Abducted [W&W Book 3]

Chapter 46

For a long time Ildri sat by herself in the dusty, flickering light and tried to plan what she might do to free herself. There were so many questions in her mind. She had no idea where she was. She did not know what would happen, or how long they would leave her there. She had nothing to use, they had clearly searched her while she slept as her potions were no longer tied to her arm. Her cloak was missing, too. None of them would likely have gotten her out of the cell even if she did have them.

There was not much in her cell, either. The floor was covered in straw, there was a hard pallet in the corner and a pot next to it. No ingredients for potions, nothing that she could possibly use.

Ildri told herself that she would somehow find a way.

* * * * *

Time dragged by and Ildri began to worry that she had been thrown down into the cell to die. It did not make sense, because surely it would have been easier for Saul to just kill her there. Why take her to a prison to die? Unless he had meant to let her live and someone else had decided differently. She remembered clearly how casually they had decided to get rid of her before. But surely there were more efficient ways to go about it...

It was impossible to know. But she was getting thirsty and her stomach was growling. Surely they would at least feed her? What was their plan for her?

Ildri thought she would go mad by the time someone came down to her. She scrambled to her feet and looked at her company. He did not look much older than she was.

"Here you go," he announced as he set a tin dish and cup through the bars.

"Thank you," Ildri said. The dish had the most disgusting, watered down swill she had ever seen. Her stomach rolled.

"So you're awake," he commented with a little smile. His clothes made him look like a soldier but his face still looked like a boy's.

"I am," she agreed. He seemed surprisingly nice. How odd, she had imagined all of Scelus to be terrible, but he seemed so much like herself. Maybe it would be okay to ask him questions. "Where am I?"

"I don't know if I should tell you that."

"But I am in Scelus, right? In a prison?"

"I guess."

"So do you know how long I'll be here for?"

"No idea."

"Can I at least know your name?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I guess that would not hurt. I'm Landon."

"I'm Ildri," she told him.

"Yeah, we were told."

"Hurry up, Landon!" snapped a voice from somewhere above.

"Got to go," he said and headed up.

Ildri sighed. She wondered if there was some way to trick him into helping her. Probably not. Maybe she could convince him that she was helpless. It was not far from the truth.

Ildri gingerly picked up the spoon in the thin gruel. Just looking at it made her feel like throwing up again. She set it back down, drained the cup of water and sat down in the middle of the floor.

Ildri tried to think of something to do. In the end, all she could think of was that she needed something, an ingredient, a tool. She scoured the cell, stone by stone and bar by bar looking for something that might be loose or that she could pry free to use as a weapon when she escaped. She found nothing.

After a while the wall sconces burned themselves out and she was plunged into total blackness. Ildri huddled in the corner with her arms wrapped around her legs and tried to keep panic from setting in. She was going to find a way out of this mess. She was not going to be helpless.