It was strange to wake in a prison wagon instead of deep in hell.
A few days had passed since the massacre. My clothes were torn and stiff with dried blood. I felt as if I had bathed in it. Pain still ran through my body, but not as badly as I had expected. I looked around the wagon. There were six of us inside, and compared to the others, which were packed so tightly they were nearly bursting, this one was still almost comfortable.
After a few more days, we finally reached our destination. I could not tell where we were, but I suspected we were somewhere within the Luskar Empire.
The wagon door opened, and two fully armed guards stepped inside. They grabbed the ropes binding my hands and dragged me out.
I was in Horaskopt, a prison infamous for guards who killed inmates for sport. It had been built on the edge of a mountain once used to mine all sorts of raw materials.
We were brought to the section where prisoners were unloaded from the wagons and assigned a cell and a number. Dozens of wagons stood around us, spilling out guards and captives alike.
I looked over the prisoners. Most of them were from Thesmar, and most were soldiers. They were clearly considered too dangerous to be used as slaves. Most were human, though there were other races among them as well. They gathered us on a stone platform. Imperial soldiers watched us while gradually herding us inside the building. Dozens of archers aimed down at us from the walls.
Then I felt someone's breath behind me.
"Hm. A half breed..." he said, pausing. "I haven't had one of those in a long time."
I turned toward the voice.
Behind me stood a Grasion, over eight feet tall and broad as a wall, looking me over with a warrior's gaze. Spit dripped from his mouth.
Did he want to eat me too? Had he ever tried half breed meat before? If he had, then he already knew it did not taste very good.
"I'd like to see what you can do too, pig," I said with a wink. "It's been a long time since Grasions of your kind tried to eat me."
"Silence!" one of the guards shouted at us.
They marched us off and assigned us to cells. Each one held four people and contained two bunk like wooden planks that served as beds.
Could be worse, I thought.
The Grasion was placed in the cell opposite mine. I lay down on the wooden board and started thinking about the last few days. Meanwhile, my new cellmates introduced themselves to one another.
After several years, the Empire had finally stopped pretending it only wanted peace. First it formed an alliance with Xentrex and Rabinok. Then it conquered Detruisia by hiring an assassin to slaughter the royal family. Detruisia fell, and after that no one knew what would come next. The Empire chose to keep going and conquer the whole continent.
I still did not understand what had come over me in Theocran, but I hoped everyone had made it out alive.
Day after day passed.
I got up, went to dig, then went to dinner, then went back to sleep.
Nothing changed.
The Grasion sought me out, and during one of our breaks we met outside. A crowd quickly formed around us to watch the fight, and bets started passing from hand to hand. No one had much, so they wagered whatever stolen little things they owned. Most of them bet on the Grasion.
A Ming, who had taken charge of the match, raised his hands, and the fight began.
We circled one another, sizing each other up. His movements were somewhat reckless. He lost patience first and attacked. I let him land the first blow exactly as he wanted, and the second too. His fist slammed into my face and snapped my head to the side. Sharp pain tore through my skull. I deserved it, after all those years. The second punch came from the opposite side and whipped my head back even farther. I staggered a step and coughed up blood. I had hoped it might wake me from the endless thoughts in my head.
"Why aren't you fighting?" he shouted at me.
The prisoners watching were clearly unhappy that I was not putting up more of a fight.
"WHY AREN'T YOU FIGHTING?" he roared again.
My chest felt empty, but my head was full of too many thoughts.
"Do you know why I'm not fighting?" I asked.
I paused for a moment.
"Because..."
And then I threw myself at him.
He was half a meter taller than I was, but the difference in our skill was obvious. In an instant, I drove my knee into his stomach, slipped around him, and hit him in the face. He had no time to react. He stumbled and tried to prepare for another exchange. I kicked his legs out from under him and struck him in the side as he fell. He tried to rise, but I was already on top of him, grinding his face into the sand.
Then I walked out of the circle.
I had barely taken a few steps when two guards appeared behind me and grabbed me. I did not resist when they hauled me off to solitary. They did not say how long I would be there, but they probably wanted me to cool down.
The cell was exactly as dark as the stories claimed. It was barely two square meters, and no light came through the door at all.
Day passed after day.
They gave me nothing to eat and nothing to drink, but my body did not seem to need either. It made no sense, but it did not. I normally felt hunger, but over the past few days I had felt nothing of the sort.
Did I even need food to stay alive?
In the end, I spent a few weeks there.
When I returned, my cellmates ignored me, which suited me fine. The guards had shaved my hair short and extended the amount of time I had to spend digging. I did not mind. It gave me at least some relief from the emptiness that consumed me whenever I was alone.
One of my cellmates asked me, "So how did you end up in prison?"
That bastard was bold.
"For once, I chose not to run."
After weeks of silence, my voice sounded different. Speaking at all felt strange.
He decided not to ask another question and walked away. His name was Fred, I think.
I hoped Markus, Azi, Breias, Jurian, and Lasin were alive and well, even though day by day I was starting to forget their faces.