I looked to the woods where Vikar had disappeared. I licked my lips and I decided to do something that I never thought I would do.
I decided to stay.
I walked along the river, watching the way the water splashed along the rocks and took a deep breath. I prayed to the gods that I was making the right decision. The bushes rustled loudly to my left and I turned my head, expecting to see a small mammal scurry back into hiding.
Instead, I saw nothing, but I couldn’t shake the nervous feeling in the pit of my belly. I turned back around and walked a bit faster in order to make it back to our camp. The sounds behind me grew louder and I started to run. The leaves rustled noisily behind me, turning into footsteps that pounded into the ground after me. It didn’t sound like an animal. It was a person; I was sure of it.
Just when I breached the perimeter of camp, I saw Vikar emerge from the trees carrying an armload of firewood. He stilled, gazing at me with concern. His eyes tore around behind me, likely catching a glimpse of whoever was coming after me. Then he threw the wood to the side, readying himself to protect me.
Time almost seemed to slow as a whooshing sound hurtled by my ear. Our eyes locked and I watched with terror as a dart impaled the flesh of his throat, the red of the feathers bright even in the dead of night. He burst forward a few steps, but by then it was already too late. He staggered and his eyes rolled back in his head, then he stumbled and fell to the ground.
A pair of arms curled around my waist and lifted me off the ground. I started to scream. I kicked and struggled with my abductor, but nothing I did seemed to loosen his grip.
“We’ve been looking for you for quite a long time, Luna,” the man growled by my ear and I froze with fear.
I knew that voice.
I hated that voice.
That man was my father.
I renewed my struggle and he forced a soft cloth over my nose. A sweet flowery aroma washed over me and I blinked several times trying not to breathe in the scent. His fingers tightened over my face and I couldn’t breathe.
He left me no choice.
My vision darkened and my body shuddered hard. I tried so hard to keep my eyes open, but a curtain of blackness closed in around me no matter how hard I fought it. I screamed, the sound echoing from a distance and my eyes finally closed.
My head started to grow fuzzy in the darkness, and I knew no more after that.
* * *
When I opened my eyes, it was dark. I didn’t know how much time had passed. My memory felt so hazy and my body was numb. I could have been unconscious for hours or even days. I blinked several times, trying to see into the shadows as my eyes adjusted to the near blackness. It was so cold that my teeth were chattering, the icy chill sinking deep into my bones. My arms were bound over my head by harsh metal cuffs. I couldn’t feel my fingers or the tips of my toes. I choked back a sob, knowing that I was in very real danger.
I tried to remember what happened.
I’d never been chained up like this in Valgertha. Vikar would never do this to me. There was only one possible explanation and that terrified me.
My memory came back in little pieces and I started putting them together.
I’d been captured by the Cult. They had taken matters into their own hands and taken me for themselves. They would question me in order to find out everything I knew, forcing me to reveal every last detail that I had divulged to anyone else. They would punish me. They could even decide to kill me. In all honesty, they probably would.
I shivered in fear, but it might have been from the cold. I wasn’t sure.
The moist air circling around me only served to lower my body temperature and I could feel my muscles tremble in an effort to combat it. I tried to arch my body away from the freezing cold stone at my back, but when I did that, the cuffs cut into my wrists and before long, it became too much to bear. The chill of the wet stone was a lesser evil, although it still caused me to ache all the same. Everything hurt and the Cult hadn’t even started to question me yet.
I sucked in a breath, trying to quell the raging fear inside me.
There was a soft muttering somewhere to my left and I jumped when a drop of water splashed against my forehead. I shivered hard as it dripped down my face. I was thankful to still have Vikar’s shirt on my back, but it was soaked through. I’d probably been hanging here for quite a bit longer than I realized.
The mumbling grew louder. I tried to look into the shadows, only vaguely identifying that it was a man. His voice wasn’t familiar, and it carried a certain deranged quality to it that meant he had likely been down here far longer than I.
My stomach growled. How long had it been since I had last eaten? Days?
I didn’t know.
I tried to piece things together, but there was nothing down here that gave anything away. It was clear the Cult had taken me deep underground into a place where no one else ventured or was even allowed. I’d never even seen this place.
The bond pulsed weakly inside my heart. Vikar was far away. He wasn’t close enough to find me, let alone rescue me.