Divine Charity

Chapter Eleven: So, That Happened...

With Khamuel back on Earth, Lena kept herself busy with the twins and in the ovelum. Mord had gotten it into his head that he wanted to join Fiadn in training her. The asshole. It seemed Mord took more pleasure in kicking her ass than Fiadn did. Her body was aching like it had never done before. Military training on Earth never exhausted her or made her feel defeated the way she did training with Fiadn. And on the days she trained with Mord? God help her! Under their training hands, any cockiness Lena developed on Earth had long since disintegrated.

She winced as she lifted her leg to get into the tub. Baths were rare on Charity, but Fiadn ordered her one as a therapeutic measure, knowing she would need the soothing only a good icy soak could give. Ice baths were torture in themselves, but at least it would help her inflamed joints and muscles. Gasping and cursing, she lowered herself inch by inch, determined not to let the freezing water win this battle.

A slight sound, barely a rustle, roused Lena from her thoughts. Thinking at first, it was one of her daughters, or Pnina, Lena didn't stir. Until she remembered the children were at school and Pnina was with Khamuel. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she slowed her heartbeat and opened her ears. Nothing.

She was being silly. Annoyed with herself, Lena tried to dismiss her sudden paranoia. Maybe she had been on this ship too long. Or maybe...

She looked around the bathing chamber. There was no one there, but her spidey senses were going insane and wouldn't let her settle. She rose. Something wasn't right and she would be damned if she got caught helpless in a slippery tub full of water.

"Nay," came a warbled voice. "Stay where you be, lady."

She froze, surveying the room wildly. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, a forceful something clamped over it, as if someone placed a hand over her mouth. "Speak not. Heed me well. You are not safe."

Lena struggled against the force. Her thrashing caused her to slip, and she fell into the tub of ice-cold hell. The feeling of more hands on her shoulders and legs held her in place. Water sloshed over the sides of the tub and spread across the floor as she tried to lift her head above the water. The hands helped her up only enough so she could gasp for breath, then that invisible hand was on her mouth again. "Be easy, lady! No harm will come to you. This I swear."

Another voice, equally warbly, spoke. "Her struggle will sound the alarm. Calm her."

Panic gripped Lena. She feared for her safety and her sanity. She couldn't see anyone. There was no one there! She tried to push away at what was covering her mouth. Her hand touched something solid, but it was immovable. What felt like an electrical current ran through her body. Her muscles stiffened, a scream dying before it could even form a pitiful mew of fear.

"You must leave. Fiadn means you harm. Heed me; he plots against you. You will go the way of Olaf, do you not escape."

She wanted to struggle. She wanted to fight; to ask questions, but she was frozen in place. Even when the invisible hands left her body, she remained paralyzed. She listened, she tried to see, but there was no sign of anyone. No sound of movement, no footsteps. No doors opening.

All at once, the feeling of pins and needles subsided in a painful wave. Her voice came back to her, and she let out a furious yell. Lena hauled herself out of the tub, shivering and stiff from its cold.

"You are distressed," Charity said. "May I be of assistance to you?"

"S-someone attacked me!"

"I have alerted Master Fiadn to your distress. He says he will be with you shortly."

She reached for a towel, her body trembling from the effects of what just happened. Her teeth chattered, and she had difficulty forming words. "Can't y-you scan the r-room?"