before, but her denial in having the death stone lodged within her only caused the truth to act rashly towards her, often coming in horrendous waves that would cause chaos in her mind. This was no exception.
She bit her lip, nerves powering faster than they should be.
"You must believe me when I tell you, being here, chained for hours with no idea of time sent my body in a state of survival like it's never known"
She exhaled shakily. "That can cause things to happen, things change-"
"-I understand that"
Aloysia's hand was round his shoulder, the only thing keeping the Prince from collapsing to the ground.
She sighed a defeated breath as she quickly swivelled around, her back now facing the frozen Prince.
"I see" she muttered. "Your silence speaks volumes" her words trailed off.
Liam's heart tugged. He did not think her evil, nor horrible...
Just, unique, quirky, and misunderstood.
She did save his life after all.
God- if his mother could hear his thoughts. She'd think he's lost it. Which, to call a long shot would be an understatement.
Wrapping her cloak round her body further, as if to hug her aching heart and fidget in a single spot; her arms immediately shot out for blades hanging on the blood soaked wall around the corner.
Anything, do anything that would distract her from this situation. She shouldn't have told him.
Not now, not ever.
Now he thinks your a freak.
The shiny metal coated in dust came into vision.
Sighing a sigh of relief, her hand carefully unhooked the daggers calling out to her. This would have to do, she thought as Aloysia stuffed them in place of her former Conrad's.
Squeezing the blade, her eyes scrunched and she inhaled a sharp breath as she felt another one marking her.
The rough handle of a weapon over the years became a confort to her irritated body.
A coping mechanism. Always feeling safe whenever she had them.
Every time she did something related to the stone, or if the stone awoke any further, a black scar would form.
They would engrave themselves so deep, time could not possibly heal it, nor could clothing conceal it.
Pulling back a sob lodged in her throat, a contort in her stomach caused her to turn drastically; and quickly clutching her stomach; she coughed, and coughed until her windpipe was hoarse, and blood trickled out.
Alarm bells rung in her mind as her eyes replayed the thick red dripping, kicking the one thing she wish she had complete control over into gear.
Taking back the reins.
Adjusting the strings.
Reining in the line.
With a sharp snap rolling over her, Aloysia laughed viciously to herself, one not quite sounding human with her raw throat; and now, fully dressed in sharp metal, adorning her powerful aura rippling in waves, she felt her conscience leave her, and her heart bury deep, as if to block its view of evil.
The plan.
She slowly turned, and facing a concerned Liam with her entire body, she approached him silently, handing him a worn dagger.
No words were exchanged, only nods of approval as he took the dagger without hesitation.
She almost felt bad for invading his conscience.
But not really.
A grin curved her sinful lips as she glanced for the last time at the stone stairwell, hearkening for an echo of footsteps; to which her ears perked up.
Bingo...
"Ready?" She cooed.