Alissa squeezed
her eyes shut in a hopeless attempt to keep her tears back, but to no avail.
Her pain and humiliation was complete as the cruel King above her grunted
and groaned, drunk as the common men that slept in the streets in the village
that surrounded the castle. He was too drunk to notice that she turned
her head away is disgust when he came down to kiss her. Instead he
put a sloppy kiss on her cheek that immediately made her stomach turn.
She took a deep breath, desperate for air that wasn’t tainted by the King’s
foul stench and liquor and food and hoped that he would be through with
her soon.
She had been his captive for a month, but after the nightly hell that he put her through, it seemed much longer than that. During their first night, he had claimed her virginity, and with it her dignity. She had been confused on why the King had wanted her since her family had very little land and cattle. She remembered once hearing that the King had favored her because of her looks. Upon hearing that, she struggled to keep from laughing. Her looks? She had always considered herself to be too short, thin and much too plain. She could not afford pretty ribbons for her hair or rouge for her cheeks like the wealthy girls had. Her father had once caught her looking into the glass window of a store that had ribbons and lace on display. When her father asked her if she would want one, she bravely straightened and said “No”, even though they both knew that if she really could have one, even if it wasn’t very pretty, she would jump at the chance.
A sharp, stinging slap on her cheek brought Alissa out of her dream. She opened her eyes just for a moment to see the King’s fat body about to come down upon hers, while her legs were roughly pulled apart.
‘Please let him hurry.’ She thought as she felt him enter her.
********
Alissa lay alone on her bed, curled into a tight ball, nude and shivering, although she was covered by the heavy blankets. The moonlight was the only light in her room and it flowed down on to her bed, as if it was trying to console her. She would of never of known it was there for her head was buried deep into her pillow, absorbing her tears and muffling her sobs of pain and torment.
“How long will this last!” She screamed into her pillow. “What have I done to deserve such treatment like this!” She was so lost in her confusion that she almost didn’t feel the hands press upon her back that was covered by the blanket.
Her sobs stopped immediately as well as her breathing when she felt them. She felt the hands pressure slowly move up to the edge of the blanket, then stop. One hand left the blanket to gently stroke her matted hair as the other drew the blanket down to her waist.
Alissa’s hands curled into fists under the pillow as she felt the cool air of the room brush across her back. She sighed into the pillow and closed her eyes, knowing that it was not the King. Actually, she did not know who it was. All she knew was that it was a man with large hands and a gentle touch that came to her every night after the King was through with her. She remembered her first night after the King was finished with her. She had thought that the horrible King had returned to her and had tried to fight the hands, although there was only the moonlight to light the room. She had cried and screamed, pleading with who she thought was the King, but the hands had gently rolled her onto her belly and caught her wrists, pressing them into the pillow above her head. She had been waiting for the harsh sting of a belt, but instead she felt the hands release her wrists and lightly slide down her pale arms to her back and slowly pushed the blanket down to her waist. She remembered how surprised she had been when she felt the light touch if the hands run reassuringly down her back. The hands had found every tight muscle, rubbing it until it relaxed. The owner of the hands had stayed with her until she ended up falling asleep from their tender administrations.
Her shoulders shook when the mysterious hands touched them lightly, no doubt examining the criss crossed patterns of fresh wounds that the King had done with his wide belt. She had never been whipped before. She heard a sound come from the man; the only sound that she had ever heard from him: a low growl. At first she had been scared of the sound, but as the nights passed, she had welcomed the sound, just as she did now. She took a deep, yet shaky breath, knowing that whoever it was with her in the room, that he would not hurt her.
She jumped when she felt something cold touch her back, but settled back down when she realized that it was only water soaked cloth scraps to cover the cuts and welts. She knew that it would prevent any infection, but she wished that it just didn’t have to be so painful and ended up moaning into the crumpled pillow.
A hand came up to her head as the other continued to bathe her. The hand kindly pushed the hair that covered her face back behind her ear, her tear’s trails causing a few stubborn strands to stay. A roughly padded thumb brushed across her cheek, wiping the tears away.
She could only lay there, belly down on her bed as the man tended to her. She hoped that when he left he would leave the water here with her for she had stinging welts on the back of her legs as well. The King, who had been in a bad mood, had also decided to cut the tender skin on the back of her legs, causing pain whenever she moved. But yet she did move, only enough to reveal her slender ankle and tiny foot to him, hoping he would see that she needed help with those as well.
The man saw them and as soon as he was finished with her back, she felt him take the corner of the blanket and lift slowly. A growl started immediately and continued to grow in volume as more and more of her injured legs were revealed. Luckily, he had refrained from lifting the blanket high enough to bare her bottom to him, but at the current moment she was not worrying about that. The volume of the growl had become so low and dangerous that she was beginning to become frightened.
“Please stop!” She croaked out through a throat that begged for water. “You are scaring me!”
As if her voice had some sort of control over him, the noise stopped. She could not hear any sound from him and wished that she had enough courage to look over her shoulder to see the man, but never did. She again felt the hands on her, but this time they were in her hair, pulling it back over her shoulder and tied it back with something. The side of her face was now bared and light fingertips tentatively explored.
Alissa felt an arm slide under her and lift so she was sitting up in the bed. Her hands snatched the blanket up to cover her. The arm supported her as a ladle full of cool water pressed against her parched lips. The man, whose looks were hidden by the cover of darkness, refilled the ladle over and over until her thirst was sated.
“No more.” She whispered and she heard the ladle being dropped into the bucket.
Alicia squeezed her eyes shut and drew in a ragged breath when she felt fingertips on her shoulders, pushing her back down to the bed. She could feel something happening deep within her. It was not an unpleasant feeling, but it was confusing, yet she did not want it to stop. Through her closed eyes, she could see a shadow fall over her, then felt light lips on her cheek. She gasped in surprise and the moment she did the lips were gone. It had been so quick and soft that she wondered if it had of happened at all.
‘This kind man must of been sent from above.’ Alicia thought as she fell asleep. The man beside her raised himself from his kneeling position beside the bed and quietly left the room to plan his attack on the castle.
Copyright 2000 by Fiona