AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m Renard, the butler here at Ardelby Castle. This is my granddaughter, Nala,” he explains, turning his attention back to the girl before me.
“Ardelby Castle? That’s not in Wales.”
“Wales? No. We’re in the Scottish Highlands,” Nala says.
“I’m inScotland?”
She nods her head. “Yes. It’s very remote here.”
“Nala enough.” Renard warns. “We need to go.”
“I know.” She looks at me apologetically. “I’m sorry, Christy.”
“Don’t call her by her name. You know the rules,” he admonishes, reaching for a gold fob watch hanging from his black waistcoat pocket.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Don’t call me by my name? What rules?” With sustenance comes anger. It’s fiery and alive and I grasp hold of it, determined not to be weak.
“He’ll be back soon. We need to leave. If Konrad finds us down here...” she says, her voice trailing off as she glances at her grandfather.
He sighs, and the kindness in his eyes is tempered with a sad kind of acceptance. “I shall tell you what I told the other Numbers—”
I cut him off. “There are more people imprisoned here?”
“There’s no escape,” he continues, refusing to answer my question. “Even if you managed to leave the castle grounds you would lose yourself in the forest surrounding it, swallowed up by ancient trees and devoured by the wild animals that roam there. The sooner you accept your position here, the easier it will be for you.”
“The other Numbers…? My position?” I look from Reynard back to Nala, who is reattaching the manacles to my left wrist. I don’t even bother to fight her, too shocked to do much else but ask questions. “Are you a Number?”
“No. I'm a staff member here at the castle, just like my grandfather. The Numbers are…more,” she says.
I watch in horror as she turns the key with a resounding click, repeating the action until both wrists are secure. “No, please. Let me go.” I beg, dropping the uneaten half of the sandwich to the stone floor, forgetting my hunger.
“I’m sorry, I have to go. Eat the sandwich. Make sure there’s nothing left. They can’t know we came. Promise me you won’t tell them we were here.”
“What will happen if I do?” I ask, hardening my heart against her fear. She’s young, just a child, and my natural instincts are to trust her, protect her, but I force those feelings away in the moment. She just reattached the manacles, after all.
“They’ll kill us.”
Shock renders me speechless. The skin on my back prickles and I know that she’s telling the truth. Grabbing the torch, Nala gets to her feet. With one last tight smile, she turns on her heel and walks past Renard standing in the doorway and out into the darkened corridor beyond. He sighs, tipping his head and lowering his gaze. It’s a respectful gesture, surprising given the circumstances.
“Welcome to Ardelby Castle, Miss.”
“Wait—”
He doesn’t. The iron door slams shut, pitching me back into darkness once more.
