She wondered if she would see her Grandma when death finally took her.
A voice sounded in her head.
“Do not be afraid. We will go together into the underworld. I will never leave you.”
Red shuddered as Wolf’s voice enveloped her.
Surprisingly, it soothed her. And she finally let the black, murky depths pull her under.
Chapter Five
R ed walked in a gorgeous green meadow. Wild flowers grew in abundance. The breeze softly blew her hair. It was long, like it had been when she was a child.
Suddenly it became very cold. The grass turned brown and the flowers wilted. The air grew cold. Red shivered from the surrounding frost.
She came upon a tall old willow tree. It was gnarled and rotten from age. It turned to her and smiled. A long branch came down to her. On it was a shiny red apple.
“Hush, darling, eat this and you will feel better.”
Red took the apple and bit into it. Maggots spewed forth from it, and it withered in her hand. She screamed.
Red bolted from her sleep and sat up. She put a shaky hand to her pounding head. Rubbing it over her face, she tried to erase the residual memory of her dream. It still lingered. There was a vile taste in her mouth. She could feel something stuck in her back tooth. Putting her fingers in her mouth, she pulled out the foreign substance. She looked down at her hand.
A small white maggot wriggled between her fingers.
Red gagged. She jumped off her bed and retched in the corner of the room. She vomited violently. She leaned heavily against the cold stone wall, wiped her mouth and looked around at her surroundings.
She had been lying on a mattress on the cold rock floor. She was in a windowless room, seemingly carved out of stone. A makeshift toilet sat in the corner, a washbasin beside it, and metal bars, preventing any escape, lined up vertically at the room’s entrance. She was in a dungeon, a prison.
She stood and stumbled back to the mattress. She lay down on her side and curled her legs up to her stomach. It still cramped from her violent heaving.
She wondered where she was. Morgana was her captor, she was sure. This was exactly what Wolf had warned her about. Wolf. Damn it! She cursed herself.
This was what happened when feelings clouded the mind. She should have left him to die. Now her own life was forfeit because she had tried to save his.
Not once in the last seven years had she put another’s life ahead of her own. She had watched people she knew die in front of her eyes. She had seen women and children slaughtered pointlessly, but she still failed to act. That was how she survived. Training and warring for only one purpose: To stay alive long enough to kill The Wolf.
But she had failed, and would probably never get another opportunity to exact her revenge. She was not sure if she wanted it. For the first time in seven years, she had felt something for someone else, and it had cost her…everything.
Red jumped off the bed and charged at the metal bars. She grabbed one in each hand and shook them, screaming out in frustration,
“Aaaargh! You lying, deceiving bitch, where are you! I know you’re there. I can smell your rancid stench.”
A mist gathered on the floor outside Red’s cell. It swirled around lazily. Red watched it as it moved. It became a circle and swirled up like a tornado.
Morgana materialized from inside it. The mist dissipated. Morgana smiled sweetly. “You’re awake.
How glorious.”
Red reached out from the bars, trying to grab Morgana. She stepped just out of reach.
“Temper, temper, little girl. That’s going to get you into trouble.”
Red seethed with anger. It foamed at her mouth, like that of a rabid dog. “When I get free, I’m going to kill you nice and slow. I’m going to lick the blood from my blade like it was sugar.”
“I’m sure you will try. But before you do, I’m going to enjoy breaking you into a thousand weak, quivering pieces. When I am done, you will beg me for more. You will kneel at my feet and plead for my attentions. You will be my plaything, my slave, for all of eternity.”
“I am no one’s slave.” Red reached out with both hands and frantically tried to grab Morgana. She pushed with her feet, trying to squeeze herself between the bars.
Morgana laughed. The sound vibrated off the rock filling the entire chamber with the mocking sound.
“Guards.”
Two large beefy men dressed in chain mail tunics rushed to Morgana’s side. Dangling from their hands were long chains with metal cuffs.
“Bind her.”
Red backed up from the bars. She looked around her cell for a weapon, anything she could use to inflict pain. She saw nothing. She was defenseless, save for her own fists.
The guards opened the cell door. They entered cautiously. They knew a wild animal when they saw one. And this girl was as wild as they came. They flanked her on each side.
Red knew she could not escape. But she would be damned if she went down quietly. She looked at each of the men. One of them would have to pay. Pay with pain.
Red leapt up and wrapped herself around the guard on her right. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed. She locked her legs around his midsection and crushed him in her powerful vice. He cried out as she bent her head down and bit into his fleshy cheek.
