Sarah leaned back into the plush leather backseat of the taxi.  Soon they would be approaching the Abbey. She had had no trouble discharging herself from the hospital.  No prying questions were asked of a doctor’s daughter in small-town 1950s Britain. It was just not done. As the taxi neared the sea cliffs, Sarah could hear the sound of the ocean pounding itself into the rock face of the Welsh granite crags. It really was a brilliantly beautiful morning, she thought. But she had little time to enjoy it. After her stepmother’s warning Sarah was certain that the sexy Hugh St. Owen was somehow a prisoner in the cave under the Abbey ruins. She couldn’t prove it, but somehow she just knew it. Sarah only hoped she would be in time to do something for the man she desired before he came to some real harm. He had now been missing for nearly three days.
Sarah was lost deep in thought. It was now obvious that she was falling deeply in love with the handsome young real estate agent.  Even now, in what Sarah perceived to be a potentially dangerous situation, she longed for the touch of his hand on her person.
The taxi abruptly came to a screeching halt. Sarah was jerked out of her reverie. They were right outside the Abbey grounds. Sarah jumped out of the taxi, paid the driver and then turned to go.
“Just a moment, Miss.”
Sarah looked around at the taxi driver with an inquiring look. The driver stared hard at Sarah. His face reddened with embarrassment. He was a middle-aged man who ran his own private cab business in Perris, and was often called upon by the Llewellyn household.
“I don’t want to pry into your personal affairs, Miss Sarah, but would you like me to wait here? You don’t seem as if you want to stay around long. You do seem in a bit of a hurry.”
Sarah looked at the concerned man and smiled. She could not see Hugh’s Morris Minor anywhere near the Abbey ruins. If Hugh and she had to make a quick getaway, this offer could prove very useful.
“Why, thank you sir,” she said, “I really would appreciate that.”
The taxi driver nodded and switched off the engine. It was a magnificent Monday morning. Business was slow today. He felt he could enjoy the sunshine for a little while.
Sarah turned around once more and headed for the Abbey ruins.  Her heart began to beat wildly as she approached what she perceived to be the trapdoor entrance leading to the cave under the Abbey. She had been very tired when Hugh had helped her out of the cave and into the fresh air. Even so, Sarah still had been alert enough to note the approximate point of entry. The steady pounding of the surf below her was almost deafening in the still, salty air.  Sarah walked around the gray, stone pillars. They flashed white and blinding in the strong morning sun.
There it was.
Sarah stood before a small, makeshift gray wooden door. It was carved into one of the stone columns right in the middle of the Abbey ruins. The young woman hesitated. What if there was someone down there just waiting for her to come and rescue the prisoner? Sarah took a deep breath. Unfortunately, that was a chance she was going to have to take.
Sarah reached out and turned the knob on the crude door. She started. It moved almost too easily. Obviously it had been used very recently. What was even more suspicious, Sarah thought, was that the door opened almost noiselessly. The hinges would have to be well oiled to withstand the rigors of the sea air. Someone had gone to great lengths to avoid unwanted observation, she thought.  Sarah stepped out of the bright sunlight and started down a flight of narrow, well-worn stone steps. She was careful to close the door behind her, so that she too would not draw attention to her intrusion.
The young woman stood still for a couple of minutes. She had to give her eyes a chance to get used to the gloom. And it was gloom, Sarah noted, not complete darkness. Obviously some light managed to penetrate the cave from holes in the ceiling, she decided. Or maybe the light had some help from an artificial source…
Sarah shivered in the icy chill of the cave air.  It smelled that familiar damp and musty odor she had become aware of during the horror of her previous visit. She advanced slowly down the narrow flight of steps. As she descended the width of the stone steps increased. Soon, she discovered that she could move with apparent ease down the ever-widening steps until she found herself at the entrance to the cavern.
