The differences between King Jaspar Alastair La Croix's glittering white and golden palace, and the bleak, gray dungeon hidden deep under ground, were stark. In fact, despite them being in somewhat close proximity to each other, they seemed like they were worlds apart.
Two soldiers lead Anise and Effie through seemingly endless corridors of colorless, granite brick walls. The long halls were cold, dark, and largely desolate except for a few burning braziers, and the occasional set of guards posted outside of closed doorways that were clearly off limits.
"This way," the guards ordered, practically pushing Effie and Anise around another corner and into an adjacent hallway which looked exactly the same as the last. Was this a prison or a labyrinth? Though now that she thought of it, Effie remembered hearing that the La Croix's underground prison was infamous for being impossible to escape from.
Stories had been told for years of the seemingly endless halls that twisted and turned, sometimes looping back in on themselves, other times going on for many feet before coming abruptly to a dead end. It was supposedly a maze of corridors that were impossible for one to find their way through if they didn't have the place memorized by heart. And as Effie and Anise were guided through hall after hall, she was beginning to think the stories were more true than myth.
It was also said, that the prison was hundreds of years old. Perhaps even thousands. While the La Croix's palace had been destroyed and rebuilt many times throughout history during wars, sieges, and even natural disasters, the underground prison had remained largely untouched through it all and was quite possibly one of the oldest structures in the four kingdoms. No one knew exactly how long ago it had been constructed, and whoever had built it was a mystery.
"Keep moving!" One of the soldiers barked, ripping Effie's mind away from her thoughts.
She looked over just in time to see Anise doubled over, trying to catch her breath, while the soldier who had been escorting her was now beginning to drag her roughly along.
"Stop it, you're being too rough with her!" Effie cried. "She's just an old woman. She needs to rest for a moment-"
"Silence!" the other soldier behind Effie snarled a warning. "You will not speak until spoken to. Unless you want to feel the sting of my baton across your back. You're both prisoners here, not guests. And you will be treated as such."
"But..."
But what? But hadn't the prince told the soldiers not to lay a finger on the two women? Then why were they being pushed and shoved and threatened? The prince didn't want them to get hurt? What a joke. The prince didn't even come along with them to make sure they were being treated properly. He ran off after putting an end to their execution, saying he had urgent business to attend to elsewhere.
It wasn't like he was coming back for them. Effie didn't know why she even though he would. He was a prince after all, probably drowning in the duties of the royal family. He was someone of importance. Meanwhile, Anise and Effie were nothing more than peasants. Why would she even expect him to remember them? She felt like such a fool for obsessing over him all week, when to him, she was a nobody.
"I said move it! Move you feet!" Anise's soldier pushed her so hard this time that she crumbled to the ground, beads of sweat now forming on her pale forehead, her chest heaving up and down heavily.
"She can't keep going!" Effie screamed at the soldier. "She needs to rest now or she'll have a heart attack! She-"
CRACK
As promised, the soldier behind Effie thwacked his wooden baton across her shoulder blades so hard she collapsed to the floor in agony.
"Effie!" Anise's breathy voice reached her ears. "I'm fine dear! Please don't worry about me. Just do as the soldiers say. I will be fine."
Tears of pain and anger burned in Effie's eyes. Her body quivered with a white-hot rage that threatened to spill out from her aching fingertips until every last one of the soldiers in this godforsaken place was dead. But she held it in, afraid of the monster she would become afterward if she unleashed it.
Why?
Why, just for the simple crime of being born, was there no other outcome for her future other than the fear of pain or death?
"Get up, little mouse!" The soldier directly behind Effie grabbed her by the collar, and lifted her with it until she was nearly strangled by it.
Then they were walking again, moving at a furious pace, Effie and Anise being forced along as before. But soon, Anise's short breaths became wheezing and gasping, and a tinge of sickly-blue began creeping into her complexion. Effie's stomach churned with worry until she felt sick, but there was nothing she could do. Every time she spoke up, the soldier behind her was sure to hit her in the back until she was certain her spine would break. It was unfair. This whole situation was too unfair.
After a short while, the soldier who escorting Anise finally spoke up. "Hey, this old lady doesn't look too good... Normally I don't care about a prisoner or two dropping dead in the hall, because it's not my job to clean up the mess. But this time... I mean, Prince Rein did order us to make sure they were handled with special care, didn't he?"
