Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Once the bleeding procedure, or ritual, or whatever they called it, was finished, Sierra assumed she would be led somewhere to rest or relax until Aodhan figured out she was here and came home to give some answers.
She couldn’t have been more wrong.
After they finished, two men came into the room, grabbing her roughly by her arms without seeming to notice her cut was still bleeding.
They didn’t even offer her a bandage or anything, as she assumed they would.
They simply grabbed her arms and began leading her through more of the stone structure.
They tossed her roughly into what she could only assume was a prison cell, judging by the iron that crisscrossed the window in the wooden door and the fact that it was locked tightly behind them.
“Great, just fucking great,” Sierra mumbled to herself as she stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips. Apparently, not only was she the answer to some backward prophecy, but she was also going to be held as a prisoner for the foreseeable future.
It was a small room, and the floor was made of dirt, so she was either underground, or on the bottom floor of the stone structure.
There wasn’t any sort of bed, just a pile of blankets in the corner, which looked less than comfortable.
The opposite corner held a bucket, which Sierra could only begin to imagine what it was used for.
Noticing the blood running down her arm from the still-open wound, Sierra pulled the gauze belt from around her waist, folding it a few times before tying it on her arm.
For once, all the bandaging practice she had during her undergrad came in handy.
Careful not to tie it too tightly, Sierra held her arm to her body while she used her other arm and teeth to tie the bow.
At least now it would hopefully clot quickly.
With a sigh, Sierra began to rearrange the blankets to try to make something decent to sit on.
But the more she thought about the events of the past 24 hours, the more panicked and anxious she became.
So, at some point, she simply wrapped one of the blankets around her and the gauzy dress she was still wearing, and sat on the second blanket, leaning against the cold stone wall.
Now that she actually had a moment to herself, everything of the past 48 hours sunk in. How had she gone from the high of having sex with Aodhan for the first time, to here?
At some point, Sierra must’ve drifted off, as she awoke to the clinking of a key in the lock of the cell door.
Thinking that Aodhan must’ve finally shown up, Sierra stood up from the blanket nest she had made, trying to brush the dirt from the white dress, but she quickly realized it was useless.
This wasn’t the type of dress one re-wore after sitting on a dirt floor.
The door swung open to reveal the two men who had dumped her here, who knows how many hours before.
At least Sierra assumed they were the same men; they were all dressed the same, so it was hard to know.
Sierra’s heart fell, but she still held out a small sliver of hope that had taken root in her heart that perhaps they would lead her to Aodhan, or maybe they were just keeping her here until her room was ready.
She knew that last thought was far-fetched, but she had to hold on to something or she was liable to fall over the edge into the pit of emotional self-pity, and she knew from past experience, once she sunk to those depths, she wouldn’t be motivated to do anything to help herself out of her current predicament.
For the second time in what Sierra hoped was the same day, the two men roughly dragged her through the maze of stone hallways.
Sierra tried to soak in what information she could as they moved, hoping to begin to memorize the layout, but it was no use.
She was in an unfamiliar land and an unfamiliar building, and nothing seemed recognizable from where they had been before.
The two men stopped in front of another wooden door, and Sierra held her breath as they pushed it open, immediately releasing it as she realized it was a storage room.
Dried plants and leaves hung from every available surface, and in the center, there was a table with a mortar and pestle, as well as supplies that she assumed were used to cut and prune plants.
Sierra was so busy observing what the room held as far as supplies went, she didn’t notice an older woman stand from a stool by the fire until she was walking toward them.
She was shorter than Sierra by an inch or two, with dark hair that was pulled behind her head in some type of knot, revealing her pointed ears.
Sierra couldn’t explain it, but she felt that the woman was older, even though she looked fairly young.
Whether it was her wisdom Sierra was sensing or the way she carried herself, it was clear this woman knew a lot.
She wore a simple black dress with some form of protective covering on top made out of what looked like leather.
