Suzenne smiled, then hugged her again.
They sat at the one spare table in the room and spoke for hours after that—about Muirwood and how the Leerings had helped save the abbey. About the men they loved. And even though the cell was cold, they soon forgot the chill. For a while, it felt like they were back at the Aldermaston’s manor in Muirwood, talking late into the afternoon.
Captain Trefew came for them after sunset.
They had just finished their simple meal, so Maia assumed the footsteps belonged to their jailor, come to remove the dishes. But when the jailor opened the door, he was accompanied by Trefew and five soldiers, each heavily armed. The captain had a leer on his face, a look of delight and savagery that turned Maia’s stomach.
“Bring them,” he ordered two of the guards near him.
“Where are you taking us?” Maia asked, her stomach churning with panic.
“Not to the gallows, if that is what you fear,” he answered smugly, the light in his eyes making her worry all the more. “Soon, though.”
“Where?” Maia pressed.
Trefew chuckled and motioned for the guards. Each was a salty man, very rugged in appearance—fair hair and blue eyes indicated origins in Naess. They wore the uniform of the king’s guard, but bore the slovenly appearance of dungeon keepers.
One of them grabbed Maia by the arm, his grip painfully hard as he dragged her from the cell. Suzenne received the same treatment from another guard, and they were paraded down the hall in front of the other cells. Because of the sunset, there were torches—no Leerings—to light the way. She smelled spoiled meat and sickness, which not even the heavy pitch smoke could quite conceal. The soldiers marched them down the hall toward a cluster of six more guards who awaited them in front of a closed door.
“Suzenne! Maia!”
She jerked her head toward the sound of the noise and saw Dodd straining at the bars of his cell, his eyes wide with fury and concern. Manacles secured his wrists and ankles, and the metal cuffs jangled and echoed throughout the tower. His shirt was stained and scuffed and his dark hair was sweaty and tousled. He pulled against the solid bars, trying to achieve the impossible and shake them loose.
“Do not fret about your lady friends,” Trefew said, pausing at the bars. His expression twisted with malicious glee. “That one is your lass, is she not? A beauty. We will handle her gently for you. Rest assured.”
“If you touch her . . .” Dodd warned savagely.
Trefew laughed in his face. “What, Maston? Will you raze the tower walls with your powers? Wilt me like a dried reed?” He spit in Dodd’s face suddenly, his smile melting into hate. “We will treat them kindly. The Aldermaston wants them checked for certain marks.” Maia stiffened, and a sickening feeling wrenched her stomach. “I am sure they will oblige us willingly enough. Now back in your corner, whelp.” He reached through the bars and shoved Dodd back with his hand. Dodd did not fall, for he was sturdily built, but his nostrils flared with rage and he clenched his hands into fists.
The group of soldiers continued to pull Maia and Suzenne down the hall.
“Take Deorwynn’s two brats into the girls’ room,” Trefew ordered some of the guards. “We will bring up the two gowns after they have disrobed. They will not be coming back up here tonight.”
“Yes, Captain,” one of the soldiers said. He marched over to another set of cells near Dodd’s, where Murer and Jolecia hung back from the bars. As the girls were pulled out of their prison, Maia caught a glance from Murer, whose face was ashen and whose dress was of a far lesser quality than the last one she had seen her wear. Their eyes met, and Murer looked both humbled and pitiful.
The guards at the end of the hall opened the door, and Dodd let out a groan of impotent rage, the sound of which was silenced as the thick wooden door was thrust shut behind them. Maia felt the mewling of the Myriad Ones all around them in the dark confinement of the corridor. The soldiers were grim faced and silent. Trefew walked ahead of them, his expression turning wary at every intersection. Finally he paused before a door, tapped on it gently, and then waited as the lock was opened from the inside.
Maia glanced at Suzenne, and saw that her friend was white as milk with fear. Her own stomach twisted with dread as she imagined the humiliation they would be forced to endure. The door opened, leading to another hallway in the mazelike keep. Leerings provided the only illumination in the darkened corridor, and Maia was tempted to extinguish them all, but she decided not to risk antagonizing her captors further.