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“Reena, I have returned. I have Magnus and Thomas with me.”
“Reena,” Magnus called out and reached for the torch Thomas held.
“I need light,” Reena called out.
Magnus shoved the torch through the slim opening and felt it yanked away.
“Hurry,” Reena said.
Her trembling voice tore at his heart. She was frightened, and he was angry that he could do nothing but wait for the door to open enough for him to squeeze through. He wanted to tear the door down. When this ordeal was done, that was exactly his intention. The door would be permanently removed.
The opening was finally wide enough for him to squeeze through, and he had to order Horace to sit and stay, the dog anxious to rescue Reena. His glance rushed over the room, his heart stilled, his stomach rolled like a pitching sea, and he silently swore as he hurried to where Reena sat huddled on the floor, her knees bent almost to her chest.
Magnus quickly bent to comfort her and alleviate her fears.
“You must see this, Magnus.”
Her words slowed his descent as he noticed she studied something in her hand. She was not at all frightened; she was intrigued with the object she held.
He kneeled beside her, his interest more in her than the object. “Were you not fearful being locked away?”
“Nay,” she said with a sense of excitement. “I knew you would come for me.”
“Not another would come for you, Thomas or a guard? You expected me?”
“Of course,” she said confidently. “You will always rescue me, of that I have no doubt. Now you must see what I have found.”
He wanted to know why she felt so confident about his ability to rescue her no matter the circumstances, but she was excited about her discovery and eager to share it with him.
“What have you found?” he asked, moving closer.
Reena held her hand up. “It is a piece of broken metal that looks as if it has been sharpened from use.” She placed it in his hand and fumbled to get to her feet.
Magnus held on to the piece of metal and helped her up with one hand. “How did you find this?” He examined it as she answered.
“The light from my candle reflected off the metal just before the flame went out. It took me a few minutes to locate the object in the dark, but I did.” Reena held the torch up around the area where the metal ring was attached to the wall. “It only took me a moment to realize that the sharp object had to be an implement used by whoever was imprisoned here.”
Magnus studied the sharp-tipped object, then looked to Reena, who held the torch up high while examining the stones around the metal ring. “Trapped in the dark you concerned yourself with a piece of sharp metal?”
“A piece of metal that had no place here.” Reena turned to see Thomas and Brigid standing in the open doorway. “Remain by the open door. It is either old or has been fashioned to close on its own after an allotted period of time.”
Brigid took Thomas’s hand and urged him back away from the inside of the room. “Reena is brave, I am not,” she whispered to him.
“You are more brave than you know,” Thomas said and gently squeezed her hand.
“Here is what I look for,” Reena said with joy. “Just as I thought. Someone used the piece of metal to write in the stone.”
“But what of freedom?” Thomas asked. “Why not attempt to free himself? Dig the metal ring from the wall and then attack the guard when he enters.”
“A practical plan and one a man would think of, but I do not think a man was imprisoned here. I think a woman was held here.”
“Why a woman?” Brigid asked.
“A man would think of escape, overpowering the guards once he freed himself from the confines of this cell. A woman would not have the strength to overpower guards, so she would free herself in a different way.”
“By writing?” Thomas asked. “Writing would not free her.”
“Aye, but it would,” Reena said. “It would keep her mind free.”
