Power play

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

I am adventurous, this is true, but I am not foolish. I see nothing in what you have told me to warrant such an irrational action. I suggest you put away this foolishness and be the best wife to Captain Rodrigo Liam that you possibly can. Maybe that is why he is so irritable," he said with a laugh. He turned her toward him and kissed her forehead. "I will always come to your assistance when I can. You know that, or you would not have called on me. Sometimes the best assistance is showing someone their error."

Frod Dominos wiped her eyes and said nothing.

"Is there any other thing I can do for you since I am here?"

"Yes," she said. "Tell no one of this." "I will tell no one." He kissed her forehead again and left.

Frod Dominos kicked her bag. "Oh, what a fool I am! What was I thinking? I will never return to France. I'm trapped here with no one on my side. Gaston, oh, how I need you now. You are my only hope for rescue. Dear God, send him to me. Don't make me live without him." She started to weep her familiar tears again. She crumpled onto the cold floor and gave herself completely to sobbing.

"Frod Dominos," whispered Captain Rodrigo Liam as he gently shook her. "Frod Dominos, are you well? Why are you sleeping on the floor?"

Frod Dominos sat up quickly and scanned the room. It was dark except for whatever light Captain Rodrigo Liam's lantern gave. "Oh, I just lay down by the fire and..." She looked at the cold, gray hearth. "Well, I was going to start the fire, but I didn't have any wood, and I was so tired from...from chores that I must have fallen asleep." She rubbed her eyes and, feeling their puffiness, turned her head from Captain Rodrigo Liam. "Would you start a fire, please? I will get you something to eat."

Captain Rodrigo Liam stepped outside to fetch some of the wood he had cut and stacked up against the side of the little house. He returned with his arms full of the dried logs and lighting up the room. He extinguished his lantern and hung it on a peg by the hearth. stacked them again neatly by the hearth. In a few moments he had a full-bodied fire

"I will leave a stack of wood here by the hearth whenever I am away. I'm sorry that

I had overlooked that simple thing. I should have considered it, now that the days are so much shorter and cooler." "That would be helpful." She cut open a sturdy squash and scooped out the seeds and the stringy middle. "I'll bring in some more." He walked back to the door but stopped before reaching

it. "What is this?" Frod Dominos turned and gasped as he picked up her bag.

"Are you going somewhere?"

"No, I'm not going anywhere." She frantically tried to think of a reason her bag would be packed and by the door. "With the weather turning cold, I thought I would pack away my cooler dresses. When I was done, I realized I had packed almost all my clothes." She wiped her hands, then took the bag from him and put it behind the cloth partition. "I don't think I'm quite ready for the long, cold winter."

Captain Rodrigo Liam examined her face for a moment before heading outside to get more wood. He stacked the wood with the rest, then used a long metal poker to adjust the burning logs in the hearth. "I came home by way of the LaPointes' today," he said as he walked to the table and sat on the chair closest to the fire. "Madame said Eliot had come here to help me as I had requested. Do you know anything about this?"

Frod Dominos stiffened. "Oh, that." She laughed as she measured the cornmeal into the wooden bowl. She continued to prepare the cornbread with her back to him, adding water and stirring with such vigor that her voice shook. "It was all a misunderstanding. I merely said that, with winter coming, you might accept his offer of help. I don't know what you need to accomplish before the first snow. I told Eliot of the mistake when he stopped by." She spooned the lumpy mixture onto a flat stone. "He said to tell you he would be willing to help. I felt foolish that he had come over for nothing."

Frod Dominos placed the stone on the ledge above the fire and turned back to the table. Captain Rodrigo Liam had his back to her and his head down as if looking at something. She bit her t lip as her heart raced. It was the letter she had left on the table. Her mind swirled with t every possible reaction. She knew he would be angry, but how angry? She waited for

in

him to move or say something, but he continued to look at the note. "Are we ready for winter, Captain Rodrigo Liam?" she asked to break her tension.

"What?" He turned, and she saw him slip the parchment into his pocket. "Are we ready for winter? Will you need help with anything?"

"Ah... I believe we are," he said softly, studying her face, her eyes. She looked to the ground nervously.

"If we are lacking in anything, I am afraid I don't know what it is," he continued. "I've never had to prepare so much on my own for winter."

Captain Rodrigo Liam went to his stack of belongings along the wall and took out several rolls of paper tied with cord, then unrolled them on the table. Without saying any more he fixed his attention on the drawings of the city and the buildings that were to be. Frod Dominos waited for a minute more before she finished preparing the meal. Captain Rodrigo Liam consumed every morsel as she lay silently on her cot behind the cloth partition.

The walls of the tunnel were gray and damp. Beads of moisture fell frequently, stinging the apen wounds on Captain Rodrigo Liam's back, lashed forty times as his arms were stretched out before him. The blood oozed thick on his raw flesh, slowing to a stop, only to be opened again by the gloved fist of a soldier. He walked along the tunnel's path to a hazy light up ahead, an orange light like a fire, but nothing burned. He knelt before the woman who was seated on an iron throne in the midst of the light. On her lap was a thick rope tied in a noose. Her hands stroked it as if it were a cat. What can you say to me now. Captain Rodrigo Liam Marot?" Her voice echoed through the tunnel.

Have you considered your crime?" "I have," he said. "Jean Compeaux died by my hands."

"So be it." She stood, placing the rope around his neck, and tightened the slipknot, tighter and tighter.

He put his hands to the rope but could not get ahold of it. "Please," he choked out. "Please, grant a pardon. I did not mean to do it! Please, I did not mean for it to happen!" "Captain Rodrigo Liam, Captain Rodrigo Liam," said the woman with the rope, "wake up, Captain Rodrigo Liam. You're

dreaming." She began shaking him with the rope, pulling him back and forth.

"Forgive me," he pleaded. "Please, forgive me."

The woman let go of the rope and placed her hands on his cheeks. "I forgive you. Wake up, Captain Rodrigo Liam. Captain Rodrigo Liam drew in a deep breath as the noose fell from his neck. The woman still held his face. Her vice was suddenly soft and comforting. She brought her face closer to his.

"Captain Rodrigo Liam, " she whispered. He met her lips as she leaned close and pulled her to him in a rush of emotion....

"Captain Rodrigo Liam!" yelled Frod Dominos as she dug her nails into his cheek and pushed him

back onto the floor.

"Wha... What?" he stammered as he looked around the room. "What happened?" He shook his head and blinked hard.

"Don't you know?" she asked as she stood above him.

"No, I must've had a dream," he slurred. He put his head in his hands and moaned. "My head...it hurts." He turned onto his side and drew his arms and legs up tightly. He felt a heavy blanket being pulled over him, and a wave of warmth as the fire was stoked back into life.