Lady in the Iron Mask

III: Chapter 7

In the dungeons, it was murky, dark and cold. Rats scurried past iron bars, others gnawed on some old bones. It was dimly lit, and not much could be seen past the arm's length. Eve found herself carried down into these dungeons after being arrested. From the sounds of the guards, she knew Evie had been too; she had also put up a fight, and left a few men with broken noses and wounded egos. Once they had descended into the pit, the guard threw her into the cell, and then quickly left, holding his nose.

"Hey." Evie greeted Eve, as she was thrown unceremoniously into a prison cell with her.

Eve landed on her forearms, and pain ricocheted up them. She could smell the ground down here: vomit, putrid flesh and disease scolded her senses.

"What about our plan?" Eve said, annoyed.

Kieran was supposed to give them the signal, but it had never arrived.

"Maybe he was caught?" Evie pondered.

"That must be it," Eve conceded, not wanting to discuss it further.

Across from them in the cell, someone coughed loudly, and slanted blue eyes glared at them from the darkness.

"About time the rescue party arrived," Eden said sarcastically, nudging Evelynn, "Look, these two are here as well."

Evelynn murmured, but was mostly unresponsive, her eyes half-closed and her body slumped against the back wall of the cell. Both of the women were covered in bruises, and their faces were gaunt.

"We aren't the bloody rescue party, are we; look at us!" Evie retorted, in a foul mood, and gestured to her obvious lack of rescuing.

"It was a joke!" Eden argued, then sighed. "It doesn't matter."

Eve was trying hard to picture how they had ended up here together like this. Surely, by now, one of them should have emerged as the descendant to the prophecy, since the death of the king? Additionally, she was uncertain whether or not Kieran was down here, as she couldn't see clearly, but she hoped he was. He could help her figure a way out.

She decided to brooch the question.

"Why are you here?" She asked Eden, dreading the answer.

Kieran had told them they were safe. So why?

"Think about it," Eden said coldly, "why are you here?"

"Kieran's plan was to..." Evie trailed off, and she looked at Eve.

"...to kill the king while he secured our escape," Eve finished. "Greedy men become blind."

"What have we done?" Eve asked.

"I do not yet know," Evie responded, "But whatever it is, it will surely ruin us all."

Suddenly, Evelynn opened her eyes wide, grasping onto Eden's arm. The other women watched her, alarmed.

"Has he come again?" She said in a childlike voice. "Don't make me do it again, please...don't make me do it..." She clung onto Eden, weeping and disoriented.

Eden comforted her, shushing her and running a hand through her hair. When she was comfortable, she began talking.

"This has been happening for many weeks now. Sometimes she recounts a memory from her past to me, other times she hallucinates and cannot speak. It derives from a root she ate from the ground in here, when she was starving. Since she ate it, she has been going increasingly insane."

"This is not good." Evie eyed the floor of the cell wearily. "So we shall starve down here?"

"No, no!" Eve groaned. "We will find a way. Just calm down, and help me think."

"I've had a lot of time to think this through. Nearly a year. There is no way out, believe me. And once a week, we get whipped, in order to obtain information, so it isn't all merryment and joy in this cell, where we are left to our own devices." By now, Evelynn had closed her eyes again, nestled in Eden's lap.

"All hope is lost, then." Evie murmured to herself, settling against the bars of the cell.

"It would appear so, if it wasn't so obvious by our appearance," Eden whispered, her voice growing hoarser by the minute.

An uncomfortable silence settled between them. It appeared that this was the end of the line for them. With no allies left apart from those in the cage with them, it seemed bleaker than ever before. Eve wasn't the type to give up easily, but as the days and weeks droned onwards in the cell, with little but scraps to eat, her will waned.

One day, when she had finally had enough, she got up and rattled the prison cell's bars. Her underarm itched for the billionth time, and she scratched the snake emblem. At one point, she had nearly scraped it from her skin, but it always reappeared, and with a vengeance. Today, it was especially irritating for her.

"What are you doing? You'll infect the wound," Evie told her, grabbing her arm.

"I doubt it," Eve said drily.

"Even if she dies, it means we get more to eat in the end, doesn't it?" Eden muttered from the corner, once again helping Evelynn to sit up and eat scraps from a chicken leg.

Once again, Evelynn had an episode. But this time, she became strangely lucid. Grabbing Eden's hand, she pulled her to her feet. The chicken leg bone clattered to the floor, forgotten.

"He is coming," she told the other women. "He is coming!" She sounded almost elated, and was excited.

"Who?" Evie asked, alarmed. "Who is it?"

Eve backed away from the cell door as she began to hear footsteps approach their prison. Her whole body began tingling.

Evelynn locked eyes with Eve suddenly. Her gaze was intense.

"You know."

"I hope you're joking," Eve told her angrily, "Otherwise you have unleashed something altogether foul and unwanted on us. He will tear us apart, limb from limb. I will not accept help from him; I would rather rot here."

"What? What are you talking about?" Eden asked.

Evie rolled her eyes.

Outside the door, the footsteps stopped. Then, he revealed himself and began to speak.

"Aww," he mocked, "Why can't you just admit that you missed me?"

A/N: Hello!

Just a short update: I got into the university I wanted, and will be starting in September!

This book will be completed soon hopefully; I'm not sure how much longer I can write for. It's not that I dislike the novel; I just am sat on so many different concepts right now and books that I don't know what to do.

I hope you're enjoying this book so far! Thank you for your continuous support.

See you in the next update! X