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'Take her away to the dungeon and lock her there! Listen, Elsie, you are going to stay locked up in the dungeon until you reconsider. You will eat only bread and drink only water. Also, you may stay there until the day of our wedding if you do not reconsider earlier.'
I stare at him, as his men come to my sides and take my arms. There is no point in struggling. They are stronger and they are going to take me to the dungeon anyway. I will go with pride, because I did not agree to my uncle's horrible idea.
Uncle Murgan looks proud, as he sees me taken away. His men take me to the base of the castle, where the spiral stone staircase goes down into the dungeon, which is deeply under the ground. We go down the stairs, and the whole time I do not make any sound. I do not want them to gag me again with pieces of filthy cloth.
We enter the damp and cold place, which is almost dark – there is a small lantern on the wall that emits flickering light and casts such a weak light that almost nothing can be seen. The room is rectangular, without any furniture.
They leave me inside the room and go, locking the door from the outside. I can hear their footsteps, as they climb up the staircase, and soon the sound of their footsteps fades away.
There is no place to sit down except the damp stone ground. I am tired, so I sit down, shivering. I look around: I have never been down here. All those years that I and Megan were living here, we never came down here. Our parents never let us see the dungeon, saying that this place was an ugly and unpleasant place. When we asked what this place was for, they replied that it was for punishing the enemies. But they told us that the dungeon was always empty, without any prisoners, because they did not have any enemies.
I had no idea that there would come a day in future when I would occupy the place that was supposed to be for the enemies of the McLeold family, me being a McLeold. A sad smile crosses my face, as I think about the surprises of life.
I take a deep breath and regret at once – the damp smell of the dungeon is mixed with smell of mildew, which is rather disgusting. The dungeon is cold, and I am shivering.
I have no idea how long I am going to stay here. Uncle Murgan said that I would stay here until I reconsider or until the day of the wedding. As I am sure that I will never change my mind regarding his horrible plan, it means that I am going to stay here until the day of the wedding. I start wondering when he has planned to set the wedding date.
Even if they take me out on the day of the wedding, I am still not going to marry that awful old man that happens to be my uncle. I want to marry Calem, and he will come to find me. I start hoping that that day will not come sooner than the day when Calem will come to rescue me.
What makes me hope that Calem will come for me is the fact that I have told him about the terrible Uncle that I have. He will return from the hunt, find everyone dead and me missing, and will realize immediately who has kidnapped me. I am so glad that eventually I told him the story of my Uncle's plans; otherwise he would never know where to look for me.
I miss Calem so much. I need him right now. I want his warm embrace in this cold and scary dungeon. I want to feel the protection that he gives me every time he is around. I want to see him, to touch him, to feel him, to hear his voice. I miss him.
Despite the bad smell, I take another deep breath. I feel like I cannot breathe when I know how far Calem might be. I am sure that he will come and rescue me. He also cannot live without me. Also? I catch myself on the thought that he also cannot live without me, meaning that I cannot live without him. Yes, I am sure now that I love Calem. I am deeply in love with him. I cannot live without him.
I smile. This is the first time that I have come to think of my feelings and I am happy for what I feel. The realization of my true feelings for Calem gives me new strength to sit on the damp ground and to wait for him. I am strong. I want Calem to know that I am strong and that I will be able to wait. I know that he thinks I am strong, and it makes me happy.
