The guards brought Antoinette through many dark, smoky passages and up a long, winding stair. At the very top of the stair, they opened a thick wooden door and entered a chamber that had one small cell within it. They roughly dragged her into the bare cell which smelled of dust, rot, and worse things; locked manacles around her ankles; and chained her to a ring embedded in the cold stone floor. A wall of iron bars divided the chamber, and the Paragor Knights locked her in. Finally, they slammed the wooden chamber door behind them. Antoinette heard a faint metallic click, and she knew they had locked the chamber door too.
There was one small window. When Antoinette dragged her chains to their full extent, she was able to look out. But she found the view inside her cell much more to her liking. For the window looked out upon the Grimwalk in the land of Paragory. Antoinette sighed and twisted at the silver ring the merchant had given her in Baen. At that point in her journey she had still been able to convince herself that going after Kearn was a noble thing. Now, the grim reality was all too clear.
Antoinette had betrayed her commander, her friends, and her King. She had failed to keep her promise to Aidan. Robby’s Glimpse was not willing to turn his allegiance from Paragor and accept King Eliam. Antoinette slid away from the window, dropped to her knees, and curled into a ball. And there she shivered upon the stone until at last she fell asleep.
“A morsel, my dear,” said a voice. Antoinette woke with a start and scrambled to the back of the cell.
“Come now,” the voice said. A metal tray scraped along the stone floor. On it was meat and bread. A dark boot nudged it into the light from the window. “You must eat. You must build your strength for the trial to come.”
Antoinette suddenly knew the voice. “Kearn!”
“Yes, it is I,” he replied. He stepped out of the shadows and peered out the window of her cell.
“What have you done with Aelic?” she screamed.
“What have I done?” he said, turning and walking toward the cell door. “Why, I have done nothing. His fate is a result of your actions.”
“Nooo!” Antoinette moaned and sank to the floor. “Why didn’t you just kill me too?” she whispered.
Kearn stepped out of the cell, locked its door of iron bars, but paused at the huge wooden chamber door. His eyes flickered red, and he replied, “I keep asking myself that same question.”