The other guard hit her in the back with his fists, trying to beat her off his partner. He struck her viciously on her back and sides. She remained on the guard like a leech. He struck her in the side of the head. Her grip loosened.
She was finally dragged off the guard, still kicking and gnashing her teeth, and was pinned onto the ground. She snarled and growled as the guard encased her wrists and ankles in shackles.
The other guard touched his face where he had been bitten. His fingers came away smeared with blood.
“You filthy whore!” He looked down at Red who still struggled inside the shackles. He raised his foot, and kicked her in the stomach.
“Enough!” Morgana stepped into the cell, her hand raised. “How dare you damage my prize?”
The guard looked at her sheepishly. “She attacked me, my lady.”
“It was your own stupidity to allow her to get that close. Go clean yourself up, but I do not want to see you again.”
The guard was about to protest, but he caught the cold look in Morgana’s black eyes. He decided against it, and ran off to get medical attention.
Morgana gazed down at Red, and grinned. “I love it that you fight even still. It will make it so much more enjoyable for me to break you.”
“I will never break.”
“We shall see.” Morgana handed a thick black leather strap to the guard. “And now, the finishing touch.”
The guard reached down and pulled Red up by the chains. She stood, but awkwardly. Her wrists were shackled together and linked to a chain that went to her feet, where her ankles were also shackled. He pushed her forward toward the bed. She fell onto it.
He put a knee into her back to keep her pinned. She was helpless. He reached around her neck and wrapped the leather strap around it. He buckled it on and attached a leather rope to it. He got off Red and pulled her up again.
He handed the rope to Morgana. She pulled on it, gently, so as not to choke, but hard enough to make it known who was in charge. Red was collared and leashed, and Morgana held the chain.
“Come along, my pet. Time to meet your other owners.”
Red was led down a long dimly lit passage. They passed other cells. All were empty. They came to a steep set of stairs. They ascended them to a thick wooden door. It opened as they neared, and they passed through it. It closed behind them.
Every once in a while, Morgana would yank Red’s leash. It caught her off guard, and would cause her to stumble. She fell once. Morgana pulled her up by her collar. The collar chafed at her skin, but was not too tight. She didn’t choke on it. It did not feel all that unpleasant around her neck. It was the thought of Morgana holding her leash that repulsed Red.
Soon they were walking down an elegant hallway.
The walls were adorned with gold trinkets and colorful paintings. The floor was lined with rich carpet, weaved with the finest materials. Red looked around in admiration, and dread. Somehow, it all looked sickeningly familiar.
Morgana led her into a grand ballroom. It had long windows draped with the finest silks. The floor was polished like glass. The furnishings carved from mahogany and cherry woods. Everything was richly colored and decorated. Red had never seen such wealth and prestige before. A quartet of musicians huddled in the corner playing soft stringed music.
Red knew she was in a great castle, but who’s, she could never fathom.
Other people milled about. Each dressed in the clothes of the wealthy and powerful. Some looked like royalty. Women were dressed in embroidered silk gowns and bejeweled chaplets on their heads.
Men were in brocade tunics and suede trousers. A pretty woman in a long, golden gown passed by them. She had impossibly long flaxen hair tied in a braid down her back. She smiled coyly and dragged her hand teasingly over Red’s back.
“She looks like a boy.” Her voice was sweet and cheery.
“Strong as a man, she is. But underneath this, she is a woman. I assure you.” Morgana reached out and grabbed Red’s breast.
Red snapped at her with her teeth, a growl deep in her throat.
Everyone in the room laughed.
“She is spirited, isn’t she? I like that.” The woman’s eyes glinted with lust as she peered over Red’s body.
“She is not for you, Rapunzel.”
“I know, but could I not have just a little taste?”
“No, you may not.” The voice boomed throughout the room.
All heads turned toward it. The crowd parted.
Red swallowed deeply as the man neared her. He was tall and widely built. He wore only black, and his cape dragged on the floor behind him. His hair flowed over his shoulders and down his back. It was the color of moonlight. His eyes were as red as blood.
He was as ethereally beautiful as he was demonic.
She knew his name. He was The Taker, and he was the master of the underworld.
A single tear fell from Red’s eye. She knew where she was. She was dead, and was damned to be punished in the underworld for eternity. Her hope for escape dimmed in her heart. Her sins had finally doomed her.