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I’m not sure how long I was on that treadmill. I think it was probably most of the day, because by the time Sunil let me get off the instrument of torture, my legs were killing me. I could feel thousands of tiny fire ants biting into every fatty cell of my thighs. So I guess I was still human and couldn’t run forever without feeling it.
If I’d been back home, where the sun shines, I would have been able to tell the time of day by the passage of the sun across the sky, but in this cold, damp country, where the sun doesn’t seem to shine at all, I had no clue whether it was day or night. Bright, electric, lights shone all day. The lack of natural light was starting to get to me as was not having my phone, or access to Facebook. Not that I had a lot of friends on Facebook who would notice I was gone, but still. I liked lurking and seeing what everybody else was up to.
I’m a Facebook stalker. Sue me.
I also missed the sound of music. The castle was silent. Since my arrival I hadn’t heard anything other than my own breathing. The few conversations I’d had with Von Zimmer and the Doctor and Sunil’s terse replies to my questions and barking orders at me, didn’t really count. I wanted to hear some Gin Wigmore, Elle King, or some Dropkick Murphys, or some ACDC. I wanted to hear anything but this dead silence.
But instead of music I got Sunil stomping over from his spot in the corner of the room where he’d been doing his own training, which looked like a hectic form of yoga. Fuck alone knows how that man managed to get himself into any of those positions. At least I’d had something to watch while I made like a hamster. It alleviated some of the boredom.
He tapped the console in front of me and the running belt stopped under my still running feet. I went down hard. My knees felt most of the impact and the treadmill shuddered underneath me. Sunil grunted and walked across the room once more while I got back onto my feet and off the equipment. My legs felt strange being back on solid ground.
Before I had a chance to recover, Sunil threw a very large looking stick at me which I surprisingly managed to catch. Not very gracefully, but I still caught it. A few days ago it would probably have hit me square in the face and probably broken my nose. I’ve never been particularly co-ordinated, so being able to catch anything was quite a feat.
I was still marvelling at my newfound hand-eye co-ordination when that fucking bastard smacked me in the gut with an oversized bamboo cane.
How fucking rude is that?
Another blow hit the top of my head. It wasn’t even a light tap. It was a full on pounding smack that made stars dance around my eyes. My jaw connected with my chest and my knees slammed into the marble floor sending sharp spikes of pain along my femur.
In spite of the ringing in my ears, I heard the door open and the slap-slap of shoes on marble. And in spite of my blurred vision I also spotted highly polished and expensive looking shoes standing next to Sunil’s bare feet. I hadn’t actually noticed before then that Sunil wasn’t wearing any shoes, which—considering how cold the floor was—was a bit weird. I mean, didn’t he feel the cold? What was wrong with him?
My eyes travelled up from the highly polished shoes to the pinstriped suit pants, to the grim face of Von Zimmer who in turn was looking down at me. He did not look happy.
Once my vision cleared, I stood on wobbly legs. I thought about throwing up all over those shoes, but then realised I hadn’t eaten. I also realised I couldn’t remember when I’d last eaten and my stomach decided to grumble rather audibly.
“Since you’re here,” I said. “I have some grievances.”
“Oh,” Von Simmer said with a raised eyebrow. “Such as?”
“Firstly, I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten all day.” I held up my fingers and counted down my complaints. “Secondly, what is it with you and tracksuits? Can’t I have other clothes? What about some of those funky tights? You know the ones that look like a Harley Quinn outfit or something cute like that? Or jeans? Jeans would be nice. You know for when I’m not running on a treadmill or having my head bashed in.”
Von Zimmer nodded.
“And thirdly, what’s with the silence? How about some music? Or is that asking too much?”
“Your needs will be seen to as soon as possible,” Von Zimmer said with a dismissive hand gesture, and then turned to Sunil.
“We must talk.” Von Zimmer tilted his head towards the other end of the torture chamber. Sunil nodded and followed him away from me. “There’s been a dispute,” Von Zimmer said in a hushed tone.
I pretended not to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“That was quick,” Sunil said.
“Yes, but it was not unexpected. We knew that once Victoria lost The Race there would be a period of turmoil.”
“How bad is it?” Sunil asked.
“It could be worse, but this is only the beginning, and since The Race was only recently completed the dispute will be settled by armed combat in a location of the injured party’s choice.”
“She’s not ready.” Sunil said glancing at me.
“The dispute is thankfully not with us.” Von Zimmer said. “We have only been invited to attend. We leave first thing in the morning.”