Aksha had left one of her minions behind to watch over Meera and Kalrina. It was a good idea because as soon as the real Aksha left, Meera raised a hand towards the lockbox and pulled on her topmost chakram, which was a regular chakram. She used their innate ability to recall them and used Mirror Wing for extra measure.
Her chakram responded to her call and smashed against the cloudy box—the swirling mass of clouds condensed at the spot where the chakram was trying to break free. The clouds darkened, and sparks started buzzing around them.
Aksha's clone snorted, seeing the display. "Try as you might, you're not breaking that box. Kuana harnesses the power of the god of elements, Arterisa herself, to make these pretty prisons. You're as likely to break that box as you are to Split the heavens with your hands."
"I'll do that too when the time comes," Meera replied, refocusing on the chakram.
"Give it up, love," Kalrina cooed. "Somethings are not meant to be."
Hearing her voice aggravated Meera to the point that she commanded all her chakrams to escape from different angles. Her brow creased, and a bead of sweat dribbled down her forehead.
The lockbox didn't have enough clouds to hold off all her chakrams, especially not the level 2 chakrams. Lightning lit up the dungeons. The other prisoners looked up at Meera's display of defiance. She spread her chakrams apart as much as she could. Sparks lit up the chakrams' surface, but they did nothing to her divine weapons.
"Stop," the clone ordered. "You've made your point."
"Not yet, I haven't," Meera replied through gritted teeth.
She saw her chance when she saw one level 2 chakram peaking out further than the rest. She pulled on it while commanding the others to spread out and thin the protecting clouds. But before she could break the lockbox, the daughter thrust her spear in the cage, the clouds parting for her spear and shot a fuming purple liquid at Meera. She ducked and that broke her concentration and all her chakrams fell back in place.
Aksha’s daughter fumed. "Mother will hear of this."
Kalrina laughed while clapping her hands. "Are you a child? Go in there and discipline your prisoner. What would you have done if one of these other poor sods had tried something like that."
"Oh, please come in here," Meera added. "I can't wait for you to come in here and discipline me."
The clone fumed. Her cheeks turned red. "Laugh now while you can. Neither of you bitches will be laughing once mother begins tomorrow."
Meera’s nostrils flared. "I really hate being called the B word. Consider this a threat—I'm killing you once I break out of here."
Meera lay down on her cot and didn't even realize when sleep took her.
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"AHHHHH!" Kalrina screamed as Aksha laid a poison-covered fist into her gut.
Meera flinched as it looked painful. She had taken off her Gem of Echoes long ago as the witch's screams were ear-piercing already. Kalrina looked no better than the tortured men Meera had seen when she came here.
She had bruises all over her face, arms, and body. Aksha's acidic touch had peeled her skin in places and left burn marks in others. Kalrina's pretty dress lay in tatters. Thankfully, none of the men were around their cages, for Kalrina was barely covered.
"Confess," Aksha commanded for the tenth time.
Kalrina coughed as blood, mixed with spit, drooled from her mouth. Still, the mad woman smiled. "C-Confess to what, love?" She wiped a hand over her bloody mouth. "No matter how much you try, I don't have any feelings for you."
She laughed, which devolved into a hacking cough. Aksha towered over her, quiet like a statue. Then her leg flashed, hitting Kalrina in the ribs and sent her rolling into the opposite wall. There was a sickening sound as Kalrina's skull crashed against the wall. Meera didn't need to look to know she must've cracked it.
"Confess."
Kalrina wasn't in any position to confess. Even Meera could see the woman was knocked out and most definitely suffering internal bleeding.
When she learned what the witch had been responsible for back at the Cave of Wraiths, all the deaths and the chakram that she stole, Meera hated her with every fiber of her being. That sentiment hadn't changed much, though it had softened with them traveling and facing many dangers together, but she was also not heartless. No matter the person's crimes, they did not deserve to be tortured. Numheia had said that she needed to be less compassionate and more selfish, and she had tried, but she couldn't sit here and do nothing.
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"She's in no position to confess, and if you don't heal her soon, she won't ever be in a position to confess anything," Meera said, earning the ire of the torturer.
Aksha's head snapped to her. "You stay out of this."
The woman's voice and face betrayed no emotion but even still Meera was chilled to the bone.
"S-She's right, mother," one of the daughters stammered.
"We need to keep her alive until the trial," said another.
There were three of them. One who had been standing guard, taking all the insults hurled at her by Meera and Kalrina and two more that Aksha had brought with her. The guard was the only one who stayed quiet. She was the smart one.
Aksha looked at the ones who had spoken, and they melted into a puddle of green poison that got reabsorbed into Aksha through her feet.
Meera shot to feet at this new display of power. Just how powerful is this woman? Can she do that to us, too, or is it exclusive to her clones?
