The desert bride Trapped between the sand and storm.

”Rainer, Rainer, ”

That very familiar voice kept on calling out for Rainer, who had been unconscious for many hours. Rainers eyes fluttered open, revealing her hazel eyes. Her eyes closed once again, but that same familiar voice kept calling her name. Rainers eyes finally opened, but she shut them, trying to get used to the hot afternoon sun.

Rainer quickly stood up from the ground, where she had been lying for a long time. She looks around for the source of that very familiar voice, holding the chain on her neck tightly. Finally, her eyes landed on Toney, who was smiling at her from a distance. Before he turned around and started walking, Rainer didn want to follow him; she didn want what happened earlier to repeat itself, but she also didn want to stay there any longer, so she took her chances and began following him.

”Toney, wait up. ” Toney, please just slow down. Rainer begged, but the truth was that Toney wasn even walking fast; his pace was slow and steady, but Rainer, who was running after him, couldn meet up.

Rainer continued chasing after Toney, trying to get him to turn around even once, but Toney never did; he just kept on walking and walking. Rainer was almost out of breath, so she stopped to catch some air, but when she looked up, Toney was nowhere to be seen. She looked around and realized that she was right back where she had disappeared from; she saw her spell book lying on the ground, but what gave her goosebumps were the words written next to it.

”Rainer, I love you and will always hold on to the moon around your neck and wait for you; not even death can separate us…

love Toney,

”What does this mean? ” Rainer asked herself, as a lone tear fell from her eyes,

She quickly wiped it away, not understanding why her body was behaving the way it did. A voice in her head was telling her something very ugly, but she shook it off like the devil on her shoulder.

Rainer managed to teleport across the valley of poison, but she didn have the strength to do that again, so she began her journey on foot. She walked for hours and hours without taking a break. She began to feel faint, but she kept on moving. She finally made it to her village. She noticed the weird gaze she received from people and how wrecked the village was, but she didn care what they had to say or what had happened; all she needed was food and water.

She made it to a public tap that was crowded by people; she didn care who she loved at that point or how rude she looked; she just went to the tap and drank directly from it; she poured some water on her head and washed her face; she gained a little strength. But suddenly she was pulled away from there.

”Im sorry for drinking straight from the tap; I was so tired and hungry that I forgot my markers, haha. ” Rainer laughed, trying to lighten the mood, but the people looked more shocked than angry at her.

”You
e alive? ” she heard someone ask.

”Yes, I am, ” Rainer answered innocently, and before she knew it, she had appeared in a different place.

She was at the witch queens palace, and Rainer began to realize that no one was happy to see her. Rainer stood there for a few minutes, and with every minute that passed, the room became more crowded with people, who kept on murmuring to themselves. Rainers became uncomfortable; by everything that was happening, she knew she was in trouble but she couldn point out her offense. Her mind kept on moving from one assumption to another; the pressure was becoming too much for her to take, and the suspense was killing her.

Finally, the queen walked out. Rainer smiled at her like always, but the moment her gaze fell on her, Rainer saw for the first time hatred and anger in her eyes. Rainer instantly swallowed the lump that was in her throat. Rainer didn feel scared when she saw the ugly glare from her stepmother and sisters, but seeing it from Toneys mother made her shiver. But there was one question she kept asking herself: for where Toney was, had he already gone to see the witches?

”How dear are you, Rainer? ” Queen Linda asked, bringing Rainer back to the present,

”What do you mean, my queen? ” Rainer asked, puzzled by her sudden question,

”How dear you are to kill my son and still have the guts to come back here, ” the queen said, her voice becoming louder.

”Kill your son? ” which one? Toney? ”Oh, I understand now that this is all Toneys idea, haha. ” Okay, Toney, come out now. You got me. Hahaha. ” Rainer laughed, but she realized that no one was joining her; she looked at the queen and saw the pain and anger in her eyes. At that moment, no one needed to say anything else because it was all clear.

Tears began to brim in Reiners eyes, but she refused to accept what she was hearing,

”NO! ”Toney is not dead; I saw him hours ago; he was the one that helped me get back from the desert; he couldn be dead. ” No, I refuse to believe what any of you say. ”Toney can die, he just can . ” Rainer broke down in tears; she cried so loudly that her body shook.

