A Brief Light

Cheek pressed on the cool stone that she lay on, Ember sought the cold seeping through the cracks of the ancient dungeon. She had long lost count of how many days had passed, the only reminder that the days went on was the lingering light that would sometimes find its ways through the cracks of the walls. The other side did not have the same cracks, leading her to observe that it must not face the outside as her side did.

A low rumble sounded from her aching belly, another set of convulsions erupting along her pale body as she keened. The sound was inhuman, but any soul would be able to hear the suffering in the high tone. A gravelly growl ended the sound as she coughed harshly. Her Fire was looking for release. Looking up, she was surprised to find she had a visitor.

A young man, he had a golden halo of hair and the keenest set of green eyes. They were the color of shining emeralds, but there was something in the hard glint they held. Ember sniffed. The smell was distinctly wood and pine, but a light breeze of lavender echoes under the heavier layers. The Queen!

"Why are you here, human? I had half a thought your kind did not care for me?" her voice was weak, an unwelcome aspect when she was attempting to drive him away by intimidation.

"Who says I am human, my Fire?" The young man's voice was sultry, smooth to her ears and caressing as she immediately picked out that note of charm he held. "No, I find myself to be a darker creature, but that does not change my status of servitude."

"Servitude? What is a nonhuman working for the Queen for?" Ember asked, her eyes flashing dangerously when he stepped closer to her bars. The Queen disliked nonhumans.

"That, darling, is not any of your business! Rather, I am here to check on my charge. Were you aware you were coughing up blood?" he rejected giving a response, offering light from a torch she did not remember him having. The flash of red liquid told his truth, and she was not particularly comfortable with him knowing her weakness.

"I had not been, Creature. Why would I, when I am left in the dark to rot as the fire eats me inside and out?" Ember spat. Scooting further back in the cave, she eased herself into a seated position against the stone wall as she watched him.

The young man, much to her chagrin, sat right at her bars and settled in to face her. "Why do you move away? I do not mean you harm."

"You had me captured and left with so little water and food, that I will starve within the next month. Why would I not move away?" she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. What game is he playing?

"No game-ah, here they are!"

Two more guards, fully dressed in armor as they should be, arrived with a simple set of silver chains. They bound the man's wrist with them and brought the metal together, rubbing the two bands against one another until the man could not jerk his arms apart. Done, the two prisoners are left alone once more.

Curiosity peaked, the girl leaned forward ever so slightly. "Why would they bind you of all people?"

"You have figured it out, my Fire. Ah, yes, I am the Queen's dirty left hand, the one hidden in the shadows for none to see. However, she trusts me no more than she trusts a lady of her court, and so bound in the dungeons I have spent many a woeful night." He moved his hands in an awkwardly eccentric way, and a small corner of the girl's lips lifted.

"I am not you Fire. People should not use terms of endearment with a wild dragon, after all. It often proves fatal," she said, an ease settling over her as she lay herself to rest on the cold floor.

"A chance I am willing to take, but if you would tell me your name, it would make such a problem...disappear," he replied suggestively, raising one brown slightly.