Aksha looked at the remaining clone. "Heal her."
"Y-Yes, mother." She fiddled with something in her pocket and brought out a vial with a green liquid—a Health potion.
She cradled Kalrina's bloody head in her lap and tilted the vial in her mouth. Most of it spilled out of the corners of Kalrina's mouth, but it was enough that the witch's eyes snapped open, and she sat up slowly.
She groaned, feeling around the back of her head. "Ah, you cracked my skull, dearie. That will make it hard for me to remember the important details at my trial." She smiled a bloody smile. "When is my trial?"
Aksha walked slowly to her, sat on her haunches, and gently took the witch's hands in her hands. "When you get used to the pain."
Then she bent all of the witch's fingers the wrong way, making her scream a blood-curdling scream. Even the clone flinched at the display of barbarity. Meera cringed and looked away.
Aksha stood and exited the cell. "No healing," she ordered her daughter. "Only come to me if she tries to commit suicide."
"Yes, Mother," the daughter left a trembling Kalrina in the cell.
The witch barked a laugh. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."
"How is she going to eat like that?" Meera couldn't hold herself back from asking.
Aksha didn't bother replying and simply walked away. The prisoners squirmed away as she walked past their cells, no doubt thinking their turn was next.
“Aw-w….you d-do care for me,” Kalrina stammered. Her fingernails had been ripped out of their sockets. One of them was so bad that her flesh had ripped open, showing the mutilated muscles underneath, and yet the woman was making jokes.
"Shut up, witch. I'm not like you. I don't enjoy watching other people in pain."
Kalrina looked away for a moment, and Meera didn't think she would reply, but she whispered. "I wasn't always like this."
She grunted as she stood and dropped on her cot, letting out another scream. She laid down, cradling her ruined hands.
"I wasn't always like this," she said louder this time.
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The next morning, food was brought, and it looked worse than what Meera had seen in the movies. It was a stew with more than questionable ingredients, but her stomach grumbled louder than her dad's snores.
Never in my life did I think I would be stuck in prison. Meera shook her head. Earlier, I was running around doing errands for one person or another, and now that I know what I need to know, I'm stuck in a dead dragon's stomach.
She picked up the plate and was about to eat when she noticed the witch struggling to lift her plate. She winced and cried out before giving up. Her fingers were useless, and she still must've supported many bruises on her body. That one Health potion was not enough to heal all her injuries, especially with that injury to her head.
Meera was reminded of this homeless person she had helped feed when volunteering at one of her dad's many NGOs. That person was in a similar condition as the witch. Some of the other homeless people had beaten him to death almost for his things, which Meera's team had distributed the day earlier. If they had waited another day, they would've also gotten those things.
The witch, however…on the one hand, she pitied her condition. Despite what she had done, Meera didn't agree with leaving someone in pain like this. On the other, she couldn't help but think of it as Karmic justice for all her sins.
Kalrina clenched her teeth tight as mirrors appeared on her hands. She trembled in pain as they traveled up her fingers and then hardened in place, making her scream. But the witch wasn't done. She moved her fingers around until they all pointed in the right direction. After a few more screams and many wincing later, she was finally satisfied.
She huffed as beads of sweat rolled down the side of her head. Aksha's daughter watched the gruesome display, but it looked like she didn't want to. This made Meera frown, as she had seen her mother rip the witch a new one with a stoic attitude.
"Do you enjoy pain that much, Kalrina?" the daughter asked.
Kalrina huffed. "Not…at all. But if you won't heal me, then I… can't let my poor fingers go to waste."
"What does Aksha want you to confess?" Meera asked. "You told me you killed that sorceress."
"You know, I did it. I know, I did it. But if I don't confess before the Conclave, then Aksha's case falls flat, I'm afraid."
"We saw you kill Hemera," Aksha's clone said. "That's cause enough to hang you."
"Maybe, but that is your word against mine, and as the Conclave knows, Aksha has always had it out for me," Kalrina replied. "And after this love session, my case is stronger. That I'm being framed for the murder of Isolde. You see, they have no proof that I killed her or Neshi."
"Then why did you run?" Aksha barked.
Kalrina shrugged. "I got tired of this place and all its rules."
"But why go through all this pain?" Meera asked. "This cannot be worse than the punishment they give you."
Kalrina looked at the daughter with such vitriol that Meera thought she was going to kill her with her stare. "They've already done far worse to me than this." She turned to Meera with a smile. "Come, dearie, let me tell you a tale about a sorceress who committed the ultimate sin a Sorceress of Akhessai can commit."
She looked at Aksha's daughter again, and this time, the daughter looked away.
"What sin?" Meera asked.
"The sin of falling in love."