Chapter 37 : The Prisoner

Riven is suddenly awakened when his nose is assaulted by the dank stench of death. He pushes himself to a sitting position to find that he had been lying on a straw mat on a stone-cold floor and was entirely naked from the waist up. Then he feels a sharp pain in his leg then feels down it in the half dark until his fingers hit something of cold iron attached to his ankle and, to that, a long chain that must be attached to a wall in the murky distance.

"Where am I?" he asks aloud while trying to straighten his cramped legs only to have to lie down again to stop his head from spinning and to ease somewhat the pangs of hunger in his belly. "And how long have I been here?" he asks the darkness.

By-and-by, his eyes adjust to the gloom enough to see a stanchion supporting a burning torch, a stone floor and walls and the light from an archway with stairs leading upwards.

"Hello! Is anyone there?" he calls.

Soon he hears the light steps of someone making his or her way down the steps. A figure appears in the archway – dark and wearing a cowl but definitely female. Then she lowers the hood of her cowl and, in the still darkness, Riven can make out the glow of a pair of dragon's gold eyes.

"Darcy!" he screams then with his remaining strength he lurches for her. But Darcy, seeming to know the limits of his strength and the length of chain, keeps herself at an arm's distance from him so all he achieves is to send a shard of screaming pain up his leg then to fall hard on the hard stone floor.

"Welcome to my dungeon, Puppy-Dog," purrs Darcy's seductive voice. "Did you enjoy your little nap?"

"No!" he screams at her. "And how did you get me here?"

"Silly boy," coos Darcy. "Don't remember me telling that bars, doors and walls are no barrier to a Witch who wants what she wants? All it took was a drop of slow-working venom on your skin from our last meeting to put you into a state of unconsciousness. Then, when I knew you could not resist me, I gathered you up and brought you here. Don't worry, you're not about to die anytime soon. I made sure of that."

"What do you want, Darcy?" asks Riven.

"What I've always wanted…, that's you, Puppy-Dog. So I'll lay out the situation to you. You can abandon your hopes of marrying Musa. You can go on to become the King of Daigneach with me as your queen. The matter of an heir we can settle later but even if I have to cheat on you to bring forth a son then you shall recognize him to be your own flesh – let's say as by some great miracle. Otherwise you can remain forever chained to a wall to watch on as I bring Musa here and put her to a slow and agonizing death before your eyes."

"You wouldn't dare!" screams Riven.

"Wouldn't I?" hisses Darcy. "Just try me!" she challenges as her voice hits dangerously low registers.

Then Riven feels the steel claws of utter dread and despair gripping his mind as he falls once more into utter darkness.