slowly spilled across the floor, soaking the pile of hay that was my bed. A simple spell would have easily kept the water at bay, but each attempt drained me a little more. With the rain came a cold chill, and the shakes followed.
Sleep was my friend, for when I slept, the pain and hunger faded away. When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the black, beady ones of Gobbersnot. He was alive, and he’d found me! His face was still swollen, and he sported a long cut along his cheek, but otherwise he seemed perfectly normal—for him, at least. He patted my head and then moved to my shackles, trying to gnaw them off, but to no avail. Obviously not wanting to leave my side again, he curled up and placed his head in my lap like a dog. Together we would wait until the end came.
A crevice by the wall slowly filled with water, and with the barest moonlight trickling in, it created a reflection. An idea came then.
Maybe I could call for help.
But I needed blood. Nudging the goblin, I explained what I needed him to do and prayed he would use self-control and not bite a full digit off. If my plan worked, the loss of a finger may be a price I was willing to pay.
Biting my lip, I held out my finger. Gobbersnot opened his mouth, and I stared at those sharp, pointy teeth. They closed around my finger, and I felt the needlelike jabs into my skin. He must have taken it clean off, for the pain hurt so great.
A slight sucking followed, Gobbersnot slurping and licking at my wound. I let him feed as payment for serving, but only a few seconds. I pulled my hand away and sighed in relief to see that all of my fingers were there, though one had a ring of cuts around it and blood trickled down.
I moved to the reflective pool, knowing I must hurry; the moon was still rising, and I would soon lose what little light I had left. It wasn’t a deep cut despite the pain of all those teeth, but it would be enough. Holding my finger out, I released three drops into the pool and whispered the incantation to call my sisters.
As soon as the first magical word crossed my lips, the chains burned into my skin and I cried out, but I fought through the pain to finish it. The smell of burnt flesh reached my nose, and I knew I would pass out soon. Collapsing to the ground, I turned my head and hoped one of them could hear me.
“Sisters,” I whispered, but I knew it wouldn’t be loud enough. They were probably sleeping.
“Sisters! Help me!” I tried again louder, but the shackles absorbed my magic and I was fading fast.
A shadow appeared in the puddle as one of my sisters answered my call, but I couldn’t make out who it was. If they looked, all they would see was the roof of my cell.
Please let it be Aura. I dug deep inside myself and tore down the wall I had spent a lifetime building up, for I hadn’t the energy to speak or tell anyone what had happened.
“H-Help,” I began, but the pain took over and I passed out.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Hours turned into days, and my mind struggled with what had transpired. Did my sisters get my message? Was I going to spend the rest of my remaining days in the pit?
No food came other than what Gobbersnot had been able to pilfer for me. Most of the time, what he came back with was raw and dead animals, my stomach churning at the sight. Sometimes he would find an apple or slice of bread, but then he disappeared and didn’t come back, and I worried he had abandoned me, or he was dead. Water was available when I had the energy to drink from the puddle in the corner, but it hadn’t rained in days, and my supply was slowing drying up. The hunger pains had already stopped, signaling that my time would be limited.
What good was my gift, my powers when I hadn’t been able to save anyone, least of all me? I was going to die here. There wasn’t any doubt.
But I didn’t want to go down without a fight.
A door creaked open, and steps sounded from down the hall. Allemar appeared outside the cell after a moment. “Here you are. I’ve been