Captive of Desire by Becky Lee Weyrich

Author:Becky Lee Weyrich
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION/Romance/General
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2014-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

For days Zephromae’s trials continued. Mog never tired of her, and seemed determined that she would bear him a son. Never did she know a moment’s peace.

Zephromae caught fleeting glimpses of Kontar occasionally when Mog paraded her around his camp. The priest always avoided her eyes and never spoke. She learned that he was being kept with the women. The goat-men sniggered openly over this epitome of degradation to his manhood. But Zephromae felt relieved that he was there. Still the problem remained: How was she to get him away from the far cave, to escape with her when the time came? A plan formed in her mind.

She took a new tack with Mog, pretending she now found him appealing and desired his attention. His ego swelled with her new attitude toward him, and she was given more freedom. She was no longer tied down to sleep. One night she waited until his loud snores told her it was safe to move. Then she slipped back into the hidden recesses at the rear of Mog’s lair.

Zephromae had questioned him earlier about the small opening leading back into the rocks and received a surprising answer from the all-powerful Mog. “Don’t speak of that place, and never go there! It’s the beast’s territory. As long as I take only my share of the cave, he lets me live. But from time to time, he warns me. His hot, foul breath comes pouring out of the opening, and I hear him grumbling in his displeasure.” Mog shuddered—the first time Zephromae had seen him show anything akin to fear.

“What kind of beast, Mog?”

He waved her question and the subject aside. “Never mind. Just don’t disturb him!” he ordered.

Zephromae took a torch from the wall and approached the opening cautiously. True, there was an acrid odor coming from beyond, but she heard nothing. Quietly she slipped inside the narrow passage. She held the torch up to see what lay ahead of her—only darkness. Inching her way on, she felt a familiar hollowness underfoot. Could this be the entrance to another mountain burial site?

The fumes became stronger, and she heard the rumbling noise Mog had described. Intense heat engulfed her. Her eyes filled with tears from the stinging fumes, and she almost slipped into a bubbling shaft in her blindness. Her cry was lost in the sounds of the boiling lava pit. Bringing the torch closer, she watched the grayish mass rise in smooth mounds to burst with loud pops as the escaping gases from deep inside the mountain surged to the surface.

So this was Mog’s monster—an active volcano, indeed threatening him, more dangerous than any mythical beast he might have imagined.

Carefully skirting the deadly pool, Zephromae moved deeper into the cave. The fumes became thicker, making breathing more difficult. Then, suddenly, a draft of fresh air swept the sulfurous fog away. She hurried now toward its source. There, among the rocks, she found it. Escape lay just beyond the torture chamber she’d been forced to cohabit with Mog for the past days.

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