King and Lionheart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A76a_LNIYwE

This is for a contest by @SushiSashimi333

Enjoy!

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We ran. For how long I don’t know. Could’ve been an hour, could’ve been less than a minute. We sprinted through the ruins, jumping over the skeletons like hurdles. I held his hand while we ran. Completely impractical, as he ran much slower than I, but still. We both needed each other more than anything.

He stopped suddenly. “Koschei!” I whispered, “Run!”

“Look,” he said. Straight ahead of us, there was a wall.

“What?” I asked, “It’s just a wall. Come on! They’re not far behind,”

“It’s glowing,” he said. I looked again. It did seem to have a pinkish light inside it. Koschei kicked the wall. It opened up to reveal a room. There was a flash of pink light, and then darkness. We looked at each other and went inside. We couldn't run for much longer. They were catching up. We needed to hide.

There were footsteps outside. They’re here.

“Where did they go?”

“They couldn’t have just disappeared.”

“Do you have the heat detector? They must be hiding.”

“No sir.”

“Water detector? This place is dry as a bone, except for any humans here.”

“No sir, only a saltwater detector. And it won’t register if the saltwater is inside a human body.”

“Well start looking then.”

“Yes sir.”

Something clattered on the floor.

“What was that?”

“That was the saltwater detector sir. I dropped it. Apologies sir.”

Something started to beep.

“The saltwater detector. It’s going off, sir.”

“Impossible.”

“It is, sir.”

I tasted salt. I put my hand to my face. I was crying.

“In here, sir.”

The door burst open to reveal two men. I hardly noticed one of them. The other man was wearing a long jeweled cape and carried a scepter. The king. Nobody said anything for the first second; I just looked into the king’s eyes, hoping for pity. I got none. I heard a loud noise, and then everything went black.

***********************

When I woke up, Koschei and I were in a cage. Like animals.

“Koschei and Svana Thorirsson, you have been convicted of disgracing sacred ground,” the King said.

“We didn't disgrace it! We were only living there,” Koschei remarked.

“Koschei,” I whispered, “it’s no use.”

“You lived on the bones of millions of souls of those who perished in The Fire. Merely stepping on the surface of The City would be punishable by death.”

“You’re the one who chased us across it,” Koschei said. I couldn't help but smile. I love my little brother.

The king glowered. “Like I said,” he growled, “You should be killed. But I think you deserve worse.”

I didn't want to listen to what he had to say. He kept talking, though. Instead of listening to his words, I listened to his voice. It was so strange, and so different from Mama’s. Then again, I haven’t heard Mama’s voice in six years, shortly after Koschei was born. I, as a child of ten myself, had to raise an infant on my own. Not to mention having to live with the grief of a recently perished mother. I looked for a home, and found an abandoned, ruined city. I didn't know at first what had happened there.

Before I knew what was happening, a metal shackle was around my neck, and I was on the other side of a bridge. Or what used to be a bridge. It was crumbling to pieces, like the rest of The City.

“SVANA!” Koschei sobbed. I screamed, fighting against the men holding me back. They were too strong. They dragged me into the woods. I looked at Koschei the whole time, not daring to cry. That was the last time I saw my little brother’s face.

***********************

They tossed me into a pit. It must have been a mile deep. This is what the king meant by worse than death. Separation. I hate to admit it, but he was right. This is worse.

I sat and looked up. I could barely see sky. Dying trees surrounded what little I could see. This isn't punishment. This is torture. I am sixteen years old. I am just a child.

Suddenly I saw a pink light, the same as the one I saw in The City. As the light came closer, I realized what it was. A bunny. Or at least something in the shape of a bunny. It looked firecracker-like. There were no bunnies in The City, but I remember what they looked like from before I lived there.

“What are you?” I asked.

“I am a spirit,” it responded. Its voice sounded like wind chimes softly ringing. “I used to be human. I lived in The City. I stayed even after I died. It was lonely for several millennia. Then you came. I am here to return the favor.” It flew up to the top of the pit, leaving behind something that looked like a rope made out of light.

“Climb on,” the spirit said. I held onto the rope as it raised me to the surface. The spirit lead me out of the forest, to where I saw a little boy running after a yellow light.

“My brother went to help your brother. He will be coming to you shortly.”

I watched as the boy ran after the light, into a large building. The building had a face carved onto it. I watched as the eyes lit up red, as the building lifted into the sky. It wasn't a building at all. It was a ship. The spirits didn't know that, though. I watched as a small figure pounded against the window above the eyes.

I saw the guards running towards me.

For the second time today, I cried.

For the second time today, I ran.

Alone.