Chapter 6
1997 Words
6
Well, not from Erik.
“Sophie?” came Lillian’s whispered voice.
My eyes widened. “Sophie? Sophie, you have to get me out of here!” I pleaded.
“I-I don’t know how,” she admitted.
“You have to get the key from your mate,” I explained.
“But-”
I leaned my forehead against the hard wood and grit my teeth together. “Listen. You’re the one who just told me that we have to stick with our mate and I’m going to do that, even if it means chewing my way through this door. So are you going to help me, or am I going to need a dentist later?”
“I’ll. . .I’ll help,” she agreed.
I sighed. “Good. I really hate going to the dentist. Now here’s what you can do. Try to pick Alan’s pocket.”
“Sophie, he’s the leader of the guard. I don’t think I’m going to be able to do that,” she argued.
“You have to try,” I insisted.
She sighed. “All right, I’ll try.”
Her footsteps receded into the distance. I stumbled back until my back hit the far wall below the barred window. I tilted my head back and looked at my only light source. The rays of the mid day sun streamed into my little prison. They made the fresh straw glisten like gold and took the dingy edge off my dreary surroundings.
I slid down the wall and took a seat on the straw. It was quiet in that room, deathly quiet. If there any other inmates they didn’t make a sound. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My body relaxed and my mind eased. I thought of my mate and the possibilities of what crazy plan he had in mind that would force him to imprison me. All the scenarios ended with me standing above his grave marker wishing I could cast Life and kill him myself.
That last scenario emboldened me. Only I would be allowed to kill my mate. Nobody else would get the honor or the pleasure. I climbed to my feet and glared at the door. That was the only thing that stood between me and my revenge on my mate who imprisoned me in this rat hole so he could probably get himself killed in another rat hole.
I squared my jaw and dug my feet into the stony ground. I thrust my left shoulder forward and rushed the door. My shoulder slammed into the wood and I was heartened to hear the crack of wood. I stepped back and winced when my shoulder complained. It would have to wait. The door in front of me had buckled where my shoulder had slammed it. One more good knock and it would give.
I backed up until I reached the opposite wall and readied myself. Nothing would stop me. I rushed forward and out the open door. It was open because Lillian stood on the other side and in the lock was the key. I stumbled across the hall and into a door opposite mine. My shoulder sank couple of inches into the wood and I became stuck. I twisted around and glared at Lillian.
“What took you?”
“I’ve only been gone a few minutes,” she countered.
“That’s a few minutes too long,” I argued.
Lillian hurried to my side and helped me free myself from the wood. “I had to convince Alan to disobey Erik. He’s very fond of Erik, so I had to threaten him for him to give me the key.”
I rubbed my bruised elbow and raised an eyebrow at her. “What did you threatened him with?”
She blushed and looked at the ground. “I. . . I told him I wouldn’t go to bed with him if he didn’t give me the key.”
I snorted. “That’s pretty evil of you. These guys are really fond of their bedtime.”
She nodded. “I know, that’s why I used it. You. . . you don’t think he’ll be mad at me later for this, do you?”
I smiled and patted her shoulder. “If he is you know how to appease him.”
She raised her head and a sly smile slipped onto her lips. “Thank you. Now you should get going to help your own mate.”
I looked up and down the halls. “Just as soon as I learn which direction he went.”
She nodded towards the front of the building. “He went through the woods in the direction of the Old Den.”
I gave her hand a hearty shake and a two-fingered salute. “I owe you one.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I owe you much more for standing up for me in the cell block, and helping me get to the island.”
“Well, don’t thank me for that last part. I don’t know whether that’s a blessing or a curse yet,” I pointed out.
She softly smiled. “You learn that it’s a blessing in disguise.”
“Yeah, well, maybe not today. Today have to save my mate from himself,” I quipped.
I turned and rushed down the hall to the stairs. I took them three at a time and soon exited the Barracks. The forest path stood in front of me. I rushed down that root-laden trail, and in a few minutes I found myself at the rear of the Old Den. There was still no sign of Erik, but I plunged headfirst into the ancient building. The halls were as deserted and disorienting as usual, and I soon became hopelessly lost, or so I thought.
I rounded the corner and crashed into a fellow traveler. They held steady, but I fell backward onto my rear. I wish my head up and found myself staring at Greg. His eyes widened and he offered me both his hands.
“Sophie, how did you come to be here?” he asked me as he helped me up.
I stood to my feet and raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t I be here?”
“The Master told me you were preoccupied with other matters,” he explained.
I snorted. “Only if you call being imprisoned by my own mate ‘other matters.’”
“No, I’m afraid I would phrase it that way,” he admitted.
