Saving Aeron

Muddy

Eyes closed, Brigh took stock of her body and her location. The air felt cold and damp; the floor was hard. She heard the hum of electricity far away and lots of movement outside of where ever she was. Her body was sore and her wrists and ankles were weighted. She slowly opened her eyes but the darkness didn't recede. It just grew with slits of light bouncing off of dripping water or inbetween cracks in the door and rocks.

Rhigan whimpered. The shackles on Brigh had been laced with wolfsbane. If she scratched herself, the poison would get into her bloodstream. As long as she didn't have any open wounds, the wolfsbane would keep Rhigan sedated and not kill her.

Of course, she was naked. They had broken in when she had finished her shower and she had shifted to help Kai, Fynlee, and Gavin. She didn't remember seeing them as the world faded to black when she jumped out of the bathroom.

Moving slowly across the hard, wet floor, she crawled towards the lights leaking in through the cracks around what she assumed was the door. The texture was hard and rough, heavy as she pushed against it and it gave no movement. The weight of the chains holding her down strained her muscles as she carefully felt her way around in the darkness.

Warm flesh, damp and still, but still a heartbeat met her fingertips. She followed the soft clothes, moving closer to the sound of breath. “Hello?” A slight whimper from the still body helped her find her way to the head. “Fyn?”

“Kai.” His voice, low and gravelly, bounced off the stones around them. “Brigh, you OK?”

“I’m moving. I’ve got shackles on my wrists and ankles. I think they might be laced with wolfsbane.”

“I’ve got at least one gash on my face, maybe a few more on my chest. Be careful.”

She moved back, pulling the chains away from his body. “What happened? Where’s Fynlee and Gavin?”

He groaned as he pulled himself up, breathy shivers escaping his lips as he leaned against the wall. “Fynlee was still fighting when I lost consciousness. Gavin was down but I don't know if he is OK or not.” Brigh kept her attention focused on Kai, even if she couldn’t see him, she felt like she could see him. The more he talked, the brighter the room became. “Fergus was there but he wasn’t doing anything. They weren’t wolves, but they weren’t warlocks either. They fought hard. They had weapons- not guns, clubs and bats.” He paused. “You’re glowing.”

“I doubt it.” She thought of the few times anyone had told her she was glowing- most of it was around being in love.

“No, your skin is literally glowing.”

No wonder she could see him, she thought, as she looked down at her hands. There was a light not coming from her but around her. All to quickly, she saw what the darkness had hidden. The wet walls glistened and reflected the light as water dripped from the ceiling to the ground, sometimes snaking its way into cracks and crevices that came naturally to the erosion of rocks and also into the deep grooves carved by frantic hands.. Kai lay huddled in the corner, his clothes stained with blood and his face swollen with dark blue hues blooming under the surface. The gash on his head went from his eye to past his hairline. She wanted to clean his face but worried about getting too close with the poisoned shackles.

She looked away before she burst into tears. The door was heavy, reinforced oak with tiny slits of light. There was no knob or anyway, to grasp hold of the door and pull it open.

"How are your hands?" She pulled the slack of the iron rings towards her.

"Fine. Why?" He pulled himself to an upright position, favoring his left leg.

"I'm going to need you to reset my wrists after I dislodge my thumb to get out of these."

"You'll shatter your wrist."

"I heal quickly." And she was also used to dislocating joints just to test the limits of her pain tolerance. She had been learning how to since her wedding, trying to prepare herself for any eventuality. Unfortunately, just as laying her head on the chopping block had been a surprise she wasn't prepared for, her sister and her husband found new ways to flabbergast her.

The crack of her bones ricocheted off the walls around them, hitting her two-fold as the pain radiated up her arm and then again in between her ears. Slowly, she slipped her dangling hands through the tight cuffs and made her way to Kai.

Even though he looked a little green, he took her hands and reset her thumbs. The muffled pop jolted through her arms, threatening to shade her consciousness. With her hands free, she had to find a way to pop her feet out of the leg fetters. They were heavy and felt like gravity was pulling her into the ground, but they were loose. She wiggled her ankles.

Kai shoved his bloody shirt in front of her. "Here." She paused, holding the shirt near her feet, wondering how the wet cloth would help her break the chains, until she realized he had offered it so she could cover up. Blushing, she pulled the shirt over her head. It fit like a short dress.

She scraped her skin against the poisoned metal as she pulled her feet free and then quickly rubbed dirty water over her open wounds to keep the wolfsbane from getting into her bloodstream. "Can you walk?"

Kai rose to his feet and wobbled. "My head's swimming but my legs work."

"When they come in, I'm going to jump them. You have to get out the door, find anything we'll need and then we'll look for Gavin and Fyn."