Read Online Aela by Rosalind Hyson - Free Book Online Page B

will deal with him later.’ shouted Juno.
    As Rom was lead away, some of the people began to realise what was happening and a few leapt to their feet and started running towards Rom and the guards. Seeing this, a number of the guards turned to face the small group of people with their spears at the ready, whilst the rest of the guards hustled Rom through a side entrance and half dragged and pushed him along the tunnel. Rom was soon once again in his prison cell, unceremoniously thrown on the floor and the door slammed shut.
    Rom felt as if he had achieved nothing and he was back where he had started, but this time round he had killed the people’s hero, Arnor. All of a sudden he felt completely exhausted in body and mind. He found himself falling in a exhausted sleep, as he lay sprawled out on the prison floor. He felt as though he had been pushed down a long dark tunnel and he heard a voice calling him, ‘Rom, Rom, Rom.’
    There in the blur of his mind, he thought he saw a faint figure looking like Aela sitting on a cave floor with her hands outstretched towards him. ‘Come to me Rom, I need you.’ Then his mind went blank and he heard and saw no more.
    How long he had been lying there, Rom could not tell as he slowly opened his eyes, taking in his gloomy surroundings. Nearby someone had left an oil lamp with its flickering wick providing some light to the darkened room. Rom’s eyes focused on a round loaf of bread, with what appeared to be a hunk of cheese and a cylinder shaped vessel. Cautiously and wearily Rom moved his arms and legs, then gingerly rolled on his side. His whole body ached, especially the arm that took the major impact from the blows Arnor delivered on Rom’s shield with his sword, during the contest.
    Gradually he pushed himself along the floor towards the lamp and food. Grasping the vessel he downed the liquid inside the container in a series of gulps hardly stopping to take a breath. Once Rom’s thirst was slaked, he tore the bread apart, eating the pieces rapidly. He devoured the cheese in an instant and then he raised his body resting his head against the stone wall of the prison, and breathed slowly.
    This moment of peace was short-lived as he heard the sound of footsteps outside his prison door. There was a murmur of voices, the door was flung open and in strode two men, they walked towards Rom and dragged him to his feet. His arms were quickly pinned to his sides by these men, before Rom could do anything to protect himself from the onslaught.
    In strode Juno, ‘I have decided to spare your life this time. Fortunately for you, Arnor will live. I banish you from my territory forever. If you return again you will surely die a most horrible death that I can devise for you.’
    Juno then turned to the guards, ‘Take him to the border of our territory, release him there.’ Then facing Rom he added, ‘I hope the wolves soon track you down and kill you.’
    Juno turned on his heels and marched with his retinue down the corridor, leaving Rom and the guards to digest the implications and meaning of the orders. Without wasting anytime, Rom was hustled out of the cell by the guards. In a flash Rom realised that he would soon be on his way to freedom. It was still dark outside the prison complex as Rom was marched along the street and out of the main gates into the forest.
    To make sure he did not escape, Rom’s hands were bound together in front of his chest. This time Rom did not mind, as he would soon would be free again, to do what he wanted to do. Whilst he was stumbling along in the dark, his thoughts centred on a plan to rescue Aela from Eena and the Cave people.
    Then, there were sounds of a number of feet running in the dark and Rom and his party heard yelling, ‘Stop, stop, Juno has changed his mind, Rom is to be brought back to him and placed in the prison again.’
    Rom was totally devastated at this sudden change of events and