Josie shifted her knees against the cold iron floor, her bruises aching from the cramped confines of the cell. She sucked at her lower lip, nursing the swollen cut in the soft pink flesh. The metallic tang of blood was sharp on her tongue, a spot of bright pain in the oppressive darkness that pressed in around her. She could see nothing, hear nothing but the muted plink of water, dripping unhurriedly in some deep recess of the stone.

She was alone here.

It must have been hours now since the king's guard dragged her roughly from the banquet hall and down into the snaking bowels of the mountain. She kept her mouth soldered shut, head rigidly forward as she was jostled through the outer reaches of the sprawling dungeon: long and winding hallways where torches sputtered and sturdy oak doors muffled the pleas of prisoners waiting endlessly for trial. Then came the place the soldiers called the larder, a horrifically mundane name for the cavernous room where removable cage cells lined the towering walls like crates of meat stacked on a shelf. Josie tried desperately not to think of the implications, her empty stomach heaving at the moans for help that drifted unmoored from the cages' terrific heights.

She was led at last into a final chamber, blacker than pitch. The handheld torches of the guard cut twisted gashes of light into the ground, the stone slick with a substance too thick to be water. Josie tripped as she was shoved forward, her shoulder shattering against cage bars that materialized suddenly before her like the gaping jaws of a beast. Her pulse quickened as the door clanged shut behind, enclosing her inside with barely any room to stand. But it was when the soldiers retreated that her heart lurched with terror, the lifegiving light of their torches snuffed out into an insatiable, unfathomable blackness. Here, even the edges of her own body were unknowable. It was as if she had slipped between worlds and into the shadow realm.

Josie blinked once, then twice, a nervous gesture to remind herself that her eyes were still open. Hours was it? Or maybe days. In the darkness, time seemed to warp and bend until all existence was a single moment and an eternity. She repressed the urge to scream. The first time she'd given in to the feeling, her voice had been swallowed so wholly that it was as if the sound had never existed. From that fact alone, she reasoned that the chamber was much larger than she originally imagined. She tried to map it out in her mind, charting each detail with painstaking clarity; an exercise to keep her imagination from descending into more ghastly imaginings.

Josie perked up as a thin current of air whipped through the room, followed closely by the heavy, muted thud of a great door closing somewhere beyond. She could hear the low murmur of a deep, male voice, but was unable to catch any distinct words. Edging forward on her knees, she grasped the cage bars, pressing herself up to their side as she strained to listen.

Her entire body jolted as an ungodly shriek pierced the darkness, followed closely by a stream of fitful, unintelligible screams. She felt herself go deathly pale, hands beginning to tremble as she realized just exactly what was happening in that room...what would soon be happening to her.

Josie clenched her jaw, eyes pressed desperately shut as she tried to drown out the intermittent sounds of violence. It was like being forced to bear witness to her own impending torture, the stark realization of what was to come freezing the very marrow of her bones. 

It had seemed like such a noble thing, up there with the flames and the fury and the roar of the riots pounding through her blood. Such a distant thing. Like those old folk tales of fallen heroes told by the cheerful glow of the hearth. Only they never spoke about this part...about the rooms that reeked of blood and piss, the shrieks more animal-like than human...never told you what it felt like to be alone, truly alone, with only the knowledge of your own sure death and the mangled clutches of your terror...

A chill pricked at Josie's neck as she gradually became aware of an uneasy silence. The screaming had stopped. Her heart spiked as a rumbling thunder reverberated up through the cage floors, distant at first, then growing more powerful by the moment.

It was happening. Oh god, it was happening.

A deafening creak of wood sounded behind her, like the groaning of a great ship. She spun around blindly, grasping at the iron bars as she stared hopelessly into the void. Josie could feel her throat tightening, each heartbeat throbbing through her chest like a drum.

She would have known his arrival even if it weren't for the low thrum of his breathing. His monstrous body seemed to form a denser presence in the darkness, suffocating the dank air in the chamber. She stood immaculately still, every nerve taut and alert, as if there was some chance he may pass her over in her silence.

