Part 8:

            Days. How many days had he been here? In this dank, miserable cell? Sasha shifted, tugging the thin, wool blanket tighter around his body in a false sense of security. He tried to sleep, but his mind always wandered to the dark, smiling prince. The fire of Issai's touches still licked at his skin, more intense and heated than the fevered, throbbing ache in his now bandaged shoulder. Issai. He was here because of Issai. Taken prisoner. He should have known anything he had wanted or hoped for with the beautiful prince was an illusion, a foolish dream. He actually had been beginning to believe the prince cared.

            The iron door of his cell squealed open. Sasha lifted his head from the old, stale cot to see who entered. Before he had a chance to react, strong hands yanked him from the bed and shoved him into the wall. Pain jolted from his wounded shoulder, sending agonizing pulses through his body. His head cracked against the stone masonry, dazing him, his legs slumping underneath him. But he didn't reach the floor. The same strong arms grabbed him by the throat and held him against the wall.

            " Ya fucking bastard!" a deep, heavy voice growled. " We don't like what you did to our prince, ya fucking pervert!"

            Sasha tried to squint through the haze in his head, to see the face of his attacker. But all he saw was dark patches in the general shape of a face and the shadows that moved behind it.

            " I... I did nothing," Sasha gasped, breathing difficult through the rough hand around his neck.

            " We saw what you did, you bastard!" another voice, this one thinner and almost squeaky. " Think we're blind?"

            " I...don't." Sasha attempted to grab at the hand on his throat, however, two other hands snatched his and ground them into the stone wall beside his head. He struggled, kicking at the man before him. A blow to his ribs stopped him as he fought back the pain. Whatever they had in mind, he refused give them the satisfaction of his agony or his tears.

            " Don't what, ya fucker?!" The first man sneered. " We saw you!"

            " I don't...know what you ...mean."

            " Ya bastard! Ya fucking dishonor our prince and you don't know what we mean?!" Another blow to his ribs, then another, to his stomach. The hand around his throat tightened, partially from holding more of his weight as his legs failed completely. Another blow to his stomach and the hand released, letting him drop to the floor in a painful heap.

            " We're here to teach you a little lesson about honor, Enkaian scum.."

            Sasha lifted his head and glared with ice blue eyes at the man coming slowly into focus before him. It was him. One of the swordsmen that had rescued Issai. The scraggly-haired one whose hate had carried something more. And still did.

            " What do you know of honor?" Sasha whispered, cold anger in his quiet voice. "Beating a defenseless man in his cell?" His eyes flashed dangerously. "Well, you'll find this man isn't as defenseless as he appears." And he leapt forward, tackling his immediate enemy into the iron bars. With a flick of his wrist and a half-spun leap back, he drew the man's sword and held it to the thick throat. "None of you move!"

            However, the sudden movement had been too much for his abused body and a tearing pain at his ribs stole his breath. He forced himself to ignore it and paced to the side, keeping the sword pointed at the captain's neck and all four men in his wavering vision. The three other men glanced at their leader nervously.

            The Enkaian's options were limited and he knew it. His curse was an even greater curse now. He may not look Enkaian, but he certainly didn't look Midori either. There was no possibility of blending in to escape. He could try anyway, yet his honor and pride required he not only discover the truth of Issai's betrayal, but that he fulfill his duty to his family. And that meant he had to stay alive.

            So he did what he only could do. " Get out of here! Now!" he commanded pressing the sword tip closer to the guard's throat, almost nicking skin.

            " Captain?" one of the guardsmen asked, a bald, well-muscled man.

            " Do as he says," the captain said, calmly. Too calmly.

            Another stab of pain wracked his body. Sasha grimaced, masking it as a scowl. The pain. He didn't know how long he could fight it. But he had to hold on, or it would only get worse. "Now!" he growled, hoping none of them noticed the shaking slowly creeping up his arm.

            But they did, particularly the captain. Taking advantage of his quickly weakening state, the leader lunged to the side, escaping the point of Sasha's stolen blade. Somehow he had known just the moment Sasha was too weak to react. Or he was just lucky.

            The blond stumbled, clutching his stomach, trying to maintain his grip on the sword and keep the men back. He failed. They rushed him, tackling him to the cold, stone floor.

            They wrestled with him, attempting to subdue him. The sword was easily forced from his hand. Soon after, the subdual was no longer an attempt. A metallic, iron, taste surrounded his tongue as blood trailed from the corner of his mouth. Whether from internal injuries or the struggle he wasn't sure and wasn't in the clarity of mind for it to matter.

            Sasha was forced to his knees, a man on either side of him holding his arms and pushing down on his shoulder to keep him from getting up. The captain stood in front of him with a very dark look in his black eyes.

            The scraggly-haired man bent towards him, smearing the blood trickling from the corner of Sasha's mouth with his thumb, then roughly rubbing it over his lips. "You have pretty lips, bitch. A pretty face too."

            He laughed, an ugly vicious laugh and turned to his friends. "Almost like a girl, don't you say." Then he glared back at Sasha, that strange look in his dark eyes stronger and more crazed. " But,... ya know.... he's prettier than a girl!"

            " Haven't you done enough?! Must you mock me too?!" Sasha bristled, struggling against the seeming unmovable force of the two men that held him.

            " Oh, I'm not mocking you, pretty Enkaian filth, and no, we haven't done enough! Your pretty face has inspired me to a final lesson. One you humiliated our prince with!"

            " Hey," a tall, wiry guard interrupted. "Is that really necessary?"

            The captain sneered. " Oh yes, it's necessary! You saw what he did!"

            Sasha's eyes widened in horror as the man unlaced his trousers and pulled out a growing erection. No! He didn`t intend? The blond squirmed, but it was futile.

            " Suck it, girl!" the captain growled as his jerked his hips forward, shoving the stiffening flesh at the captive soldier`s face.

            Sasha turned away in disgust. A stinging slap hit his cheek, and he slid a fiery blue glare at the exposed man. He was beginning to understand the vile look in those hateful eyes.

            " I said suck it!"

            " I would rather die, " Sasha seethed through clenched teeth. He would never beg and he would never submit.

            Another slap. " Not good enough for ya, girl?" the captain sneered. " Or do you only receive?" And another slap.

            Sasha's death glare was his only response.

            " Oh well," the captain shrugged. "...Guess we do this the hard way, then. Grab his jaw and hold his mouth open. Make sure he can't move, anything. I don`t want any biting."

            " Captain, I don't like this," the bald guard protested.

            " I don't care what ya don't like, he deserves it! Now do it!"

            Sasha struggled violently, desperately grasping every opportunity to break free, or, if not that, then to be accidentally killed in the process. But the three men were too much for him to resist for long in his current condition.

            The bald man grabbed his jaw and pried it open, the two others huddling against him to hold his body still with theirs. Keeping downward pressure on his jaw, the bald guard slipped to kneel behind him and with two hands, steadily held both his mouth open and his head still.

            " Perfect!" The captain smiled wickedly and stepped forward. Taking his now hard erection in his hand, he slid the flushed head of it against Sasha's trembling lips. " Such pretty lips, " he smirked. Sasha thrashed, but he was too securely held and none of his body would move.

            Sasha wanted to scream, but the scream would not come. Maybe he did deserve this. Maybe wanting Issai's touch was wrong, or wanting Issai was wrong. Why would a freak like him deserve anything good, anything kind, anything beautiful, anything, anyone, like Issai? His eyes clenched shut, tears, beyond his control now, streaming down his cheeks.

            The captain shoved the rest of his thick flesh in Sasha's mouth. Recoiling in revulsion, Sasha tried to flatten his tongue; tried to escape the disgusting thing invading him.

            " Is this what you did to our prince, ya fucking pervert! Is this how you violated him?! Treating him like a fucking whore! Did ya fucking like it?"

            Sasha's eyes clamped tighter and the tears poured silver down his face. The captain forced himself further in, hitting the back of Sasha's throat, causing him to choke.

            " Did he cry too when you did this to him?" He thrust forward, again and again and again and again, each time forcing himself deeper down Sasha's throat. And each time forcing a gagging sound from the abused soldier. " What about now? Or now? Or now?" he punctuated each phrase with a violent thrust.

            " Uh, Isn't that enough?" the bald guard almost pleaded.

            " Yeah," another added. "I think he has the idea."

            " I..." He grabbed Sasha's head by a fistful of platinum hair and rapidly increased his thrusting. ".... say..... when.... enough.... is... enough...! Yes!" Jerking forward a last time, he held himself against Sasha's tear drenched face and came. Hot semen pulsed, stinging and revolting, down Sasha's raw throat. The nausea the blond felt during the whole horrible experience surged into a very strong urge to vomit. Anything to get the awful taste of saltiness and the captain's flesh out of his mouth.

            The captain pulled away, tucking himself into his trousers and re-lacing them. Sasha opened tear-blurred, blue eyes, and glared at the man before him with a searing hate and shame, and even more hate for causing the shame.

            " You do have a lovely mouth, " the captain smirked viciously yet with an air of contentment, then trailed his calloused fingers across Sasha's bruised lips and down his bruised neck. "And a wonderful throat. Very nice." Sasha squirmed, gaining nothing, his icy eyes promising death..

          The captain laughed. " Let his head go. He looks like he wants to say something." He patted Sasha on the head like he was an obedient child or puppy. " So, learn your lesson?" The bald guard released him and his head lurched forward from his straining to get free.

            Lifting his pale head and glaring up through wet, white-gold lashes, he said in a struggling voice, " And which lesson was that? That `Enkaian scum` like me know more about honor than your small, sick mind can ever imagine." Another stinging slap. Harder.

