Page 38 of The Trials of Neilina MacKai
With limited vision, she moved cautiously.Which was a good thing, when one foot encountered empty space.”
“Step down,” the escort ordered.“Your new home is at the bottom of those stairs.”
She’d expected to be taken up to one of the rooms with windows facing the courtyard.Heading downward was a surprise.
She had no option save to follow instructions.The stairs spiraled down a long way.About halfway down she heard the crash of waves and felt the wall on one side shake.The cave where she’d arrived yesterday wasn’t the only passage running through the island.Were the cliff walls riddled with passages and caverns?How many prisoners were kept here?The rooms she’d seen from the courtyard could have housed a hundred people or more and still leave rooms for the nuns.Hadn’t the abbess bragged that she held hundreds of prisoners?
Sounds of the sea faded to silence before the stairs ended in a small open space.Five iron doors faced the open area.
Her escort took her by the elbow, leading her to the middle door.
She heard the rattle of keys, but couldn’t see where they’d come from.She had not seen him receive keys from Hefty.
Her escort opened the door and shoved her inside causing her to slam into the stone floor.The sound of rushing water greeted her aching body.
Before she could right herself, the door banged shut.So much for asking her escort for food and a blanket.
“Guard” she called out.Perhaps he might hear and come back.She was destined to disappointment.No sound answered her at all.The room vibrated with the rushing ebb and flow of water.Feeling her way along the walls, she moved to a spot farthest from the door.There she sank to the floor.She was cold and hungry.She could give in to despair, but she knew better.She fell asleep planning how to best defeat the guards who would attempt to rape her that night.If she could do that, she’d be able to escape to the upper floors, and she could start searching for MacFearann’s mother and sister.
The distant sound of bells ringing Matins and a loud rumble from her stomach woke Seona.She opened her eyes and got her first good look at her prison cell.
Weak sunlight came in through a tiny opening at the point where the wall and ceiling met.It was too small for even an infant to crawl through, nonetheless an iron grate barred any access.Attempting to climb the smooth stone walls to get to the grate would be an exercise in futility.
A quick glance showed no chains other than the one linking the manacles on her wrists.The stone room was completely bare, and thoroughly damp.Water pooled in spots on the floor.
Her throat was parched, she’d had no water since yesterday morning.She touched a fingertip to one of the pools.When she licked her finger, she tasted salt.She’d have to remain thirsty.She cast another glance at the grate.The pale light revealed a darker spot on the wall beneath the opening.
That explains the water on the floor.How often, I wonder, do the ocean waves reach that grate?How deeply does the room flood?Perhaps I am intended to drown before I starve.I wish someone would bring some sort of food and drink.
A long while later some irregular thuds sounded outside her door.The noise grew louder indicating something or someone approached.Then yellowish light, like that cast by a torch, seeped through the space—the span of one palm—between the bottom of the door and the floor stones.Something scraped the floor, and a metal plate was pushed through the narrow opening.A squat heavy tankard followed.Drawing near, she took the plate in hand, noting the tankard appeared to hold water.She peered at the unappetizing mess on the plate.
The thudding irregular sounds resumed and began to fade away.
Someone has very heavy boots or is lame, perhaps both.
“Wait,” she yelled, hoping to draw the person’s attention.“I need a blanket.”
Only silence and the noise of the tide replied.
Perhaps some protection against the cold is brought later.I pray it is so.I’m colder than I am hungry.
She moved to the far side of the room where light from the high opening would help her see what she was eating.
Ugh!Worm ridden brown bread.
She brought the plate close to her nose and sniffed.The bread had a sour smell.
I can starve, or I can eat what is to be had.
She did her best to inspect each piece she broke off then pick out the worms before putting the morsel in her mouth.From the textures that met her tongue, she suspected her inspection was less than thorough.Wormy bread might be unappetizing, but she was uncertain if it would make her sick.
What choice have I?I’ll need all the strength I can get to defeat those two rapists tonight.I must escape tonight.The longer I remain here the weaker I will become and be unable to fight my way free.I must do everything possible to prepare.I wish I had a weapon.
Her brother had taught all of his sisters to fight with a claymore and other more common weapons.She had no doubt she could handle a puny English broadsword with ease.
She intended to defeat evil on all levels.First the men intent on rapine, then the abbess and her allies.Seona had an idea how she could easily find Rhuad’s mother and sister.She would persuade Mother Eadburgh to lead her to them, and she would have the weapons to do so.