Her heart catapulted as a colossal foot thundered down, then another, the tremor sending her scrambling backwards on all fours into the unyielding bars of the cage. One after one they fell, the vibrations rocking through her body and echoing endlessly through the cavern until the noise seemed to encompass her on all sides. She grew disoriented in her panic, turning rapidly in circles as she tried to follow the sound. With each careless step, Josie's body trembled more violently, her quaking mingling with the shudder of footfall until she could no longer distinguish between the two.

She could feel every nerve in her body stretching, shrieking, ready to snap, like a prisoner pulled too far over the rack. It would be so easy for him to end her now: one small accident, one misstep in the dark. She clutched onto the bars with a savage desperation, his steps slamming so close to the prison that her eyes began to smart.

Then the footsteps stopped abruptly, the air vibrating instead with an expectant stillness.

A violent spark of light erupted from the blackness, illuminating the sharp contours of the Godking's monstrous face. Josie stifled a shriek, cowering backward instinctively from the terrible apparition. He held the candle there for a moment, peering down at her until the sight of him was like a horrific omen burned into her eyes. Then he raised his arm, feeding the flame to the colossal torch hanging overhead. 

 The air seemed to shift with the immense movement, his actions slow and unhurried. A crushing pressure mounted in Josie's chest, her mind reeling as it tried to comprehend the sheer immensity of him towering nearly a hundred feet overhead. His eyes seemed to burn with an infernal fire, the flickering flames cutting jagged shadows over his cruel features.

"Kneel."

The force of his command barrelled through the chamber, liquefying every muscle in her body. She could hear the visceral hatred bristling in his voice, his fury lurking beneath the thunder. Her knees buckled, begging to submit.

Josie's hands shot back out, grasping the iron bars furiously between clenched fists to keep herself upright. Her fingers trembled under her grip, her legs wavering even as she tried to brace them. With an almost painful slowness, she arched her head back to face him. He would not break her that easily.

"Well now..." he mused, "aren't we a brave little thing..."

He took a step closer, his boot materializing from a swathe of shadow as it crowded in toward her. Josie shrunk backward, body clenching up even as she still held fast to the cage.

He tilted his head, his eyes sharpening in on the involuntary movement. Then his lips pulled back slowly from his teeth, and the sight was so hellish it froze Josie's blood.

"Oh, you are going to be fun to play with..."

Josie's stomach clenched viscerally at his words, her jaw clenching as she fought to push down the swelling wave of her terror. With an almost inhuman will, she gathered herself together, forcing a simple string of sounds from her lips. 

"Go fuck yourself."

The Godking went rigid, his eyes narrowing savagely. 

"My, my," he uttered, his voice teetering on the verge of violence. "Those are some awfully big words for such a little thing." He dropped the candle with a clatter, the wick hissing as it was doused out. The air rumbled with the low growl of his breathing. "I think it's about time we teach you some manners."

Josie shrieked as the Godking's boot slammed down beside the cage, ricocheting through her with a seismic shock. She collapsed to her knees by the sheer force of the movement, her body stunned by the impact. The second she recovered herself she began to shiver violently, her heart throbbing against the cage of her chest. 

His foot was an inch from the prison. One inch. Any closer and she would have been dead before she even knew it. Even her scream would have come too late.

Above her, the Godking was watching her, his face almost contemplative. 

"You're so small" he uttered,  as if the sudden realization amused him. "It's almost unfair isn't it? How helpless you are...how easy it would be to end you..."

As he said this, he angled back his boot, turning it slightly on its heel until it hovered over the prison. This time, he lowered his foot down over her slowly, so slow in fact, the act seemed almost careful, gentle. The metal creaked in protest as his sole settled atop the cage.

"I couldn't imagine the indignity of dying beneath someone's foot..." he mused, his boot pressing down more forcefully now. "Crushed like an insect...some insignificant speck..."

Josie panted, her mind reeling as the metal groaned under the increasing pressure. She could see the bars beginning to bend, crushing inward on the already cramped space. She began to turn frantically about the cage on her knees, her hands wrenching at the iron for any means of escape.

