A haze of darkened colors swirling, mixed with muffled screams and shuffling echoes entwined within the vapors of Elaine's consciousness. The feeling of being lifted and spinning drove the nausea into her mind, dragging her begrudgingly into awareness. The sound of low voices in unrecognizable speech and a bitter taste in her mouth only heightened the sick sensation permeating her insides. Her body convulsed weakly, trying to get rid of the evil humors. Again the low murmurs. She felt the sensation of rough arms beneath her leaded body. The mist drifted, thickened…the muffled sounds pulled away…then darkness prevailed.
Elaine's eyes fluttered open slightly; the blurred light reaching her mind hard to interpret. How much later it was from her previous forays with reality, she did not know. Then there came the realization of the presence of a knife in her head threatening to make her blind with pain. She became aware of and tried to spit out the bitter taste on her tongue out. But there was no moisture in her mouth. She bit into a cloth that held her teeth from meeting. Her head rested against something soft, and the sensations from her aching body suggested that the same softness cradled the rest of her.
She reached up to rub her eyes only to find that her hands rose together.
They were tied. She gasped and moved her body. Her feet were tied. Struggling made the raw skin underneath the ropes sting.
She blinked repeatedly, mind still in a haze, eyes unfocused to peer around her. It was a well appointed room. No windows. One door. A voice, low in timbre, disgruntled in character, spoke, slightly muffled by distance and partitions.
"You already took her? God damn you, idiots! He told you himself; do not get her without me! What did you do to her? If I find her harmed, if all is not right with her, I swear, I will help him tear your arms off! Can you understand that, you grunting brute!"
Elaine could hardly understand but was startled by the voice of the ranting man, who seemed to be nearby. She was fearful; her mind could not yet interpret her surroundings because of her mental dullness.
"No hurt the woman. She is sleeping." A gruff, heavily accented voice thick with irritation replied.
"Where is she?" The first voice yelled.
"In the room." The gruff voice replied. She sound of booted feet falling on echoing stone was heard. "She stop moving after give sdakoff."
"What?" The first voice snapped.
"Powder, to stop woman from hurting self. It no kill her."
"I know what it is! Why the hell…damn it! Go away, I will see to her. NOW!"
Through her spinning head, Elaine heard the jingle of keys and the scrape of an opening door. She turned her spinning head to look the direction from where the sound emanated. Her sideways vision spotted a tall, sturdy man with short, dark hair and a face of light skin darkened by a hastily trimmed beard.
"Oh my god…damn them!" The man said, lowering himself to look at her closely. His aqua eyed look was intense and revealed dismay and anger. He fumed. Elaine, completely confused by his ire, found the strength to throw her arms towards him. He caught her clumsy attempt at hitting him with a firm hold.
She fought against him, trying to scream, but realized that the gag made her mouth dry and threatened to choke her. She struggled against his hold and he released her quickly. She tried to scream out but the sound was muffled. She pulled her body together in a ball and backed up in desperation against something…anything.
Sedrick moved away from the woman cowering before him in on the large bed the Countess's private boudoir, sadly, the woman's new prison. His heart was heavy and sickened by her state. He was enraged at finding her this way. Her delicate hands and ankles were bound by the rough rope; her pretty face was bound by a red gag. She was dirty, her clothes disheveled and ripped in places. He was praying the beasts did not try to violate her. A quick survey assured him that the tears were haphazard, not only over her breasts and privates. She was obviously disoriented; inebriated by the gypsy concoctions they forced into her to subdue her after her abduction.
He was told to go with them. He was supposed to make sure she was unharmed, to talk to her in her language. But no, the animals had gone to retrieve her without him. Maybe the infernal Prince had changed his mind; in this, he was right. Sedrick knew himself well enough; he most likely would not have gone through with kidnapping this beautiful angel.
Sedrick shook his head in despair as he saw her start to cry and scream, muffled, pitiful behind the gag in her mouth. The poor woman was terrified. Unbidden, imagined images of the capture of his own beloved wife cut through his brain, making him stand up and pace before her, guilt eating him alive.
Good lord, I can't do this. This is worse than wrong. This is torture for me, and her. Montague, you are a devil. You have ensnared, entrapped so many; you use blackmail to achieve your ends, evil and effective. You putrid, disgusting being. Must I be forced to trade the freedom of this woman for that of my family? Why must I have to do this, to make this awful decision?
These thoughts flowed through his head as he watched her horrified eyes glue themselves to him. Her body shook with fear. He squatted down, holding his hands out before him.
"My lady, please, calm down. I mean you no harm. I know it is hard to believe it, but I am afraid you have no choice but to trust that what I say is truth." He spoke with a soft, gentle tone, trying to soften her glance.
The horror in her eyes did not change. She began to look around at the room, and he watched her eyes close in despair, her body shaking with sobs. He did not know the woman's name, but suspected it…
"Is your name Elaine?" He asked, afraid to find out the answer. She raised her head, eyes wide in shock. The answer was plain. Sedrick closed his eyes and shook his head, dropping his head onto his open hand.
"The bastard!" He said, in a pained, intense whisper. The terror had been planning this, the thievery of his most sought after jewel, Lady Elaine, for some time now. Sedrick heard mumbling coming from the bed. He looked up and saw the woman's brows knitting. She was trying to talk, struggling with her bonds.
"I will take the gag off now. Please, do not scream. No one who can rescue you will hear. You will only hurt your voice and cause me great discomfort. I am already in hell, my lady," he confessed. He kept his distance and looked at her intensely.
