The Blood King's Love

Two

My eyes are wide open. 

Above me is a metal ceiling covered, in cobwebs, with chains hanging down from it like a chandelier.

I sit straight up, but then jerk back down when I feel an increasingly painful feeling in my thigh. I sit up, slowly this time, and speculate the wound. It's stained with dried blood, and some pus is coming out of it too. How did I get this? Where am I? 

Then I see my dress, the white dress I wear that belonged to my mother, ripped and bloodied, and I remember.

It was a normal day. I was supposed to hang out with my friend. My mother gave me her favorite dress for me to wear while I went out. Then we got into a fight. I don't remember what it was about, but I bet it was something stupid. The door slammed as I stormed out the door. My friend run up to me, hugging me and tossing a flower crown on top of my head. She noticed I was in a bad mood and tried to make me laugh. I feel better about the fight with my mom. She takes my hand and drags me around the corner. She opened up her mouth to say something, but gets cut off by the spear that flew through her body. Her eyes rolled back into their sockets and she fell to the ground. I dropped down to my knees, horrified, confused. People started to yell, some shouting at everyone to run, to escape--but I couldn't hear them. Then there's screaming and blood and explosions and fire and blood and bodies and families trying to run away but getting struck down by arrows and swords in the hands of soldiers and I'm just sitting there, staring at her lifeless body and I'm weeping and blood is seething out of her corpse and covering me and...

I stop myself from recalling the rest--but next thing I knew I was alive, alone in the now ruined village, and some soldiers came by. One of them was bothering me and I ignored him, and he got angry because I was a peasant so he took his sword and slashed my thigh, then he tried to kill me. But a voice stopped him. That voice turned out to belong to the emperor of Valon, the Blood King, and for some reason he had me thrown into a cage and forced into a carriage. I think I fainted not long after the cart began to move.

I observe my surroundings, it's pretty clear that I've been put in a sort of dungeon. But it's strange; there's only one guard, standing outside my cell, and I can't see any other prisoners other than myself. The guard is apparently not aware that I'm awake.As for this jail, the metal bars are rusting; I lay on the ground which is cold and hard.The door to (what I'm guessing is) the castle lies straight ahead.

I'm still wearing my mother's bloodied dress, and when I think of her my eyes get teary and I weep. I'll never see my mother ever again, I'll never apologize to her for that stupid, stupid argument, I'll never see her smile again. 

But I wipe away my tears.  I need to get out of here--I'll figure out what I should or shouldn't do after that.

I stand up, as quietly as possible, and thankfully the guard doesn't turn around. I read once in a book that there's a special way to knock someone out by gripping an area on the shoulder hard enough. I've done it before, but it takes a lot of precision and it's a risk. A risk I'm willing to take.
It's hard to tiptoe with a leg wound, but I manage by making my way with my hand pushing against the wall. 

Once I get close enough, I pounce, reaching over and grabbing his shoulder. He turns and his mouth opens, but before he makes any sound, I grip as hard as I can, and he falls unconscious.

The keys to the cell are in his belt, and it takes me a while to pick it up with my toes and carefully bring my healthy leg back to me through the bars. Yes! 

I go through the keys till I find the one that fits my lock and open it. The door creaks open loudly, and I step out. It's hard to move, but I move as fast as I can. Moving forward, I push the doors open to find myself in this odd hall, which is much prettier than the room behind me. There's a staircase, and on top of that another narrow hall, and at the end of that is an open window with a flapping curtain, just waiting for me.

This is my chance. I run as fast as I can, deciding not to look out the window to see my chances of making it since then I'll hesitate and I can't risk that. With my good leg I charge and leap through the opening, into the air, and yes! I did it! I'm out! 

Or at least, I thought so.

Suddenly a hand reaches out and grabs me tightly by my leg holding me upside down, hanging in the air. 

"And the pigeon tries to escape her cage." Laughs the Blood King, grinning at me.

He pulls me back inside.