THE GUARDS CELL
By Jethal Silverwing, 4/16/2023
The iron gate hits the wall as the guard kicks it open. On his face, a smug triumphant sneer as he approaches her cell. The torch, flickering with just enough light to make out a shape seated on a small, worn mat, with her back to the cell door.. The soft hum of a somber tone lightly carries on the stale air…
“Is it done, then?” the captive asks, in an almost flat and unfeeling tone.
The guard’s lips curled in satisfaction “Yes.. he screamed like a stuck pig”, his voice echoed throughout the stone of the chamber. She chuffs defiantly “Lies..”
The guard slams his open hand to the cell door, a clang of metal reverberating in the dankness of the night, his sneer of confidence now fallen to annoyance “HE.. IS.. DEAD!.. BITCH!”. The prisoner turns her head to glance behind to her captor, her clear voice quavering only the slightest as she asks “Did you perform the ritual?”.
The guard snorts “Yes.. the priests and mystics did their duty”. His stance changes, his shoulders back almost wanting to salute to a job well done by his cohorts. She continues.. “His body..?” Her voice with just the faintest of cracks made the guard want to chuckle at her apparent pain. “It burned, just as the priest’s book said it would.”
“Then, truly.. You must have won..” She turned her gaze from him and returned it to the wall at the rear of the cell as voices murmur in the further reaches of the hall, faint and perhaps with urgency. “We’re rid of him” he speaks with pride in his deep gravelly voice “And You’re next, Bitch!”
Further murmurs of voices begin to grow louder from beyond the gate of the dungeon, louder to shouts of alarm. Dust falls from the ceiling as an impact tremor is felt, as if something had pounded against the floor. “I only hope that my end leads me back to him..” She says softly, her eyes hidden from view in the darkness of her cell.
The guard turns and calls out to the garrison down the hall “What is that racket!? Deal with it!” his voice bellowing off the stone to be echoed with the sound of distant shouting of his men. “Frack Sake, Captain! What is happening out there!”
“You know,” her voice now calm, almost a whisper, “You’ve surely done what no others have been able too.. Not the Knights of Freeport. Not the Cultists of Darklight..”; More dust falls from the ceiling, along with rubble of masonry, pinging off the guards’ armor.. He looks around in confusion as the shouts of his men grow louder, before falling to silence, one by one.
His eyes dart to the cell, in surprise as she is suddenly standing there before him.. Her fire orange hair in twin braids, her tattoo’d wode slightly glows in the dark against her skin.
He slams his fist to the cell door once more, causing the metal to clang like an old bell, thrusting himself forward, his face to hers, separated only by the iron bars of the door.
“I KILLED H..!!” his shout of rage interrupted by a cackle of glee from his prisoner
“YOU.. PISSED.. HIM.. OFF!!” She cries out in a strong and defiant voice.
The guards eyes go wide at her statement. Suddenly, the door of the dungeon creeks and strains as the metal twists and tares then to be torn from its hinges and lobbed down the hallway, taking out torches and men who fair in the way. Smoke bellows into the chamber backlit by the glow of embers and the ground shaking growl of the beast that claws its way along the stone.. Along the walls, up along the ceiling, then drops with a mighty thud before him.
What he sees strains his minds ability to comprehend.. A demon of immense size, crowned by stag antlers, his shoulders shrouded and eyes blazing in flame.. His long fingers swiftly engulf the guards face and wrap clear around to the back of his head, before with a grunt, he hurls head first into the adjacent wall.. The blood spatter soaks a now destroyed tapestry. The guard’s body falls dead, soon to be followed by the remnants of his skull.
The door of the cell opens as if never secured as she slips her picks back into the bun of her hair. Casting her gaze to her rescuer, her lips curl to a satisfied grin. “Hello, my love”. The demon smirks, his deep and rumbling voice vibrating throughout the walls of stone, “Ev’ning, My Love.. shall we depart?”
She picks a piece of the guard off of her chestplate with a slightly disgusted grimace “Anyone left for me?”. The beast cocks his head as if listening to his surroundings, turning his attention to the door, “I believe they all fled..”
She follows him down the hallway, bodies strewn about, some whole.. But mostly in pieces.. “Awww, you have all the fun!” She playfully punches his arm, whining in a childish tease.