Shadow Weaver (Back on Wattpad 2020!)

Chapter 46

In this rat hole there is only gray light, no telling evening sun from high midday heat. I feel as though I've been down here for days, but perhaps it is the pain stretching seconds into minutes, minutes into hours, because no one has brought me food and my body does not crave it.

I am cold, shivering, which doesn't help the pain. My throat is raw and dry. My mouth bloated. I lie on the steel cage bars, unable to find any position even mildly comfortable and think of my father. He used to always tell me I could do anything I set my mind to. He used to tell me I was strong. I wonder what he would say if he saw me now.

Footsteps ring down the tunnel. Fear thumps through me. I reach towards the mind that approaches, and the wild battering of my heart softens.

The soldiers who dragged me here, and who have been left by Commander Linx to keep guard, stand to attention. I pull myself like an injured crab across the bars towards the door.

"Halt!" a soldier says. In the gloom, the white apron worn by the court maid stands out against the gray blouse and skirt. Calmi wears her hair in a handkerchief, pulled back from her face. Her head is lowered as she manages to curtsey and balance a tray. But if I recognize her, so will the soldiers.

"Who has sent you?"

Calmi's eyes rise and shift across to my prison. I watch breathless, desperate to talk to her, to find out whether Tug is still alive. Whether the Prince has a plan to free him.

"I have been sent from the kitchens with soup for the prisoner," she says coolly, defying them to question her, even when their postures stiffen, taking in her distinct blue eyes.

"Commander Linx made it clear the prisoner was an imposter and a traitor."

"Then why isn't she in the dungeons with the other prisoners? Why is she in a cage?"

"You'll have to put your questions to Commander Linx."

"Were you posted in the Royal Court last summer?"

"I was, My Lady," the second soldier says, stepping forward. He has recognized her.

"Then you know the treachery Commander Linx is capable of towards the Prince. Do you choose to question your sovereign's will now?"

"But Lord Strik—"

"What about my grandfather?"

"Five minutes," the second soldier says. He must outrank the first because the man clenches his jaw and steps aside. The second soldier slips a key in the lock and turns. My pulse pounds against my neck, as Calmi moves into my prison and is locked in with me.

"I have been sent to look at your injuries," she says, loud enough for the men to hear, but the urgency in her eyes says she also brings news. I lean on her and she helps me to the wooden palette at the back of the giant cage.

With our backs turned to the men she slips me a necklace. At first I do not understand, then I notice the pus-liquid in the round glass pendant: Nocturne Melody. I am so happy the tears of pain in my eyes turn to ones of joy.

"Is Tug alive?" I whisper.

She nods, helping me down on the pallet. I moan, but if Tug lives, the pain is bearable. Lady Calmi takes a small sachet of herbs from the pocket of her apron and pours them into the steaming teapot.

"Sixe has been drawing endless towers for the carrier pigeons," she says. "I think he wanted you to know that when Tug sent the carrier pigeon that was shot down, he sent two others that were not. His capture was a necessary decoy to ensure two of the birds lived."