"A prisoner is a prisoner," the other soldier grumbled.
"And Prince Reign is King Jaspar's son. And... well I'm not trying to find my neck at the receiving end of an executioner's blade... or worse. Are you?"
Reign? So the white-haired prince was the king's youngest son. That meant that out of all the men in the La Croix family, he probably had the least authority. It was not he, but his brother, Prince Torin that would inherit the throne. Prince Reign would never be anything more than a prince. Effie began to wonder if that that was the reason they were in prison now. Maybe Reign had done all he could for them with the power he had... but no. She shook her head. She refused to start affording him excuses now. He was still a potential enemy, wasn't he? He was a La Croix, and that entire, wretched family was the reason she and and Anise, and all the other witches were being persecuted.
But almost as if echoing Effie's thoughts, the soldier leading her replied to the other soldier with a flippant, "He's just the second prince. It's not like he'll do anything to us."
"I don't know about that," the first soldier said nervously, bringing his voice low as if he was afraid someone might hear him. "He may not be the heir, but he's the king's favored son. And he's at least partially in charge right now while the king is away. And he seemed pretty angry earlier... I never see him angry like that. His eyes were so cold."
"His eyes are always cold."
"Yeah, but this time was different. For some odd reason he really doesn't want these women hurt. And if we let the old one die... Well... I just have a bad feeling about it."
The soldier leading Effie growled deep in his throat with annoyance. Mostly because he knew the other soldier was right. "Fine," he grumbled after a few moments. "Take the old woman to the infirmary, and see to it that she receives the medical attention she needs. Meanwhile, I'll be tending to this stubborn little mouse over here."
With those words, he squeezed Effie's wrist so hard she thought it would snap like a twig, but she barely reacted. She didn't care about pain right now, because she was about to face something so much worse. Her worst fear. Separation. The realization that they were about to take Anise away from her cause panic to overtake her.
"Please," Effie begged. "Let me go with her?"
"Now why would I let you do a thing like that?"
"B-Because... She's like a mother to me. And- And I'm a healer. Maybe I could help in some way?"
"You!?" The soldier burst out into an uproarious, mocking laughter. "No can do, little mouse. You're a prisoner. You have no rights. You gave up your humanity the second you decided to break the king's law. You don't belong anywhere other than a prison cell. Besides, I doubt a little thing like you could heal so much as a fly."
"Please, I can't lose her," Effie's voice trembled with desperation.
"Sorry, little mouse, this is where you two part ways. But don't worry, maybe you two will run into each other down here one of these years. If she survives at the infirmary that is. Now, its time to say your goodbyes. Make it quick, I don't have all day."
Effie hadn't even given the soldier time to finish before she was already dashing toward Anise. And since she was unable to properly embrace her dear aunt with her hands bound before her, all Effie could do was lay her head on Anise's shoulder and nuzzle her face into the crook of her neck, just like she used to do when she was little.
"Oh, Effie," Anise's voice broke with a little sob.
"Please survive," Effie implored her. "I'm going to find you someday, so please survive and please wait for me."
"Alright, alright, that's enough of that," the soldier griped unpleasantly, grabbing Effie and pulling her away from Anise. "I said to make it quick, didn't I? All this emotional garbage makes me ill. Come on, it's time to go, little mouse."
Effie wasn't afforded so much as a glance behind to watch Anise disappear into another part of the prison, because they were already walking.
-----
Pain erupted through Effie's body as it ricocheted off a stone wall after the soldier had tossed her into a very small cell. He slammed the iron-bared door shut, locking it securely.
"This is just a holding cell," he said. "You'll wait here for the Warden to come and get you. Although I'd love to have a little fun with you, I don't think that misfit prince would like it very much. Seems he's got himself a new little pet. Though I'm not sure what he sees in you," The soldier's toothy grin was repulsive as his eyes pried all over her body with his beady eyes. "Anyway, I'll go get the Warden now. And I'll tell him not to rough you up too much. But I make no promises. He does whatever he likes. Sit tight, little mouse. He'll be by soon for you. Just don't try anything you'll regret. Not that you can... If you your old little friend found yourselves getting weaker while you were here, that's because the prison has its ways of blocking your evil magic.... witch."