Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 4: Animal

But as she keeps moving through the dungeon, she doesn't find him. But that doesn't mean Letroseli isn't involved in some way. Maybe they didn't take him directly, but who knows. Just because it's not their fingerprints doesn't always mean it's not their crime.

She turns her attention forward the moment she realizes they've been walking for a lot longer than she was expecting. In fact, she lifts her gaze just in time to see as the guard starts descending yet another staircase to go deeper into the dungeon.

"Where are you taking me?" she asks as she jogs up a little closer to speak to the guard.

He doesn't even look back at her. "To the accused spy, as instructed."

"How far down are they?" Reela questions skeptically.

"We're almost there." He answers no more questions.

At least he wasn't lying about almost being there. Her feet were starting to hurt after all the walking around today, but at the bottom of the second set of stairs is another cell door, but this one looks more secure than the ones back in the main hall of the dungeon, and it's just the door. No metal bars on either side. Just a reinforced cell door that leads into a small, circular stone room.

As she reaches the cell door, she suddenly feels a chill blow in from the other side. She shivers and goes to peer into the cell, but stops to snap her attention back to the guard when he speaks again. "You have ten minutes," he says before taking out a key and unlocking the door. "Use them wisely."

He holds the door open for her and she cautiously steps through, when he shuts it behind her and relocks it. She watches him leave up the stairs until she can no longer see him, and part of her is practically screaming 'THIS IS A TRAP.'

"You better not forget me down here!" she huffs after him and shivers again. "If I freeze to death, you'll be hearing from my lawyer!" she calls out and still receives no response. She thinks she got them. No way they'll call her bluff on the fact that Edith isn't actually a lawyer anymore.

Then she hears a low chuckle from behind her and her body tenses.

Oh yeah. She's here to speak with a prisoner. How did she forget that?

"Scream all you want... They won't hear you," comes a low, growling voice from behind her. The sound matches the chuckle she heard and the smooth accent is the same as her own.

Reela shivers again, but not from the cold.

She slowly turns around with her arms wrapped tightly around herself to try keeping warm, and she sees that in the center of the small cell is a person on their knees with their head down and their chest-length blonde hair hanging in matted strands over their face. All they're wearing is a pair of tattered black trousers. They have gashes and bruises covering their chest, back and torso.

Their wrists are bound by shackles tethered to the walls, keeping their arms wide open. She can see black marks on the chains. Charring.

She keeps her distance and remains silent while watching them, when they let out another dry, empty chuckle. "They remember the ones they like..." they slowly angle their head just enough to look at her. Their eyes are burning golden.

"...and they forget about the rest."

Their face is a sculpted visage of androgynous that just slightly leans on the side of masculine, which is almost how she would describe their voice, only their voice leans more towards the side of deep feminine.

Their leering tone has every alert flaring in Reela's head. Like she's staring down a feral wolf, but she has to remember that they are restrained. They can't hurt her. Even if they weren't, Cree taught her how to defend herself. She's just never actually had to put those skills to the test before.