บท 43: Chapter 43: Silver Chains

Ravyn POV

Someone had thrown a cloth over her head. A gray cloth. She could barely see anything. She smelled something burning. Her head felt like someone had dropped a weight on it. She tried to reach up, to touch her head to check for blood or a lump.

Her arms would only move a few inches. Chains rattled.

She blinked and the gray cloth disappeared. Walls made of dark gray stone surrounded her. She glanced down and shrieked at the chains around her wrists.

Silver chains were hanging from a ring on the wall behind her. She knew in a second that they were enchanted and unbreakable. She summoned up her power and only managed to light the room enough to see everyone's faces. Still, that was something.

Though her head felt heavy and hurt like h*ll, she turned her head to the left to see Dane, his face twisted in agony. She didn't need to look at him to know he, too, had been chained to the wall with silver. Lilia sat dejectedly beside him, also chained with silver.

Why the silver chains on her and Lilia? Marieke knew they weren't shifters.

How could the woman betray them all like that? How could she risk Daxius' wrath?

She tried to feel Jude, and only felt unconsciousness. At least he was alive. She turned her head with great effort and didn't see Jude or Daxius in the room.

"Dane? Lilia?"

Dane grunted. "Forgive me if I don't move."

He stretched out his hands and Ravyn gasped in horror to see the burned flesh of his arms around the chain. "Goddess, Dane! Let me help you!"

"I wish you could."

She lifted her hands and dropped them immediately when she felt a burning sensation start.

"Of course," she said aloud. "Just like the silver flask–Lilia couldn't pick it up."

"The chains are only silver alloy." Lilia smiled bitterly. "Otherwise Dane would have been burned to a crisp, as much as he struggled."

Ravyn's mind wrestled with their situation. "Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to imprison all of us … and they evidently know a lot about us."

"All because your father's taste in women has gotten worse," Dane growled. "Ravyn was right not to trust that … that … HUMAN."

Ravyn couldn't even manage a response to that. "Where are we?"

"I imagine the tower Daxius mentioned," Lilia said in a subdued voice.

"How long have we been here?" Ravyn asked.

"Who knows?" Lilia seemed irritable.

"They mentioned we'd been 'asleep' for one day before that," Dane commented.

"Oh. That's right." Lilia seemed relieved.

Now that the issue was settled, Ravyn gasped as a realization struck her. "Duffy! Where's Duffy? And Jude and Daxius?"

Lilia smiled thinly. "The human said that 'the Master' had plans for Daxius and Jude. As for Duffy, he got away. Maybe he hid under a mushroom or in a molehill."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Dane said with a note of admiration. "That gnome is part wolf. Ravyn, do you sense Jude? Is he in pain?"

"He's unconscious," Ravyn sighed.

Dane grunted. "At least he's still alive. Anyone who knows Alphas will tell you Jude is the toughest of the lot–even more than Jiro and me."

What a relief.

"Who is this 'Master'?" Ravyn asked.

Dane gnashed his teeth. "It's not Marieke, from what I can see. She's just a helper–her only interest is Daxius. At least in my opinion."

Ravyn chewed her lip. "So, she betrayed us out of love for him?"

"Out of something, anyway," Lilia muttered darkly. "I don't know if it's love."

"It's a powerful motivator," Ravyn argued. "Let's not forget, she's been alone on this island, marooned, for years."

Dane snorted. "So she says. And you believe her now?"

Ravyn didn't back down. "I knew something wasn't right, but I sensed she was telling the truth about being stranded here."

"But Daxius left the island," Dane argued.

"Maybe she likes it here?" Ravyn knew she was grasping at straws. "Or maybe even with a boat or teleportation, she's still trapped here?"

* * * * *

Lilia POV

The smell of Dane's burnt flesh made her sick to her stomach, and that was on top of what she was experiencing.

No one told her that being chained with silver when bonded with a wolf would HURT so much. No wonder she avoided touching anything that even looked like it was made of silver.

Marieke knew about shifters–she must be aware of their weaknesses. She had a lot of explaining to do. Did she do what she did all out of love for Daxius? And what was his role in everything? Was he really a prisoner, or conspiring with Marieke to serve this "Master?" Or was it something even more sinister?

"Could my father be this 'Master'?" she asked.

Dane huffed. "It wouldn't surprise me."

Ravyn chewed her lip. "She didn't act like Cyran did with Absalom, though. She acted more like a lover than an apprentice–or a servant."

Dane ground his teeth, "I hate it when you're logical, Ravyn."

She felt a gentle wave of relief through the bond. During their journey, Dane had sincerely tried to get along with Daxius for her sake and Ravyn's sake–he'd even sat next to him during dinner at the inn.

Lilia breathed a sigh of relief. "You make sense, Mother. All the sense in the world. But is Marieke this 'Master'?"

Ravyn shook her head. "I doubt it. She's human, and I didn't detect a shred of magical power in her. These chains are enchanted. Besides, she seems nervous."

"That could be an act," Dane pointed out. "And maybe she was able to get her hands on magical chains."

"Being marooned here?" Lilia raised an eyebrow. "And why didn't my father take her with him to the shifter lands? Something doesn't add up. Was she a prisoner, too?"

Ravyn's eyes opened wide. "She said something about breaking the curse 'for us.' I thought that she was talking about their freedom to get married. Maybe she, too, became cursed."

"But he could leave the island, and she couldn't," Lilia countered.

This debate was clearing the fog in her mind. She itched to free herself from the chains, but judging by Dane's burned flesh, trying to break them was out. She channeled power through her hands, and a weak ray of light shot through the cell.

She tried freezing the chains enough to maybe shatter them. Nothing. She tried burning them, but could only conjure up the tiniest flame.

"It's no use," her mother sighed. "I've tried. Lilia, you and I have tried to avoid silver since we joined the Evenhide Pack. It's not surprising that, even without the mate bonds, we'd be sensitive to it now."

Dane snapped and snarled. "There's got to be a way to break these chains, magic or not!"

Lilia scanned the room. An empty bucket instead of a toilet nearby–how charming. The floor showed the ravages of time, age, and sea salt. Several loose fragments of stone lay on the floor. She kicked out with her foot and moved some of the pieces of stone closer, almost within reach.

Dane's eyes lit up. "Moon Goddess, I wish I'd thought of that."

He stretched his arm, straining, his face twisting in agony, and howled in triumph as his fingers latched onto one sharp stone. "Yes!"

Despite her arms aching and her body in pain, Lilia grabbed one as well. The sound of Ravyn's foot hitting the floor was music to Lilia's ears, as was Ravyn's sob of triumph.

"Let's give this a try," Ravyn urged. "We have nothing to lose. Often, magicians rely too much on their spells, and don't check their artifacts for flaws."

Ravyn began probing the chains for weaknesses. Lilia stuck the jagged edge of the narrow stone triangle into the chain links, one by one. Dane tried to slice through his chain links, and from his growls, his efforts hadn't succeeded. None of them made any progress.

A voice like cold milk reached them from the doorway. "How adorable. And how arrogant."

Ravyn's head jerked up, and she glared at Melisande who was standing inside the room, wearing a charcoal-colored robe and an annoying smirk on her icy face.

Ravyn dropped her shard, and Dane and Lilia let theirs fall as well.

"Giving up already?" Melisande drawled. "That's disappointing. I hope you'll put up more of a fight than that–because I'll enjoy breaking the great Alpha, his Luna, and most of all, the great Ravyn Rolfe."