Sedrick saw the fright turn into confusion after several moments. And then he saw her look at him, beginning to believe his promise not to hurt her. She eyed him with suspicion, her eyes still unfocussed, the lids drooping slightly. Slowly, Elaine nodded. Sedrick moved to her slowly and untied her gag gingerly. It was barely from her mouth when she started her borage of questions.
"Who the hell are you and why did you do this to me? What do you want from me? You cant get away with this! You wretch! They will come to look for me, I swear! You will be dead when they do! If you try to do anything to me I will fight to the death!" She said, her fire shielding her from her fear. She shot him looks filled with daggers.
Sedrick backed up, closing his eyes as each statement stung him. She eventually ceased her borage of complaints, panting, angry and fearful again. Elaine did not know how to deal with his lack of reaction.
"Are you quite through accusing me of things I did not nor do I intend to do?" he said, coolly. He had to admire her spirit. His statement had obviously taken her by surprise. Several seconds later, she spoke again.
"If you are not guilty as you say, let me go! To allow something to come to pass is to agree with it by default, Sir! Please, if there is a scrap of decency in you…" she started.
"Decency?" Sedrick said, in a rough voice. He approached her with wild eyes as he sucked breath through clenched teeth. He was upon her swiftly and she pulled back, a small shriek coming from her lips as she trembled, pressing herself back against the headboard.
Sedrick's body shook with sudden rage. "Decency has been beaten, ripped out of my hide over the last few months. I have been forced to sell my soul to the devil by the devil's chief apprentice himself! I was a good man, now I am naught but the monster's errand boy! I no longer have decency as one of my qualities miss!" He hissed at her as she trembled. He strode away in anger to the far end of the room, nursing the dull ache his outburst was causing within him. The evil was infecting him.
How could I yell like that? She did not deserve it. Sedrick gave a long, quavering sigh.
"Forgive me," he said, not turning around. A tense silence wafted in the room, the shadows dancing, thrown against the walls by the trembling flames in the candelabras.
"What monster, Sir?" said Elaine in an intense, low voice. A new dread permeated her bones. Sedrick looked back at her.
"Montague." He said. Elaine drew in a breath of disbelief then her shock and anger exploded, frustration wetting her cheeks.
"God damn him! I don't believe he would try something this ludicrous! Is he completely mad?" She said, shaking violently. She trembled because deep in her heart, she knew that it was none other than the vile Prince that could have been responsible for this. Everybody saw his evil, and his madness approaching, blooming for years. Nobody did anything about it.
"One word. Yes. He is completely mad. Mad and evil, my Lady," Sedrick said. "I beg you, heed my warning: do not underestimate or appose him. Please, I cannot bear to see you get hurt, for I will have to be the one to deal with the aftermath. I have been charged with your wellbeing." With those words came the look of deep, genuine anguish over his face, a drawn expression of exhaustion. He turned his light eyes away from her.
"Why do you help him? My wellbeing? I will be much better off miles away from him! Surely I can pay you more than he." Elaine said, looking at Sedrick with betrayal in her eyes. From what little interaction they had, all her instincts told her this man was a good man inside. His position of kidnapper did not meld with who she felt he was. He shot her a look of sheer hurt.
"I have no choice, my Lady. No money would bid me do this. He holds the lives of my wife and son over my head, insuring my tortured, yet continued obedience." He said, in a low voice. A sudden unwelcome pang of dread and panic rose within her, threatening to burst her already throbbing head.
"Oh my god, Roland!" she gasped, trying to rise from the bed, her eyes wide.
"Who is Roland?" Sedrick said, turning and walking towards her. She cowered back, for he wore weapons around his belt, and was a rather imposing figure up close. Sedrick crouched back down, realizing that his large frame looming before her would frighten her unnecessarily, especially in her disoriented state.
"My son!" she said weakly, pressing her bound hands to her face and bursting into tears anew. She felt a firm hand on her leg and struggled against him, until she saw his intent. He was using a knife to free her legs from their tie; quickly, but expertly sawing at the rope, his fingers closer to danger than her skin. In moments her legs were free and he held his rather large hand out to do the same to the ties on her wrists. As he removed the ropes, he spoke softly.
"I do not know about your son." Sedrick's heart ached within him. He had lied, to a degree. He was sure, as history had shown, that Montague would have taken her son as well if possible. Montague knew that the best guarantee of compliance was to threaten the lives of innocents, particularly innocents dear to you. She pulled back her hands and massaged the sore skin looking intently at Sedrick.
"Thank you…" Elaine said softly, after staring at her wrists for a few moments. It all seemed so unreal; she hoped but soon to awaken from this horrible dream. But the marks on her skin. Those were real.
"I am Sedrick. I wish our meeting was under different pretenses." He said, his head hanging a bit. He motioned behind a little partition. "Here is a bathing area with some clothing in the little room off to the side. There, you will be able to freshen up in private. I wish you to be as comfortable as possible, given the circumstances."
"That, as you know Sedrick, is impossible." She said. He looked at her and nodded.
"I will return with fresh water shortly, my lady." He swallowed hard, knowing what horrors lay in store for Elaine beyond the doors that led to the Prince's bed.
Be strong, Elaine, until I can figure something out to help all of us escape. This has gone too far. He though.
Sedrick walked heavily out of the Countess suite, the weight of the world upon his shoulders. He held the shackles of this Angel, and the lives of two boys and his Annabel in his grasp.