AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His hands balled into fists, and his frantic breathing echoed around the chamber. He stumbled back into the darkness. He forced his eyes to turn back to it. It wasn’t really light as such, just less darkness, a flicker, a movement, wraith-like. A small sound from the stairway made him freeze as it got lighter and lighter, and suddenly, he was blinded by flaming torchlight.
Conall tried to focus his eyes, but after so long in the inky darkness, the light scorched the back of his eyes, half blinding him. He could hear a soft footfall, and the thump of his heart was deafening against his ribs. Was it the evil spirit come to claim him? If so, he was too weak to fight it.
‘You, you there.’ A hiss came from the dark.
A thin hand reached towards him through the bars of the cage, pale as death. There was something black and wet in the centre of it. Was it the spirit offering her lover’s heart in exchange for his soul, as Euan said she would?
‘I have something for you.’
Conall tried to steady himself. That was a young voice, fearful, hesitant.
He shielded his eyes from the glare of the torch and took a step forwards. Before him was a young woman, hair ghostly pale in the torchlight. She moved away and lodged the torch in a sconce on the wall and came back to him. He could see a little better now he was not half-blinded by it. This apparition was slim and small. There were dark stains on her skirts. Her hand was black and appeared to be blood-spattered. It came through the bars to him again.
‘Here.’
‘What are you doing? Why are you sneaking around in the shadows? Who are you?’
‘A friend.’
‘Are you spying? Come to enjoy how much I suffer and report back to your masters?’
‘I…I brought these. Blackberries, fresh-picked, autumn’s last.’
What he thought had been a bloodied heart was a small pile of blackberries, some crushed and oozing purple juice. Did she see his fear? What a fool she must think him, cowering away from her like a coward. The humiliation of it made him cruel.
‘Are they poisoned? Did you spit on them?’
‘No,’ she said in a small voice.
‘Do you want to see my fear, see how I suffer?’ The last word was a hiss of disdain.
‘If you don’t want the berries, I’ll be gone.’
His hand shot forwards at lightning speed, imprisoning her wrist in an iron grip. He was relieved to find she really was flesh and bone. Conall snatched up the blackberries, sniffed them in his mouth and then gulped them down. A few were only just ripe, and their bitterness made him gag, but there was sweetness there too.
‘You have some juice on your face,’ she said. ‘You have to wipe it off, or they will see. They will know someone has been here.’
Conall glowered at her, still gripping her tight and did as she had asked, spitting in his hand and rubbing the stains away as best he could, all the while never taking his eyes off her. The blows to his face had swollen one of his eyelids so that it was hard to see her clearly. But down here in the murk, her bright hair and pale face were vivid to him, and the girl was almost unreal, a wisp of a thing, like a dream, that if you try to grab it, it is gone.
Every muscle in Conall’s body hurt, and he felt sick and dizzy, but he did not let go of her. He would not. Though she made no sound, the anguish on her face made him realise he was hurting her, so he released her hand. The girl rubbed it hard and looked at him reproachfully.
‘I’m sorry I was rough,’ he said, ‘it’s just because I have an overwhelming urge to beat someone to a pulp.’
‘That’s alright. Does it hurt, your face?’
‘What do you think,’ he snarled, unable to reign in his temper.
‘I am sorry they beat you.’
‘I don’t want your pity, girl and who the hell are you to be sorry for me?’
‘My name is Kenna Moncur. It is my clan who holds you prisoner.’
‘Are you a servant here?’
‘No, I am the Laird’s daughter.’
He laughed bitterly. ‘You don’t look like the daughter of a Laird.’