The men holding her exchanged a few words with the woman in old Gaelic before they directed Sierra to sit on the stool by the fire. Once she sat, they released her arms, leaving the room and closing the door behind them.
“Hello, I am Slaine,” the woman said, her words heavily accented.
“Sierra,” she responded quietly, wondering where to start with all the questions she wanted answered. She decided to forego pleasantries and just go for it. “What is going on here? Why am I here?”
Slaine sighed. “They don’t keep me informed of all their doings in this castle, but you are in this room normally used for healing.”
“Healing?” Sierra tilted her head to the side, glancing for a second time at all the plants in various states of being dried, some of which hung only a few inches above her head.
Slaine motioned to her arm, to the spots Sierra had almost forgotten were there due to the craziness of the last few hours. “Your…rash.”
Sierra shook her head. “It’s not a rash…it’s a disease.”
“I know,” Slaine replied.
Okay, now Sierra was confused.
“My magic knew immediately when I saw you that this wasn’t something I could heal. But those two guards are waiting outside to take you back to the dungeon when we are through, so the least I can do is give you a few moments of peace.”
Well, that answered that question at least, Sierra was indeed being held prisoner.
“Why are they keeping me here?”
Slaine shrugged, turning to one of the tables to work with a few of the plants lying there. “I can’t say for sure, but if I had to guess, it’s probably because the king has been crazed in recent decades trying to break the curse that is taking their magic.”
“So, there is a curse then?”
Slaine finished what she was doing, turning to hold out a plate, which Sierra now saw contained slices of apple and orange.
“No dear, there is no curse. At least I don’t feel one—and normally I can tell when a creature or being has been cursed.
” She motioned for Sierra to take one of the slices, before taking one herself and sliding a second stool up to the fire.
“You should tell…tell…” Sierra suddenly realized she didn’t know the name of Aodhan’s father.
“Conlan,” Slaine cut in, clearly sensing Sierra’s predicament. “And I have. Many times. If you haven’t noticed, he isn’t a man who listens to anyone, really.”
“Is he the king?”
Slaine picked up another piece of fruit, watching as Sierra did the same.
“There isn’t really a king here. There used to be, but a few hundred years ago, we replaced the monarchy with a panel of highly ranked advisors who make decisions for each part of Sidhe.
Unfortunately, the members of the panel are still chosen based on noble birth, but at least the power is more equally balanced, and there aren’t any more of the internal wars which once plagued these lands as regularly as it rained.
” Her eyes stared off into the distance as she was reminisced about past times. “But yes, Conlan is on that panel.”
Sierra took a bite of the apple slice in her hand, nearly humming at the delicious taste. Fruit in the human world never tasted this good. “Well, I guess I just have to wait until Aodhan comes then.”
Slaine’s eyes widened, and she set the plate down on the table to take Sierra’s hand. “He didn’t come with you?”
Sierra shook her head. “No, some Fae I don’t know kidnapped me.”
Slaine appeared even more surprised by that. But before Sierra could ask her more questions or ask how she spoke English so well, the door swung open, and the two guards stepped inside.
They exchanged a few words in old Gaelic, with Slaine speaking the most. Whatever she said apparently meant it was time for Sierra to leave, as she was suddenly roughly escorted from the room the same way she had entered.
Sierra wanted to protest, but she didn’t know what good that would do, considering they didn’t even seem to speak English. Either way, she decided to try.
“You don’t have to be so rough with me.”
Nothing changed, and the men didn’t release their tight grips on her biceps.
“I’ll walk with you if you just let me go,” she tried a second time.
Again, nothing. Sierra wondered what they thought she was going to do. Even if she did run, she had no idea how to get back to her world, or what she would even do when she got back since Aodhan had said the entrance to Sidhe was quite remote and far from any human villages.
Aodhan would come for her, she was sure of it. And this whole strange situation would be cleared up. It had to be some terrible mistake. It had to be.