Escana (42 page)

After discovering his eyes
weren't adjusting to the lack of light, Hern surmised that the prison
offered no means of escape. Not that he was eager to start searching
and alert the beast to his movements, he knew that encounter was
inevitable but he needed time to think before initiating it.

He had to admit, visions of
brushing aside all opposition in Greyhawk and leaving a free man
seemed far away and fanciful at this point. He'd taken a gamble in
thinking himself the measure of Dyson and had lost spectacularly, the
fact he was still alive at all was more fortuitous than anything
else. Hern listened carefully as the beast stirred once more.

The creature seemed to have
curled up as a cat would, resting its large head on an outstretched
leg. It let out a deep sigh and closed its eyes, apparently willing
itself to sleep. Hern was thankful that every action produced a noise
that offered him guesswork, he was under no illusions that should
this hunter want to take his life it could do so almost silently.

Hern had never encountered a
creature like this before and had no way to tell if it was sleeping
or merely resting. He had heard the stories of the giant lizards from
the deserts but had other things to concern himself with at the time
than compiling a personal bestiary.

Yellowskin,
there is no escape and I am watchful.

The words seemed jagged and harsh
compared to his own thoughts, bludgeoning his senses and causing him
to grip his head involuntarily.

I
offer
you
no
quarrel.
Hern
tentatively
sent
the
thought
out,
hoping
it
was
the
beast
that
had
initiated
the
conversation
and
not
some
unseen
force.

You
offer
me
nothing,
not
even
a
good
meal.
The
creature
finally
replied,
apparently
not
willing
to
dally
on
social
niceties.

Hern swallowed, the next few
moments were crucial and potentially his only means of escape. He
found himself pointlessly wishing that he had more time to think
things through before the beast had spoken to him.

Our
first attempt at gaining freedom was a failure, I intend to make sure
that it won't be our last.

Another lengthy silence followed,
Hern couldn't tell if the beast was deliberating over the words or
whether the mental connection between them took some time to
translate. All he had was this darkness and a creature that he
struggled to read the emotions of.

Where
is our second chance, Yellowskin?

Hern conceded that he had no idea
when the second chance would be, but communicating that to his fellow
captive would result in his death in short order. He had to convince
this beast somehow to be ready for the potential opportunity. Would
such a creature even understand the concept?

Our
second chance will arrive eventually, they captured you for a reason.
We must be ready when that time comes.

The creature made a strange
rumbling sound in its throat, then was still again. No further
communication was forthcoming it would seem.

Hern experimentally stretched his
legs. The creature did nothing in response. Apparently he had
established a tenuous truce with his new cell mate, yet the thoughts
of the coming days spent here in the company of a beast being driven
mad by hunger filled him with a great unease.

S
tretching
out a corpulent arm, she fished about in the golden dish on the edge
of her divan. The glazed pear she was attempting to grasp slid just
outside the reach of her stubby fingers, causing her to hiss in
frustration.

Her boudoir was opulent in the
extreme, featuring a variety of hanging silks and padded with
innumerable small carpets that she had made the latest style. The
gigantic divan took centre stage within all this and served as a
throne in her miniature kingdom of pleasure.

A faint but immediately
recognisable knocking came on the double doors, she bid her servant
to enter and he slipped in without word.

'What is it, Eli my sweet?'

Eli stared back at her blankly, a
slight smile permanently etched on his lips. Poor, sweet and innocent
Eli, her most trusted of servants and greatest of confidants.

'Mildred is here,' he replied
simply, as if a friendly aunt had come to visit unexpectedly.

'Well my good boy,' Alissandra
cooed at him, 'let's not keep Mildred waiting then shall we? Show her
in!'

Eli nodded wordlessly and
scurried out the double doors, he returned in short order with the
bent old crone.

Seeing that his duties were done,
Eli shuffled past and settled himself on the edge of the divan, his
tongue sticking out as he shoved his arm into the bowl and captured a
glazed pear.

'I was beginning to think that
you had died, withered one,' Alissandra said, her tone carrying none
of the sweetness it had previously held for her servant.

Mildred proceeded to prostrate
herself at Alissandra's feet. 'A thousand apologies my lady, my task
ran up against some unforeseen circumstances.'

She waved Mildred's excuses off
in disgust, had the old bag gone through the proper channels she
would have completed her objective and reported back in short order.

'Your apologies are meaningless
to me, what was it that detained you so? Did you meet with the girl
from my visions?'

The older woman nodded earnestly,
not daring to rise or speak until she was certain Alissandra had
finished. 'I spiked a loaf with the potion you gave me, the girl and
three others ate it. They were all male so no change will be wrought
upon them.'

If
this
mollified
Alissandra
any
she
didn't
let
it
show.
'I
shall
ask
you
this
a second time
,
don't
make
me
ask
a
third
time.
What
was
it
that
detained
you?'

'I encountered... a force, my
lady.'

She said nothing to this, the
silence was prompt enough that Mildred needed to tell her more.