He laughed breathlessly at her little movements, his head tilting with amusement.

"And where do you think you're going, little one?"

A low moan of terror slipped past Josie's lips as the cage dented further in, forcing her to bow under the strain. She pounded helplessly at the bars, her entire world reduced to the small space between the ground and his foot. He was going to crush her alive, mutilate her in twisted metal. 

Just as she thought she couldn't bear it any longer, the pressure ceased. For a moment the dark weight of his sole remained above her, taunting her with its careless power. Then all at once it disappeared, the sickly glow of the torchlight flooding back in through the mangled bars above.

The Godking looked down at her bent prostrate before him, his face almost fond.

"There, that's much better, isn't it?"

She choked back a furious sob. 

Far above, her tomenter tsked, his brow furrowing pityingly. "It's alright little one..." he said. "You don't need to be ashamed. There's no one here to see you break. Only me."

Josie exhaled roughly through her nose, her body shuddering in a mortifying mixture of terror and rage. She hated the way he toyed with her so leisurely, hated the mocking amusement in his voice. Pushing her thick hair from her eyes, she straightened her spine as much as the tiny space would allow.

"You can force me to my knees," she spat, "but I will die before I bow to you."

For a brief second, his eyes flickered with surprise, as if he had expected her to cower. She felt a surge of vindication at the sight, her loathing lending her a strength beyond herself. Then his face hardened, a look of such fearsome spite settling over his features that it could have turned a man to stone.

Josie couldn't help but shrink backward as he shifted, crouching down slowly to his haunches over the cage. The world seemed to reel with the movement, as if the very roof of the cavern was collapsing in on her. She could barely bring herself to look up at him, his colossal form looming over her completely. 

"Well done, little one," he hissed. "I must say, when I first saw you up there singing that silly little song, I didn't think you'd last a minute. 'Free you'll live and free you'll die...' ", he laughed mirthlessly. "I haven't heard that one in years...not since the war." He paused for a moment, as if deep in some pleasurable recollection. Then his voice dropped, cruel and terrible. "Do you want to know what my favourite part was? When I'd make the soldiers sing it as they pissed themselves with terror, all those lovely words unraveling into senseless sobbing."

Josie's stomach heaved, her jaw clenched so hard she thought it would shatter. She wanted to rip viciously at his smug face, wanted to dig her fingernails deep into the soft flesh of his eyes.

He leaned in closer, his elbows resting leisurely on his thighs.

"Let me tell you something, little one. You'll break long before you die. Body, spirit, it doesn't matter which first. In the end, you tiny things are always so desperate to speak, begging me for the privilege to say anything..." He trailed off. "And you and I, we have much to talk about. Don't we, Fawn?"

Josie cried out as his colossal hand clamped around the prison, the hot flesh of his palm pressed up against the side. The cage rattled precariously as he began to lift it off the ground. She spread her knees wider, clutching at the bars on either side in her distress. She had never been good with heights, never understood why Fawn would forsake the firm earth for the precarious boughs of trees. She shut her eyes now, fighting the sinking feeling in her gut as the ground disappeared beneath her.

The Godking smiled thinly at her fear, tilting the cage this way and that as he observed her leisurely. She scrambled to stay upright, letting out a panicked sound, as he shook the prison slightly to command her attention.

"I must say its such a pleasure to have you all to myself at last..."

His voice was careless, unhurried, but Josie could hear the unrestrained hunger underneath. Her muscles clenched up as his other hand rose, a single digit stretching out toward the prison. He began to trace the contours of the cage, his finger thudding ominously as he dragged it over each bar.

"You see, I've been imagining all the things I would do to you when I finally had you in my possession..."

As his words died, his finger landed on the door's locking mechanism, a long metal bar that would take the strength of 3 men to pry upward. It looked like a mere pin in his hand, and it came out just as easily. Josie's eyes flashed frantically over the mangled door, hoping desperately that the warped prison would now be her refuge. But the twisted bars were no match for his terrible strength. 

