Strangeways by Matthew Samm

Author:Matthew Samm [Samm, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Proud and Independent Publishing
Published: 2019-05-02T16:00:00+00:00

14

She had only advanced a few meters before the power in her muscles ebbed away. What was she doing? She was preparing to fight her own brother! She was preparing to inflict serious injury, as she’d done countless times before in the cells, on her own brother for the joy of an insane warlord and his bloodthirsty followers.

The whole situation seemed so manic, as if she’d been immersed in a dream that continually switched between nightmare and hope.

She stood in the centre of Mad Jack’s training ring as the boos began to ring around the chamber. She shook her head and continued to do so until the jeers subsided. She turned to face Mad Jack. “I’m not doing this,” she said, remembering her fears for what Mad Jack would do next, but not caring. She could only fight the here and now and she knew she couldn’t raise a fist in anger against her own brother.

Mad Jack looked over her shoulder. “Isaac. You have your orders. You must survive this punishment if you are to prove your mettle amongst your brothers and sisters.”

Alix was genuinely unsure about whether he would engage with her or not. Surely her brother wouldn’t stab her in the back?

She waited. No attack came.

Mad Jack spoke again, his face thunderous, the black pits of his eyes burning into him, his voice lowering to the point where he didn’t sound human anymore. “You will, or the consequences will be…severe.”

Isaac’s hands raised again in stuttering steps. He was fighting the urge to rebel against Mad Jack now. Isaac knew what he was doing was wrong, but he also believed he was in the right place for him. The mental load was tearing him apart.

Alix almost made the decision for him. She knew it would have been the wrong thing to do, but there was a sisterly, and almost motherly part of her, that wanted her brother to feel happy and to charge his own path, regardless of where the path led. She didn’t believe he was evil and because he wasn’t, she nearly attacked him for real, removing the indecision and the weight of choice from his brain.

She managed to restrain herself. It wouldn’t have been right.

Moments later, Isaac dropped his hands and shook his head as well. He wasn’t the rebel. His eyes fixed the ground; closed. Not daring to see the reaction from those around, his new brothers and sisters.

Mad Jack, for the first time, dared to show the type of person he was. His face seemed to twist and malform into a bestial creature’s. The venom from his features quickly penetrated the room and the crowd shrank back. They had seen this look before, and it was enough to cull all their enthusiasm.

Alix felt the energy die. All life was sucked from the room. She knew that there were to be repercussions for their rebellion. He couldn’t let it stand.

With one swift movement, he’d leapt from his throne chair and into the ring. He didn’t say a word but strode towards her; irrepressible, unstoppable.

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