“That woman in your strange portrait… She looks like her, you know? Did he tell you about her?”
“He never mentioned her.”
“Because he was ashamed,” he shouted. “He knew she was rightfully mine.”
“You can’t just own a person. She didn’t love you.”
My head hit the wall again, but this time it was his hand pressed against my forehead that forced the connection and I let out another cry of pain. I was still reeling from the impact when he hit me in the stomach, winding me. I leaned forward in agony, my head coming into contact with his chest, and he grabbed me by the hair and raised me upright.
“Tell me how the ring works.”
“I don’t know,” I said, and another blow connected with my gut. Tears had begun streaming down my cheeks as I sucked in huge gasps of air. If he’d not been holding me up I was sure I’d have crumpled to the ground.
“You got here, and now I want to get there.”
“Get where?” I screamed. “I didn’t choose any of this! Even if you could make it work for you, who knows where you’d end up. She could be dead already and then what? Have you thought any of this through? You need to move on. It’s done.”
He stroked the back of his hand across my cheek and I could feel the ring on his finger as it rubbed down my skin. When he reached my jaw he pulled back and punched me in the face, splitting my lip. I could taste the blood as it trickled into my mouth and I spat it out hoping it hit him.
“You will tell me,” he said confidently. “Maybe some time alone will encourage you to do what’s best.”
He retreated into the darkness and a second later a door opened on the opposite side of the room. Outside I could see fields in the moonlight, but nothing that I recognised. I ran towards the opening but before I got even halfway, he’d pulled it closed behind him, leaving me locked in the darkness.
“Help me,” I shouted, kicking the door trying to make as much noise as possible. “Somebody help. I’m in here.”
When the door next unlocked, I was sitting on the floor in front of it, my voice hoarse from screaming for hours on end, and severely dehydrated. I’d continued to shout for a while, though my cries had gotten fewer and quieter as the night wore on until eventually, I just stopped. When it finally swung open I fell through it onto a pair of boots, ready to accept my fate.
Dawn had broken and the light from the sun rising over the field cast my assailant in shadow as he looked down over me. I closed my eyes as he leaned down, preparing to be beaten again or dragged back inside, but instead, he swept the hair from my face and pulled me into a sitting position.
“Tom, what the hell has he done?”
I opened my eyes again, blinking against the brightness, and saw Gwyn staring back at me, his face mixed with relief and distress.
“Where am I?” I asked as he made a start untying my hands. The ropes had cut me and I had to stop myself from pulling away from him as he tried to help me get loose.
“It’s an old boarded-up cottage up on the estate. I heard you shouting but then you went quiet. I searched every building until I found you. I’m so sorry it took me so long. Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” I said, bringing my hands from behind my back for the first time in hours. Pain shot from my shoulders to my fingers and I had to move slowly to stop myself from crying out. “He’s gone mad. Like, actually mad. I thought he was going to kill me. We need to get away from here. He knows everything, Gwyn.”
He put his arm around me and lifted me to my feet and we began to make our way out into the open.
“What do you mean, everything?”
“Everything. About me, about us, about my father. He wants the ring so he can get to Elinor. It was her necklace, Gwyn. She disappeared like I did, like my father did. He saw it happen.”
“Well, if he thi-”
From the side of the building Arthur stepped forward, striking Gwyn across the face and sending him stumbling back. With all the energy I could muster I pounced forward, fist clenched. He lifted his hand out to block me and I lost my footing, taking him by the waist as I fell and sending us both crashing to the ground. We rolled around, fighting for dominance and hitting each other until eventually, he had me pinned beneath him.
I took a blow to the face, then another, then as he raised his arm to land the third Gwyn came from behind and grabbed it. Arthur turned to face him and received Gwyn’s fist across his jaw which sent him spiralling sideward from on top of me. He scrambled in the grass to regain his footing but before he could rise Gwyn struck out with his foot, kicking Arthur to the side of the head and knocking him unconscious.
“We’ve got to go,” he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet. We made it a few metres before I stopped and turned around.
“Wait!” I pulled free from his grip and ran back to Arthur. Dropping to my knees beside him I grabbed his hand, yanking the ring from his finger.
“Come on, let’s go,” Gwyn called out, and as I got back to my feet I stuck my boot into his ribs for good measure.
The rain had started to fall heavily over the valley and I was struggling to keep up with Gwyn as we made our way towards the treeline. I was still wearing only one shoe and it wasn’t made for running through soggy grass. When I nearly lost my balance for the third time, he grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me into the woods at the edge of the field.