Labyrinth

Author:Kate Mosse [Mosse, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian, Action & Adventure, General, Fantasy, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780425213971
Google: ojhm1IJv0DkC
Amazon: 0425213978
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Published: 2007-02-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 41

Shelagh had grown accustomed to the dark.

She was being held in a stable or animal pen of some sort. There was a sharp, acrid smell of droppings, urine, straw and a sweet sickly odour, like rancid meat. A strip of white light showed under the door, but she couldn’t tell if it was late afternoon or early morning. She wasn’t even sure what day it was.

The rope around her legs chafed, irritating the raw, broken skin on her ankles. Her wrists were tied together and she was tethered to one of several metal rings attached to the wall.

Shelagh shifted position, trying to get comfortable. Insects were crawling across her hands and face. She was covered in bites. Her wrists were sore where the rope was rubbing and her shoulders were stiff where her arms had been pulled back for so long. Mice or rats scuttled in the straw in the corners of the pen, but she’d become accustomed to them in the same way she’d ceased to notice the pain.

If only she’d rung Alice. Another mistake. Shelagh wondered if Alice had kept trying or given up. If she rang the site house and found she was missing, she’d realise something was wrong, wouldn’t she? What about Yves? Would Brayling have called the police . . . ?

Shelagh felt her eyes well up. More likely they didn’t realise she was missing. Several of her colleagues had announced their intention to take off for a few days until the situation was resolved. Maybe they thought she’d done the same.

She had gone beyond hunger some time back, but she was thirsty. She felt as if she’d swallowed a block of sandpaper. The small amount of water they’d given her had gone and her lips were cracked where she’d licked them, over and over. She tried to remember how long a normal, healthy person could survive without water. A day? A week?

Shelagh heard the scrunch of the gravel. Her heart contracted and adrenalin surged through her, as it did every time she heard a sound outside. Until now, nobody had come in.

She pulled herself up into a sitting position as the padlock was unlocked. There was a heavy clunk as the chain fell, folding up on itself, in spirals of dull chatter, then the sound of the door juddering on its hinges. Shelagh turned her face away as sunlight, aggressively bright, burst into the gloom of the hut and a dark, stocky man ducked under the lintel. He was wearing a jacket, despite the heat, and his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. Instinctively, Shelagh shrank back against the wall, ashamed of the tight knot of fear in her stomach.

The man crossed the hut in two strides. He grabbed the rope and dragged her to her feet. He produced a knife from his pocket.

Shelagh flinched, tried to pull away. ‘Non,’ she whispered. ‘Please.’ She despised the pleading tone of her voice, but couldn’t help it. Terror had stripped her pride away.

He smiled as he brought the blade close to her throat, revealing rotten teeth stained yellow from smoking.

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