He cursed and turned on her with a look 👀 of such rage and menace that she could live a thousand lifetimes and never forget it. His features—twisted though they were—fixed in her memory. Dark, flat eyes , a sharp aquiline nose, a thin mustache and a neatly trimmed beard .He had the finely wrought face of a nobleman, not the thick, heavyset features of a brute she'd expected. Norman, she would wager. If not by birth then by heritage. But his refined looks could not hide the evil emanating from him.
He was cursing at her shouting.
Her mother was crying , 'No Carissa , no!''
Not hesitating, Carissa lifted the hoe again. She was so focused on the task at hand ,she didn't hear the two men approaching her from the other side of the room—men she hadn't even took note of —as she brought it down hard again on his shoulder.
He let out a grunt of pain. 'Get the little bitch off me!''
One of the soldiers grabbed her arm. The other wrenched the hoe from her hand. The brute who'd been raping her mother lifted his steel-gauntleted hand and brought it down hard across Carissa's face before she could turn away. But she noticed with satisfaction the blood streaming down his arm. At least she'd done some damage.
Her mother screamed and lunged for Carissa, trying to protect her with her body.
That was when the true nightmare began . The handful of seconds that would play over and over in Carissa's mind . It happened so fast, and yet each second tricked by in haunting precision .
Out of the corner of her eye Carissa saw the flash of silver as the brute pulled out his sword 🗡 from the scabbard at his waist. She opened her mouth to scream a warning ⚠️ but it was too late. The blade came down in one vicious stroke across her mother's body, splitting her side to the waist in an instant. Her mother's expression went from stunned to horror to pain, where it stayed for what seemed an agonizing length of time. 'Love you...father...sorry...'' Her Voice faded; she staggered and slid to the ground.
Carissa wrenched free from her captor with a primal scream and tried to catch her. But the second soldier stopped her before she could reach her mother. Carissa fought like a wildcat, but he was simply too strong.
'What should I do with her, Captain?'' he said to the monster who'd just cut down the only person in the world she had left.
The brute bent down to wipe his sword on her mother's sark, leaving a sickly streak of red on the creamy linen. 'Kill the mongrel's bitch. I'd use her to finish, but I need a woman, not a pathetic chit in breeches. Find me one,'' he ordered the first man.
The man who was holding her reached for his blade. He had his arm wrapped around her like a vise. Though she knew it hopeless, she kicked and screamed,trying to free herself.
The captain watched her with a predatory smile on his face, clearly enjoying her terror. 'Wait,'' he said. 'I want the rebel brat to pay for what she dared . Toss her in that old well outside.'' His side deepened, his white teeth flashing across his face like a wolf's.' Let her suffer before she dies.''
That was hours ago. How many , she didn't know. It had been morning when Carissa had gone fishing and the skies 🌌 had been dark for some time. The last embers of the fires 🔥 the soldiers set had burned themselves out some time ago.
Everything was gone. Her mother . The baby. Her friends. Her home. All that was left was ash and this hideous pit of death 💀.
She'd given up trying to climb out. Though freedom was a precious six feet away when she stood , what hand—holds and toeholds there were in the stone walls crumbled with her weight. She'd tried to wedge her back against the wall, but her legs weren't long enough to exert enough pressure to inch her way up.
Tired, cold, and wet, she knew she had to conserve her strength. Someone would come for her . Someone would find her.
But how long would it take?
Every minute in the pit felt like torture. Her heart raced in her chest. She hated the dark and icy 🥶 fear had become a companion to her grief.
'There's nothing to be scared of Carissa rissa . The darkness won't hurt you.''