Chapter 6

Dark. Cold. Daniel had always possessed the most resilient constitution despite being the youngest of his brothers, but he had just woken up shivering and dizzy. Was this a nightmare? Had he fallen asleep and slipped into a murky dream?

He could see nothing at all no matter how many times he blinked to clear his vision...but it was no dream. When he moved to stand, he noticed at last the heavy, ugly weight of manacles on his wrists and ankles. Chains clanked against the wall when he tugged at them in vain, but he didn't get a second chance to try to break free.

With a snarl, he shrank back, hunching his back. Protruding diagonally from his right shoulder, lodged deep under his collarbone and the feathered fletching just barely visible in the darkness, was a heavy arrow. If he could shift, he could try to force it out since his regeneration had clearly failed him, but the manacles would crush his bones.

But at least the darkness was lifting since he could see the arrow. His vision mu