Chapter 24 #2
He ran his hand down her arm and covered her hand that hugged at his waist. “I was forced to stand in a corridor such as this one with a line of men in front of me and behind me for endless days, shortly after I was sold to Haidar. Scraps of food and drink were passed down the line once a day. If you were lucky, some of it reached you. Those who seemed to lose their minds as the days went on were quickly disposed of by the person in front of him or the person behind him, sometimes both. The body would be kicked down the line beneath everyone’s bare feet until it reached the opening where it was removed.
Those who survived began training to be one of Haidar’s infamous slave warriors.
I was one of the unlucky ones—I survived. ”
“Do not say that,” Heather scolded, easing away from him with tears glistening in her eyes at the horror he had endured. “Never, ever say that.”
He reached out and wiped at the tears that were yet to spill. “I prayed for courage, then I prayed for death, then I stopped praying, but now that I am with you...I am glad I survived.”
“We must hurry and get you out of here,” she said, giving him a slight push.
“Me?” he asked with a slight smile.
“Aye, you do not need to relive such a horrible ordeal. We must get you out of here. Now hurry along,” she said with a wave of her hand.
“Stay close,” he reminded again as he turned slowly away from her.
“Always,” she said and latched on to the hem of his leather armor.
After a few more feet, the corridor narrowed to the point that Rhys was forced to walk sideways, and her heart went out to him when he looked at her with concern.
“Can you manage this?”
“If you can, so can I,” she said and eased herself sideways.
He slipped his hand in hers and they made their way slowly along the corridor until suddenly the passage widened and brought them out into a small area.
The walls there were constructed of wood planking, though much of it had rotted.
A ladder was braced against one wall, and it led up to what appeared to be a trap door.
Rhys turned to Heather. “You need to stay down here while I go see what is up there. If for any reason I do not return after a short time, you are to go back the way we came and wait for my warriors, though you will probably meet them on the way.” His voice turned stern.
“I mean it, Heather, give me your word or I will pull the ladder up after me.”
“I will not come up after you,” she said, of course that did not include going up the ladder with the purpose of finding a way out, but she did not tell him that.
Rhys climbed the ladder and eased the latched door open slowly, then quickly disappeared up through it.
Heather waited in the dark, thinking about what Rhys had told her. She could not imagine standing in a confined corridor for days in the dark with no way out. She did not know how he had not gone mad. There did not seem to be an end to this Haidar’s cruelty, and she prayed she would never meet him.
“Heather!”
Rhys’ shout brought a smile to her face, and she looked up at him peering down through the opening. “Climb up.”
She eagerly climbed each rung, grabbing onto a rope that dangled from a hook by the ceiling beam to help hoist herself further up the rungs. It struck her as she climbed that he had not mentioned if it was safe and before she neared the top, she whispered, “Is it safe?”
Rhys was impressed that she should ask. “At the moment it is, though I do not know for how long, so we must hurry.”
Heather did just that, taking the last few rungs as quickly as possible, Rhys taking hold of her hand and helping her through the opening.
She looked around and saw that it was a single-room cottage that had fallen into disrepair.
Dark gray clouds drifted by the gaping hole in the thatched roof, though thankfully no rain fell.
Rhys kept his voice low when he spoke. “I ran across this cottage when I first explored this land. We are a distance into the woods that runs along the side of the keep. Once the warriors who are posted in this area spot us, they will hurry to guard us. We must move fast, the closer to the keep, the more guards.”
“If you think danger awaits us, why not wait here for your warriors?”
“Fife died a short time after I learned that he was a loyal servant to Haidar, which means Haidar has watchful eyes on us at all times. If he learns of what is going on, there is no telling what he may do. And while we wait here for the warriors who follow us, we could be greeted by an unstoppable force of Haidar’s warriors when we finally do leave.
It is better we make haste now.” He dropped the torch down the opening.
“My warriors will know to follow.” He took her hand.
“You will stay in front of me at all times and if by chance we are separated, you are to run screaming as fast and as loud as you can so my warriors will hear you.”
Heather nodded.
Rhys took hold of her chin. “I can see in your eyes that you have no intentions of leaving me no matter what happens. There are times when we must do what we do not want to. This is one of those times. You will leave me if necessary.”
“And will you leave me if necessary? And do not bother to tell me that that is different, for if you will not leave me, then I will not leave you.”
“We have no time to argue this.”
“Then we best leave now and be done with it.”
Rhys shook his head. “When I get you back to the keep—”
“Do not remind me, for I grow wet just thinking about how I am going to touch every inch of you,” she said and headed to the door that hung half open.
He hurried over to her to let her know it would be quite different if he got his hands on her first when he heard it and so did Heather.
“It is too silent,” Heather whispered, just realizing how eerily silent it had suddenly got. “No animals run or birds sing. Something disturbs them.”
“They sense something evil lies in wait,” he said.
“Then we best hurry and make haste.”
Rhys’ brow narrowed. “It is too late. Haidar is here.”