In Dragon's Gate Gaol

The misadventures of Lucy Huntington Mitford, Our Lady of Lost Socialites and Women on Fire.

Moderator: Lucy Mitford

User avatar
Lucy Mitford
Proven Adventurer
Proven Adventurer
Posts: 209
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 2:42 am
Location: Rhy'Din
Contact:

Re: In Dragon's Gate Gaol

Post by Lucy Mitford »

The flickering candlelight danced over the blank page in front of Lucy. In the darkness, Lucy’s prison cell felt large, so much larger than it had ever felt before. Because the tiny cell somehow had to contain the vast emptiness that Finlay Mackenzie had left behind after his visit.

Lucy closed her eyes and tipped her head. He was always so close to her when he was with her. Always holding her, hugging her, connecting her to him. Making her human again. It made her ache to let him go.

And she worried for him. She worried for his broken heart. For his insistence that he didn’t deserve to be happy. That for the great multitude of his sins, only a few of which he shared, that he deserved the pain that had made a home in his heart.

She had seen herself in him. Seen herself in that certainty. In that absolute certainty. Certainty that his punishment and his pain was deserved. Hadn’t she been saying that, over and over, to Cris and Jack and Dair and anyone who tried to convince her otherwise? That she deserved to be in prison. That she deserved to be punished. That she didn’t deserve happiness. Hadn’t she been saying that, over and over, to herself?

What fools they both were. She and Finlay Mackenzie. Torturing themselves. When life was so beautiful. When life was so forgiving. When there was a whole world of opportunity. To begin again. To try again. To be better.

She had never seen it until she saw it in him. She had never seen it in herself. But Fin held up a mirror to her, in his way, and she couldn’t deny it any longer.

She was done.

Lucy looked down at the blank page before her. She picked up the pen. And she began to write.

Mr. Isaak Ames, Esq.,

I am writing today to seek your help. I have made a terrible mistake, and since you helped me before, I’m hoping you’ll let me engage you once again.

In October of last year, in a moment of confusion and weakness, I confessed to a grave crime...

-------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted on Thu Feb 26, 2015 8:34 pm
User avatar
Lucy Mitford
Proven Adventurer
Proven Adventurer
Posts: 209
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 2:42 am
Location: Rhy'Din
Contact:

Re: In Dragon's Gate Gaol

Post by Lucy Mitford »

Isaak Ames read the letter one more time, his fingers tightening on the rough paper. What was he reading? Lucy Mitford had confessed? She confessed to the murder that she had hired him to hide? What---? He stood suddenly, the heavy wood of his desk scraping the floor as he shoved past it. He stalked down the hall, secretaries looking up nervously from their typing as he ranged past and then ripped open the door of his associate.

“Can you please tell me why we have had a client in Dragon’s Gate gaol for the last five months, and I’m just hearing about it now?!” His deep voice rattled the windows in his associate’s office as he shouted. “Is this not what we are paid to know?” His fist tightened around Lucy’s letter and then he tossed the crumpled paper on the desk.

The slender elf rose slowly, plucking the letter from the desk, and he read it with a frown.

“Is this not what I pay you to know, Erandriel?” Isaak advanced on the elf, his voice lowering with threat. “She’s been rotting in that Dragon’s Gate pit for five months. Five freezing months. She could have said anything by now. She could have told them anything.”

Isaak called out towards the secretaries. “Someone get me Magistrate Vickers.”

Then he looked back at his associate. “We’re going to fix this. You’re going to fix this. And you better pray, you better pray to your damned pagan gods, that she hasn’t said anything.”
-------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted on Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:02 pm
User avatar
Lucy Mitford
Proven Adventurer
Proven Adventurer
Posts: 209
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 2:42 am
Location: Rhy'Din
Contact:

Re: In Dragon's Gate Gaol

Post by Lucy Mitford »

“I will miss you, child. If you go.”

“I could help you.” Lucy whispered to Griselda, the two women huddled in a snowy corner of the courtyard, a stolen moment between the friends. “I could ask my lawyer to help you too.”

“Nothing can be done.” Griselda shook her head, stroking her fingers over the younger woman’s hair.

“Of course--of course something can be done.” Lucy shook her head. “You said it yourself. People are only here if they want to be.”

“People are here if they submit.”

“Then why--”

“Because I submit.”

“But why?” Lucy searched her friend’s face, trying to make sense of her. “What did you do that you deserve to be here? That you deserve to die here?”

Griselda sighed softly. “So long, you have not asked. But now. Now you ask.”

“Tell me.”

“It is not what I have done--”

“Then tell me.”

“--it is the how that matters.” Griselda drew in a breath. “I killed my husband for his unfaithfulness. I used a knife to open his belly. Then with my fingers I tore him to pieces. Over the course of many days. Then, when I had finished, I nailed his pieces to our home so that all might see what I had done.”

Lucy gaped at Griselda, her eyes searching her friend’s face as if she wanted to deny the truth of her words.

“Shush, child.” The older woman stroked Lucy’s hair again. “You have nothing to fear. For here, in this prison, I have no anger. No anger. No fear. Here, I have peace.”

Lucy shook her head. “I’ll visit you--I’ll come--”

“I will not allow such a thing.” Griselda shook her head firmly. “You must be strong. Find your peace. With your peace comes your strength.”

“Griselda--”

“Shush, child. Shush. I have peace. I am at peace.”
-------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted on Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:48 pm
User avatar
Lucy Mitford
Proven Adventurer
Proven Adventurer
Posts: 209
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 2:42 am
Location: Rhy'Din
Contact:

Re: In Dragon's Gate Gaol

Post by Lucy Mitford »

“M’Lord, there is no evidence linking my client to this crime. There is no evidence of a crime at all.”