            " Do you need another lesson?"

            " How about you kill me this time!" Sasha hissed.

            The captain grabbed him by the throat. " Maybe I will. But you're more useful for... other... things." Thick fingers roughly stroked Sasha's white-gold hair.

            " Captain, enough! Anything else will be noticed and we'll get caught. And what if he talks?"

            " He won't talk. Will you, pretty?" The captain smirked. "Besides, who`d believe him, he`s Enkaian. And there`s four of us!"

            " True. But we're pushing our luck. I don't know if the prince will understand going this far," a stocky guard said, worry thick in his raspy voice.

            " He is too kind-hearted," the scraggly-haired captain mused. "He never would have been able take revenge for himself. But he'd thank us for doing it for him if he does find out."

            " I guess you're right," the stocky guard conceded. " But we still should stop. My shift's over soon."

            The captain nodded. "I guess we gave him the idea. For now." He kicked Sasha in the stomach and the blond grunted in pain. " Let him go." As they did, Sasha fell limply to the stone floor, groaning. " Ok, let's go." After another kick, he bent down, his vile breath and even more vile voice whispering in Sasha's ear, " I'll be seeing you again, pretty. All of you! " He rose laughing, leaving the cell with his companions and Sasha writhing on the floor in agony.

            The iron door clanged shut. He was finally alone. Sasha strained himself onto his elbows. The sickness in his gut rose until he finally vomited, heaving violently, a mixture of blood, semen, and the bland breakfast from earlier spilling onto the cell floor. The acidic taste it left on his tongue was for once welcome.

           Crawling across the cold, stone floor, he climbed onto the bed, and curled into a tight ball. And wept. Even after the tears would no longer flow, he wept.

            Sasha remained curled in the corner of the old cot, burying himself against the damp, stone wall to block out the world, the little of it that intruded on him. The clank of the iron door opening always sent him cowering deeper into the corner in a fit of violent shivers. He had only a vague awareness of others invading the solitude of his cell, but their buzzing would soon be gone and he was again alone.

            He didn't eat, didn't drink, didn't move. He wished he didn't sleep as well, but the weakening of his body, from both his injuries and, mostly, the lack of food and water, made staying conscious more and more difficult as the days passed. And with it came dreams. Dreams of Issai and the brief moment of happiness that faded so quickly to cold reality. And nightmares. Always nightmares.

            During his fewer and fewer moments of coherent thought, he wondered about Issai. Why had the prince abandoned him? And to this? He held no hope of ever seeing the beautiful prince again. His one regret was he would die without one last glimpse into Issai's amazing green eyes. And he knew he was indeed dying. That was the only thing he did hope for: death. The prince would never need to know what a loathsome and filthy creature he was, especially after...

            He broke into another fit of weeping, though the tears no longer came.

            That annoying buzzing sound intruded on his quiet again. He ignored it as he always did, hoping it would go away soon. Though a part of him noted it was too soon for the noise to return. The familiar clank and scrape of metal jolted him into trembling but this time he was too weak to move, which drove the trembling to stronger violence.

            A soft hand touched his shoulder. No! Not again! He tried to fight against it, but his body didn't have the energy. Another hand rested gently on his cold, damp forehead. Warm and gentle, like Issai, but something about it told him it wasn't.

            More buzzing. Then he felt his head lifted a little under another's power and something cold pressed to his dry lips. There was nothing he could do but submit. His body gave him no choice. A cool, clean liquid flowed into his mouth and down his throat. He coughed and sputtered, but soon the dryness soothed. Buzzing, a little more distinct now. Voices. Two. A clang and then there was only one. He couldn't form the sound into anything understandable, but it was followed by more liquid forced into him.

            " Your Majesty, a dispatch has come from the Enkaian King." A young page in purple and green, the Midori colors, knelt on the violet velvet carpet before the king's throne. His dark head was bowed and hand extended holding a scrolled letter.

            The king lifted the scroll from the boy's hand, then carefully broke its seal and unrolled it. Reading over the letter, his dark brows furrowed as his green eyes roamed the text. He jerked up from it, motioning a high servant over. "Have the boy brought from the cells immediately and confined to one of the guest rooms. Now!"

            The servant scurried off to fulfill his task.

            " Father, what's in the letter?" Issai stepped forward, concern welling in his eyes, but hope as well. Sasha was to be released from that filthy dungeon and that meant he would finally be allowed to see him. Or at least it would be easier to try.

            The king shoved the parchment at Issai, who snatched it from him quickly and began to read. After a moment his lips fell into a frown, and his eyes flashed with a mixture of surprise and anger. He stormed from the room to follow after the servant, the letter fluttering to the marble floor.

            As Issai strode to the dungeons, a kindly man in white and green robes hurried past him to the King's audience chamber. But the prince paid him little attention. He had answers to gather from a lying Enkaian he had thought trustworthy and innocent.