Keep On: Cassandra's Tangled Journey

7) An Act Of Jealousy

Quora made her way to the back room, where Bertram was crafting a vase on his pottery wheel.
"Hey Bertram, you haven't seen Cassandra, have you?"
Bertram lost focus and the clay went flying across the room, and some landed on Quora's chin. "No, I haven't seen Cassandra, is she hurt?"
Quora just shrugged as she wiped the brown wet substance off her face. "I don't know, that's why I'm asking you."
Bertram jumped up. "You think I'd want to hurt her?"
"No, I-" Quora looked at the tray of his most recent creations. They all either had Cassandra's name carved into them, a very inappropriate seductive message, or both. "Good god."
"It's not what it looks like."
"What else could it look like?" said Quora angrily. "We all know you love Cassandra more than your own wife."
Bertram got really close to Quora. "How dare you!? You think you know me?"
"I don't," she replied sternly, "but I can't help but notice all of the crockery over here directly addressed to Cassandra."
"These are a 'thank you' gift for helping us out!"
"Oh, really?" Quora picked up the vase that was closest to her and read it aloud. "Dear Cassandra, I hope you'll let me put my flower in your vase, xoxo Bertram."

Bertram suddenly looked a lot more guilty. "I mean, I have some nice flowers in my field." Quora raised the vase above her head. Bertram screamed. "Okay, okay, I am in love with Cassandra, what's so wrong with that?"
"You have a wife!"
"So?"
"So? You should be respecting her! If it's this easy for you to move on from her while you're still married, you should not be married!" With that, Quora left.
"Where are you going?"
"To find Cassandra."
"Well, let me come with you."
"No!"

~*~
Down in the basement, Cassandra was desperately trying to set herself free from the handcuffs. For the first time in five months, she actually wished Eugene was with her. He would be able to get her out of the handcuffs quicker than Bertram was able to fall in love with her. She tried twisting her wrists to slip through the cuffs. She pulled and pulled her right hand, hoping that it would cause her less pain than her left hand, since it was already badly damaged. She was wrong. She kept on twisting, but she could only start to feel her hand becoming disconnected from her arm. Now was the time to stop. Any more and she most likely would lose her hand completely.

~*~
At the entrance of Knavitt's Point, Annie was keeping guard. She'd been there since 5am, so she was understandably a bit tired. Through her drooping eyes, she was able to see four men running towards her. It was happening again. Panicking, Annie ran over  to the emergency bell Bastian had set up earlier in the week. As the criminals got closer and closer, she pulled out her sword and got herself ready.
"Where do you think you're going?" she shouted as she charged towards them.

But the thing was, Annie wasn't as skilled as the rest of the group. She'd never actually been in battle, and she hadn't yet been fully taught about the unpredictability of criminal attacks, so one of the bandits immediately sent her flying. As she winced in pain, Ralph spotted her and immediately ignored the criminals so he could comfort his injured friend.

From a distance, Bruce noticed the group, as well as Annie and Ralph on the ground. He quickly ran over to Quora and Bertram, who were right in the middle of pissing each other off.

"Alert! Alert!" he called out. "We're under attack, I'm going to find Anneliese and Bastian." Bruce sprinted towards the forest.
Bertram was furious. "What? Are you just leaving us here?"
"I can't take all these guys down!" Quora added. But it was too late. Bruce had disappeared.

Felix came running over. "What's going on?"
Bertram smiled. "Well, these nice men have come to spice the place up a bit, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS HAPPENING? YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"
"Where's Cassandra?"
"We don't know!" both Bertram and Quora shouted.

The criminals started throwing eggs at the bakery. Barbara the baker looked helplessly through the window. One of the bandits pulled out a sword. It seemed like they had all learnt from last time and had come properly equipped with armour. Quora, Bertram and Felix all got ready to fight. None of the others from the masterclass bothered to show up. Bunch of pussies.

~*~
Cassandra was struggling. She was tugging at her left wrist, twisting and pulling, but nothing was happening. The agony cursed through her body as she could feel the handcuffs starting to draw blood. She needed to figure out a way to release herself without taking the entire hand off. Suddenly, she heard chaos. The bell was ringing, she could hear plates and windows being smashed, and the screams of innocent citizens. With Anneliese and Bastian still in Jesstitchba, and the four warriors they bought along with them not being as qualified, Cassandra knew she had to do something. Fast. She squeezed her fist into a ball and tried again to fit it through the cuff. Nothing. She looked around to see if there was anything within reach that she could use to make her wrist more slippery, like butter or something. She noticed a glass of water across on her bedside table, but she was unable to reach it with her feet. There was only one other option. The screams of desperation were too much for her to bear. As much as she disliked Bertram for everything he'd done to both herself and his own wife, she couldn't let him or any of the other unskilled citizens face this battle alone. She would do whatever it takes to help them. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and smashed her hand against the bed frame. If she was able to break the bone that connects the thumb to the rest of her hand, she hopefully would then be able to slip her hand through the cuff. It didn't work. But it hurt like hell. Again. She could hear the cracking of the bones. Although she couldn't see it, she could tell there was a lot of blood. Cassandra couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so much pain. Not even when she'd spent four and a half months wearing the moonstone. But she couldn't stop now. She was almost there. She was just hoping that she wouldn't smash all the tendons in her hand. One, two, three! She shattered her thumb completely, down to the radius. Screaming at the top of her lungs, Cassandra pulled her wrist one last time, and her hand slipped straight through. She debated in her head whether she should look or not. She wasn't sure exactly how it would look, but she knew that however it did, it would be brutal. But she would have to look at it at some point soon, the people of Knavitt's Point needed her! Before she could properly think her decision through, she began to smell burning. At first she was confused, because she was down in the basement, how would she be able to smell burning? But then she remembered that Ilona had placed the candle right next to her foot. That little bitch! This was her plan all along! She wanted Cassandra to kick over the candle and start a fire.
"Oh shit."

Though in Cassandra's defence, the candle eventually would have set a fire in one way or another no matter what based on where it was placed (on a wooden dresser barely touching a human foot).

The fire was spreading quickly. Cassandra desperately tried to reach over to the glass of water on the table, blood oozing from her knuckles. She just about managed to grab the glass with the tips of her fingers, and splashed it over the other hand. She began tugging at the other hand, but it wouldn't budge. She knew it would be useless trying any more. She didn't want to lose her hand completely. She really didn't want to give up, but with nothing to pick the lock with, it seemed like her chances of escaping were slim. She dropped down onto the floor right next to the bed, her right hand still attached to the bed frame. As the fire spread throughout the room, Cassandra closed her eyes and sighed. She'd tried so hard to be the hero, but she just ended up causing more harm. Just like before.