Josie let out a strangled yelp, scrambling backward as he gripped the door, ripping it from it's very hinges. Then two colossal fingers were pressing in through the tiny opening, grasping at her with dreadful purpose. Her blood roared in her ears as she clambered to the very corner, limbs tangling up in her desperate fear. She latched onto the bars just as her waist was pinched between his fingers, a wheezing cry crushed from her stomach on impact. Her pitiful attempts to resist him were no consequence; a small shake to the cage dislodged her grip and she was easily plucked out.

She began to struggle in her panic, tiny fingers beating at his thumb, ripping at the flesh. This only seemed to amuse the Godking more, his savage grin widening at her helpless fluttering. He let her writhe a bit before the rest of his fingers curled in, pinning her effortlessly in place. Then, with a single squeeze of warning, he ended her movements abruptly. She was suddenly starkly aware of the immense power coursing through him, the small twitches and throbbing heat of his fingers reminding her that one absentminded flicker could end her entire existence.

"There's a good girl. Now, let's have a better look at you..."

Josie's heart catapulted as he lifted her up closer to his monstrously handsome face. She tried desperately not to squirm as his enormous fingers crowded in, pinning her head precariously between the pad of pointer and thumb. She crushed her eyes shut, breathing heavily through her nose as he turned her head slightly to the left and right, one flick away from snapping her neck.

"You're a pretty little thing, aren't you?" he said, his fingers releasing her head only for his thumb to stroke over her cheek: roughly, possessively. She shuddered at the violation.

"You would make such a lovely trinket..."

Her eyes flashed open with horror. What did he mean by that? Surely he just meant to kill her and be done with it?

The Godking seemed to read her thoughts, the corner of his lips twitching with amusement.

"Oh my dear Fawn...you didn't think I would let you escape that easily? Not after I've been so looking forward to meeting you." He paused, as if thinking to himself. "Of course, death will come...eventually. But not until I have had my fill of you. You see, you've made me wait such a long time. Now it's only fair that I draw out the pleasure."

Josie let out a strangled sob, unable to hold back her emotion any longer. Death, death she could take...but a lifetime of torment and enslavement to the Godking was beyond her strength. She could feel the hot stream of tears streaking down her face, but could do nothing to stop them. He tsked softly, his thumb reaching up to smear them messily down her chin.

"But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself," he murmured. "You see, there's something about all of this that has been...bothering me."

Josie stiffened, her already frantic pulse quickening.

"You spend all these weeks evading my soldiers, risking your pathetic little life to stay free, only to willingly deliver yourself straight into my grasp..." he hummed contemplatively. "Strange is it not? To give up your life so needlessly after all that effort to save yourself...""

A streak of panic flushed through Josie, tightening into a knot in her chest. He knew she was lying. He'd known it all along. 

The corner of his lip pulled up into a cruel smile.

Josie sucked in a sharp breath of pain as his grip tightened suddenly around her, straining against her bruised ribs. Her chest heaved under the crushing pressure.

"You might be Fawn Braegon, it's true..." he muttered. "But do you know what I think?"

He leaned in slowly, his mouth eclipsing her view. 

"I think you're lying."

Josie's wail was swallowed by a rush of air, her stomach whinging as the ground shrunk rapidly beneath her. Her head lolled back as she fought the crushing weight of vertigo, arms latching helplessly to his finger as the room careened sickeningly around her. She hated that she was forced to grasp him like a lover, could feel a trembling sob building up in her chest.  Finally, the awful movement lurched to a stop: The Godking had risen up to his full height.    

Her world shook with his laughter, his hot breath invading her senses with the smell of sweet wine. "Oh no...not afraid of heights are we?" He tilted his head curiously, angling his hand slowly so that Josie's entire world was turned gradually upside down. She let out a sickly moan, her hands scrambling over his for purchase.

"Ah...well now," he smiled. 

Josie clamped her eyes shut, her temples pounding as all her blood rushed to her head. She had never been more terrified in her life.

"Admit you're lying" he commanded. "Tell me the truth and I'll make it stop."

"I'm not lying," she heaved, her hands slick with sweat. "I'm not..."

