A Day in the Clouds (Chapter 10) - The Hours Between 1400 and 1500
<< Chapter 9
The multi-talented @verbal-d has bestowed a wonderful gift for this story. To enhance the reading experience, play this on loop in the background as you read this chapter. Please be sure to follow and donate to @verbal-d!
Light pierced through the darkness, and I found myself, once again, back in my prison bunk. My joints ached, and I found it hard to get up. Lying there, drenched in sweat, I couldn't help but think that it was still a better situation than—
What was I doing prior? I-I ... I was ... This was still a better situation than ... Gah!
What was it? I can't seem to recall. I was ... traveling? Was I traveling? No, I ... I don't think so. I ... No, wait! My captors poisoned me! Damn those giants!
"Ledd, are you feeling better?" asked Mamie, as she walked in.
"No thanks to you! Don't think that for one second I would forget that you drugged me."
Mamie stabbed my left underarm with some ... thing. I-I'm not quite sure what it was. It felt cold to the touch, and it displayed numbers once she clicked open the device.
37.0 C. What could it mean? Was it a timer of some sort? A clock perhaps? Wait, a timer? Was it ... Was I strapped to a bomb?!
I fidgeted and wiggled my body to get myself free. Mamie held me down and attempted to stick back the bomb.
"Ledd!," she pleaded. "Stay still, please!"
"No! Are you kidding me?! D-Do you think I would just lay here and let you blow me up? What do you think of me you ... You giant!"
That was the fact that I seemed to always forget. Mamie was a giant. Even though sometimes it felt like the way she treated me was different, she was still one of them.
It seems that I have sweated out the poison, and now they've resorted to an explosive to get rid of me. For some reason, their treatment of their prisoners had become harsher ever since I left. Could it have been my fault? Was their failure in securing me the reason for the more violent measures?
I kicked her wildly, but it didn't prove to be effective. My lack of strength and the giants' improved armor had turned the tide to their favor. If I wouldn't be able to come up with a plan, this would surely be the end for me.
Then, all of a sudden, an epiphany!
With all the strength I had left, I held on to her wrist tightly and refused to let go. I stopped wiggling my body and focused all of my power on my grip. If she was relentlessly going to kill me with the bomb, then I might as well take her with me.
Mamie tried to pull herself away, but couldn't shake my grip. She placed her palm on my forehead, thinking it would loosen my hold of her, but I refused to let up. Thinking really wasn't a strong suit for these giants. It was a distinct advantage that I held over them, and one that I will not grow tired of using.
The giant looked upon worriedly. I couldn't imagine what was going through her head, bested by a prisoner. Being defeated by a Sachaphoyan was nothing to scoff at, but it would surely taint her legacy.
If word got out of a giant's defeat, this act could start several uprising from different prisons. My victory would usher in a sense that these giants were not as invulnerable as they're made out to be. That would be a glorious death. I would rest easy if that would be my legacy. Heraldo de la libertad!
The bomb beeped repeatedly. The time of reckoning was almost upon us! I've already submitted to my fate a long time ago. With all the water treatments and every manner of torture, I've already resigned to my fate. That was the difference between the two of us.
"Any last words?" I taunted Mamie, as I held on to her firmly. Mutually-assured destruction — I never thought this would be the way I exited the mortal plane. I closed my eyes and waited for the final boom.
Lo and behold, the explosion never came to pass. If I were being honest, it was a bit anti-climactic. I guess the giant feared death way more than I anticipated. Maybe she had thought about the implications of her defeat, specifically if it would spark several rebellions.
On one hand, I felt relieved to be alive, although on the other, I felt ... a bit empty. I had already submitted to leaving that legacy that I ... No, I shouldn't ... I shouldn't think that way. I was alive. I live to fight another day. That's all that matters. I'll leave a different, way better legacy some other time.
