Page 37 of The Trials of Neilina MacKai
Seona listened as the woman’s footsteps faded away.
Lady Staunton was a spy for the Abbess, for England.That suggested an antipathy for Scots and Scotland.No wonder she was always sour-faced and disapproving.Did she truly hate her own sister and her nephew so much?Why?
No profit could be had from such questions.Much better and more important was to devise a way to find Rhuad’s mother and sister then escape.Let the abbess think she had her newest prisoner cowed.When Seona succeeded despite this betrayal, the success would be all the sweeter.
***
SHE’D LAIN ON THATicy chapel floor until the bells sounded Vigils before one of the guards—a man thin enough to disappear should he turn sideways—ordered her to stand.He’d put manacles on her wrists and told her to walk straight out of the chapel before him.Despite the aches she suffered from her hours embracing the cold stones, she began to walk.Just outside the chapel door, the thin man shoved her forward.
“Faster you Scots bitch.”
She ignored his ill manners.She could hardly expect courtesy from an Englishman.
Directly across from the chapel, she came to a halt before a door where a second hefty guard stood watch.
“Got a new one, eh?”The new guard asked.
“New, old, what does it matter, they’re all filthy Scots.”
The door guard ran his gaze over Seona as he handed a ring of keys to the other guard.“This one’s got some curves on her.Bet bouncing on her would be real nice.Better than that old stick of a woman and her skinny daughter we’re holding hostage.”
Does he speak of Lady MacFearann and her daughter?Can I persuade these two to confirm that and tell me where they are?
“The abbess hasn’t given her, or them, to us, yet,” Thin Man said.
“What the abbess doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” Hefty replied.
“And you think this bitch won’t tell the abbess, if you try anything.”
“Probably will, but she’s a Scot.Why should the abbess believe her?”
Thin Man rubbed his chin.“It’s worth thinking about.We’d have to take turns.”
“Of course,” Hefty agreed.“Neither of us has duty after Vespers.We’ll do it then and have most of the night for our fun.”
“We’d have to take into our confidence whoever has guard duty at the time.”
Hefty smiled.“No, we would not.I have a copy of all the cell keys in this section.All we have to do is tell the man on guard that we’ll relieve him so he can get a meal.”
“That will work.I’m always hungry when I have to stand this watch,” Thin Man commented.
“As are most of us,” Hefty concurred.“The Abbess doesn’t give a man enough food, drink, or women to satisfy his appetite.I’ll steal some wine from the cellar.We can enjoy it while this one pleasures us.”He nodded in Seona’s direction.Looking her over again, Hefty licked his lips then patted his crotch.“I have a big package for you.Hope you can handle it.”
Thin Man laughed.“She’ll have to handle two big packages, later.I’d best get this slut into her cell.”
“Aye,” Hefty surveyed the courtyard then turned to unlock the door.“We’ll have a good time tonight.”
He pinched Seona’s buttocks as she passed by him.
She suppressed her urge to react.
Let them think me meek and intimidated.Their plan will provide me with the means to free myself.
The door opened to pitch blackness.
Thin man shoved her inside and followed before he took a torch from a high shelf carved into the stone wall.
Once he had the torch lit, he ordered her forward.