“But for your client’s confession.”

Lucy pressed forward to the mesh front of the cage, trying to get a view of the courtroom. There were a dozen prisoners, chained together, each waiting for their hearing in the small cage that took up one corner of the dark room. Lucy’s heart raced, her hands trembling in the irons that held her wrists together, the chain to her ankles rattling. The prisoner beside her jerked the chain between them and elbowed past her to the front of the cage.

“That confession was made by a woman in severe mental and emotional distress.” Isaak Ames’ voice boomed throughout the courtroom. “She confessed to a crime that never occurred, a crime that was a mere delusion.”

Lucy pressed her way forward again and tried to see. The view was blocked by a throng of attorneys, all jockeying for position in front of the cage, whispering and murmuring to the prisoners, consulting with their clients or soliciting business, while hearings continued behind them.

“Has Miss Mitford had a mental evaluation?”

She grabbed the mesh front of the cage with her fingers and tried to pull herself taller. A guard passed by and struck her fingertips with a baton, the sting forcing her to release the cage and drop back to her heels.

“M’Lord, as of today Miss Mitford has been in Dragon’s Gate gaol for 151 days. She has not appeared before another magistrate, nor been processed in any way. And until recently she was denied access to counsel. All while being told that her case was ‘under investigation.’”

They had come for her at dawn. She spent the morning in chains, disoriented, waiting in the cold, while the two male prisoners on either side took advantage of her nearness as much as their own chains allowed. Now, she strained, trying to hear over the whispers and the rattling of chains as Magistrate Vickers and Isaak talked about her as if she weren’t in the room.

“Is this true?”

“M’Lord, Miss Mitford’s confession has been under active investigation since she handed herself into the 6th Precinct those many months ago---”

“Well, that’s fine and good, counselor, but if---is it DI Teague?---if DI Teague has failed to turn up any corroborating evidence after five months, is there any reason to continue to hold her?”

“Miss Mitford surrendered herself willingly and provided her confession under no pressure from inspectors. In their report, the inspectors of the 6th Precinct noted that Miss Mitford ‘appeared calm and of sound mind’ when she confessed. And contrary to Mr. Ames’ claim, Miss Mitford has not been denied access to counsel, she simply hasn’t requested any.”

“I think I’ve heard enough--”

“M’Lord--”

“--I’ll take this matter under advisement.”

Lucy lifted to her toes, her fingers clutching the cage again as Magistrate Vickers brought down the gavel.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted on Tue Mar 03, 2015 5:51 pm
User avatar
Lucy Mitford
Proven Adventurer
Proven Adventurer
Posts: 209
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 2:42 am
Location: Rhy'Din
Contact:

Re: In Dragon's Gate Gaol

Post by Lucy Mitford »

“Get dressed.”

Lucy looked at the guard in the open doorway of her cell. “But--” She glanced down at the prison uniform she wore. “I am dressed.”

The guard tossed a bag of clothes to the floor. “Put whatever you want to keep in the bag.”

“What I--”

“You have five minutes. Do you want to argue about it or do you want to just do it?”

She picked up the bag and opened it. Her heart lurched. Inside was a pair of her jeans, a blouse, a light autumn jacket, a delicate lace bra, and ballet flats. It was the outfit she was wearing when she turned herself in. She looked up from the bag at the guard, but he was standing just outside the open cell door, his back turned to give her the illusion of privacy.

Lucy hurriedly changed into her street clothes. Then she moved around her cell quickly throwing her things into the bag, making snap decisions about what she would take and what she would leave behind. Books and letters and the sketches Fin gave her, all going into the bag. She tried to get to her hidey-hole to get the small amount of cash she had secluded there, but by the time she was packing the guard had turned to watch.

“That’s time, Priestess. Let’s go.”

She wrapped the end of the bag around her fist and carried it out of her cell, following the guard down the hall. He led her through parts of the prison she hadn’t seen since her first day there, the eyes of guards following her everywhere they went. Lucy’s palms grew sweaty as she tightened her hold on the canvas bag that held her belongings.

Detective Inspector Teague met her at the front gate. He looked her over, then nodded to the guard. With a last look, the guard turned, his keys jingling behind her as he went back inside, away from the cold of the outdoors, just beyond the gate.

DI Teague looked down at her. Then he reached over and pushed open the gate.

Lucy looked up at him. “You’re letting me go?”

The detective nodded, watching her. She took a hesitant step forward, treading cautiously over the icy stone in her inappropriate shoes. Then she looked back again. “I’m free?”

DI Teague nodded, watching her. “You’re free.” He reached out to take hold of the gate. “But we both know you weren’t crazy.”

The gate clanged shut behind her, and she watched as he turned and disappeared back into the shadows of Dragon’s Gate gaol.

Lucy looked back out at the street. It was quiet and snowy, nearing evening. She had asked Cris, Fin, and Dair to be there when she was released. She had imagined her exit from prison would be difficult, fraught with conflict. But she was released with as little fanfare as when she’d arrived.

There had been no opportunity to reach Cris, Fin, or Dair anyhow. Her phone had been returned along with her clothes, but the battery was long dead. And she had no money on her person.

She stepped forward into the street. It was freezing. But it was crisp and clear. She tipped her head back and looked at the sky overhead. The first stars were just appearing, the sky awash with shades of ever-darkening blue. A quiet flap of wings pulled her back to earth and she smiled at the sight of her crow. Jack’s crow. She took a deep breath. And she smiled faintly.

She was free.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted on Wed Mar 04, 2015 6:21 pm
Post Reply

Return to “Lady of Fire”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest