Page 9 of A Light So Blinding
He snorted. “Then you’re just as stupid as your lord. It is ridiculous, but I’d be willing to give you up for the money that would come in. We’ll think up quite a battle for you as the prize. The men in that arena haven’t seen anything as pure and untouched as you in... well. Since before they ended up here.”
She knew that. But she also had hopes that one in particular would fight for her harder than all the rest. If she could get to him, then that was one step closer to getting him out.
They all forgot that she had been here many times with her lord. The labyrinth was right in front of her nose, and no one watched a priestess. While the others had reveled in the bloodbath, she had been wandering these halls. The only area she did not know very well was where they kept the prisoners.
Given time, she could figure a way out of this place. And if she did that, then maybe she would finally find her sister.
The guard who had left entered the room again and stepped up to Harwick. Within seconds, she watched that evil man’s face brighten with pleasure.
“Priestess, you have yourself a deal. Your lord’s debt in return for your sacrifice.” He held out his hand. “To the dungeons with you. We’ll see just how frenzied the warriors get when they realize you are what they will win tonight.”
Four
Bjorn
Bjorn traveled back to his cell in a daze. The blood loss from his wrists was likely the cause of it, and the exhaustion of his arms being stretched over his head for hours.
He thought he might have passed out a few times. It was hard to tell, really. Part of him thought that he had, because he blinked and he swore all the people in the room had changed positions. But it was hard to keep track of the humans, anyway. They all looked the same to him. All primped, dusted, and painted creatures that moved in the same eerie way.
All he had to do was make it back to his cell, and then he could lie on his back and relax for a little while. He needed to rest. If he’d had water, then he would have rinsed off his hands and arms as well, but there was no water here. They hadn’t provided him with anything to heal the cuts that he had caused himself.
That was a bad sign.
The jingle of the keys at the head guard’s waist kept him focused. At one point in his time here, he had been determinedto steal those keys. They made sure there were ten guards with him at all times, each of them carrying swords that were at the ready and pointed at his throat. But some part of him still thought he could fight them off. It wouldn’t take much to twist, surprising most of them, before sacrificing the cords of tendons at the back of his neck. If he was fast enough, the humans wouldn’t know what had hit them.
He’d always saved that plan for the worst-case scenario, though. Perhaps the other trolls would still manage to save him, because fighting off ten men with swords at the ready was likely suicide.
For all that he had suffered, Bjorn had never gone to that place in his mind. Not yet, at least.
The cells were small. Too small, some might even claim. He could walk from one side to the other in four strides, and such little space was torture for a troll. His people were used to wide open lands, wild and untamed forests, not a small little hole in the ground with no consistent food or water. But this was where his life had been for over ten years now.
Bjorn was ashamed to admit he’d gotten used to it. The tight spaces were reassuring these days. They meant he wasn’t in the labyrinth, with all its winding corridors and attackers in every open area. At least in his cell he knew he wasn’t going to be hunted.
The door unlocked and swung open with the wrenching grind of metal on metal. The guard turned to him and gestured to the room. “Get in.”
As if he was going to argue. He slipped into the room while somehow managing not to cut himself on the countless swords pointed at him, and then stood there quietly as they closed the door.
There were few trolls left in this place. Most of them had escaped with Ragnar and his people, but those of them who were still here had been locked up in the same hall.
The troll to his right had been quiet ever since they’d been moved to these cells. But the one on his left liked to talk, even if it was quietly through the walls.
“You made it back, Bull.” Today, the troll’s voice was raspy. Perhaps they had taken him for some kind of experiment. The king liked to toy with their kind whenever he could, so it wouldn’t surprise Bjorn.
“Hello, Rabbit.” They used the names that the humans had given them. It was just... easier that way. At least then they didn’t forget where they were. Who they were. Or why they were here.
Rabbit was remarkably fast in the labyrinth, which was what had earned him the name. Quick footed and somehow perfect at remembering all the twists and turns, he was the most difficult one to catch. He could run for hours on end, too. It had become a bit of a challenge to the humans to see if they could confuse Rabbit as they moved the walls and changed the patterns of halls in the labyrinth. So far, they hadn’t succeeded.
Bjorn sat down on the edge of his cot. There wasn’t much to it. Just a rickety frame and a moth-eaten blanket that he’d thankfully remembered to take with him from cell to cell. But it was home, as much as he could have one. A small dented cup sat in the corner where the walls met. At least there the condensation slid down the wall and he could gather some water.
Two doors, just like always. One leading out into the hall beyond with a tiny window to look out. The other, windowless, leading into the labyrinth.
“What did they do to you this time?” Rabbit asked, his raspy voice sliding through a crack in the wall beside Bjorn’s cot.
“Ah. They wanted a show for the nobles. They hung me up by my arms and let them do whatever they wished.”
“They grab your cock?”
He flinched. “No, they did not. Too many humans around for that.”
