Chapter 799: Witch to the Rescue
Ollie struggled to force down a growing feeling of hatred and fury as he walked down the narrow steps leading to the cold cells of the Lothian dungeon.
He’d seen the cells before, many times. There wasn’t an inch of the Villa he hadn’t explored in the years past, whether it had been before the Lothian family arrived for the summer or after they left, there was always time to sneak into hidden places and secret areas where no one went.
The dungeons were one of the most neglected features of the Villa, and as far as Ollie knew, no one had used them since long before he was born. They were cold and drafty, even in summer, and water seeped in from the walls. There was only one tiny window that provided a whisper of fresh air and a glimpse of daylight in a place that was otherwise left as dark as a tomb.
As a younger man, he’d always found it a little spooky, but that had been when it was empty. Now, as he descended the steps, the smell of unemptied buckets of waste and unwashed bodies filled the air even before he entered the room, telling him everything he needed to know about the conditions Noomi and her infant son had been kept in.
"Stay back!" A rough, feminine voice called as the light from Ollie’s lantern spilled into the darkness of the dungeon. "Stay away from me or, or I’ll claw your face off and crush your bones," Noomi threatened, backing away from the doorway and turning her body to shield the baby in her arms with her body. "You know what ’demons’ are capable of, don’t you? So just move aside and let me go and... and you won’t get hurt!"
When Ollie finally got a good look at her, Noomi’s eyes were slightly sunken and her brown fur hung limp on her body, but when she held up a hand to protect herself, her claws were sharp, and there was no weakness in her posture. She might not know how to fight, but she was puffing herself up and threatening him with the fearsome reputation her clan had earned as if she were one of their greatest warriors.
"Noomi, it’s Ollie," the young knight said, holding out one hand with his wrist facing upward and his hand bent back as far as it would go while his fingers splayed open as if he was holding an apple. "I visited your village in the spring," he continued. "I’m here as a friend."
"You’re a friend?" Noomi asked, blinking in confusion. "Then, if you’re a friend, where’s Samira?" Noomi insisted as she started to back away from the young knight. He resembled the boy who had come to her village so long ago, but that boy hadn’t been dressed like a human knight, and he didn’t have the... presence that this young man did.
The boy in her memories had been earnest and uncertain when he followed the Black Merchant into their village, whereas this knight stood tall and proud, like a mighty tree that could hold up the weight of the world on his shoulders and provide shelter from any storm. So even though they looked similar, it was hard to believe they were the same man.
"Why isn’t she here?" Noomi asked, stopping suddenly when her tail encountered the bars of her prison cell. "If you’ve harmed her..."