Chapter 3 - Confession
A cold splash of water forced Akaja back to consciousness. The thief gasped for air, but instead found herself choking. When she opened her eyes, all she saw was darkness. Another splash fell on her, followed by another coughing fit.
“Good,” Came Talai’s voice. “You’re awake. Let’s get that sack off of you, shall we?”
Light. Then a gasp of air. Her vision slowly making out what was in front of her, Talai’s face staring down at her, illuminated by a single candle. Akaja attempted to lift herself up, but was instead met by the clanging of chains. Her arms were arms were bound by the wrists, against short chains that kept her trapped to the wall. Her ankles were similarly bound, and by the aching pain ravaging her shoulders, she had been dangling off the wall for quite some time.
“Where am I?” Akaja groaned, her voice dry and coarse.
“That’s irrelevant to the matter at hand,” Talai said, arms crossed. “Let’s get straight to the point, yes? I have things that need doing.” She kneeled down so that her green eyes were leveled with Akaja’s, and grabbed her cheek, her nails like claws digging into her skin. “Confess to the murder of Yu Akiyama, sworn Patriarch of Clan Akiyama, and Admiral of the jade fleet. Your confession will be written in blood.”
“W-wait!” Akaja tried to pull away from her, but Talai’s vice grip locked her in place. “I didn’t kill anybody! I… didn’t even know Yu was dead until YOU told me.”
Talai rolled her eyes and slammed Akaja’s head into the wall, causing the thief to yelp in pain. She let her go, and walked away, towards a table containing many scrolls, tomes, and ‘tools.’
“Ow…” She shut her eyes, trying to force the pain out. “I swear it wasn’t me! You can ask Ryoma, and well… a bunch of people! I was out doing jobs.”
“Oh, please…” Talai groaned. “We have multiple witnesses to your little lover’s quarrel. I quote…” She cleared her throat. “‘If I ever see you again, you lying stupid son-of-a-bitch, I will pull your intestines from your asshole, and strangle you with them…’” Talai gave Akaja a mock gasp. “Was that not you?”
“Well…” Akaja frowned. “It was, and I may have said those things, and more, but I never would’ve actually done it! I say a lot of things when I’m angry!”
“Let me be clear,” Talai said, her voice calm and collected. “The only thing I care about is your confession.”
“But shouldn’t you be focusing your attention on the REAL killer?” Akaja rattled her chains. “I’ll even help you find them! Free of charge!”
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“Shut up, Little Crow…” Talai crept closer to Akaja. “That was the Admiral’s little ‘nickname’ for you, wasn’t it?”
“How did you-”
“We found your journal among your things,” Talai said matter-of-factly. “It was quite the juicy read. Gushing over the admiral in one page and going into excruciating detail about how you were going to castrate him the next.”
Akaja’s face turned a bright red, both from anger and incredible embarrassment.
“Let me let you in on a little secret,” Talai spoke softly, once again kneeling down to meet her gaze, green eyes staring daggers into her' own. “I frankly don’t care if you did it or not. Nobody does… and do you really think anyone would care about the Admiral’s little whore?” She laughed. “No, Little Crow… your relevance died with the Admiral. You can at least do yourself a favor and make the end of your tale a quick one, because I always get what I want.”
“Why are you doing this?” Akaja asked, glaring back at her. “Did you kill him?”
“Not I, no…” Talai grabbed her cheek again. “Someone did. Whether it’s you, or someone else…” She shrugged, and stood up again. “I do hope it doesn’t take too long to break you.”
Being trapped in a small dark room, dangling helplessly from the wall, made it impossible to count the days. Days, weeks, months? Akaja couldn’t tell how long she had been tortured. The only light she ever saw was the single lit candle Talai brought with her whenever she visited.
Akaja had heard horror stories of what blood magic could do to a person, but she had never experienced it for herself. During Talai’s visits, she would simply stand in front of her, and bend Akaja’s body as if she were an old doll, all while not laying a single finger on her. Limbs twisting and contorting, veins tangling, and bursting, then re-stitching themselves back together. Talai was a master at finding the body’s limits and stretching them. And as if to add to Talai’s sadistic game, the blood mage was a gifted healer as well, always sure to bring Akaja back from the brink of death to start fresh all over again.
There came a point where Akaja herself wasn’t even sure why she kept resisting. It would be so much easier to just give in, sign the confession, and die. Yu was murdered, and she was blamed for it. Nobody cared…
No… she did. Any amount of investigation would have proved her innocence. She had multiple alibis in Ryoma and other employers. There would be numerous people who would vouch for her! They would care!
“I frankly don’t care if you did it or not… nobody does.”
“I need you by my side, my Little Crow…” Yu’s voice echoed. “I need you to help me keep the syndicate in line… I need you…”
“You left me…” Akaja spoke to herself, trapped in some kind of haze. “Abandoned me… did you ever really care?”
“Of course I did… Kaja… I always cared.”
A splash of cold water broke Akaja from her stupor, followed by the dim flickering light of a candle.
“Ready to give up?” Talai asked, standing over her.
Akaja stared up at her defiantly. “Are you?”
Talai rolled her eyes and held her palms out. Suddenly, every muscle in Akaja’s body froze. Already she felt blood seeping out of her ears, her pores. She gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to scream.
Then, an explosion. The walls shook violently, breaking Talai’s concentration. Cursing to herself, she turned to the exit. “I’ll be back. Don’t consider yourself lucky…”