Eris' Handmaiden Page 13

She didn't know why she'd been moved from town to town. Urged down a street again and onto a wooden porch, she listened as one of her captors knocked on a door, once, then twice, then again before a querrulous voice called from within. She heard the door open, then a quick discussion, then the door closed again. Puzzled, she stood still in her blind isolation, unable to understand the words spoken, where she was, or what was happening.
Slowly, she realized that what she felt now was alone. Terribly alone. The dreams of Sanders hadn't recurred for some time. The speech of her captors was quick and foreign, and although she caught small fragments of meaning, mostly unintelligible. She couldn't even see.
Without warning, she heard the door open again. She was urged inside, then to a halt amid a flurry of words from the one she thought of as her female captor. She sensed the new woman move closer. A drift of sweetly decayed perfume came to her, then the woman spoke, backing from her as she did. What was the emotion in her voice? It sounded like pain, but Sinaedh had no idea why or how she could have caused that.
Another conversation, and Sinaedh heard her male captor walk away. A brief surge of hope was damped as thin fingers gripped her arm. It was the new woman who led her now, guiding her to a door, then down a series of steps. The air grew close and heavy with the scent of age and death. Sinaedh trembled slightly, swallowing down her fear and her senses' inadvertant response to the odor. Dear Lord, she began a silent prayer again. Guide me in my need.
The rattle of chains against metal caused her head to turn, though her eyes refused to tell her anything. The heavy wet air of the place she'd been led to closed in on her, making her breathing heavy and forced. Boney fingers urged her forward again, another set tapping the top of her head. Involuntarily, Sinaedh ducked as she walked forward.
She was released, the chains rattled again, and Sinaedh heard the sound of a metallic door swinging shut behind her, then the snick of metal on metal again as a key turned in a lock. Turning, she heard soft steps, then the creak as the woman climbed the stair up to the main house.
Eyes wide, Sinaedh reached out her hand. Fumbling through the blindness, she soon found herself to be in a cage constructed of strong metal bars that seemed to be seated in the hard-packed floor. Cross bars kept her from pushing more than her arm up to her shoulder through. Frowning, she reached out on each side of her new home, reaching a dirt wall on two sides, and nothing on two more. "Where am I?" she whispered, settling down to the floor, shivering as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh God, what has become of me?"
"Sss...," Sinaedh lifted her head, turning it quickly toward the sound.
"Who's there?" Startled, she came to her knees, looking in the direction the sound had come from.
"Ssss... saklaussssss." Sinaedh frowned, slowly rising to her feet. The voice seemed to be coming from the side of the cage where she'd touched wall only a hand's breadth away from the iron bars. How could anyone be there?
"I don't understand," she said softly. "I can't..."
"Hhhh... hafið ér nokkutttt sssspurt?" the voice said. Sinaedh frowned, peering where she thought it was coming from, about waist level, before her. Tentatively she reached out, her hand once again contacting the dirt wall.
"Who.. how," she whispered, shaking her head. "Who are you?"
"Sssskaltu hér nú inni svelllllta ok aldri út komastttt," the voice hissed again, in a menacing tone.
There was no mistaking the hatred behind the words, and no mistaking the fact that it couldn't come from a being of substance, unless he was buried in the wall. Sinaedh shivered, backing away. "No. I will not lose my mind to you, evil demon!" Hands clasped together, she closed her eyes, bowing her head over them, mind frantically searching for words of comfort.
Finally an old prayer taught her by her mother came to mind, and she whispered it, trembling, as the voice came again, this time increasing to a loud roar. "Nú munummm vit hér sssskilja!"
A flash of light ripped through her mind, startling both in its intensity and because she'd grown accustomed to her blindness. Staggering, she threw up her hands to protect her face and stumbled back. A strong wind raced from the location of the voice, slamming her back into the side of the cage. Her head cracked against an iron rod, and Sinaedh slid limply to the chill floor.
Images from
Archer image from Graphic Knights
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Dictionary
Saklauss innocent Hafið ér nokkut spurt have you learned anything Skaltu hér nú inni svellta ok aldri út komast Now you shall starve in here and never get out Nú munum vit hér skilja Now we shall here go separate ways
My feeble attempts at Old Norse were aided by The Old Norse Language