Dream of Me/Believe in Me

glanced back over her shoulder but her face was obscured by the shadows. “Not too much now. I think you'll find this very interesting.”
    Krysta heard the lapping of water up ahead and frowned. She tried to determine their direction but the passage had twisted and turned so many times that she was disoriented. “Are we near the sea?”
    Daria held up the torch. Water glinted just ahead. “Not the sea, an underground river that runs to it. This is the way out of Hawkforte should it ever come under siege. I'm surprised Hawk hasn't shown it to you yet.” She came closer so that the light of the torch shone directly on Krysta. “He hasn't, has he?”
    “No, but he did say something about showing me an escape route. We just haven't had a chance yet.”
    “Well, good, I've saved him the trouble. But this is only the beginning. There is much more of interest right near here.” They moved off along the course of the river where the ground climbed slightly. “Did you know that there was a stronghold on this site long before Hawkforte was built?”
    “No, I didn't.” Krysta was genuinely pleased to be learning so much. She was about to say so when Daria went on.
    “Likely it belonged to the Romans. They were idolaters, you know, before they converted to the true way. Signs of their pagan worship are still to be seen down here.” She pointed to an elaborately carved stone well sunk into the ground. The stone face of a horned man seemed to gaze back at them. “A place where such worship takes place remains doomed forever.”
    “It must have been a very long time ago,” Krysta said gently. She did not wish to contradict Daria, and she did admit that the dark underground passages had an eerie feel to them, but she doubted they were cursed in any way.
    “I tried to tell Hawk that,” Daria went on as though she had not heard. “I said this was not a place to be held by decent men but he refused to hear me.”
    “He may have thought it most important to hold this land against the Danes no matter what happened here in the past.”
    “Perhaps,” Daria said, then fell silent as they came toa place where the passage turned off to the left. She stepped back against the wall. “Go ahead, I will hold the light for you.”
    Krysta looked at her quizzically. “What is there to see?”
    “I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.” Daria gestured with the torch.
    Krysta turned the corner. At first, she saw nothing. Daria was no longer close behind her, and the dimmer light of the torch did little to illuminate the chamber ahead. Only when her eyes had adjusted to the darkness could Krysta make out the contours of a room hewn out of rock. It was small and dank, chill with a wind off the sea creeping around the rocks.
    “What is this for?” she asked, turning, and was surprised to see that Daria had stepped even farther back. The walls of the chamber narrowed near where she was standing, almost as though fitted for a—
    Clank.
    The light vanished, save for a tiny sliver left just barely visible. Krysta rushed forward, slamming up against a heavy wooden door. At the level of her eyes, an opening had been cut but it was so small she could see very little.
    Yet she could make out Daria's twisted face, contorted with glee.
    “Fool! Stupid, ridiculous fool! How I prayed this would work and my prayers have been answered! Truly, the Lord smiles upon those who serve Him.”
    Shock roared through Krysta, disbelief warring with the sickening realization of her peril. Even as her mind screamed, she spoke with forced calm. “My lady, what a good joke this is. Truly I have been played the fool. But now, I pray you, let me out and we will share this amusement with others.”
    “Silence!” Daria shrieked. “You think to make me thefool, so sweet and placating you try to be! It will not work. All the weeks of scheming, thinking how it was to be done, playing the simpering dolt and then waiting—waiting and waiting!—for you finally to remember you had promised to go with me. I bided my time, hard though it was, and I have been vindicated. Here you will remain, Norse whore! Here you will rot!”
    Terror clawed within Krysta, a cold and clammy horror that almost doubled her over. She fought it with every ounce of her strength. She had made a terrible mistake but this was no time to think of that. Now she must use all the guile she possessed to escape the clutches of the madwoman.
    “Daria, please, I am quite frightened enough.