escondida

Chapter 5

My eyelids are heavy and it feels like every part of me is numb. I force my eyes open, but it barely makes a difference. The place I'm in is fairly dark, the only light source is a lamp hanging from the roof a fair distance away from me. Slowly my eyes start to adjust to the awkward lighting and I'm able to start to make out more of the room I'm in.

Well, the cell I'm in.

What the fuck.

I'm lying on rough, hard ground and my back feels damp. I slowly force myself up onto my elbows, ignoring the flare of pain in my shoulder. The ground is wet. And covered in what looks to be green moss. Most of it is in the corners at the floor of the cell, but there's still a fair bit scattered around.

Gross.

In front of me are iron bars, reaching up to the roof that's probably a head or three taller than me. The other three walls that cage me in are just empty rock walls. No windows. No escape. I slowly manoeuvre my body into a sitting position, my head spinning at the movement. Ignoring the feeling, I get to my knees and crawl over to where the bars are, using them to help me stand up.

My feet are wobbly, but I'm stable enough to not fall over, though I still grip the bar tightly, just in case.

"You certainly woke up a lot quicker than I expected. A lot quicker than what they probably expected from a mere human, too."

A cold voice sounds from in front of me. I squint through the bars, trying to focus my eyes in the darkness and can just make out the frail body of a woman in a cell directly in front of mine, a wide hallway keeping us separated.

"Who the fuck are you?" I ask and watch as she slowly walks towards the bars and into the light. She has long grey hair that nearly reaches to the floor of her cell. Her eyes are dark black and her skin is very pale. Like she hasn't seen sunlight in years.

She gives me a crooked grin, the wrinkles on her face standing out even more. Her teeth are a dark yellow and look sharp enough to rip my skin right off the bone in one bite. "Well I'm surprised you don't know who I am." She says and I look at her in confusion.

"I'm sorry?" I ask the old lady, trying to understand why she would think I would know her.

"It's okay." She replies. At first I thought she was joking by taking my question as an apology, but moments of silence went on, and I realise she wasn't joking.

This woman is crazy.

"Oh that's not what I meant. I mean why would you think I would know you?" I word carefully this time. I knew Fae are very tricky when it comes to truth telling and I knew they could bend it very well, but I didn't expect them to be so... oblivious? Clueless?

Though maybe it's just her. Maybe prison life has gotten into her head.

"Well every Dark Fae knows who I am." She says to me, though her voice and face are neutral, like she's only a ghost of the person she'd once been.

Did she not just address me as a human?

"I'm not a Dark Fae, I'm only a human." I say to her, not sure if this conversation will actually do me any good.

Maybe I should just work on trying to escape this horrible place.

"Don't underestimate yourself girl, humans may not have magic, but they sure do have enough to be able to protect themselves from us Fae." She says to me, her voice hoarse. Like she hasn't drunk anything since she last saw the sun. "But if you are only a human, what are you doing in a high security prison in the Dark Fae Palace? I don't see why they'd put a mere human in here."