The Punishment

Conner's dungeon smelled terrible, like rotting urine. 

It was only a single room, surrounded by rough-hewn rock walls and rusty iron bars. 

There were no windows and no lights except for the few lit candles that were in scones on the wall outside the bars. 

It was damp down there, and I shivered in the cold air. 

Except it wasn't even that cold. 

I was terrified. 

When Cregan released his hold on me to open the barred door, I got in one good punch at his neck. 

Mott grabbed my arm, and held both of them tightly behind me. 

Cregan hissed that he would make me pay for that. 

Once inside, Cregan sliced off my shirt and shackled my wrists with chains that hung from the ceiling. 

He then raised the chain, and I could barely touch the floor with my arms suspended above me.

Mott approached me, and in his hands was some sort of whip. 

The whip had thick leather straps. 

I told him that Conner had said not to leave any scars, but I couldn't control the tremble in my voice as I spoke.

Cregan replied that Conner said nothing about not leaving bruises. 

He said that as long as Mott hit me with the broad side of the strap, I would feel the pain, but that it shouldn't cut me. 

I begged Mott not to do this.

He yelled back that I chose this. 

He said he had warned me.

Cregan asked what was so important about the rock.

Mott replied that it was never about the rock. 

It was about me wanting to win. 

He said that this was my way of proving that Conner didn't own me. 

I cut in and said that Conner didn't own me. 

That made Mott snap the whip. 

I had been prepared for pain, but I hadn't imagined it would be this great.

I screamed, but the scream didn't sound like me. 

Mott snapped the whip again, and then a third time.

My legs collapsed, but with the chain holding by bound hands, the force pulled hard on my shoulders. 

Again, Mott asked where the rock was. 

Without waiting for an answer, he snapped the whip again. 

I felt myself separating from the pain, as if part of me had stepped aside to watch it happen. 

That part of me cringed at the sound of a strap hitting flesh. 

The other part continued to scream. 

I whispered that Conner didn't own me. 

It's my gold, I told him. 

Mott snapped the whip again, but this time, it cut like a claw into my skin. 

Mott scowled. 

He told Cregan to get a towel. 

Cregan said that Conner had said not to draw blood.

Mott replied that Conner had said not to leave any scars. 

He told Cregan to get the bandages and that then they would leave me alone. 

He said they'd give me time to think about my next answer.

Cregan disappeared and Mott cursed. 

He threw the whip into a corner of the room. 

A minute later, Cregan returned with a bottle of clear liquid and a cloth. 

Mott told him that he would take care of "this." 

He told Cregan not to tell Conner any more than he had to.

Cregan asked Mott to give him five minutes alone with me. 

He said he would find out where the rock was.

Mott growled at him to get out.

Mott uncorked the bottle. 

I caught a whiff of it and shook my head. 

I pleaded with him not too. 

He warned that the sting wouldn't be any better than the whip. 

He poured the liquid onto the cloth, then pressed it to by back. 

I howled again and kicked Mott in the knee, and he stumbled backwards.

He angrily told me that it would only get infected if he didn't clean it. 

He said that he was the only friend I had right now, so I shouldn't upset him.

I asked him that if he was my friend, then who were my enemies. 

He said I was my own enemy. 

He told me to look in the mirror for the cause of all my problems. 

He asked me if I thought he had wanted to hold the whip. 

He patted my back again with the cloth, and I cursed at him.

He told me to watch my mouth, or Conner would have him whip that out of me too. 

I told him it hurt. 

My back felt like it was on fire and every single nerve in my body felt it.  

Mott said he couldn't see why Conner had killed me already. 

He said that Conner saw something in me worth keeping, but that his patience wouldn't last forever. 

He told me to give Conner the rock.

I said no.

Mott told me I was a fool. 

He said that if this was my strategy to become prince, it was a terrible one. 

He told me to bow to Conner. 

And to give him the rock.

Before he left, he blew out the candles, leaving me suspended from the ceiling, half-naked, injured, and in complete darkness.