Josie whimpered as she felt the grip around her loosen, her eyes flashing open onto the dark depths beneath her. He observed her pointedly, his expression darkening.

"Is it the divine order?" he questioned. "Did they send you to disrupt the banquet?" 

Josie choked back a sob as she shook her head, terror clawing at her throat. 

 "So...they think they can sow chaos and dissent?" he snarled to himself. "Stir up the masses with that pathetic display of defiance you gave? I will rip them limb from limb. I will drink their blood!"

A wave of nausea overcame her at his words, the world shrinking rapidly beneath her as it swayed. 

"Please..." she sputtered. "Oh god, please don't drop me..."

Josie wailed as she slipped forward, her body jolting as his fingers snapped back down over the hem of her dress. She swayed precariously over the void, her entire life hanging in the Godking's grasp. 

"It's very simple really" he continued, his voice bristling with his mounting impatience. "You have ten seconds to tell me what I want to know or you I will let go."

At that, he began to count down,  sending Josie into a thrashing fit of panic.

"10...9...8..."

 She tried frantically to grasp backward for his hand but only clutched fistfuls of air. "I'm Fawn," she sobbed. "I'm Fawn Braegon!"

"5...4...3..."

"I swear to you! I swea-" 

Josie plummeted, her heart wrenched from her body as she hurtled downward into the void below. She could feel her throat going raw from her screaming, eyes blinded with tears as her hair whipped viciously about her face. Then, with a sudden, violent jolt she landed on her back, the impact knocking the breath from her lungs. Heaving, she curled inward in upon herself, her body shaking with terror and pain. 

She had barely regained her senses before The Godking's pillar-like fingers descended toward her, rolling and prodding her about his palm. Everywhere she turned, they crowded in, forcing her to clamber to her hands and knees in a desperate and disoriented attempt to escape. As soon as she crawled forward, she was pinched up and dropped back down into the center of his palm, again and again until her limbs trembled with exhaustion

The worst of it was the occasional, low rumble of his laughter. She knew he could feel every pathetic flutter, could see the burning heat of humiliation on her face. He was tormenting her like one would with an insect, before crushing it from boredom. She could feel the very last threads of her will unravelling. 

"I can play all night" he murmured. "I can play with you for days, for weeks. No one is coming to save you." 

She shook her head, hand pushing back pitifully against his fingers. 

"You don't need to die for them, little one. The order doesn't care for you...they wouldn't suffer in your place. Give in," he whispered, his voice rumbling seductively through her "I know you crave it..."

At once his touch became gentle, his thumb pushing the wet locks carefully from her tear-stained face. Then the front of his fingers stroked softly down her trembling arms, her back.

Josie began to weep at the sudden tenderness, her shame at letting him caress her eclipsed by the overwhelming relief from the torment. 

"I can make it all stop, little one. Right here, right now. Tell me who you are and why you've taken that name, and I promise you the pain will end. You'll walk out of here alive..."

Josie would be lying if she said she didn't consider it.

By all right, she shouldn't have even been here; should have been celebrating her marriage with the rest of the chosen village girls. She had never been like Fawn...never cared about the world beyond her small town; never yearned for greater knowledge or a way to change the world. All she'd ever wanted from her life was stability and control: enough money to spare her from the backbreaking labour of the farms; a husband who wouldn't beat her, would leave her alone to tend to the affairs. She could have it all back now, wake up from this nightmare she had strayed into, live her life of small comforts. And yet as she shivered, broken and alone in the deepest dungeons of the Godking's castle, she couldn't rid herself of the image of Fawn, catatonic and trembling in the cellar where Josie found her two whole days after her parents' death. Josie remembered the way Fawn had grasped to her like a something half-drowned, like if she let go, the entire world would disappear.

She pushed herself up to her elbow, her body trembling with exhaustion as she peered up into his eyes.

Then Josie spat in his face.

The Godking blinked twice as the spit struck his jaw, the spray almost too small to notice. Then his lips pulled back into savage snarl, his face twisting into a monstrous mask of fury.

Josie howled as his fist clamped shut, a savage pain ripping through her body. 

