I swallow the lump that’s growing in my throat. “Alright, you want the truth? The guards kidnapped my family, that’s why I got into the fight.”
My legs are numb underneath me, I shuffle around on my knees, telling them the truth, or at least a sliver of the truth. It’s the only way forward. Otherwise, I fear I’m a dead man once again.
Caelan gestures for me to continue.
“A couple of weeks ago, guards came to Vendyl to look for a ‘witch’—or so they called her. She wasn’t a witch, not really. She was a young woman from the town who recently found out she has magic and was being hunted because of it. She escaped after taking out a good few guards.”
Show sadness, Wyatt. You have to sell this part. “Almost a week ago now, I spotted a shit ton of guards at our house. I ran in to find it trashed and my family gone. They mistakenly took my family, believing they were hers.”
“A witch, eh?” He takes a dagger out of his sheath and twists it against his finger, his eyes sparkle with suspicion.
My eyes widen at the dagger spinning in his hand, my forehead soaking with sweat. “Yeah, a witch of sorts. I—I do know her, but—but I don’t know where she went.”
Caelan leans back in his large,forbiddingthrone; his hand caressing the hilt of a huge great sword that rests on the arm of his chair. My eyes trail from the hilt to the extremely sharp tip, the colossal beast is longer than my leg. The light from the fire glinting off the steel like a guillotine, patiently waiting to swipe my head clean off my shoulders.
A bead of sweat drips down onto my lips, the salty taste making my mouth drier than the deserts of the Sand Coast. My breath hastening with each passing minute. If I have to wait any longer, I feel I may crack under the pressure of his stare.
With a curt nod, footsteps stomp behind me, hauling me from the dusty hard ground. “Let’s see if a few days in the pit will loosen his tongue.”
Caelan rises; his shadow towering over me as he reaches his full height. The great sword resembles a toothpick in comparison to his large stature.
“But I…” I splutter as I’m being dragged backwards. Caelan turns away to speak to the folk who brought me to my next prison.
“Please. I need to find my family. No!” I kick and push against the bodies, removing me from the hut. I can’t go to the pit. I need to find them. Why doesn’t he understand?
Since I was dumped in this mud-covered pit, I have sat wallowing in my misery. My failures. I’m always failing the folk I promised to look after.I failed Andi when she asked me to keep our family safe, losing them to the Zury brutes. Failed Nia and Elana. I shouldn’t have left them that day, I thought they’d besafe. Can I even blame the poor souls who were tortured? Would I have held up any better?
Maybe we’ll find out.
Lastly, I failed Euan. Losing his girls to the wilderness, fighting for their lives, starving or worse, being beaten. I smack my head back against the hard, muddy wall, to rid myself of those thoughts. I can’t think about them being hurt; it makes my blood seethe.
Now I’ve traded one miserable life for another. How long am I going to stay in this dark, damp pit? At least it’s hidden within the mountain, away from the temperaments of the weather. The shelter of the mountain cave creates warmth from its walls, so I can’t complain too much, my jail could be a lot worse.
When I first arrived, with all the strength I had, I tried climbing out of it, but the clay walls crumbled beneath my grip. It must be about eight feet tall; no way I could reach the top. Even if I could, it’s covered with latticed wooden bars.
“Look at that, Arel. Our new friend has stopped wasting his time trying to mount the walls,” says the larger of the two men.
They both look down at me with stupid grins on their faces. One large man built like a boulder, has scruffy mud coloured hair. The other is tall and slender, with bright blonde hair down to his chin. I look back at my feet, trying to ignore the invaders of my solitary time.
“Leave the poor kid alone, he’s had a rough week,” the other voice chastised.Arel, I take it.
The bars rumble up ahead, and a rope ladder is tossed down to the bottom. I shuffle over to the corner as they both begin their descent. The blonde strolls over to where I’m sitting, plonking himself down. I wriggle further into the corner as I can physically push myself.
The blonde rustles about in his satchel and pointed ears poke out of his falling hair. An elf. I want to ask so many questions butstop myself as the ground rumbles with the larger man jumping the last few steps.
“This is for you.” The elf hands me a lump of venison, but I eye it warily. My stomach growls with hunger pains, but still I refuse. “Suit yourself,” he says, ripping a chunk off and throwing it into his mouth.
My mouth fills with saliva, thanks to the delicious smell of venison. I swallow it down, trying my best to ignore how hungry I am. My stomach lets out another mammoth growl, showing everyone its irritation at my choice. The larger man sits across from the elf and me, scowling at my lack of eating.
“Well, if you’re not going to eat it…” he grumbles. The blonde elf protests, snatching it out of his hand.
Minutes pass by, as I sit in my corner, blatantly ignoring the two gossiping to each other about other members of the group. Instead, I draw on the mud walls with a tiny stick I found and pick at the ties on my wrists. I’m still unable to loosen them, it’s like they’re forged into a knot. I recall stories from books, ones I used to comfort myself with on days when Nik was being unusually horrible. Their voices become a white noise in the background, allowing me to pull on my memories of the elf wars, until someone’s voice startles me.
“I said, what’s your name, kid?” the man in front of me asks. “Things don’t need to be so hostile around here, you know.”
I scoff under my breath. “You’re not the one trapped in a hole.”
“You don’t have to be either. Think about it.”