Mamie pulled out the bomb and disarmed it. She looked at me smiling and placed her lips on my forehead. The giant stood up and gave up on her latest attempt. In turn, I released my grip, and chalked it up to a victory. I smiled back knowing that I foiled their plan once again.
"His fever must have broken," I overheard Mamie telling Lowla.
Fever? I'm not quite sure what a fever is, but if they feel relieved about mine breaking, should I start worrying? I checked my body for anything dislocated or missing, but I couldn't seem to find one.
Was fever the source of my power, the one that allows me to conjure my viento into weapons? I certainly hope not, or else I'll make them pay dearly for that transgression.
I tried to get up, but the pain I felt in my joints prevented me from doing so. Was fever their term for joints? If it is, it's such a strange term to use. I had to find out what it was. I needed to be certain that they haven't stripped me of my powers permanently.
Lowla snuck in and held me down on the bed. She wrapped me around my blanket and wiped the sweat from my skin. What a sneaky move to steal my essence. These giants wasted no time in trying to drain me.
"Eat your soup, Ledd," the giant demanded, waving a metallic ladle in front of my face. She placed her other hand beneath my chin, then force fed me the scalding liquid.
I tried to resist, but I was no match for her. Lowla made sure that I slurped every bit of the yorsup she fed me. Probably some other kind of poison which, strangely enough, tasted kind of good. These giants haven't learned that poison doesn't affect me.
A few moments later, I felt my chest tighten until it felt like it was close to bursting. I panicked, so I sat up and tried to swat the bowl of yorsup from Lowla's hand. What was this ... It seemed like I underestimated the poison. Masked by that savory flavor, it seemed as if that it was the poison that would finally do me in.
BURP! I let out a loud belch, as an air pocket vacated my body. My chest loosened, and my breathing returned to normal. I panted, trying to catch my breath.
"There there," Lowla muttered, while she continually slapped my back. The giant must be furious at yet another defeat.
Sitting up, I stared at her and grinned. "I told you your poison won't have any effect on me."
She wiped my mouth and strapped me down the bed with a blanket. With her torture device in hand, she stood up and left the room. There were no parting words, no promise of another attempt.
I knew they were coming for me again, it was only a matter of time. I sincerely hoped that these giants know by now that I am forever vigilant. They may be strong, but I'm smarter and more agile. I've escaped them once before, and I shall do so again.
From the tiny opening provided by the door Lowla left ajar, I could see the giants conversing. My viento was weak, and I didn't have the capability to hear what they were talking about. But, judging from their frown and their scowl faces, I knew that it was a good sign.
They were speaking in a loud tone, and they were flailing their arms around. Dadier bowed his head and stared longingly at the distance. Mamie kept pacing around, scratching herself every so often. Lowla kept rubbing her nose, as she sat at the other end of the same cushion Dadier sat at.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Teten lying down, with her back against me. She wasn't asleep, but she laid there motionless. I knew she wasn't asleep, I could feel her energy. Even in my viento's diminished state, it still served some use.
Even if they won't admit it, I knew that this was the direct result of my escape. This was the small victory I could be proud of. Even in failure, my escape had caused dissension among their ranks. I knew that it was no trivial achievement. If I could pit the giants among themselves, they could be the architects of their own downfall. I couldn't believe I haven't thought about it sooner!
This brief period of exhaustion afforded time to think. I didn't plan for any of this, but this fortunate turn produced an amazing outcome. That's right, yeah ... I'm going with this.
There's a chink in their armor, a taint to their seemingly impregnable facade. The other prison compounds would now think little of them. In turn, my captors will try their best to salvage what remained of their prestige.
The uprising has begun, and they don't even know it yet. These giants think that they are harboring a prisoner. But, I've changed. I'm a prisoner, no longer. They need not fear another escape from me because I'll gladly stay and destroy them from the inside. They will never see me coming.
<< Chapter 9
Thanks for reading! Follow me, @jedau, if you want to live.
Leave this post a feedback, and I'll be sure to return the favor!