”Chain her up and take away her spell book, ” Linda ordered, and two men walked toward the crying Rainer, chaining her up.

”Take her to the dungeon; she is bad news for all of us. ” ”I believe that she was the cause of the earthquake that happened. ” ”She must have committed a terrible sin in that desert that made all of these happen, and I believe that the only way to save the people of this village is by removing that stinky bad egg. ”

”Yes, kill her. ”

”She deserves to die; chop her head off. ”

”Execute her; let her pay with her life. ”

”Burn her, ”

”Shes a monster, stone her to death, ” everybody began shouting at Rainer; some that were close to her hit her, while others threw things at her and spat at her. Everyone who Rainer considered to be friends now showed their true colors,

Rainer was taken to an underground dungeon, and the further they went, the darker it became. The damp smell of mussels and fungi irritated Rainers nose, and the only source of light came from the old lanterns that were hung on the cold stone walls.

As they walked further into the dark, Rainer saw dead, decaying bodies in most cells, while the rest held skeletons of prisoners or alive but half-dead people who were beginning to wail for their freedom. Rainers body began trembling in fear of the unknown,

Finally, they got to a cage that had a skeleton in it. The prison guard removed the skeleton from the cage and pushed Rainer inside. Rainer didn want to stay in the house, especially when there was a skeleton in it.

”No, no, please let me out of here; I can stay here; I didn do anything, ” Rainer begged, but the guards just laughed and made fun of her; they even told her that they would put the skeleton back in the closet. Soon they left Rainer all alone in the dark cell. Rainer screamed every time she saw a shadow or an insect moving.

Soon the guards came back and opened the door. Rainer stood up in relief that the queen had called for her, but what she heard next shocked her.

”Its a pity that we would have to hit such a fair and beautiful lady, ” a guard with short dark hair and brown eyes said, while the other one went into Rainers room, staging her for the torture room.

”What do you mean? ” ”Leave me. ” Rainer struggled to break free, but she was no match for her strength.

”Keep quiet, bitch. ” One of the guards raised his hand and slapped Rainer hard on the cheek, splitting her lips in the process. Rainer fell to the ground holding her burning cheeks; her eyes burned as hot tears streamed down them.

”Why did you have to hit her? ” the guard with brown eyes asked.

”Whats wrong with me hitting her? ” ”The kind and her friend instructed us to torture her before her execution; Im just doing my job, and so should you, ” another guard said, walking towards a shelf where different shapes and sizes of canes were hung.

If someone were to see the way the guard was hitting Rainer, they would think that Rainer had once broken his heart by cheating on his brother. The other guard didn touch Rainer; he only waved with pitiful eyes. While the other guard was enjoying himself,

Rainer had never felt so much pain in her entire life that it felt like she should die; she wasn even healed from the injury she sustained in the desert, and she was getting more for free. Rainer begged and cried so much that she had lost her strength; she just lay on the floor unmoving.

”Stop! ”The queen didn tell us to kill her; she only said we should punish her. ” The guard with brown eyes said, ”Push the other away from Rainer. ”

”Don forget who you are talking to, ” The other guard warned the dark-haired guard,

”And who am I talking to? ” The other guard clamored,

”Stop it, both of you. ” Take the prisoner to the Alslain high school prison. ”She has a visitor, and if I ever see you two fighting again, both of you would face the consequences, ” a man with a very strong aura warned. Both men in the room bowed their heads at him before doing what was asked of them.

The man with brown eyes carried Rainer in his arms; the punishment had weakened her to the point where she could barely walk. He carried her carefully, not wanting to add more pressure to her wounds, and in a blink of an eye, Rainer had been teleported to her schools underground dungeon.

The dormitory looked just like the one she was placed in. It had the same smell, if not worse, and also had those creepy yellow stones. He took her to another, slightly bigger cell that had nothing but the floor to offer. He gently placed her on the cold floor. About to leave the cell room, Rainer held his hand and gave him an appreciative smile.

”Thank you, ”

”You don need to thank me; I didn do anything; Im the one who needs to thank you; you are the one who saved my life; you might not remember, but you did; thank you once again, and Im sorry that I can help you. ” ”I know you are innocent; you didn do anything wrong; in fact, you were the one that was wronged. ” I just pray you get the justice you deserve and…

”Rainer!! ”