The Princess's Secret [completed]

35: The Cover Of Darkness.

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Caspian.

Suddenly the cell door opened with a bang, startling him. He realized he’d fallen asleep. He’d been chatting with the young family, learning their story.

As it turned out, Thaddias didn’t have the patience to hear the crimes of his people, even in special cases. And this young family’s case was definately a unique one. They were from a part of the city where poverty was common, and food was scarce.  

One of the little boys had gotten so hungry, he’d stolen some bread from the market. One of the common punishments of the times was to chop off the hand of a thief, but the boy’s father, with good reason, had protested and struck one of the knights carrying out the punishment. The move had saved his son’s hand, and possibly his life, but it had made the crime worse. The family had been brought to the courts to be tried for the combined crimes. The decision had been made to punish them all, and they were thrown into the dungeon.

Unfortunately, this was a bit of a common occurence in the surrounding kingdoms, but it didn’t have to be. He almost shook his head again just thinking about it, but was distracted by shouting.

Then he realized that the door that had woken him was the door to the cell he was in. Lanterns slowly chased away the darkness as a group of knights entered the cell. Two men came to where Caspian was sitting and grabbed him roughly, hauling him to his feet. His wounds protested, but he forced himself not to react. It would only satisfy them to see a reaction.

As they dragged him towards the front of the cell, he saw three knights were keeping the two giants back with their swords. The look in their eyes reminded him of times where village boys had tried chasing Isidro away with sticks. Unimpressed and slightly amused.

The knights shackled his hands and feet, then led him out of the cell. This is the part where we play with their ‘toys’. Images of Torture Racks, Catherine Wheel’s, and Iron Maiden’s flashed through his mind. It was not going to be pretty.

How much value can I convince them I have? Maybe a promise of randsom would buy him a couple hours. But as they passed torture weapons, the knights didn’t even pause. Maybe they’re afraid to kill me. He hoped so.

Finally they stopped at a tiny trapdoor. Immediately he recognized it. Called an ‘Oubliette’, it was more of a pit than a room. Approximately twenty feet deep, and so narrow that a prisoner could not sit or even kneel, but was rather left stuck standing.

The knights grabbed him roughly, removing the chains. He couldn’t help but try to pull away, and it was all he could do to keep his mouth shut as they opened the trapdoor and shoved him towards the opening.

Immediately he was hit by a stench unlike anything he’d smelled before, not even in battle. And fight as he did, he could not pull away.

Suddenly his feet slipped off the stone floor and he plummeted down into the darkness. The stench overwhelmed him, he couldn’t breath. His sides scrapped the walls all the way, and it felt like he would never hit the bottom. Then he did. And it was soft.

Scrambling, he tried to find a way to get is feet off the surface below, but it was impossible. It was pitchblack, but he didn’t need to see to know what he stood on. He could feel the creeping feeling as insects slithered around his feet. It took every ounce of self-control he had to keep from screaming. He was standing on a mound of rotting bodies…   

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Hiram.

The air was cold, damp. The only sounds were croaking frogs, crickets, and heavy breathing. The plans were in place, and the time was fast approaching. They had until the bell struck one to reach their point of entry, because that was when the change of guard occured, and they would have the most time before the dead guards were discovered.