Nice to have verbal-d's music playing while reading. This chapter, more than any other so far, makes me really feel for Mamie and Dadie - how difficult it must be for them sometimes. Oh, and I loved the picture with the cloud overlay as well.
Thanks!! I was so stringent with the concept since it was the first image that popped up in my head when I first thought about this story. Even with better suggestions involving double exposure images, I still went with my original thought. I'm glad my decision has a supporter :D
I plan to tug on the heartstrings a couple of more times using Mamie and Dadier's unwritten perspective before this story wraps, so I hope it brings on the feels. @verbal-d's Sliver's Edge really captures the essence of the entire story even if he hasn't read the ending yet! I hope it's not too spoiler-y haha!
"With all the strength I had left, I held on to her wrist tightly and refused to let go. I stopped wiggling my body and focused all of my power on my grip. If she was relentlessly going to kill me with the bomb, then I might as well take her with me."
Whoa Ledd is feisty! He's willing to blow himself up and ensure victory still! Nice thinking.
"The giant looked upon worriedly. I couldn't imagine what was going through her head, bested by a prisoner. Being defeated by a Sachaphoyan was nothing to scoff at, but it would surely taint her legacy."
Oh I loved this phrase about her prestigious giant legacy being flawed for all time in the history archives haha.
"Lowla snuck in and held me down on the bed. She wrapped me around my blanket and wiped the sweat from my skin. What a sneaky move to steal my essence. These giants wasted no time in trying to drain me."
I can quote you all day long bro. Your writing style is impeccable. A refined literary "essence" which no one can steal from you.
"BURP! I let out a loud belch, as an air pocket vacated my body. My chest loosened, and my breathing returned to normal. I panted, trying to catch my breath."
I was surprised to see that Ledd didn't say something to the effect of Viento was escaping my body, being forced out from the inside out with this new insidious poison! after he had Burped. lol
Overall amazing chapter, all the chapters are my favorites, I can't decide. I want to see how he destroys them from the inside out indeed.
He's indeed a feisty little bugger! If he can't be them, and he sure as hell won't join them, then he might as well blow everyone to bits haha! Since English isn't my first language, I really worked hard to refine my writing style. I'm glad it's paying off in dividends. The downside about anonymity though is that most people just pass up on my writing because they think I'm a native speaker haha!
I had thought about writing that it was viento, but I feared that it may be over-saturating it a bit. Good point regarding that though. I might have to revisit that soon.
No need to decide, brother! You can have all the chapters as favorites, and you won't hear any complaints from me! Heck, you can have other books as favorites as well. These comments you left are just validation enough. It's inscribed in the blockchain, so I have these to keep for, well, ever haha!
Excellent follow up to the dream! Haha, I have always wondered what small children think of a thermometer. When I was little thermometers were still made of glass with mercury in them and had to either go under the tongue or in the rectum. Fortunately I can't remember if I was subjected to the latter form of its use.
I like how you show that he differentiates, even if only slightly, mamie from the other giants. He had to remind himself she was one of them, gives you the feeling that he sometimes feels softer towards her.
I love that picture, how did you do that so perfectly? I suck at photo editing, haha!!
I have to say this whole downvoting to counteract upvoting is making me feel like i shouldn't be posting chapters right now, I didn't even break a dollar thanks to smooth and crew :( I was feeling sensitive today as it is because of...well woman issues, and I honestly felt close to tears about it which is not like me!!
I made a meme, you'll see it, and donkeypong made me feel a bit better since he went out of his way to adjust his percentage so he could vote on my post without retaliation.
sigmajin also made me feel better because after I got hit by those nasty downvotes (which didn't balance anything, just hurt me in the end) he came through with his bot army and upvoted me, lol. He usually only uses his horde to downvote people (like the guilds when they were supposedly upvoting their own post). He told me that he wanted to see if the whales keeping out of the reward pool would increase their worth and I was a worthy poster to benefit if they did. Unfortunately they only added about twenty five cents which did not give me back the dollars I lost, but it was definitely the thought that counted and made my day brighter!