I glanced test him at the whole in which he stood. There was no sight of Erik. “Speaking of the devil, where is he?”
Greg shook his head. “I was asked under pain of death not to say anything about the whereabouts of my Master,” he told me.
My eyebrows crashed down. “What the hell? Why?”
“He didn’t wish to be followed,” Greg replied.
“Well, I don’t care what he wished. Tell me where he is,” I insisted.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you where he is,” Greg emphasized even as he stepped backwards.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I growled.
He beckoned me with his hand. “I can’t tell you where my Master has gone,” he repeated.
A sly grin slid onto my lips and I strode forward to follow him. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to find guide to lead me to him without being told where he is.”
“A very good idea, and one that won’t cause me to break my oath,” Greg pointed out.
Greg led me through the maze of halls and down several flights of stairs before he stopped us at a far corner of the Old Den. The stones beneath our feet were worn by countless generations of werewolves, and the plaster on the walls cracked and crumbled onto the floor. We’d passed the last torch fifty yards behind us and only its faint glow gave some light. There were no exterior windows, but there were two doorways on either side of us just ten feet short of the wall. I stopped at these, but Greg continued on.
“Where exactly are you taking me?” I asked him.
“A moment,” he pleaded.
He grabbed an unlit torch from its hanger on the wall and lit it. Flames roared to life in the oil-soaked rag at the top and illuminated the last ten feet of the passage. I saw there was a narrow slit of a passage to our left. Greg raised the torch to the opening, and I moved forward for a better look. The tight space was two feet wide and its ramp-like floor slowly descended below the ground on which we stood. The torch only lit the first fifteen feet, and even then barely. The rest was complete darkness.
“He went down there?” I asked Greg. Greg pursed his lips and shook his head. I sighed. “I have to go down there?”
He smiled and bowed his head. “Yes, my Mistress.”
I frowned and snatched the torch from his hand. “I just hope I’m not going to be your ex-mistress before this is done. . .” I muttered.
“Be mindful of any cave-ins as you descend. The earthquakes might have loosened more than the Master counted on,” Greg warned me.
“Is that why he went down there? Because of them?” I guessed.
“My Master believes there is some connection between the attempt on your lives and the earthquakes,” Greg admitted.
I growled. “That i***t. Did he ever think what would happen if there was another earthquake?”
“I believe his main priority was making you and the others safe,” Greg commented.
I sighed and held out my hand. Greg put the torch into it. “Don’t wait up for me,” I told him.
He bowed his head. “If you wish.”
That isn’t quite what I wished. What I really wanted was for somebody else to babysit my mate, but right then I was best choice to save him from himself. I slipped into the narrow passage and made my way into the depths of the island. Soon the only light was from the torch in my hand. The way forward was shrouded in darkness. My footsteps echoed on the cobblestones and I could hear water dripping down from some unknown part of the passage.
The smooth walls of the Old Den were soon replaced by the rough of the subterranean world. The street passage changed to a meandering tunnel, and I slipped and slid against the wet stones beneath my feet. Ten minutes into my wonderful journey and I found myself at the fork of two tunnels. One lay on my left and the other on my right, and I had no idea which one to take. I stuck my head and the torch into both of them, but saw nothing that would help me decide which direction to take.
I knelt down in front of them and glared at my two decisions. Memories of my conversation with Lillian about werewolf abilities surfaced in my mind. Now was as good a time as any to try to learn one of them.
I closed my eyes and focused all my thoughts on my mate. He was down here somewhere far ahead of me and probably neck-deep in trouble. I had to find where he was, I had to listen to the sounds around me. There was the incessant dripping of water and a soft echo of the torch’s flickering flames. If I listened hard enough I could almost hear a voice in the distance.
Wait, I couldn’t just almost hear it, I really could hear it! I couldn’t identify what they were saying, but it was definitely a human voice, or maybe a werewolf, or maybe a Digger. Whoever or whatever it was, I was would find them.
The voice came from the left-hand path. I jumped my feet and hurried down the tunnel. There were several more forks, but my ears led me closer and closer to the voice. The sound grew louder. My steps quickened. So close. Almost there. Soon I’d be able to smack me mate’s face and hope it would knock some sense into him.
A light appeared at the end of the tunnel. It was glow of artificial light like from a bulb. I slowed my pace. Something didn’t feel right. How would Erik already have something like that down here?
I passed a stone boulder on my right and a shadow jumped out at me. The darkness clamped hand over my mouth and wrapped their other arm around my waist. My torch clattered to the ground and was extinguished by a puddle of water. I was at the shadow’s mercy, and it pulled me into the darkness.
- Writer