Sarah froze as she heard the sound of movement from within the interior. The light was brighter here, but diffuse.  Her eyes had now become accustomed to the decreased intensity of light. Sarah peered from behind a rather convenient promontory of rock at the foot of the steps and looked out. She was quite unprepared for what she saw.
The whole length of the cavern appeared to be lit up with long, tall tallow candles. But the candles were not white but black in color. In the center of the cave was a large, thick, black wooden post. Sarah looked closely. She could just about make out that someone was tied ? no chained ? to the pole. She heard the soft murmur of voices. It sounded like a woman’s voice and a man’s voice. Then she heard someone retreating into the darkness at the other end of the cave. Then silence.
Hoping that the coast was clear, Sarah took a few tentative steps into the center of the cavern. She inched her way forward, and the unexpected brightness of the tallow candles made her flinch until her eyes got used to the uneven glare.
She walked right up to the black post and looked straight ahead.  A familiar pair of soft, brown eyes glinting with a hint of steely determination met her own. It was Hugh St Owen, all right. A naked Hugh St. Owen ? shackled to the unyielding pole. His long, dark wavy hair was tangled and yet glossy in the weird candlelight. His well-muscled, hairy chest and thighs glistened with perspiration as his body strained at the chains restricting his movements. His manhood pulsated large and pendulous, as he thrust out his hips, his whole being struggling for release from his cruel bonds.
He recognized Sarah immediately.
“Sarah!” he whispered in surprise. The sweat poured from his brow. “What are you doing here?”
“I knew it. I knew it,” said Sarah in a low voice, “I just knew they were keeping you here. Are you all right, Hugh?”
“Yes. I’ve only been strung up like this a couple of hours. After leaving you at the hospital I was struck on the head, drugged and I’ve been unconscious for, Vivien told me, nearly three days.”
“Vivien!” Sarah jumped at the name. “So that’s why she was so certain she had you prisoner when she came to the hospital.”
“She came to visit you?” Hugh asked.
“Yes,” said Sarah. She nodded her head. “But we’ve no more time for explanations, Hugh.” She looked around her. “We’ve got to get you out of here.”
Hugh St. Owen nodded.
“Sarah, it’s too dangerous for you here,” he said. “Still, I’m glad that you are.”
Hugh smiled at Sarah.
Sarah looked down at the young man.
“Yes,” she said, smiling back, “I can see that you are, Hugh.”
Hugh St. Owen looked down to where Sarah was staring and blushed in spite of himself. Sarah noticed that his manhood stood at full attention. Hugh looked up at the young woman with a huge, sexy smile.
“What can I say, Sarah? You have me at a distinct disadvantage.”
Sarah pursed her lips and stretched out her hand. She just couldn’t help herself. She touched his manhood with her fingers and eagerly massaged him.  It felt soft, firm and desirable.
“Aaaaah!” Hugh St. Owen let out a muffled groan of half pleasure, half pain.
“Oh, Hugh!”
“Stop. Stop it, Sarah. I can’t bear it.”  Hugh St. Owen thrust his hips forward even more violently than before.
Sarah snatched her hand back as if it had been scalded.
“What am I doing?” she gasped in a shocked voice. She gazed at the naked body in front of her.
“Oh, Hugh. I’m so sorry.”
Hugh St. Owen’s soft, brown eyes met hers.
“Don’t be, Sarah,” he said. “You just couldn’t help yourself.  If this were any other time or any other place…”
“We’ve got to get you out of here,” said Sarah.
Hugh St. Owen smiled at the young woman. Sarah could tell that he was touched by her concern. He heaved a heavy sigh.
“We’ll find a way,” he said. He paused, then said slowly, “What I don’t understand is what is going on? What does Vivien want me for?”
Sarah shook her head.
“I don’t know, Hugh. I really don’t know.”
“Listen, Sarah,” said Hugh St. Owen, “Vivien has the key to the lock for these chains.”
Sarah looked more closely. The thick chains were bound around Hugh St. Owen’s feet and hands.
