Out of the corner of her eye, Rahríténne saw Eris'mal stand up, looking like he was about to speak. Whipping her head round, she gave him a glare, but he only replied with a raised eyebrow and a twisted smile. Waiting for everyone to stop yelling at the limp figure at the bottom of the Pit, he took a couple of steps forward, so that he was easier to see.

Upon seeing him moving forward, the noise level of the crowd dropped down shockingly quickly. The air was tense- they were expecting another announcement. Clearing his throat, he began to speak.

"Let the second punishment- the flogging- begin!"

Rahríténne's mother hid her eyes from the Pit as the same two faeries who had tortured Rahríténne's father left, and then re-entered, each with a cruel whip in their dominant hand.

Rahríténne, on the other hand, couldn't tear her gaze away from her father. She wished that she could stop it from happening, or even take the punishment for him, but if she interfered, both her and her mother would join him.

So, instead, she remained sitting down, anxious for her father, and fuming inside, determined to get revenge on the leaders of the clan for putting them through this.

They would pay- someday they would regret messing with their family.

At Eris'mal's command, the two faeries began to lash her father's back, one stroke after another. They would not stop until a specific signal was given.

After the first lot of lashes, Rahríténne couldn't look any more. Instead, she looked around the audience, trying to see if there was anyone that she regonised in there.

A hooded figure caught her attention, and she frowned. The faerie wearing it was breaching the rules about not having your ears covered in confined public spaces- if they were caught, they would be given ten lashes with the whip, at least.

The figure shifted their gaze slightly in their direction, allowing Rahríténne to catch a glimpse of his face.

Upon seeing it, she frowned, wanting to see closer. The figure looked vaguely familliar, but she doubted that she had seen him before. She would have remembered the distinct, and bold features on his face.

But that posed a question that she couldn't answer. Who was he, and why did she almost recognize him?

Trying to figure this out, she nudged her mother, nodding in the direction of the faerie- a slight motion- only one that she and her mother would have been able to make out.

Glad to have a distraction, her mother turned her head to see whom Rahríténne was pointing at. The figure turned his head away quickly, but not before she caught sight of his face.

Rahríténne's mother's face went ashen as she stared after the stranger. Her husband must have been involved in something larger than the elders let on, for it was well known that he did not travel much. In fact, he usually did not travel at all, except when necessary.

She turned back to her daughter, shaking her head, as if to say, 'I don't know him'. Rahríténne appeared to be slightly confused, but she accepted it without question.

It was better that she didn't know who was truly there, or she might do something rash, such as trying to attack him, or, even worse, kill him. Then they'd all be in the Pit.

Rahríténne glanced at her mother, when she wasn't looking, confused. She was fairly certain that her mother did know the faerie, but she couldn't force her to speak. Resolving to try and find out who it was when she got home, she tuned back into the punishment, in dread.

-

Her father appeared to be strong, but inside he was screaming in agony. Every part of his body hurt- he could not bear it for much longer. The only thing that kept him going was knowing that his Daughter and Wife were watching him.

He had to stay strong, for them.

He felt unbelievably upset that they would never know the true reason for his 'betrayal'. The truth was one that not many knew- the elders were liars.

Rahríténne would always think of him not as the perfect father that he had once envisioned himself to be- but somebody who had betrayed her. His wife would never be the same again- Ellisia did not get over deaths easily. When her mother and father went missing, she wept for days on end.

She had locked herself in her room, refusing to come out, when their charred corpses were found, thinking that the Dragons had been the cause of their deaths. At the time he had agreed with her.

But after meeting the Dragons, he didn't.

Fighting his instinct to struggle against those holding him down, he remained still, knowing that movement would only bring more pain.

-

Rahríténne was burning with curiousity- about who this stranger was, and why she recognized him.

Turning her eyes away reluctantly, she gazed down at her father. Bloody sores furrowed his back, yet he held himself proudly.

She felt the anger inside her stir again. Nobody deserved to be treated like that- not even a traitor to Dhére.

As she watched, she admired the way that her father didn't even emit a single cry, even when he began to lose strength. He collapsed onto the ground, but the fey holding him down pulled him back up again. Staring blankly ahead, he did nothing to prevent this.

Even though he had allowed himself to be captured, he would still remain Rahríténne's father, and she would remember him fondly.

-

Meanwhile, Sahaim was at his friend's house. His friend was being kind to him; as was his friend's mother, but he couldn't concentrate. He still had the image of his tear-ridden mother imprinted in his mind, and he couldn't focus on anything else. His throat constricted as he remembered his friend's death- he would never show them that his happiness at the news of his father had not been entirely genuine- rather, he had acted excited, although it had cost him to do so. He wouldn't let them see him unhappy; he couldn't.

Eventually, his friend got sick of him ignoring her, so she gave him a glare and held her head up high as she told him to get out of her house.

Sahaim gave her a look of shock, but meekly obeyed.

When he reached the front door, she opened it, shoved him outside, and slammed it in his face. His eyes widened as he realized that his 'friend' wasn't as friendly as he had originally thought.

There was only one place where he could go- home.

Confidently, he strolled over to his house, and unlocked the door with his key. The key that he had had copied, so that he could sneak out when he wanted to.

-

Rahríténne wondered when they would stop beating up her father. Surely they had almost finished? He wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.

But the lashes seemed to go on, and on, until finally her father let out a small hiss of pain. The faerie lashing him stepped back, satisfied, admiring the deep furrows engraved on his back, completely coated with blood.

That must have been what they were waiting for- a reaction. She wished that her father had caved in earlier. Maybe if he had, he wouldn't have been as wounded as he was at that point.

Yet there was still another challenge to come- the worst of all. Tears pricked her eyes, and one fell down her cheek. She knew deep down that her father wouldn't- couldn't survive this challenge.

Eris'mal stood up again, a huge grin on his face. The fun wasn't over yet; there was still another challenge left.

"Let the third, and final punishment, the savage dogs, commence!"

A chasm appeared in the ground of the Pit, growing larger, and larger, as the audience watched. Rahríténne's father scrambled away from it, but it drew closer by the second.

The fey that were present for carrying out the second punishment used their Magick to transport themselves out of the enlarged Pit, to safety.

But Rahríténne's father didn't have any more Magick. It had already been stripped from him, in the first punishment.

She watched in horror as he struggled for a foothold on the edge of the Chasm, then fell, unable to grip onto the smooth walls.

Two dogs, eyes glinting, circled him. One appeared to be the leader, the other the dog who took the orders.

The leader barked something at the other dog, who in return barked something back, leaping towards Rahríténne's father as it did so. It was aiming for his heart.

Suddenly, a small figure leapt in front of him, taking the dog's teeth in his throat.

Rahríténne guessed that the figure had somehow gotten down there with Magick. There was no other way down.

The words that the figure mumbled afterwards chilled Rahríténne to the bone.

"Daddy... I love you."

The boy was Sahaim, her younger brother. Tears flooded her cheeks as she put her head in her hands.

When she looked up, the figure was still, and the dogs had been removed from the Pit, leaving her father alive. The small figure was heart-wrenchingly motionless.

Sahaim was dead.

Trailer credit to @alisonreynolds