“Get that bed back up the right way and stop... whatever it was you were doing in here,” the guard instructed.
“Yes, of course.”
The demon hesitated for a moment before walking away, shaking his head with a confused frown.
Faye felt her body slump with relief. She tugged both her gloves off, throwing them haphazardly onto the ground to wipe her clammy face.
“That was close,” she whispered.
Faye turned and jolted with surprise as she saw a weak and pale looking Raxx, slumped against the metal cot.
“Raxx! What are you still doing here?” Faye gasped, hurrying to kneel beside him.
“I can’t,” Raxx panted, as if every breath were painful.
“Can’t what?”
“I can’t leave, I haven’t got enough...”
“Can I help? Tell me how to help you and I will. How did you hide yourself just now?” The demon wasn’t good at answering her questions, even at the best of times, and yet Faye couldn’t help a stream of them falling from her mouth.
“I’d regenerated just enough for that. There’s no way I can get myself out of here yet. I need to sleep, eat, recharge. I—”
“Can I help?” Faye asked again. “You can’t stay here; I have nothing to hide you with.”
“Maybe. If I can get just an hour, that might be enough. Help me up?”
Raxx extended a hand to her and Faye reached forward to grasp it in her own. It was only as her soft skin came into contact with Raxx’s un-gloved, bare hand that she realised her mistake; a split second too late.
A shock, like a bolt of lightning, hit her square in the chest and her majick roared to life in a way she had never experienced.
Faye attempted to release the hold she had on the demon, but her muscles disobeyed her. Instead she found her grip tightening.
The cell exploded into bright light. Even Faye hissed as it burnt her eyes. She closed them, shielding her face with her free hand, but not before she had seen lilac bolts, crackling and dancing from their touch.
She could barely hear anything over the pounding of blood in her ears, but she was certain she could hear Raxx growling with pain beside her.
The contact lasted a few seconds, but it felt like hours. The demon found the strength to rip himself away from her and Faye toppled forwards, narrowly avoiding hitting her head against the metal frame of her still dishevelled bed. Raxx was nowhere to be seen.
She sat still for a moment, her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath. Faye didn’t hear the guards approaching until the door of her cell screeched open. Three of them this time, all with angry scowls and fearful eyes.
“Get her!” one of the men shouted as they barrelled into the cell.
Faye was hauled to her feet, but she was too confused to fight against their hold.
“Can you smell that? It smells like burning,” another demon said.
“Aye, it’s always the wee ones you have to be cautious of.”
Flanked on either side, the third demon guard lifted her head as it flopped forward and roughly shoved a gag between her teeth. Next, she heard material ripping and her eyes were blindfolded.
The princess hung, limp and defenceless in the soldiers’ grip. The cot screeched as it was righted and she was pushed down onto her back. One of the guards swung her legs up and chained her ankles to the base of the cot, whilst the other fastened both her wrists to the opposite end.
Everything in her being screamed at her to act, to fight, to defend herself, but nothing came. She felt weak and drained, like her body was encased in ice.
When the demons were satisfied her bindings were secure, she heard their feet scuffle as they stepped away from her.
“What happened in here?” one of them asked, with fear and trepidation in his voice.
