Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

" U gh! What? Where?" Alana mumbled, groggily coming awake. There was a horrible taste in her mouth, her head was aching, and when she tried to move, she found she could not. She snapped awake then, confused as to why she could not move, she suddenly realized with shock that her hands and ankles were bound with ropes, and she was tied to the chair she was sitting in.

Confused and frightened, she cast about her surroundings. In the dim candlelight, she made out she was in some sort of cellar. It smelled foul, and there were boxes and barrels stacked high against the walls. She almost jumped out of her skin when she felt something touch her hand, and when she looked to see what it was, her eyes met Tadhg's.

Her heart thudded in her chest to see that he was also tied to a chair, and there were swellings and cuts on his face, clearly the result of a beating.

She stared at him in horror. "Tadhg, are ye all right? What happened? Where are we?" she asked, her voice croaky from thirst.

He did not reply in words. Instead, he shook his head as though telling her to be careful of being overheard. When she nodded her understanding, he flicked his eyes over to the far corner. Alana followed his gaze, to see a man standing there in the shadows. He appeared to be dressed as a guard, and he was armed, she noted fearfully.

Her pulse racing, she looked back at Tadhg. "What happened? Why are we here?" she whispered.

"Dinnae fash yersel'," he whispered back, breaking her heart as he tried to smile with a split lip. "Everythin's gonnae be all right. I'll get us out of here if I have tae die doin' it."

"But I dinnae want ye tae—" she began.

"Shut up, the pair of ye," the guard suddenly snapped in a menacing growl, stepping forward. Terrified, Alana snapped her mouth shut. She and Tadhg exchanged glances in the following silence, which was punctuated only by the sound of dripping water nearby and the occasional loud thump from above. With none of her thousand questions being answered, the weight of their situation pressed down on her. The only way she could fight back the panic threatening to overwhelm her was to maintain eye contact with Tadhg and feel his fingers brushing hers when he could dare to reach over without the guard seeing him.

The silence and humid atmosphere gradually became suffocating, and Alana was sure she was on the point of screaming when the door was suddenly flung open from outside and a man came in.

He gave a crack-toothed grin as he made straight for Tadhg and landed a vicious backhanded blow across his face without uttering a word. Alana screamed to see blood flying from Tadhg's mouth as the blow connected and knocked his head violently to one side.

"Stop it! Stop hitting him, ye bastard!" she shouted, straining against her bonds, tears of fury starting from her eyes to see Tadhg in such pain and being mistreated. "Tadhg! Tadhg, are ye all right?" she called to him.

"Aye, I'm all right," he somehow managed to mumble, just before the man punched him hard in the gut, winding him completely. He slumped forward in his chair, sagging against the ropes binding him, his head on his chest.

"What is the meanin' of this?" Alana demanded. Her anger overcoming her fear for the moment in her outrage. "Who are ye, and what d'ye mean by kidnapping us and keeping us tied up like this?"

The man's small, venomous eyes reminded her of a snake. They alighted on her with a look of malign delight. "Well, well, what have we here? A wee whore, is it?" The man advanced on her and gripped her jaw cruelly in one hand, turning her face up to his. She strained against him, but it was no good. Instead, she chose defiance, staring at him with all the hatred she could muster.

"Get off me, ye filthy brute," she ground out as he gripped her jaw painfully, turning her face this way and that.

"My, ye're a feisty one. A brute, is it? I'll show ye I'm a brute all right." He laughed. "I must say, ye're awful pretty, fer a slut. How much d'ye charge fer a real man?" he asked, his hand going to his belt as if to unfasten his breeches.

"Leave her alone," came Tadhg's gruff voice, hardly more than a murmur through his swollen lips.

The man maintained his hold on Alana while kicking Tadhg in the leg, eliciting groans of pain from him. "Shut yer mouth. Ye have nae say here." He turned back to Alana, his eyes gleaming with ill intent. Her blood froze in her veins as she realized he was more than likely going to rape her.

Finally, he let go of her chin. "What's yer name, me wee strumpet?" He asked, grinning horribly, his hand returning to his belt buckle and starting to undo it.

Alana's breath grew ragged with fear. Tadhg's head was slumped on his chest. He could do nothing to aid her. Frantically, she tried to think what to do. Should she tell their tormentor who she was? Should she answer him at all? Would it make any difference to what was going to happen to them? Would it save Tadhg?

If there was any chance at all that it might, she knew she had to take it. From somewhere inside her, she found her voice. Speaking clearly, she raised her chin proudly and said, "I am Lady Alana MacIver. Who the hell are ye?"

In an instant, the man's face was transformed. His grin vanished, and a look of mingled shock and fear appeared on his lumpy features. "Ye're Lady Alana MacIver?" he gasped out, staring at her and taking a step back, his hand falling from his belt.

Seeking to capitalize on the impact learning her identity was clearly having on him, Alana steeled herself. In as imperious a tone as she could manage, she replied, "I've answered ye question and told ye me name. Now answer mine. Who are ye, and what the devil d'ye think ye're doin', keeping us locked up here and assaultin' me husband?"

"By the Wee man, 'tis her," the man suddenly muttered. He stepped away from her and headed straight do the door. On his way out he paused to whisper something frantically in the guard's ear. Whatever it was he said, she noticed the guard appeared shocked by it. She frowned intently, unable to make head nor tail of what was going on, and on top of that, she was terribly scared for Tadhg. He appeared to be barely conscious, his mouth hanging slackly open, while a thin stream of blood dripped from it onto his chest. She had to get him some help!

She waited until their tormentor's hurrying footsteps died away. Then, she looked at the guard and said, "Help me husband, will ye? Give him some water at least." But the man ignored her, remaining in his position, his hand resting on the hilt of his dirk.

"Please, I beg ye, give him some water," she pleaded. But it did no good. The guard might have been made of stone for all the notice he took of her. The room sank back into the suffocating quietude of before, leaving her with nothing to do but force herself not to dwell on her fears. Instead, she focused on praying for Tadhg's suffering to abate and for him to regain his senses before anything else terrible happened.