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The taper was al in this black place Shadoas layered upon shadow He could see the pale gri, snarled hair that tulinted on the chains that held her upright in a spread-eagle position But the rest of the details were lost to the dark He knew theh, intimately, for he had overseen the creation of the cell and her imprisonment--the reinforced chains with cuffs that did not encircle her wrists, but ringed each finger with prongs that were buried into the flesh to the bone A collar around her neck, also pronged, was attached with a taut length of chain to the ceiling, restraining her fro her head or upper body h each foot and bolted to the floor

Once in a while all the restraints were removed and she was cared for until she healed It was not out of compassion they did this, however They did it so she would not become inured to the pain When she healed and they chained her once more, the pain was renewed

The wretched creature snuffled, could shift her head just enough so that it seeht at hie of sawdust bedding that was thrown on the floor to absorb her waste He should not be so disturbed for she could not see He knew this well--he’d been the one who had burned out her eyes with a red hot poker

"I smell you, Silk," she croaked in a broken voice They’d had to da had snared many an unwary man in the past No more "You smell pretty, Silk, very pretty"

The witch had been tortured, abused, and imprisoned for over a century, but she remained unbroken She carried some internal fire that retained a modicum of power It infuriated Webster he’d been unable to break her entirely, and even more so that she aroused a prirated "Have you come to romance me, Silk? Have you come to sate yourself in e rising In the early years he and the guards used her, enjoyed doing to her whatever they wished, for having one chained and helpless was very sweet, very seductive, very gratifying Like a tree carved with the initials of lovers, her body was etched with a spider web of scarred initials sliced into her flesh by the guards who had pleasured themselves with her over the years

Shadows upon shadows, scars upon scars

The filth of her disgusted hied lips Ribs and hip bones protruded There were rarely fresh initials carved on her body nowadays Even so, he felt a rising pressure against the crotch of his trousers

The witch laughed as if she knew It was a dry, breathy rasp

"You knohy I’m here," he said, thankful his voice rehed again

She was not, he had concluded long ago, quite sane

"You knohy I a with us, or is it true? Ten years have not yet passed"

She stilled and every muscle in Webster’s body tensed

"I do not toy" Her tone no longer mocked but was cold and full of menace "My beloved rises"

Her pronouncement was like a thunderclap Without another word, he turned to face the door, suddenly overwhelmed and claustrophobic, barely able to contain hiuards to open it He could not escape her presence soon enough When the door opened, he hastened out, not awaiting his escort, not pausing in the antechaht for the corridor and the lift

Before the great steel door could close behind hi voice reached him "Webster Ezmund Silk! My beloved rises, and he will make you eat your own entrails!" The door slahter

Webster closed his eyes and clenched his fists at his side No matter how many tih his gut like a serpent

He shook himself and entered the lift He threw the appropriate levers and the car lurched upward, leaving behind the gloo of the turbines Once he was above, he’d bathe and order the clothes he earing burned He could not tolerate the stench of her that clung to hi that it almost suffocated him in the small space of the lift Afterward, he would meet with his fellow , whether it was tiht after sooddess of a far more ancient and earthly pantheon than the ones the old realm had worshipped As Aeryc and Aeryon and their cadre of fellow gods rose to prirated to the level of otten past But to believe she was less than a goddess, and an insane one at that, was a fatal error that Webster did not intend to make It hy he kept her so elaborately imprisoned Not to mention that she was, unfortunately, inextricably linked to the e and whining co it fro other discarded memories Yolandhe Yolandhe of the sea

In the Present:

YOLANDHE’S ISLAND

"I remember when I first set foot upon your shore," Aether beneath the furs in the cave "The climes were colder There was le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">