CHAPTER 19 - ROYALTY OR LOYALTY

LARA’S POV

When she asked us to run off to her room, I could not say for myself, but I knew Scarlet was in great trouble.

I wanted to speak to her and tell her about what transpired, but then Dawn followed behind us and I could not risk saying anything to Scarlet.

So I held on to Scarlet and we both quickened our pace. I intended that once we get to her room, I would quickly run over all that happened with her before Dawn arrives.

We got to the room right in time but were met with the presence of Sam with his back to us. In shock, I quickly let go of Scarlet.

To say that I was disappointed would be, to say the least. I was furious and would have wished for his disappearance from this world if I had the power to.

Sam turned to face us and that was when we noticed that he was not alone in the room. He had with him his long and dangerous whip, the one he uses only when he wanted to punish a servant that has committed what to him was a grave offense.

“Oh you are here” he grinned. “I thought I was going to wait for eternity”

“We are sorry, but we came as soon as we were instructed to” I replied.

“Now you have to pick, Lara, take that whip and flog Scarlet mercilessly or face our wrath together with her” Dawn said making known her presence.

Scarlet looked at me. Her eyes were begging me to go on with their request as she would prefer to go through this punishment alone than have me join her.

I walked close to Sam and stretched out my hands to collect the whip but I could not so I decided against obeying her command.

Right now, I am the only one that Scarlet has, and taking this whip from the enemy meant camping with them against Scarlet. Scarlet would be all alone and that is not what I want. What kind of a friend would I be if I do not share this pain with her?

Sam held out the whip to me, smiling. He was hoping that I was going to take the whip and do as I was instructed.

I turned to look at Scarlet, her eyes were still pleading with me to go on with it but I am going to disappoint her this time. I am not a donkey that could be used for many purposes as it suits the owner, and I know that if I should start this now, there would be no going back.

It was going to become the tradition and it would even be a disgrace and ridicule to Scarlet, my lady. Who am I to dare to raise my hands against my mistress?

“Lara, please” Scarlet whispered as she noticed that I was not willing to go on.

“Now girl, take it,” Sam said as he tried to force the whip into my hand.

I brought down my hands saying. “No, I can’t”

The words were barely out of my mouth when I felt a whip run through my stomach. I whined and held on to my stomach.

The whip was from Dawn. She had flogged me in reaction to my refusal. I have not seen her with a whip and so I wasn’t anticipating such. It had come as a surprise to Scarlet and me.

“That is what you get for daring to betray me. And now, I will make sure that you get enough of that where that came from” she said.

She started to run the whip all through my body while I screamed in pain.

Scarlet watch on, she was terrified. When she could not take seeing me in pains any longer, she made to come to my rescue but Sam was fast to stop her and held on to her while she struggled fruitlessly to release herself from his grip.

SCARLET’S POV

I could not bear to see her in pain anymore. This was the height of brutality. Why would my sister be this heartless, where had she learnt such viciousness from?

I ran to go and stop her, but a hand gripped me before I could get to her. It was Sam and I struggled to free myself from his grip but it was as if the more I struggled, the more I was held on by him.

When I could not go on with wanting to free myself anymore, I gave up and started to pant and fight for breath.

Sam saw my surrender and he let go of me and Dawn also stopped whipping Lara.

Lara rushed over to me and held me to her. “What is wrong with you, Scarlet?” she cried.

But instead of responding to her, I was more concerned about her welfare. “Are you okay, Lara?” I asked in reply.

“I am going to be once I know that you are fine,” she said.

“I am fine, Lara, I just couldn’t bear to see you in such much pain all because of me. But why didn’t you do it, I was begging you to?” I asked.

“You know I cannot do it even if I wanted to, Scarlet, so please let’s not go there” she replied.

Sam started to clap and this drew our attention to him. When he was sure that he finally has our attention, he said. “Okay, okay this reunion is over now. Now its time to face what we are here for”

This was the moment that we have been waiting for, to know what we have done wrong to deserve such inhumaneness from my siblings.

“Take a look at this” Sam said and threw a letter at us.

Lara caught it and was about to open it when he stopped her.

“No, there would be no need for that as we don’t have time. Sadly, we have already spent a greater part of our day with you, simpletons. Now I will just run over the content of the letter to you so that we can get this done with and face more useful things” he said.

Lara stopped opening the letter and looked at him instead.

“Now over to you, Scarlet. What did you do to Gina that made her swear never to step her foot into this mansion ever again?” he asked me.

“Nothing, nothing, I did not to her” I replied.

“That is what is contained in this letter, Scarlet. She said she was leaving me and leaving our house for you, now tell me what you did to her to make her take such drastic decision” he yelled.

This whole thing was becoming very weird to me. Ever since Gina referred to Lara as a slave, she has been very careful and had never gotten into any altercations with either of us since then. This was over a month now, so why was she using it as an excuse to leave her fiancé and her friend?

“My very good friend, Gina has decided to leave me and it is all because of you. So are you ready to talk now or should I use the language that only you understand? Dawn asked me.

“B…but I did nothing to her, absolutely nothing” I answered.

“Then we have to do it your way. And pray that she comes back; do whatever you can to bring her back or I would have to kick you out with my own hands” he ordered.

I was going to put up another defense when Sam’s whip landed on me. I screamed but then, I received another whip from Dawn and before I knew it, they were both flogging me.

I continued to wail and call out for help as I believed that I was never going to make it if no one tried to restrain them.

The pains were just too much for me to bear, and I could hear my bones cracking and the sound of my joints shifting.

I made to escape, but they were all over me and they even prevented Lara from getting access to me as even she was trying to come to my rescue.

The flogging has been on for several minutes before Lara finally found her way to me and used herself as a shield to cover me from them but this act did not deter either of them for they continued to beat her in my stead.

I felt the whip would be too much for Lara and I was struggling to push her away from me, but she refused and held on to me even tighter. I started to scream at the top of my voice calling for help because I know that if they should continue like this, Lara might not be alive to tell her own side of the story.

Their hate and hunger for revenge blinded them and made them not listen to my warnings and calls. They did not even care that Lara was the one that is been beaten but continued to flog her mercilessly with traces of her blood all over the room.

“Please let me take over from here now. I know that have done grave wrong and I can handle this properly” a voice pleaded.

I know that voice anywhere anytime. Even in my sleep, I could always distinguish it.

I cannot be wrong with the owner of the voice this time around. It was a voice that has always given me hope even at my weakest point.

They sighed and stopped flogging us.

I silently thanked the moon goddess for bringing mama Ruth our way before falling on the floor.

Mama Ruth walked up to us and tried to carry Lara but she stopped her and got up herself.

“Please take care of Scarlet, I don’t think she can move a limb,” Lara said.

“Are you sure you can help yourself? You know I can manage to carry the two of you” mama Ruth asked.

“Yes, I can” Lara answered.

“And who is going to take care of these drops of blood splashed everywhere?” Dawn asked.

“I will take care of it, dear, I will come back right now to do that” mama Ruth replied.