“Damn you!” he howled.
I slid to the ground, landing with a thud. Seconds later, a boot caught me in the ribs, flipping me over. I yelped against the gag, my gaze fixed on Luc’s bloody face. My wrists and ankles were still bound – the best I could do was roll into a seated position.
“You can make this easy, or you can make it hard,” he hissed, wiping his nose with a filthy handkerchief. “Either way, you’re coming with me.”
“Where?” I managed to make the word audible around my gag.
He jerked a blood-smeared chin forwards and I looked over my shoulder. Forsaken Mountain loomed menacingly above us. Its glittering southern slope was sheer as a knife slice through butter, the broken half a crumbled slide of rock stretching down to the ocean. I felt my eyes widen. Old men always talked about treasure troves of gold lying beneath the fallen rock, but they also said the mountain was cursed. Treasure hunters had a way of disappearing when they went poking in amongst the rocks and, for every story concerning a man gone missing, ten more speculated on those who’d taken him.
Luc left me gaping at the mountain while he led the horse over to a rough wooden paddock. I clawed at the knots binding my ankles, but they were tight and my fingers were numb. Luc was unsaddling the animal now, distracted. I tried to crawl on knees and elbows, but quickly realized it was a waste of time – I couldn’t move fast enough and my legs left obvious marks in the dirt. Crouched on my knees, I reached up and pulled off my gag. Taking a deep breath, I screamed, my voice thundering down the mountainside. The horse squealed and leapt away from Luc, galloping to the far side of the enclosure. I screamed again, praying there would be someone near enough to hear.
Luc sprinted in my direction, but I managed to howl for help one last time before his fist caught me in the cheek. I toppled backwards and he grabbed my dress, hauling me upright and hitting me again. My face throbbed, my vision hazy.
“Quite a set of lungs on you!”
I tried to crawl away, but he snatched up the rope binding my legs and dragged me down a slope, my skirts riding up around my waist. Sitting on my bare legs, he unbound my ankles and retied the rope to one of them. Then he flipped me over and untied my wrists, leaving them free.
“You need to be able to swim. It’s the only way under the mountain.” One hand grasping the bodice of my dress, he tore it down the front, brushing aside my arms as I attempted to fight him off. “Don’t worry, Cécile. They were specific that your virtue remain uncompromised.”
“Who?” I demanded. “Who are you talking about? Where are you taking me? Why are you doing this?”
He shook his head. “You’ll learn soon enough.” Taking hold of the rope attached to my ankle, he hauled me into the icy pool of water lying at the base of the rocks. I had to start swimming or risk drowning. My breath came in great heaving sobs, my terror building to the point I thought I might drown myself and save Luc the trouble. He must have noticed as much, because he swam back and snatched hold of my arm.
“Pull yourself together, Cécile! I didn’t drag you all the way up here so you could cry yourself to death. Now on the other side of this rock is a cave. To get inside, you must swim down about four paces and slip under the edge of the rock. Do you think you can manage?”
“This is madness,” I croaked.
Luc dove beneath the surface. I barely had the opportunity to take a deep breath before the rope binding my ankle jerked me under. The rock was slimy under my hand, and seemingly endless. I swam hard, the rope slack enough now that I could kick. Where Luc was, I couldn’t say. What I did know was that his grip would keep me down here until I found the opening or until I ran out of air.
Bubbles trailed from my lips, floating freely to the surface. My lungs burned, desperate for breath. My heart hammered faster and faster. The pressure of the water overhead built until my ears popped. Then the rock disappeared, leaving me disoriented and grasping about in the darkness.
I found the edge of the rock. But as I slipped underneath, the water thickened like glue for a moment, holding me in place for precious seconds. My skin tingled as though I stood on the top of a mountain in the middle of a thunderstorm, lightning crackling down all around. Shuddering, I struggled through and pressed upwards.
The rope pulled hard on my ankle, flipping me upside down. Hands grabbed hold of my wrists and my head broke the surface. I sucked in sweet life-giving air. The darkness was absolute. Grasping about, I found a rock protruding from the water and I clung to its slick edges, afraid to let go.
I felt the icy cold of the water on my body and the rough stone beneath my fingers, smelled the stagnant damp air, and heard the faint splashing of Luc as he paddled towards me. All my other senses combined seemed insignificant compared to the loss of sight. I shivered, waiting.
“Are you all right?” Luc’s voice broke the silence.
“No.”
Tension radiated between us and I cursed every decision I’d made that had led to this point. If only I’d galloped straight home, or fought harder, or had bloody well watched where I was riding, then maybe I wouldn’t be here.
But I was here. And a morbidly curious little part of me wanted to know why. “You owe me an explanation,” I said.
“Aye, I reckon I do,” he said. “But first let’s have some light.”
I listened as he scrambled out of the water, fumbling around in the darkness. Then the sound of a flint being struck and the faint glow of flame, as welcome to me in that moment as a hand plucking a drowning sailor from stormy waters. Carefully, I climbed out of the pond and made my way towards it. Luc held a burning splinter to a storm lantern. When the wick caught, he turned it up high, illuminating the cavern with its blessed glow.