'A young man, deathly ill. I
played my part and offered to assist in order to demonstrate trust,
when I touched him my world went dark. When I came to I was in
several pieces and had no recollection as to why.'

Alissandra snorted in derision.
'Old bag, as decrepit as you are even you don't burst into pieces at
the touch of a young man. I shall look into this matter but it is
probably of little import to us at this time. The trap has been set,
now all we need do is wait, you are dismissed.'

As Mildred picked herself up from
off the floor and hobbled out of the room, Alissandra turned to Eli
who seemed enraptured by the pear he had obtained.

'What do you think, Eli my dear?'

He continued sucking on the pear
as if nobody had spoken to him, then raised his head as if noticing
her presence for the first time.

'I don't like her, she makes me
feel bad,' he mumbled, his mouth still full.

Alissandra let out a tittering
laugh and patted Eli on the head as if he had cracked a joke of
extreme wit. 'Of course my sweet, of course she makes you feel bad.
She's a nasty old bag of bones. Do you think she was telling me the
truth?'

Eli nodded back at her,
reluctantly letting the fruit fall into his hands. 'She is scared of
you, too scared to be bad and tell lies.'

She harrumphed in response,
whether that remained the case was questionable. Whatever game
Mildred was playing would certainly advance a pace after having to
recover information at her own expense. The old crone saw herself as
more than a simple lackey and who could blame her? Once it was her
that held this most hallowed of positions so many years ago. Time
makes fools of almost all and she had been destined to slip up
eventually. Now there was one last task before things were set in
motion.

'Eli my precious sugar pear,
would you be so kind as to speak to El-Vador for me? He's coming back
to Levanin to see us.'

Eli's face lit up and he scurried
out the door.

T
he
yellowskin spent most of its time sitting silently, there wasn't much
else to do given their current state. It hadn't spoken another word
to him after their previous conversation and its thoughts had
remained cloaked from him. This was something that Re'tak didn't
appreciate.

He willed his mind out, questing
toward the yellowskin again. The creature had offered him freedom and
given their current circumstances there was little to lose in
trusting him again in spite of his failure.

Are
you awake, yellowskin?

The response seemed to come a bit
quicker than in their previous conversation.

I
am awake. What is it you wish of me?

A number of questions wound their
way into Re'tak's head but he decided to prioritise.

I
can read the thoughts of other paleskins but your mind is largely
hidden to me, why is this?

The paleskin shifted position
then, apparently this came as a revelation to it.

I
too can read the thoughts of others, I was brought up in a place
where those with my ability are trained to hide their thoughts from
such things.

Re'tak grunted, it stood to
reason that it had an innate ability that the other paleskins lacked.
No, not it. He. This was no longer some strange beast, it had
communicated with him distinctly.

Do
you have a name, yellowskin?

The silence that stretched out
was a little longer than before, as if signalling a turning point in
this strange mental conversation between them.

My
name is Hern, do you have a name?

Re'tak eased his way over toward
Hern, hoping not to startle him into silence.

I
am
known
as
Re'tak,
where
are
you
from
Hern
and
what
brings
you
here
?

They spent the next hour
conversing mentally, detailing how they had been captured and
enslaved, the company seemed to while away the hours at a greater
rate. Had he not been dying, Re'tak would have thought much longer
over the revelation that he could converse with another species to
such a degree. It wasn't long before the conversation turned to talk
of escape.

I
t had been a
terrible day. They had been marched out and joined a line of former
rioters outside one of the massive sheds he felt he had seen before,
they all looked similar to him.

The cheerful weather seemed to
have a sense of humour amidst all this human suffering, making the
seaside town look more beautiful than ever before. It felt like he
was saying goodbye to a memory of a place that never existed.

The shed doors groaned open to
reveal a large cage on wheels and two massive horned creatures that
Jimmy had never seen before. A rider mounted the seat behind them and
coaxed the animals to drag the cage out into the light.

The mass of guards that stood
watching the process brooked no argument as one by one the manacles
came off and they shoved their prisoners into the shed. It was the
first pang of fear that Jimmy had experienced since seeing The Hermit
subdued to Kelgrimm. He was going to live in that cage with these
other unsavoury men that neither obeyed the law of the land or chose
to join the now defunct Black Quail.

He looked on as the man he was
just thinking about had the manacles removed from his arms. He didn't
know why he was expecting him to fight back, he also hadn't hid the
disappointment he had felt at the man being unable to prevent their
capture. Had he overestimated The Hermit's capabilities? Or was it
simply his loyalties that were questionable? Jimmy discarded that
question, if The Hermit was that corrupt he wouldn't have ended up in
this cage.

He offered no resistance and
didn't seem overly perturbed by the rough treatment received as he
was bundled into the cage. A number of the guard had edged closer
when the manacles had come off, still wary of the man based on his
reputation. It seemed that their concern was unjustified, The
Hermit's entering the cage had offered the least resistance thus far.