Vow Of Silence

CHAPTER SEVENTY

1st PERSON: Pelomina Lorenzo-Capiz

“Raise your head…” I heard him demand.

I was surprised I even had enough fight in me to not follow him when he told me the first time, that either getting away from him changed my views of him, or the team’s attitude and stubbornness, being difficult in the face of authority for one, has rubbed off on me. I’m not exactly sure if I should be testing his patience, but I’m also not very willing to be found out.

“I won’t ask again…” he warned.

I gulped, flinching at his words. But now with that added threat, raising my head up felt easier, just because I’m really not sure I’d want to see what happened when he ran out of patience. A crowd had gathered at the scene and by the crowd, meant more servants and a few guards. There’s a chance he might recognize me—but maybe he won’t. He won’t. There’s no way, even I wouldn’t recognize myself with such a drastic change.

Once I met his eyes, and he brought the lamp closer to my face, I could see his jaw clenched as he exhaled through his nostrils, instead of his eyes widening with surprise, they squinted in a pining glare, without so much as a breath to me, he walked away, shoving the lamp back to the servant he borrowed it form.

At the last step on his way back into the castle he paused, merely looking at our lot over his shoulder, his hair falling on his back after that brisk walk, “Clean her and bring her ‘accomplices’ to the dungeon,” he barked and Klaus’s eyes widened. I rushed to him,

I grabbed him by the shoulders, “I-I can fix this, I’ll beg him to let you go—” I stopped midway when even the servants were waiting for the knights to open the door,

“Speak for yourself!” He yelled, “I can’t let them take you,” he said, his voice cracking under the stress as he ran his hands through his scalp, his usually neat and well-kept maroon hair was flying everywhere, and as we exchange reassuring words, the metal of this cage clanked as they opened it to the side,

Viciously, the knights climbed up the cage and grabbed me by the wrist and shoulders, forcefully tearing me away from Klaus, who then hugged and clutched me with all his might,

“Mina—Mina, no!” he screamed, pulling me back and away from the knights who were much bigger and stronger than us that their hands felt like hardwood against my skin,

“Klaus! No—It’s okay, look after Seth–'' I yelled back, and as they finally tore me away from him, I was then handed over to the servants, still wearing handcuffs while the knight almost instantly brought the carriage over to the direction of the dungeons. I was panting, simply exhausted and in pain, I could make out their handprints on my forearms, and even the servants clutched me close.

“Let go of me—You don’t have to grip me so hard—we–where’s Polly!” I protested, just remembering the young attendant I had. I didn’t even say goodbye to her before I left. Would it be too much for me to ask for her help, even after all these years? The servants only exchanged glances and squinted at me,

I frowned at them, “It’s me—Pelomina!” I snapped and while they did look shocked as they exchanged glances, they made it obvious that there was room for speculation. If they were unable to tell, how come he did? Damn it.

They did loosen up their grip and one even left with an uncertain bow, perhaps to look for Polly, soon after that, I was walking down the familiar halls of the castle, one, in particular, was heading straight for the bath, all the servants were women so they didn’t shy away from tearing my clothes off my body, and tear they did because the cuff was getting in the way of my stripping they had to shear it off.

The bath was prepared, and I was cooperative enough to follow their lead as they washed my hair and skin. I felt crushed. I am back here now. I never wanted to be back here. All I wanted was to see him, and now I got more than what I asked for and put my friends in danger.

“Dear me… what can I do with this hair?” one of these servants mumbled to herself, finally realizing she was working with little material, my hair was cut short after all, except for that one section right above the left side of my nape.

I hummed, “Can you braid that one long piece of hair?” I asked, and although confused, she nodded. Just so I could say that I participated without complaints and protest, using that to pull a favor from Lykus and let Klaus and Seth go.

I didn't know exactly how much time had passed; I was zoning out, I’m not sure how things would turn out from here, but at some point, the doors of the bath slammed open, and there in the doorway stood Polly out of breath, looking around frantically until our eyes met.

“My lady…” she whispered before running to me with a warm embrace that I so eagerly welcomed. I didn’t know I could be moved to the point of tears, I’m not even sure which of us is crying, but I could feel every sob she and I shared at that moment.

Poly pulled back with a sniff and a smile that I could swear I have on my face as well, her eyes welling up with tears, not minding that her sleeves and dress got wet from rushing to hug me as I lie in a bathtub, she then cleared her throat as he looked to the other servants,

“You can all leave, call Java, Keion, and Eustace over,” she ordered in a stern voice that I found sentimental. The meek and bubbly girl that I met before, now looking rather grown up, her hairstyle remained the same, but her face simply looked more adult-like.

After giving her orders, the servants nodded and bowed as they left closing the door behind them, Poly then smiled at me once again, choking up as he tried to maintain her smile, “My lady… you’re alive,” she noted and I nodded,

Sniffing as well as I wiped a tear on my cheek despite my whole body already being wet, I gave her a chuckle, “Indeed I am…” I agreed and she hummed, nodding along until her eyes fell on the handcuffs around my wrists.

A frown then took over their face, “No… how could they—how could he?” she hissed, standing up, “I’ll borrow a key from the knights and—”

I chuckled, my voice broke but now I felt at ease knowing I at least have one ally here, “There’s no need for that, just search for a pin-like object from that pile of clothes they just cut me out off,” I instructed, she pushed in her steps and but obliged, she combed through the garment and found the lock-pick I use, personally, handing it over it me to which I used to make an almost immediate break from the cuffs.

To her disbelief.

“My lady… why… you’ve seemed to—Oh my goodness, I just noticed your hair!” she yelled, absolutely mortified as she lightly pulled a few strands to assess the length and her jaw dropped to see how short it was.

I giggled at her reaction, “Polly please… my hair is the last thing you should be interested in right now,” I informed and she looked at me with wide eyes, a slack-jawed smile slowly forming on her lips, and before she could even say anything, the doors of the bath once again,

“My lady?!” this was Java,

“Oh, thank heavens!” Keion,

“Agh! She’s returned!” and finally, Eustace.

Doing exactly what Polly did and engulfed me in a hug, dousing all of them in water that they didn’t seem to mind as they simply pulled me close. While I don’t want to burst their bubble, I didn’t want to be here, and by no means am I planning to stay, but being in their arms again after so long melted my worries, they all have a soft spot in my heart.

And this reunion alone gave me enough courage to stand up to my next biggest challenge.