Liam's POV
What did they give her?
I only knew the girl adjacent of my cell for a very short period before the man that brought her here along with two others came and took her away.
"Don't forget how they chained and collared her as if she was a mutt," Grænn growled as he paced back and forth.
Ever since they brought Noir to the dungeon, Grænn has been solely focused on her, not wanting her out of his sight. There was a pull of some sort that hit like a ton of cobblestone when she looked at us after that man hit her head against the wall.
Sliding my back down the wall, I sat there, replaying the previous eve to now.
**FLASHBACK**
"Put her there," a voice came, his voice bouncing off of the walls.
Moving to sit at the back of my cell, hoping they had forgotten about me, I watched from the shadows as a man dragged a woman to the vacant cell across from mine followed by two guards.
When her head lolled to the side and I could see her face, Grænn made himself known, pushing through to get a personal glance at her.
She wasn't tall and her auburn hair shown brightly against the torch light, exposing her freckled and bloodied face clearly.
The tunic that she wore was large and bloodied as well, the russet colored liquid glistening against the kindled flame.
Despite her injured appearance, the woman was beautiful.
"Is she alive," I asked Grænn as I stayed crouched in the shadows.
Grænn's ears twitched for a moment before huffing,"Yes but barely. Her heartbeat is weak."
Something about the whole scene in front of me infuriated us both.
"Tell your smithies and court warlock that the wolfsbane, ergot and silver infused arrows did splendid. Not only did they immobilize her but it also forced her to shift back into a human," the man said, much too happy for my liking.
Ergot.
The name of the diseased rye itself made me uncomfortable and fueled my further irritation.
Wolfsbane is bad enough, especially for werewolves and lycans alike; ingesting a large amount in a short period of time can kill even a human.
Ergot alone though can cause the one poisoned by it to convulse, vomit, froth at the mouth, see things and can even kill them.
Why in the hell are the mannfólk creating weapons this deadly when there is peace between the mannfólk and earthly beasts?
Wolfsbane and silver though...
"She's either lycan or werewolf but I can't tell," Grænn said.
"Furthermore, the man that dragged her to her cell is a werewolf, so why is he doing this to one or so of his own kind," I questioned.
When I growled, all three looked in my direction causing the man to smile.
"Looks like you have a new friend, boy," a guard chirped before all three men disappeared from the dungeon.
I can't say how long we watched her but we did.
It wasn't until the man from earlier re-entered the dungeon with a bucket, that we tore our gaze away. Following his movements, he looked around before slinging her cell door open.
Putting the bucket down, the man sat the girls limp body against the wall before taking the bucket and splashing her with its contents.
Almost instantly, the girl jolted awake and looked around frantically before her eyes met mine.
I couldn't help but suck in a breath as glaucous eyes stared back at me in confusion before they turned to pure resentment in the direction of the man as he approached her.
When he pulled her up by her hair, a rancorous feeling flooded my senses and when he smashed her head against the wall, almost all sense of logic escaped me as I stood.
It wasn't until she looked at me after the man's departure, I calmed and once her eyes closed, I moved to the cell gate and sat, watching her.
**End of FLASHBACK**
I was snapped out of my reverie when a scream echoed through the dungeon.
The scream tore through me like a great shard of metal.
I felt my eyes widen and pulse quicken, my heart thudding like a rock rattling in box.
The scream came again.
Desperate.
Terrified.
Pained.
Then another scream.
It was the loudest, most piercing scream I had ever heard. It sounded of sheer agony.
The blood drained from my face.
Before I was even aware of making a conscious decision, my legs were pounding furiously across the stone floor and I rammed my body repeatedly into the cell door.
Then I stopped all attempts when there was silence.
The silence was eerily unnatural, like a dawn devoid of birdsong. The silence clung to me like a poisonous cloud that at any moment could choke the life from me. Silence seeped into my every pore, like a poison slowly paralyzing me from either speech or movement.
After, what felt like years, the door opened where Noir was taken, only to be replaced with a bloodied man carrying a bloodied woman.
My sight blotched in and out of focus as the man opened her cell door and laid Noir on the stone.
When he exited the cell, he shot me a glance that was forced before hurrying away followed by another guard.
The only man that was left was the werewolf that condemned this soul to a harsh fate. Looking to me, he smiled.
"Boy, your lycan will regret this," was all he said before he too vanished, leaving me to question myself and the woman who laid bare under a fleece blanket.
"Noir," I managed as I once again approached my cell door.
Nothing.
"Noir...," I called again and still, nothing.
After a couple of more attempts to try and get her to acknowledge me, I howled.
I don't know why but I did.
When I was done, I slumped against the cell door in defeat knowing what tomorrow would bring.
Grænn - Liam's Lycan; Grænn is pronounced "Gry-in".
Mannfólk - Humans