"NAME!" he roared, "Tell me your fucking name!"

Josie wheezed as his fist tightened, her little hands clawing uselessly at his iron grip. 

"Fawn," she gasped out, fighting to drag air into her crushed lungs. "Fawn Braegon..."

"LIAR! YOU'RE AN AGENT OF THE ORDER! ADMIT IT!"

Josie could feel her head swimming, the room blurring around her as the last bit of air was squeezed from her lungs. He was going to kill her. He was killing her. A minute or two more and she would have no oxygen left. 

He brought her up toward his face, his teeth flashing before her like guillotines. "Because you've been such a brave little girl, I'm going to tell you a little secret before you die." He spoke slowly, forcing her to watch as his lips mouthed out each word.

"I know who Fawn is."

Josie's eyes bulged, her face white with strangled horror. 

"Oh yes," he whispered. "I've know she's my slave from the  moment I walked in here. You see, not everyone has your ideals, little one. She was given up by another prisoner without a second thought.  Such a helpless, meek, little thing, isn't she?" he chuckled, "trembles just like a baby bird when I touch her..." He leaned in, his lips brushing against Josie's cheek.  

"I think she'll make such a pretty sound when she screams."

Josie slammed both fists against his jaw, one last savage scream erupting from her throat. 

In one merciful moment, the crushing pressure disappeared, his hand releasing her onto his palm. Josie gasped in lungfuls of sweet air, her body shivering uncontrollably as the sound echoed in the dark. As her senses slowly returned, she felt herself sagging beneath the weight of an unbearable despair. She collapsed against the Godking's palm, her body limp and spent.

"Please don't hurt her," she whispered, the sound barely audible in the cavernous room. "I beg you. She's suffered so much already. Please, god...if there is any mercy in you, spare her this torture..."

Josie winced as the Godking's finger lifted, bracing herself for the killing blow. Instead the front of his finger brushed against her jaw, tilting her head toward him with a carefulness that was almost baffling. Her chest heaved, her body trembling.

He held her there for a moment, pinned helplessly beneath his looming gaze. As his shadow-blue eyes swept over her, his brow furrowed intently.

"You love her."

Josie made a strangled sound of acknowledgement, unable to form a single word. His breath blew over her softly, mussing her hair about her face.

"Tell me your name, little one," he rumbled. "Tell me, and I promise you I will not lay a finger on her."

Josie's eyes ached up toward his, his face hard as stone in the torchlight. She had no reason to believe him, this monster who'd taken her, tortured her, broken her to pieces. And yet, what choice did she have? He already knew who Fawn was. She had nothing left to save her friend but this one desperate hope. 

She wet her cracked lips, her voice hoarse in her throat.

"Josephine," she murmured, "Josie Blisse."

"Josie..." he muttered, as if to himself.

He exhaled raggedly, his entire body shuddering with the force of it. "By god, why didn't you just tell me..."

Josie winced as he withdrew his hand from her face, but he only rubbed it wearily over his jaw.  "It seems fate will make madmen of us all before this is through..."

He looked back down at her, sending Josie's pulse spiking.

"You will not die today, Josie" he rumbled. "For better or for worse, you and I are not done with each other yet."

With that, he pried open his trouser pocket, the hand that held her lowering downward slowly. Josie watched as the cave of fabric gaped open beneath her, too exhausted to resist. As the darkness surrounded her, she leaned shamelessly into his overwhelming warmth. 

 "Come," his voice thundered distantly from above. "I think there is someone you will want to see."

***

Author's Note

Thanks to Laughing-snail for  listening to all my ranting about this chapter and for not letting me back down on the intensity of this interrogation/reminding me that there is a reason the Godking is so feared. 

Before the comments start raging, I do want to say that regardless of how awful this chapter is, I see two people with a maddening love for Fawn doing everything in their power to protect her from the threats of each other. If only they'd both known sooner that they were on the same side. 

As always, remember to Vote, Comment, Follow, Fund (www.ko-fi.com/auroraboreale) and another huge thank you for recent donations, you readers are the lifeblood of this story! 

xxx