Fear Among The Shadows

Chapter XVIII - Steady as Stone

Adilah waited until the soldiers locked the door of their cell and made their way to the entrance of the hall to stand guard, before she scooted over to Letitia and whispered harshly,

"Joah is here! He's in the cell right opposite to us! How did he get here?"

Letitia stared at her with wide eyes and shook her head slowly,

"I didn't hear anything about a mission to the Bloodlands before we left. And I was pretty sure that Lord Jonathan had ordered him to stay at Akhshe. But this is bad. This is really, really bad."

"What? Why would it be any worse than it already is?"

"Because," Letitia said, "if they were able to capture Joah, then our odds of escaping just became less than zero."

Adilah hated to admit it but Letitia did have a point. Joah was probably the most skilled servant Jonathan had – he was a fighter, a spy, a mercenary, and an ass all in one. How had they managed to catch him? Adilah quickly shook that thought out of her head; it didn't matter anyway. The more pressing question was what would they do now? She voiced it aloud to Letitia and the other girl just shrugged, sharing in her helplessness and dejection.

They waited a long time. Waited for Eddie to brought back. Waited for the mysterious Master to show himself and try to torture them (after Cecelia, the worst case-scenario was the best to consider). Waited for perhaps a miracle rescue like the griffins. The time did nothing but make both of them anxious in their own way. Adilah couldn't stop fidgeting, tapping her foot against the floor, or crawling around the cell. Letitia was the opposite; she was still, not moving a single muscle. Being in a cell brought back memories she'd tried so hard to keep hidden, and it was taking all her strength not to drown in them. Her body was aching from the fight and their impromptu griffin ride, and she bent all her concentration on trying to rest up for whatever was going to happen next.

Luckily, Letitia managed to get her hands free eventually through a lot of squirming and straining and then untied Adilah, but it still did nothing to help their situation. There was nothing in their cell but a dingy bucket in the corner that each one of them took a turn relieving themselves in. Then, they moved back to their place by the wall. Their stomachs grumbled and when Adilah went to the door, voicing their need for food to the guard, he yelled at her to get away from the door. A couple of minutes later, he shoved another dingy bucket into their cell and Joah's.

"Water is all you get. Be grateful."

The water did not look refreshing, but Adilah's mouth was so dry and her stomach so empty that she didn't care about the dirt or the rocky clumps floating around. They both scooped up water with their hands as fast as they could and they could hear Joah doing the same. They then decided to save some, not sure when they might get another bucketful.

And on the wait went.

#

"Psst!"

Adilah's eyes flew open. She hadn't even noticed she'd dozed off. Letitia was at the cell door, gesturing for her to come over. Adilah wasn't shocked to find Joah's face pressed up against his own cell door, glaring coldly at them,

"How can you sleep now? Honestly, you're useless. Anyhow, what are you doing here? And where are the others?"

Adilah looked out to see the guard asleep in his chair. Letitia recounted to him what happened in the basilisk cavern and when she came to Eric's death, her voice shook just for a second before she went on to explain about their unexpected rescue by the griffins.

"It wasn't a rescue. They knew about our plan to get the venom. They somehow knew I was on my way to the Shadow Palace and intercepted me. I don't know how yet, but there must be a spy somewhere in the mansion."