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emerged from the shadows. She came to the surreal conclusion that it was a dungeon.
    "I'm sorry that I called you,” she said quietly. Tears shone bright in her blue eyes. “I could see you and your room looked like mine; I thought you could save me."
    "Where are we?” asked Morgan. “How long have you been here?"
    "I don't know, I feel like I have been here forever."
    Just then, a door creaked open down the corridor. A huge man dressed in a complete suit of mail was walking toward them. His black matted hair fell over one eye as he began to speak.
    His mouth revealed yellow and necrotic teeth which reminded Morgana of an ear of rotted corn. “Good, the big one is still alive,” he said to a smaller soldier, who was slight with black hair. “She'll be of use with the smaller ones."
    All the children were softly crying and huddling even closer together at the sight of the man.
    "No worries, brats. None of you are coming with me ... today."
    "Her Highness wants to see you soon, my Lord,” reminded the slight man.
    "Yea, yea. You, big one, come with me!” He grabbed her gruffly and led her down the corridor.
    A cart with food on it—bread, water and cheese—was pulled into the hallway.
    "Take this and distribute it to the younger ones. If I find you do not do as I say, there will be hell to pay."
    He shut the door and Morgana slid down the wall with her hands over her face and began to cry. Sitting down beside her, the little girl intertwinedhooked her arm in Morgana's, then laid her head against Morgana's arm.
    Half an hour later, Morgana sat up and tried to clear her head. She fed the children as she had been instructed and now began to wrestle her fears.
    Morgana was resilient and resourceful; at least that's what her mom had always said.
    "I need to think,” she said out loud.
    "About what?” piped Eva, who had not left her side since her appearance.
    "Eva, when did all the children get here?"
    "Well they all came at different times, like you did yesterday."
    "Okay. Do soldiers always bring them in?"
    "Most every time, except when they found Susan. She said she thought she was drowning in a pond when someone grabbed her ankle and pulled her through till she came out on this side."
    "Where is Susan now? Can I talk to her?"
    Eva's eyes filled with tears and her lip trembled, “They took her and she has not come back."
    "I'm sorry, it's okay, don't cry,” she said consolingly. But terror had begun to rear its ugly head. What are they doing with these children? Where are they now? She was not sure she really wanted to know.
    As she looked around, most of the children were dressed in a colonial style, just like she had seen when her family had visited Rae at school in Cape Cod when they went to Plymouth Plantation. But a few had on ratty T-shirts and torn pants like herself.
    In a surreal moment, Morgana unconsciously registered the boy in the OBX tee shirt beside one in the standard colonial knickers and snickered uncomfortably.
    Morgana silently walked among them as many had fallen asleep. She picked up a two year old who had not been able to fit on a hay bale and was now sleeping prone on the hard, cold stone floor of the dungeon. Placing him on a different bale, she pulled the heavy horse blanket on top of him as she shivered.
    She walked between the aisles of sleeping children and made sure they were all covered. Returning to Eva, she crawled under the filthy blanket and put her arms around the little girl.
    In the darkness, she heard the clicking of small toenails on the stone floor and tried not to imagine what was making that sound.

Chapter 9
    The Queen Ivana
    The queen gazed out her tower window at the acres of charred earth beneath her.
    "I am glad the king is dead. The weak-hearted fool would not have been able to stand to see his precious land in such a shambles,” she spoke to the empty sitting room.
    The handmaiden arrived to shift the queen's attention to the situation at hand.
    Queen Ivana sat in