Freedom of Flight Ch. 02

Travis joined them, his hands were firm on her shoulders and his strength was greater than Jewel's. "Alanna, it's me, Travis. Remember? I got you water after you were taken from Markus's dungeon." He told her as she fought his hold.

Jewel quickly poked a wound, hoping the sudden pain would help snap Alanna out of whatever her mind was going through. Alanna's mind snapped back into the present as pain raced up her spine. Alanna instantly stopped fighting the hands that were trying to push her down. She took several deep calming breaths and pressed her face against the cold stone beneath her.

Jewel and Travis had placed her belly down on a marble tablet that was built like a shallow basin and was used as a treatment table/cleaning basin for injured who could not use a bath. Alanna tried to remember what had happened, of how she had come to be here, she drew a blank and realised that she must have blacked out after her talk with Dominic.

"My name is Jewel and I will be tending to you." She said gently as she stroked some hair from Alanna's face. Alanna's eyes focused on Jewel who was no bigger than her mother but she appeared a lot more fragile than her mother. Her blond hair was pulled back in a pony tail, a faint scar cutting through her right eyebrow.

"I'm Alanna." She said not realising that Jewel more than likely already knew her name. She was never at her best first thing after waking from one of those dreams, let alone including everything else that had happened.

Jewel smiled, "Hello, Alanna… I would shake your hand but if I move you even a little bit, you'll feel pain and at the moment, I bet that is the last thing you want."

Alanna nodded slightly, pain was the last thing she wanted at the moment. "How long was I out?" She asked, needing to know for her own piece of mind.

"About three hours. It took a while for us to clean up after the battle and get all the matters of dissolving the assets of the keep." Travis answered.

Jewel watched Alanna as she tried to weigh up the rumours against what she had already guessed about the woman before her. "Travis here is going to help me get you out of your clothes and clean. If you aren't comfortable with him helping me, tell me." Jewel gently pulled the drying pad from Alanna's back gently picking free bits of skin and flesh that had stuck to the cloth.

Alanna closed her eyes and bit her lip, trying to hold back the pain which threatened to overwhelm her. Jewel was being as gentle as she could but even so, the burning sensation built quickly. When Jewel finally finished removing the pad, Alanna sighed, "Why?" she asked curious.

Jewel gently pressed a large sponge to her back, letting more numb weed come in contact with the wounds. "Because if I need to call in other women to help me, I can guarantee you'll feel pain. Travis is strong enough to move you but gentle enough to not hurt you." Jewel answered.

"It's fine." Alanna answered, seeing the logic behind Travis helping out. Besides, the mere mention of avoiding pain put everything else in the back burner.

"I was hoping you would remain out cold for this part." Jewel stated as she put the sponge away and cut what remained of Alanna's shirt free. Travis gently hooked his arms under her arm pits and slightly lifted her so Jewel could tug the shirt and what remained of her bra free. She was then gently lowered onto the cold stone again. Jewel had already removed Alanna's shoes and socks before she woke up.

Jewel used shears to cut the belt and form-hugging jeans from Alanna's body. Travis helped pull the cloth back and blinked in embarrassment, surprised at the scrap of material that was Alanna's G-string. Jewel cut the cloth at each hip and eased it off as Travis removed her jeans.

Jewel glanced to Travis as she turned a flexible showerhead on gently spraying ice cold water laced with numb weed onto Alanna's back. Travis nodded; he had not missed the faint scars that marred Alanna's body on the parts that hadn't been damaged by the nerve whip. She had survived some brutal beatings in her lifetime; it wasn't surprising that her body reacted differently if people took in that fact.

The ice cold water and the numb weed mix did as it was intended for in moments, Alanna was completely numb to her body. Together Jewel and Travis cleaned her wounds and body of dirt, carefully rearranging the pieces that hung almost free from her body. They couldn't use stitches to keep the flesh together as it would prevent the numb weed from doing its job.

"Now while you're numb, we'll dry you off and get you into some clothes." Jewel informed Alanna, knowing that warning her of what they were doing was keeping her calm.

"I would really like to use the bathroom." She replied, she had been busting to go for a while now.

Travis turned his back to give her the privacy she deserved.

Jewel turned the water back on and leant in to whisper, "Just go. Travis isn't looking and I'll just spray you down again."

It took a moment to relax because it was quite uncomfortable knowing that people were there and could see and hear her take care of her needs but she was busting. Jewel did as she promised and sprayed Alanna down again completely. She quickly turned off the water.

"Quickly." She reminded Travis as he turned back to face them.

They quickly dried her off and Jewel rapidly tied on a modesty cloth which was two pieces of cloth, front and back tied with a thong at the hips. They then slid a back fastening smock on and together they got her into the nearby bed.

A mat soaked in numb weed was gently lowered onto her back. A metal frame was placed over her back to keep pressure off it and a blanket tossed over it to keep her warm.

They left Alanna alone and left the room. Dominic walked up to them as they shut the door.

"How is she?" He asked, concerned.

"Fine, she woke just as we were about to clean her. Stayed awake the entire time." Jewel answered, reluctantly awed and bemused by that.

"I thought as much. I just questioned some of the men who gave the lashings; two survived the attack. They confirmed Alanna's story. Sage took twelve, eight of which she was awake for, she never cried out or flinched. Alanna however took thirty before someone told them to stop, she didn't black out or cry out at any point." Dominic explained, a bit in awe at the last fact.

Jewel's and Travis's heads jerked towards the door of Alanna's room. Thirty, she had been lashed thirty times and had managed to walk after that, both of them thought incredulously.

"She has been beaten before, many times if the scars on her body are any indication to go on." Jewel turned her head back towards Dominic.

"Assure her that I am sending a message to her mother to tell her they are both safe." He told them as he walked off. He was not only thinking about the message he had to send to Amy, but also about a befitting punishment for Markus and the two men who had lashed his daughter and her sister for no better reason than the fact they had showed up his men's training. He hadn't considered that it might also have been a little bit of a backlash for Markus's own bruised ego. He wanted to make them pay for what they had done to his daughter.

After checking on Alanna's progress, he paused at Sage's door as a servant was taking food in. Sage was awake and hungry, he mused to himself. He walked in and watched the servant as she went to feed Sage.

"Can I talk to my daughter first?" He asked. She nodded and stood leaving the room. Dominic approached the bed and kissed her temple. He sat on the stool next to her bed and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss. "How do you feel?"

"Numb." She smirked and he smiled in response.

"I didn't mean that, Sage. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, da, seriously. I just need time to heal." She paused. "Da… I need to tell you something."

He nodded and waited.

"It's about Alanna, you need to know her past." She took a deep breath.

"Why?"

"Because if we… you don't plan ahead, she'll become unstable."

He frowned, "Does it have to do with the scars?"

She sighed in relief that someone had noticed the faint scars and told her father, "Yes… da, as a nine year old child she was abducted, and forced to be the mate of a man almost twenty years older than her."

He frowned, "But Were law… "

"Da… She wasn't born in Haven pack. She was born into an Italian pack which refused to obey the laws of Were, it was why they were dissolved. She was beaten, raped, starved and goddess knows what else, and he wasn't the only person who got to use her like that. She lived that life for almost seven years." She didn't know what else to say. "She doesn't talk about it but she taught me how to deal with the lashings, to use the pain and make it into my strength."

"Okay… What do we need to do to keep her calm?" He asked and wished that Bianca was here to help him. He missed his wife dearly but he was slowly accepting her death and parting from his life. He had come to view the ache in his heart differently lately, it was more centred around the fact that his daughter wasn't home. He found himself wanting to turn to her whenever something exciting happened. He respected his late wife's request and even understood why Sage needed to learn about both sides of her mixed heritage or she would never be whole. It, however, didn't stop him from missing her.

"You'll need to knock her out. She doesn't sleep an entire night without some kind of nightmare. If she has a nightmare, it takes her a while to snap out of it."

He nodded, "Sleeping drought it is." He waited for anything else he needed to know.

"Try to keep men away from her, she's vulnerable at the moment. It will make her tense and even more importantly, men shouldn't go into her room without a woman present."

He nodded. He was going to do that anyway but having his daughter confirmed it helped.

"When she eats… she doesn't like people trying to take her food, even in jest. So don't take her food from her until she says she's had enough."

He rested a hand on her head. "We'll take care of it and I'll inform Jewel. If you think of anything else, tell me. I don't want Alanna becoming unstable while she is recovering."

"No, that's about it." She told him, her face scrunched up trying to remember more.

He smiled and stood and leant down, "I'm sorry that you were dragged here and hurt, but I'm not sorry that you're home." He kissed her temple, "I missed you." He pressed the side of his face against hers and gently rubbed his cheek against hers, a traditional greeting among close friends and family.

"Missed you too, da… you don't know how much." Tears filled her eyes, she loved Amy, Wolfgang and her siblings, they were her family as much as he was but he was her father, the man who had given her life and love from the moment she was conceived. Her love for him was deeper somehow but she could never explain why that was so. Perhaps blood is thicker than water... but that thought was quickly cast away for it felt like she was betraying her family.

She wondered about what the fates would have done if both she and her mother hadn't needed to go through the portal a little over five years ago. She understood why the gods had put the restrictions on the portals, it forced those who used them to return to their world or remain trapped and possibly killed. Her mother had to constantly travel back to earth only to return or be forced to remain in one realm for the rest of her life, as the portals wouldn't let her through. Her father had always come with her, to learn more about Were, organise the peace treaty and later to establish trade. Sage was born on earth during one of these nesscessary trips, forcing her to travel with her mother back to earth once every year.

It had been a bad set of circumstances five years ago. Her father had a war to fight but they had to go through the portal. They then had five months to wait for the next portal to open. Bianca decided to get a job and had enrolled Sage in school to help pass the time. Then August the 3rd happened and her mother was killed. Amy had been true to her oath because as soon as the dust settled and she had recovered, she opened a portal, as ancients could open their own portals to Sogol that left no markers, and went to inform Dominic of Bianca's death and of her dying request. From that moment on, Sage no longer had to worry about markers as Amy would open her own portal for Sage to travel through negating the need for natural portals.

He pulled away and gently used his thumbs to brush away her tears. "Don't cry… you're home now." He kissed her temple again. "I'll send Gemma in with the food."

Sage blushed, she was positive the whole keep could hear her stomach rumble. He chuckled and went to leave. "Oh da…" She suddenly remembered something very important. Dominic turned back to her. "Give her Bounce and tell her it's from me."

He frowned in shock. Bounce was the stuffed animal he had given to her as a toddler, the toy which had pride of place on her bed, he could even remember a time when Bounce had to have his own dinner plate and seat at the high table. "Why?" He asked as he walked over to the rocking chair where Bounce had been placed when Sage was moved to her bed.

"Because it will help her remain calm. She always sleeps with some kind of toy." She explained.

He nodded and picked Bounce up and cradled the stuffed animal in his arms like he used to when she was much younger. "I'll go give this to her then inform your mother you're here and what happened…" He smirked, "That is if she doesn't already know."

She nodded, "Night da." She knew the moment she had eaten they were going to make her drink sleeping drought, a strong drought as well which would make her sleep until sometime tomorrow.

"Sleep deep." He told her and left the room quietly. Gemma was waiting for him outside of the room, the bowl of thick stew had been reheated so that it was hot. "She's starving. I hope you have enough."

Gemma smiled, "I always have enough food for Sage." He held the door open for her and she walked in.

"Yay… food!"

He snorted at his daughter's obvious delight. He walked down the hall to the room that had been prepared for Alanna and spotted Jewel approaching with a heavy platter of food and two sealed jugs; one was beaded with condensation so he guessed that one was water and the other sleeping drought. She paused before her lord.

"We need to talk before you go in. Do you want me to take that…" He offered. Jewel set the tray down on a chair outside of the room and dusted her hands on her thighs. She was always a little in awe of her Lord, hero worship, Bianca had called it but she couldn't help it. He had saved her life from much the same situation he had saved his daughter from.