“Then I’ll somehow have to get the key off Vivien,” said Sarah in a decisive manner.
Just then the sound of footsteps entering the cavern could be heard.
“Sarah, hide yourself.” Hugh St. Owen’s eyes flashed a warning to his potential young rescuer.
Sarah nodded.
“Okay, Hugh,” she whispered. “I’ll just wait my chance.”
Sarah brushed her lips quickly over Hugh St. Owen’s cheek and retreated quickly behind the rock promontory at the bottom of the steps.
She was just in time. Almost at once, her stepmother swept into the center of the room dressed in exactly the same ghastly Halloween garb she had worn to visit her in the hospital only an hour before.  The obligatory lighted cigarette in its bejeweled cigarette holder held sway in the black-gloved hand.
Vivien strode back and forth across the center of the cave in front of the bound, naked man. She lifted up her veil, exposing her clown makeup for the prisoner.
“Well, well, Mr. St. Owen,” she drawled. Sarah cringed at the irritatingly affected delivery.  “What do we do with you now?” she continued.
“Well, Mrs. Llewellyn, this is your show. You tell me,” Hugh St. Owen replied, with a grim expression.
“The Guardians of the Abbey will be along presently. They can decide your fate,” Vivien answered. She blew large clouds of cigarette smoke into the air. “Then we can find out the truth.” She flashed the man a ghoulish grin. “The naked truth, Mr. St. Owen.”
Sarah winced at the vulgar reference coming from her own stepmother.
Hugh St. Owen smiled, in spite of the horrible situation.
“Do I turn you on that much, Mrs. Llewellyn?” he taunted.
Vivien looked him up and down.
“You’ll do at a pinch, “ she replied at length.
“Don’t hold your breath, madam,” growled the young man in a contemptuous voice. “I demand to know why I am being held here naked and against my will.”
The older woman paused in her pacing up and down the cavern floor.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” she said. To Sarah her tone seemed snappish and quite venomous.
Sarah decided to take matters into her own hands. She looked around for a small rock or implement she could use.  Her eyes alighted on what looked like a small paperweight lying right near her feet.
Sarah picked it up. It looked like a large, glass stone with some interesting markings on it. Sarah could not make them out in the strange cavern candlelight.
It was now or never. Vivien’s back was turned away from her as she paced up and down the floor.  Sarah crept up behind her, raised herself on tiptoe and smashed the stone down on the back of her stepmother’s head in the space in between her hat and neck. It must have been quite a wallop. Vivien crashed to the floor without a word. Hugh St. Owen looked at her in astonishment and undisguised admiration.
In an instant Sarah had unbuckled the keys attached to her stepmother’s sash tied around her waist.  Sarah tried each key in the locks on the chains binding Hugh St, Owen’s wrists. The third key was the charm. Hugh St Owen grabbed the keys off Sarah and bent down and released his feet from their bonds. He rubbed his wrists for a moment then looked at Sarah.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said.
Sarah looked around and found what looked like a clean white loincloth to cover Hugh St. Owen’s inviting private parts.  He shoved it on quickly. They both raced for the steps leading out of the cavern. Just as they reached the bottom of the stairs a voice rang out from above them.
“Not so fast my fine friends.”
Sarah and Hugh St. Owen stopped dead in their tracks.
The voice continued.
“The Knights of the Abbey haven’t finished with you yet. Either of you.”
 

Sarah felt a chill rush through the whole of her body. Was this the end of their quest to find out the naked truth? Why was Hugh St. Owen being tortured and held naked as a prisoner in the underground Saint Owen’s Abbey cavern? What was her evil stepmother’s involvement in this conspiracy? Why was Sarah attracted so irresistibly to the sexy, muscled body of the sexy young real estate agent? And would they find out the terrible secrets of the Abbey? See the next exciting installment in Chapter 13 of Sarah Llewellyn and the Druid’s Curse!

Read Chapter 13:  Deja Vu All Over Again
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