20

ELEANOR
I clenched my teeth as the whip made contact with my already raw skin again. I had no idea what number of hits that was, having lost count, sometimes around forty. When Zane said to make sure the punishment would be one we would never forget, his guards took his words with every seriousness.
Never in all my years of life have I been subjected to this level of humiliation, as I was immediately been stripped naked, uncaring of the rapidly growing crowd at the scene, and was dragged away in ropes tied to my hands and legs all while having sneers and insults hurled at us as one of the guards continued to yell the word ‘Traitor’.
I whimpered in pain as the guard pulled the rope harshly, and I could feel my skin sting at each pull. I was sure my wrists would be unimaginably red at that point.
I wondered why he was doing this. What exactly did I do to be called a traitor and paraded as one.
“Get moving, you fvcking cunt,” the voice of one of the guards pulled my attention to where it was coming from and I turned to see Jasmine in tears on the floor, the crowd cheering as they continued to mock her, throwing eggs and other random stuff at her.
I hated this, I hated being so powerless and weak. It was even worse that an innocent person was getting punished alongside me. It was me he wanted to punish, hurt, and break, so why was she getting dragged into this just for being by my side?
I watched as the guard behind her lifted his whip, obviously aiming for her, and I couldn’t take it anymore as I launched myself toward her with a loud pained cry, draping my body over hers in time for the whip to hit my already bleeding back. The guard who held my rope was visibly angered as he started to tug roughly at it, but I refused to budge. I owed it to Jasmine to try and shield her away from all this. This was all my fault, whatever it was about, and I should be made to suffer alone.
Zane was trying to break me, and I guess he must have found an effective way to punish me. I couldn’t stand the sight of an innocent person getting punished, especially not when I was the reason for that. He must be watching this all unfold with a glass of wine in his hand. That sick bastard.
I smiled through the pain as the whip continued to land on my back. The thought of finally pushing that dagger into Zane’s chest was the only thing helping me withstand the pain.
“You wench!!” The one that had been pulling at my ropes all along finally yells, having had enough of me shielding a still crying Jasmine as he kicks me hard on my stomach, sending Jasmine and I to the floor as I refused to let go, “fvcking let go, you bitch,” he yells again, kicking me over and over in the same spot.
I wasn’t going to cry over this, as long as Jasmine was safe from their brutal attack, I was okay. I bit on my lower lip to stop myself from screaming out in pain or crying.
“E-E-Eleanor, y-y-your lips… y-y-you are bleeding,” Jasmine stuttered, her blurry eyes fixed on my lips where I could taste the blood and I smiled, hopefully reassuring. She has always been the strong one between us, always trying to protect me, but today, just for once, I wanted to shield her from all this, or just most of it at least.
“It’s okay… this is nothing. Are you okay?” I asked as we stayed hurdled on the ground, and she nodded, bursting into tears again, and I sniffled, nodding, “that’s good, that’s a-a-all I needed to hear”.
“I will fvcking kill you this time.” The guard yelled again right before I felt the seering pain on my scalp as he fisted my whole head of hair harshly and I couldn’t help the cry that escaped my lips before I went back to biting hard on it.
“ENOUGH!!!” Mark ordered, the guard immediately halting his actions. “Take them to the punishment grounds. They are to receive a hundred strokes of the silver whip each and if they should cry out in pain, start the count all over from one” he finished, and I gasped in shock, it was okay if it was just me. Jasmine did nothing wrong. She deserved none of this. Getting punished for a reason I had no idea about was bad, but knowing Jasmine would suffer the same fate because of me was unbearable.
“Please… I beg of you… spare my friend. S- she did nothing wrong. I will receive her share of the punishment, just please!” I pleaded, bowing so deeply that my forehead touched the ground as I pleaded on her behalf.
“…. Give the girl fifty strokes and then add the rest to hers. I believe that’s fair enough. Besides, your friend can’t go unpunished for being a witness,” Mark hums as if he wasn’t making a decision that could possibly mean death for a person. Jasmine lets out a horrified screech at his decision and immediately begins to protest that he allowed her to serve her complete punishment, but her words fell on deaf ears as he’d already walked out of the scene.
I knew she would be furious with me, but I was glad I was finally able to do something for her other than cause her pain and always get her in trouble. We were grabbed and pulled to our feet before our hands and legs were tied to a pole to keep us from moving. We were made to face each other at least, and that gave me some kind of relief.
“I’m sorry” I whispered, apologetic, a tear falling as Jasmine nodded with a sad smile, before she twitched violently, her eyes falling shut as she was struck with the silver whip this time. This would be the second time I was getting flogged with a silver whip. Silver wasn’t best friends with werewolves as it stings and burns deeply into our skin, leaving burn marks on our skins which take more time than normal to heal, ranging from two to four months, depending on how fast and strong your wolf was.
I was glad my right hand and her left hand were tied together, so I held on to her, squeezing periodically for some sort of support as we both took the unforgiving lashes that we were given.
When they were done with the punishment, Jasmine sadly spent as much time as I did despite taking more strokes due to her crying out at intervals. She was left on the stand while I was immediately dragged away. They didn’t seem to care about the fact that I was bleeding and in a great deal of pain as they tugged me along, my eyes never leaving Jasmine until I couldn’t see her anymore.
“W-w-where are you t-t-taking me?” I managed to ask, and the guards laughed before one of them finally responded.
“Your new home,” he says. I was growing weaker, no doubt, because of the continuous loss of blood, momentarily losing my sense of reality until I was hit by the familiar stench, alerting my senses. I slowly lift my head to be greeted by the unwelcome sight of the dungeon.
‘There goes whatever freedom I thought I had’ I said to myself as I was dragged in and thrown into one of the cells like a piece of trash.
“Enjoy your new home, slut. I hope you’re able to make friends with the rats in there before they feast on you.” A guard spat before slamming the iron bars shut.
“You know….. if you’re good to me, I might consider bringing you some scraps to keep you alive” he smirks, palming his crotch, and the others bark out laughter at his disgusting words.
“You just have to be nice whenever we want to play with you, hm? Your sole purpose of existing is to serve us anyways,” he continued, more seriously this time, and I smirked.
Wrong!!! Very wrong!! My purpose for existing and the reason why I’m still striving to live is to get my revenge and all they did was give me more reason to want Zane and every one of his men dead and their bodies fed to the wild animals.
“Open the cage!!!” A familiar voice that had quickly become a nightmare for me ordered and I could hear the footsteps as the guards’ faces all paled as they hurried to unlock the cage, “Everyone leave and do not return unless with my explicit order,” he barked at them and they all bow before scrambling away in different directions.
He took his sweet time, walking into my cell with that sick, pleased smile on his face, leaning forward when he was finally close enough.
“You broke the rules, slave. Time for your master’s punishment.”