"There are a few things you need to know about Alanna. She…" he hesitated, not knowing how to broach this with her, unused to having to break things softly. "She had a hard childhood…" he sighed; that hadn't come out right. Hard was an inadequate word to describe her childhood. "Jewel… what happened to you… happened to her, only… it started when she was still a child… and didn't stop for almost seven years."

Jewel gasped in horror. She had guessed parts of Alanna's story, she was thinking along the lines of an abusive parent, one that beaten her but not this, not that kind of abuse. She had been so absorbed in what he was telling her that she hadn't noticed that Travis had joined them until he wrapped a comforting arm around her. He kissed her temple to comfort her.

"Be strong." He whispered into her ear.

She nodded, she could do this, "Okay, what do I need to know?" She knew she had some peculiar habits after what had happened to her.

"Don't take her food away from her unless she tells you she's had enough. Men are not to be alone with her in her room and you might have to give her sleeping drought every night. She has bad nightmares and you know as well as I do that she'll be experiencing aftereffects of the lashings, one day for every lash. She doesn't need that."

Jewel nodded, picked up the tray of food and together they walked into the room.

"Alanna," he said as he walked into her field of view. "I'm going to send a message to your ma, I will explain what happened. Do you want to add anything?" He asked.

She nodded slightly, "Tell her I'm fine and that I don't want her to freak out or anything. Oh and…"

He interrupted guessing what she was about to say. "Don't worry. I will be telling her about the men who aided Markus. I even managed to get their names when I questioned some of the prisoners." He paused for a moment. "Sage asked me to give this to you. His name is Bounce." He offered the prized stuffed animal to her. She smiled weakly as she took the animal and held it close.

"Can you thank her for me?" Alanna asked, her voice dripped with emotion for her sister's thoughtfulness.

He nodded and smiled, he had always wanted a big family, with lots of children. However Bianca had been old for a Were, towards the end of her child-bearing years although she looked no older than 30. They had tried but it had been a miracle that Sage had even been conceived. He was glad that Sage got to experience siblings, something they couldn't give her.

"Um… after I eat, is there any chance of getting me something so I'll sleep deeply without dreams?" She asked, she didn't want to dream, she knew they would quickly turn to nightmares and her body just couldn't withstand the added stress.

"We have a flower that when pressed makes a drink we've called the sleeping drought, deep sleep without dreams. I'll get you some once you've eaten. I was going to suggest it as I know Gemma will be pouring the stuff down Sage's throat after she's eaten." Jewel told her in a matter-of-fact tone.

He left the room knowing Jewel would be able to help her far better than he could. As he walked down the hallway, he thought about ways to really punish Markus before he eventually killed him. Normally he would have just gotten it over with but after seeing his daughter's back, after seeing the damage his orders had done to Alanna, he wanted to teach Markus a lesson before he sent him off to the after-life. The more pain the better, he thought to himself. He wished Markus could feel what he had done… he smirked… he had the punishment now. He refused to use a nerve whip on principal and his men worked harder because of that trust. But he was more then willing to make an exception on Markus. He doubted that Markus had ever had the device used on himself; it was time that was rectified.

He considered quietly as he walked, how many lashes that would be dealt to Markus before his death, how many steps would he force Markus to make, how many days of pain would he be forced to endure. The number of lashes was simple… he had ordered twelve lashings, twelve lashings he would receive. Twelve steps he would take after the lashings, the same amount of steps as Alanna had bravely walked to get out of the cell he had forced her into and he would endure all twelve days of pain without numb weed before his life would finally end.

He walked into the great hall, [noticing that] his men were still on alert, most simply wanting to hear how their princess and her sister was before they went to take their armour off. Several stood with Markus, both to protect him and to contain him. Several more of his men guarded the other two men who had beaten Sage and Alanna and had been unlucky enough to survive the assault. The others who had survived were already in cells to await Dominic's judgement. These men, however, were going to be treated differently as they had personally injured Sage and Alanna.