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I didn’t re so powerless It was ironic--I’d wanted to turn back into a vao so that I’d never have to feel helpless, the way I did now

Thanks to Annora, I’d been rendered as useless as a huainst my knees

Hope that ould ever find Anna in ti for her and her unborn child

Another sound of the dungeon door unbolting broughtthe corridor, dragging a frail old woman by the neck He led her to an empty cell a few feet away from ours and threw her inside Then he rushed back out of the dungeon and bolted the door behind him

I stared at the old worey, almost white hair, she was short and stick-thin Her coainst her skeleton like da but a thin cotton nightdress and her whole body shivered as she huddled into a corner

The sorry state of her was enough to distract me for a few moments "Excuse e

The woman let out a soft whimper

"Please," I whispered, "I just want to talk to you"

She peered at me with anxious eyes

"I need you to tellhave you been here?’

"A-about a

"Do you knohat they do with all the humans they collect here?" I asked

She looked at ed

"They’re taken away from here I don’t knohat happens to them"

"Where are they taken to, do you know?"

"I have no idea But once they fall through the hole, they never coed

"I-In one of the dungeons… one of the dungeons where prisoners aren’t kept There’s a hole in the floor An abyss"

Derek and I exchanged shocked glances

"How is it that you know this, and you’re still here?" I asked

"I’m… not well" She held up a weak hand to reveal several scabs "They noticed I was sick just before they pushed me into the hole My blood is infected and they decided they didn’t wantit will be b-before they end me" She sed back a sob