Anyway, another stellar chapter my friend, hopefully I'll talk to you later! :)
I was in the middle of commenting on your post when you left your comment haha! You're way faster in terms of leaving comments than I am. I knew I had to finish writing that before I responded here.
I don't want to spoil anything, but Mamie and Dadier will be the foils to Ledd. The distinction between them is important, and I really gave emphasis to it because of their real-life relationship with Zepp. I want to write it in a respectful way, so that's where the fiction part comes in hah
Picture? Did you mean the cover or the extra pic? I did it the same way by masking. I don't have Photoshop, so I used the open source software Gimp for it. If you need something similar done, then let me know, I'm happy to help out :) I'm not an expert, I'm just an advanced beginner.
Fortunately, I'm young enough to remember the feeling, but this is where my affinity for kids come in. I took a consensus of all their thoughts and amalgamated it into this. I didn't have the chance to use the glass ones all that much. I remember only having used it once or twice when the battery of the digital ones were out haha!
With regard to the downvoting thing, I've already written the SILVER LINING for this week, so as much as I want to protest by not posting it, I feel I have the obligation to. Maybe I'll just skip a couple of weeks after, until this all blows over. I feel so envious that you have built such a solid support system here. Don't get me wrong, I'm super happy that you have that, my friend. You deserve all the great support you're receiving. As for me, I have you and the others I shouted out to in a previous SILVER LINING. No guilds, no whales. I was told that I would be included in the Steem Guild-supported authors 10 or so posts ago, but that didn't come to pass, so I just stopped hoping. I'm thankful for the brief support during my curie qualification, so I don't feel resentful towards anyone. These days, I just try not to think that they exist to save myself from feeling anything negative.
At this rate, I'm going to be perpetually stuck at 63 rep haha! Oh well, this is what I get for writing all-original work instead of pulling whatever info elsewhere on the internet. I could've raked in an average of $30, but I chose principles over the money. Yeah, I'm sinking into that hole again, I'll just try to ignore this whole flagging fiasco. I'm scrappy, I'll dig myself out the best I can :D
A downvote was applied to partially counter earlier whale votes as an experiment to reduce whale domination of voting influence. Not intended to express an opinion on the content nor result in a net reduction of rewards or reputation (automated notice)
Uhh.. sure? I mean, I don't.. I don't even receive whale votes often. I'm barely making anything here and not many people even read my posts. Perhaps you're better off targeting users who get $50 on average for posting content with very little value. I've seen a lot of those, and their earnings are motivating them to just keep posting stuff that either doesn't add a lot of value, vain or content that can be found elsewhere on the internet.
He is targeting everyone. It's an experiment to give more power to minnow. Your voting power should be higher than usual.
Upvoted!
How extremely thoughtful of you to comment and counter the hurt feelings being caused by the downvotes! And you couldn't have a chosen a more deserving, kinder and talented individual to encourage :)
Haha! @snowflake was the equivalent of a thousand bots for me :)
Thanks @snowflake! So, this was what @meesterboom was talking about haha I have a measly 1,970.414 STEEM power. Heck, I don't even qualify as a minnow. I'm just a tiny anchovy in this ocean haha! I really think they need to adjust their algorithm lest they risk discouraging people with low SP.
Yes, the large majority of the community want the algorithm changed but steem developers are not listening. They want to keep all their power, it's sad really...
Oh, well, nothing we can do about their attitude. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Good on you for making a concerted effort to battle the injustice. I wish I had more pull so that my voice has more weight.
You have a point there. I was thinking it was more for posts which had a whale vote. However i managed to Bang on two cents! Which is more than my usual zero or fraction!!
Woah! That's way better than 16 cents! It's like 25% better! :o Definitely way better than 0, and definitely appreciated, brother! You're a champ! :D