A Whisper to the North

Chapter LXI ✠ The Proposition

Una sat slumped over on her side. She was resting against a cold stone wall. Her wrists and feet were bound with long chains that were fused to the floor. Only a candle in the distance was the only light in the cell, too far away for Una to crawl over and get warm from the tiny flame. Her joints ached, and her wounds felt like fire to the touch.

She has never felt more miserable in her life. She felt defeated, a feeling she has never known before. How could she feel this way after fighting her all, down till she was the last one standing? She didn't know how to stop or when.

She was all alone there in that dungeon cell. Not even a rat was there to accompany her. Only the dead carcasses of bugs littered the floor and fallen cobwebs. It was a terrible sight. She shivered from the cold since she was stripped nude, and worse is that her fever was growing.

While Una was asleep, her shoulders were cleansed and re-sutured. The fever would not pass. She could feel it in her bones, but there was nothing she could do now. She was trapped in that cell, alone in the dark. She wonders what had happened. How was she not slain? She was here now, in the castle walls. Una thought about the Northumbrian army and Njord. Where were they? Had they all been cut down? She knew she was the only survivor thus far. She knew it was foolish for Njord to attack. She warned him, and he would not listen. Now, look at the predicament that Una has found herself in. She was a prisoner now.

She had been lying there for hours, given only a few sips of water. It was a blessing to her mouth, not having sustenance in days. Right as Una was about to fall asleep, she heard the piercing creak of the iron gate leading into the cell hall and boot heels. Una was too weak to move her body to the iron door to peek out of the little hole to see who it was.

"This is the door." The terrifying voice said.

She could hear the key enter her door and then click to release the bar which locked it. The door slowly opened, and the even more agonizing sound of metal and rust grinding in the deafening silence of the dungeon. No torture was taking place, hearing nothing but her breath the many hours Una lay there against the frigid wall. That was a torturous punishment in of itself.

"The snake has slithered into the corner to keep warm." The deep voice laughed as a large man entered her cell.

He walked over to her and crouched down. He took his massive hand and grabbed Una's face, and held it in front of his. He pushed all her hair out of her face and pulled her face forward.

"When I'm talking, you look at me in the eye." His terrifying gray eyes pierced Una.

Una just stared at him, saying nothing.

"Don't hurt the bitch. The whore is pregnant with a demon, and she'll have you murdered with her arms behind her back if you do anything to harm her." A female voice said.

Una slowly turned her eyes to the other side of the cell as a tall woman walked in.

"You don't look so well, Una." The woman laughed.

"What did you do to her!?" The man laughed as he watched a tear fall from Una's cheek.

Una could see in the dim light that it was Wilona, Gareth's wife. Una read a note, not a week ago that said that she had lost her child.

"Look at you. You think yourself so grand, so regal, and true, and now you sit here rotting in your own filth. It's a sight to behold, a true queen to a queen of swine." Wilona laughed.

The man let Una's face go, and Una resumed her position slumped against the wall.

"Why did you save me? Do you fear I would kill you?" Una asked softly with her head buried in her disheveled hair, away from the light.