Ol' Flint the Crow

The Princess's Tale pt. 1

The wailings of my people echoed in every corner of the cage I was trapped in. Those bitter cries! I could not drown them out no matter how much I pierced my fingers into my ears. Once, I even drew blood from them.

These pitiful moans only became worse when Todd was around. Drunk with hatred or from wine, he stole from the royal cellar, he lumbered into the correction room and sneered at me. His fellow abhorrent townsfolk were with him dragging a body that fought to escape from what horrors were in the room that I was housed in.

Lifting up a whip, still red from the last victim, Todd cracked it, sending red puff of moister splattering against my face. I wanted to look away, but then they would have yanked me forward to witness the torment like they always did. Todd wanted me to see.

That day it was one of my maids, a sweet, elderly woman who I was rather fond of. She was to be flogged for these barbarians' amusement. She screeched as Todd's gang ripped and tore through her clothing, exposing her back, pale as cream. Taking another practice swing, Todd leered at the way the woman before him squirmed. Even as she pleaded to be spared, none took her any heed. Todd never showed any of my people mercy. Everyone he brought into this grim chamber only left until their bodies became like brittle wood warned out from termites.

"Let her go!" I screamed; I almost begged. "Please! She's old and weak. Don't you have any pity?!"

With a shriek louder than the sound the whip could even make, Todd yelled, "My son was shown no pity! None of us were!" He gazed at his companions who murmured in agreement. Todd continued coldly, "Why should we do the same to you?"

Bond and unable to look away, I watched these monsters tear into my poor maid's body. She cried out to me, begging for salvation. But I could do nothing! No one that ended up here could I save. They were tormented in front of me, each and every one. Eventually it all became a blur to me, so that I no longer knew who came in and who was dragged out. Their cries drilled a hole through my skull until I thought I would go insane! Screaming for help... for mercy... for me to save them! GODS!!! I wasn't even a grown woman yet! Can't you understand what this did to me. And even I was not spared from Todd's cruelty. My scars run deep, not even just on my face either. My back! Look! You see! Ripped to shreds. And you ask me to forgive that bird?!

Every day, down there in the depths of that hell, I had dreams about Flint. He would be a light through the darkness and cut down everyone in his path to save me. But he never did actually come. And I was left alone to suffer with my people.

While I was having a rather vivid dream about my once loyal pet, I could not help but feel a presence near me. To think I actually hoped it would be Flint returning for me. No, it wasn't him at all. Instead it was an old woman sticking her crooked nose in between the bars of my cage.

Whispering in my ear, this old hag said unto me, "Little one! Little one, wake up!"

My cage opened, but I didn't have the strength to flee. Just a few hours ago it was my turn for the whip. The loss of blood made me dizzy. For a moment, I thought that this woman was only a figment of my imagination and would disappear at any moment.

However, the old woman didn't melt away. She reached out and grabbed me in her arms. Then she wrapped me in a bag like one would do to a corpse. Was this the end, I thought. If it was, so be it! It wasn't though.

Although the woman was frail in body, she easily managed to carry me away out of the dungeon. So skinny from malnourishment, I did not weight much; this allowed the woman to take me away from that awful place without any hindrance. She hurried along down the winding corridors then up the spiral stair. I could hear some of my people murmuring to one another. They were wondering where I was being taken, but were too afraid or delirious to call out.