Once Betrayed Never Forgotten

Chapter 36: Whispers in the Shadows.

I look up to see a figure slowly materialising in the dimly lit cell. The guards, taken by surprise, immediately back away from me towards the far wall of the cell, cussing and cursing.

“I swear, by God’s wounds!” The larger guard curses an oath.Mircea, you crazy woman, you almost scared me half to death. What the hell do you

want?”

The woman steps o

out of the shadows. She looks young, around my own age, maybe a little older–around twenty, I’d guess. Her features are pretty, with high cheekbones and large dark brown eyes. I can see a hint of her black hair beneath the red head scarf with blue tassels, wrapped neatly around her head like a Russian babushka in a fairytale book might wear it. She’s very delicate and small–probably just over five feet but something about her is fierce and radiates a badass “don’t mess with me” attitude.

The guards immediately pull up their pants and fidget under her scrutinising gaze, while I scurry as quickly as I can into a comer of the cell, cowering in my naked shame. All the lust I felt just moments ago has vanished into thin air, and it seems that the guard who was about to violently f*ck me feels the same his engorged cock has gone soft at the sight of the newcomer.

The words she said a moment ago keep on echoing through my mind. Did she say that the guards drugged me?

“What do you want, Mircea?” One of the guards says, his voice low and heavy with distrust.

“Father Codrin asked me to tend to her injuries,” Mircea says, gesturing to a wicker basket with a handle that she holds in her hands. Several bottles and bunches of herbs stick out from under a black velvet cloth covering.

“And what’s the point of that?” The other guard asks belligerently. “You’ll patch her up just to see her burn in three days‘ time. Pointless.”

Burn? Did he just say… I’m going to burn?

“Fools!” Mircea hisses at the guard. “We can’t have her dying from her wounds before her trial and execution, can we? You know how much the village elders love putting on a big show. Leave us now.”

The guards look like they might argue, but then they think better of it. As they make their way to the cell’s entrance and are about to leave, Mircea speaks after them, her voice dark and full of sharp anger.

“Oh, and boys – don’t ever steal from me again,” she says. “When the bottle of Heartsease Elixir went missing from my shop, I had only to sniff the air to know it was one of you two stinking goons who snatched it. I’d suggest taking a bath before your next attempt to get away with robbery.”

as if to

The larger guard stops mid–step and turns to face her, his face bright red with fury as he bristles with rage. He towers over her, raising his fist as strike her, and she doesn’t even flinch.

“I swear to god, M

Mirces, if you don’t take that back, I’ll-” he says, but she cuts him off mid–sentence.

“You’ll do what, Filip?” She asks, her voice full of venom. “Beat me up? Kill me? And then what? When your pregnant wife delivers your second child in three moon’s time, who’ll be there to stop the bleeding and save her life, if things turn out like last time?”

The guard looks sheepish, lowering his fist at her words.

“And what about you, lacob?” She turns to address the other guard coldly. “Without the medicine I provide, your mother’s heartfire sickness would have taken her to the grave years ago. You can’t afford to lose me, and you know it.”

Jacob mutters something under his breath, and Mircea says

says “Now, H

ret it.”

get lost… and don’t ever touch this woman again, or I’ll make sure you regret it.”

The guards turn away and hurry out of the cell. The larger guard who I now realise is called Filip – turns around for a brief moment, and gives me a sour, menacing look, a promise of revenge to come later.

I hear the heavy footfalls of their boots as they walk up the rickety wooden staircase out of the church basement, and then I’m alone with Mircea,

Embarrassed by my nakedness, I scratch around in the shadows of my cell floor, looking for my tattered red dress. Before I can get it, Mircea kneels down beside me and places a hand over my wrist

“There’s no need,” she says gently, her voice suddenly kind and careful, a total contrast to the harsh commanding tone she used with the guards

“I’ve brought you a new dress,” she continues, placing her basket on the floor of my cell. “But first, let me clean your wounds.”

Chapter 36 Whispers in the Shadows

She reaches into the folds of her modest dress, producing a damp cloth and a vial of soothing salve. She begins to cleanse the cuts and bruises on my face and arms. The initial sting makes me flinch, but her gentle demeanour calms my nerves.

“How much did you see?” I ask after a while, mortified at the thought of anyone witnessing what was going on in the prison cell before she interrupted,

“Enough to confirm my suspicions that it was indeed one of those two idiots who stole a bottle of the most powerful aphrodisiac from my apothecary shelves,” she says, dabbing the cooling salve onto a particularly nasty bruise on my back. “I can still smell the remnants of it purple heartsease flowers and blood yarrow brewed under a new moon, a potent combination. It awakens the lustful animalistic instincts within anyone who tastes it.”

“So that’s why my mead tasted different tonight,” I marmur, remembering the subtle fragrance of flowers that lingered in the air after my meal. The guards drugged me in order to make me horny, to make me willing and easy to manipulate.

to vomit at the thought, and I cringe inwards, something that doesn’t go unnoticed by Mircea.

“You can’t blame yourself for their evil actions,” she says firmly, before reaching into her basket and pulling out a long, clean white tunic made of soft wool

“Put it on,” she says gently. I thank her as 1 stand up shakily to my feet, pulling the tunic up over my head and slipping into its warm embrace. The sleeves are merifully long, and the fabric is wondrously soft and warm, like the finest cashmere. It’s what I’d imagine wearing sundrenched clouds would feel like, pure heaven,

She also passes me a pair of soft leather moccasins lined inside with white fur, and I slip them on gratefully.

“Why are you helping me?” I ask, not entirely believing that she’s just doing this because Father Codrin asked her to. She seems like the sort of woman who answers to no one.

She ignores my question, and passes me a small vial of purple liquid. Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“For your pain,” she says. I stare dubiously at the vial of amethyst liquid in my palm, but I can’t see why shed poison me, so I uncork it and drink in one one quick gulp. It’s bitter, but instantly soothing, sending a relaxing warmth in a wave through my body within seconds of drinking it.

Suddenly, there’s a commotion above us, and she murmurs “hmmm, I guess the old prick’s finished sooner than expected. You’ll see me again soon, I promise.”

She turns as if to go, her expression turning hard as she hurries towards the cell door.

“Wait!” I say, one last question still nagging at me. “The guards said that there’d be a trial in three days‘ time, and then that I’d… I gulp before saying the word “…well, they said I’d burn. Am I going to… will they..

|||

Burn me at the stake? I can’t even say the words. Images from horror movies and TV shows of the accused witches at the Salem witch trials flash through my mind, their screams of agony as the burning skin peels off their writhing bodies, their fat and muscles melting and bubbling and crackling…

She turns back to face me, her expression burning with a sudden fierce determination.

“No,” she says, her voice firm. “We won’t let that happen. You have friends, Arianna, even in this dark place. I must go now,”

I cast my attention up to the sound of jangling metal keys and the thumping footsteps coming down the staircase from the church above.

When I look back to where Mircea stood, she has vanished into the shadows.

The figure walking down the stairs comes into view as he steps into the ring of golden light cast by the fiery torch on the wall.

“Now, how about you and I have a little talk, girl?” Father Codrin says, his cruel eyes glittering with malice. “It’s time for you to tell me the truth.”

Chapter Comments

EJ

Why hasn’t she called out and invited Aleksandr? Has she even given it a second thought? I can’t wait to find out more about these so called Lost people.