CHAPTER 8

C HAPTER 8

C onsciousness was slow in returning. Cade was bruised all over and his mind was so clouded that he had no idea where he was, or even who he was. He managed to open his eyes a slit and found that he was lying on a bed in a drab room. When he tried to roll over so he could sit up, he heard a metallic rattle and realized that a long chain was manacled around his right wrist. It was fastened to a heavy metal ring embedded in the wall. He was a captive.

He had only the barest spark of awareness and no curiosity about who or what he was or why he was imprisoned here. He closed his eyes numbly. After a long blur of time, his body insistently woke him. He opened his eyes and saw a china pot in the corner of the room. He dimly recalled what it was used for. Luckily, the chain was long enough for him to reach the chamber pot and use it before he stumbled back to the bed.

Then, in the formlessness of his spirit, he felt a touch of warmth. Of life, of recognition. That touch strengthened the faint spark of his being. He was called Cade, and that spark of warmth was from a friend.

Tamsyn . The name formed in his mind. A female. She was his best friend, and she was looking for him.

That knowledge was a warm comfort as he drifted into darkness again.