Flames of Fury

Chapter 1

I'll have you know that May is my favorite month

and I simply couldn't wait for Friday =D

So, surprise! Happy Early Release!

 — — — — —

Bastian

Every day is pretty much the same. Two meals, one with water. There's a change of guards every eight hours, and they pass by our cell on the hour. Sometimes we can hear the screams of other prisoners, their pleas for mercy or for their torturer to end their suffering with death.

We haven't been to that room since the first week.

Seven straight days they attempted to torture us into luring Mags here. They hooked us up to some drug that suppressed our natural rapid healing, so the cuts and bruises they painted us with barely healed before the next round. But they severely underestimated the lengths a father would go for his daughter.

I'd never give her to them. I'd sooner die.

I almost did when Illian told me they had found her and had plans to lure her here – that they were using me, my scent, to lure her here despite my resolve to play no active role in that.

Dex and I rarely speak these days. Other than the echoes of screams, the only other sounds are our heartbeats which are slowing with each passing day.

That's our day, what our life has become. I don't think anymore about escaping or about seeing my family again. It only serves to create desire and hope, neither of which I can afford to have.

Today, however, something is noticeably different. It starts with the sounds of muffled shouting. Then there are the sounds of footsteps getting louder and louder until a parade of guards run past our cell door.

"Dex," I whisper-shout, my voice unrecognizable to my own ears. "Dex!." I kick him lightly in the side with my foot.

"What?" Dex groans hoarsely at me from his spot on the floor.

"Something is happening. All the guards are running off. Dozens of them, I've lost count."

This gets his attention and he joins me at the bars of our cell, peering out at the chaos before us.

"What do you think is happening? Do you think it's an attack?" He pauses for a moment, his eyes widening in horror. "Oh Gods...do you think it's..."

"No I don't think it could be her, he'd have gloated about it."

The flood of guards passing us dwindles. They've all split off into every direction of the cavern.

Just when I'm sure there aren't any guards left, one of them comes rushing up to the cells. Immediately Dex and I back away from the gate. I give him a look that communicates exactly what I'm thinking. We could take this guy, two on one, no other guards around. Even in our weakened state, all we have to do is get outside of the bars and then whatever magic they're infused with won't be able to block our ability to teleport.

"You two are the guys from the grove right?" The guard speaks with haste.

I remain still but I can see Dex nodding in the affirmative out of the corner of my eye.

"Good, follow me. I can get you out but we have to go now! They're barricading the entrances."

I whip my head around to Dex, unsure if this is some sick joke – the beginning of another bout of torture.