Long Live the King by Diana Knightley

Author:Diana Knightley [Knightley, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-27T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 39 - ASH

THE PAST

Everything hurt. I woke up in the dark, very dark, dark, total darkness. I said, in a whisper, “Hello?” No sound. Or rather, no sound nearby, I…I was under something very heavy. Like a weighted blanket… I inhaled. It smelled old and musty, thick and not laundered... a piece of it tickled my nose. A fur? The top of my head was cold in the air. Where the heck was I? I put out my hand and felt a cold wall beside me.

There was no hum. It sounded like I was camping in nowhere, just the sounds of night, and a… faintly, the lowing of a cow. The steps of an animal.

I felt blind. I concentrated, adjust your eyes… but I couldn’t make out anything. I moved my head around, looking out different directions, and noticed a pale gray space. A window. I focused on it but couldn’t determine anything outside.

I was in a cabin of some kind. Was I in the woods? Oh my God, I was being trafficked.

I started to panic, stomach dropping, heart racing, tried to draw in breath, but it was short and ragged. I was frozen, but wanted to look out that window. My eyes faced it, but I couldn’t make myself move. It was like being separate from my body. I needed to see. I needed to look.

Go go go go.

If I was in Yulee or some other place in the county I needed to get the heck out of here.

Go go go.

I could get out the window. I could smash the glass.

Go.

I lay there staring at the square of paleness, thinking of nothing but the racing-heart horror of what might be happening to me. Sound was muffled, except I could hear my breaths and racing heart pounding in my ears.

But then I calmed myself. Deep breath, in, then out.

This was fubar, but I could handle it. Go.

I threw back the bed covers and scrambled up from the bed. I was in my boots, wearing my work clothes still, a long cargo skirt and a short sleeve shirt, and immediately started shivering. I rushed to the window, but it looked weird. I pressed my hands against it, and it felt like parchment paper over an open window with no glass. Weird. I pushed on it, and tore it away from the side. No wonder it was cold in the room — it was a cold night, brisk and chilly.

A cloud moved away from the moon and the landscape glowed. I could see a grassy lawn, and ringing that, high timber walls. Beyond, I could see the tops of dark trees, a forest? Did I recognize it?

I held the parchment up and looked to the right and left, seeing a few low buildings. I recognized nothing.

I tried to think of where it could be that there was a timber wall... nowhere?

I had explored a lot of Nassau county but didn’t remember anything like this at all. Also, chillingly, the air felt different, the smells.

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