“This one lives!” one of the Warriors said holding his fingers to one of the fallen. His head was bald, but his russet mustache was thick and healthy.
“Flynn, I think this one is Jonas, King Caleb’s first in command.”
“What should we do with them?”
“We must bring them to Shondravar,” Flynn told his friend and gave his horse a worried look. Commander Jonas was not a small man.
Chapter 25
Willow drifted into wakefulness, suspended for one blissful moment on the brink of semi-consciousness. Just before the horror of her reality settled over her like a suffocating mist, she saw Caleb’s face, golden and breathtaking. She opened her eyes with a sharp intake of breath, reaching for him, but he was already gone. Propped against the cold wall, she shifted her stiff body and pushed Martin’s head off her shoulder with a gentle shove. She had no idea if it was morning or if the night had just begun since the only light in the holding room came from a few torches hung on the walls.
Before she had time to shed another countless tear, the metal door opened with a grating scream and Drakar stepped inside the holding room with two other men just behind him. Drakar’s companions were equally as big and threatening as their leader, but Willow saw only him. Like an oppressive cloud, evil and ready to destroy any hope the heart could conjure, Drakar’s eyes settled on her.
“You!” he barked and pointed a long, thick finger at her. “Get up.”
Terrified, Willow began to rise to her feet, but then she tightened her lips over her teeth. She was the king’s daughter, and didn’t Caleb’s Bible say that the Lord was with her always? “How am I supposed to get up when I’m chained to the wall?” Willow spat at him, her dark eyes blazing.
Martin had awakened at the sound of Drakar’s voice and he placed his bony hand on Willow’s to quiet her.
It was too late, the giant Catcher had taken two steps and reached Willow almost instantly. He slapped her and, had she not been shackled, she would have flown clear across the room.
“Don’t you hit her!” Martin stood to his feet and faced Drakar. The sight of him staring up in defiance against a man twice his size warmed Willow’s heart. And then sent an icy chill through it.
Drakar lifted his hand over his shoulder to strike the much smaller man, but Willow leapt to her feet and wrapped both her arms around Drakar’s arm. “No!” she begged him. If this Catcher hit Martin, the valiant old man would surely die. “Please, I’ll do whatever you say. I’ll obey whatever you say.” She stared into the dark, cold eyes of a nightmare and forced herself to smile. “There’s no need for violence,” she said with a false calm that made her gag on her words.
Drakar’s thin lips twisted into a smile that was half a snarl. The hand Willow wasn’t clutching lifted to her face. He curled his fingers around her neck and squeezed until she feared she would pass out, then he bent his face close to hers. “But I like violence,” he growled and at the same time, placed the flat of his palm on Martin’s chest and gave the old man a brutal shove.
“Now.” Drakar shook Willow back to consciousness. “Come with me.” With a flick of his wrist, he motioned for the men who entered the room with him to unlock Willow’s shackles, then he yanked her forward by the arm.
“Where are we going?” she choked on the terror of him. Drakar’s hand came up to strike her again. She winced, squeezing her eyes shut, but the blow never came.
“Keep your mouth shut,” he warned her as they left the room.
Drakar led Willow down a long corridor whose haunting burnished light cast long ghostly shadows along the cobweb lined walls.
Please, Lord, if You’re there, help me.
He pushed her into a small room that was empty but for a table set in the middle of it. A single lit candle dripped its wax upon the table’s surface. Drakar’s companions stayed outside the room while he slammed the door and bolted it shut from inside. He turned to her and the look of male intent that burned his eyes made Willow try to dash around to the other side of the table. In one stride, Drakar reached her, and closed his hand around her neck. “Keep quiet or I’ll