Beyond the Rabbit Hole

Secrets and Schemes

Morgyn's mouth hung open. In the silence that followed, he could feel the stares like needles in his back. Every word that came to his mind hung in his throat, and he suddenly found himself lost for breath.

"There's no need to take him so seriously, kid." One of the other men in the cell chuckled. "That man has always had a few leaves short of a bush."

"He probably can't even understand us." Another prisoner teased. "True Eerie tongue must sound like nonsense compared to the empire's version of it."

"You can hear me, can't you?" Sanele asked. His smile did not waver, and his body language remained the same. "You can understand me. I can see it in your eyes. You came to me on your own after all. You knew who I was, and you knew what I said. Am I wrong?"

Morgyn closed his mouth and swallowed the lump in his throat. After a moment of thought, he finally said, "You're correct that I can understand you. As for my being a God, the answer is no." He spoke firmly at first, but once the words escaped his lips, he averted his eyes. The next words caught in his throat again. "Rather. . . I don't know."

The joking and laughing ceased between the other prisoners as they processed what Morgyn said.

"That's just absurd!" A prisoner exclaimed.

Not many people chimed in with their own opinions. Tension began to fill in the void left by the silence, until a voice boomed from a cell on the opposite side of the room. "You forget yourselves, men. The general is never completely wrong."

Morgyn turned toward the booming voice. His eyes widened at the hulk of a man leaning against the bars. Nkanyezi, the Bull.

"Besides, have any of you ever heard an Empyrean speak our language that fluently. Had I not been looking right at him, I would have thought he grew up in Umb Isihlabath." Nkanyezi's words held a skepticism that contrasted his faith in the general.

The silence fell into place again as the other prisoners pondered the possibility.

"Perhaps you are not God like the Empyreans call it, but to us we do not make such distinctions between beings in greater harmony with the world around us." Sanele added.

The way he said God this time – he used the Meliades term for God. I don't think I've ever heard the Eerie language either. Does this confirm Alyss's and my suspicions?

"Be clear, Sanele." Nkanyezi spat. "If you were more concise, people wouldn't call you crazy."

"He is not our God, and he is not their God, but a God nonetheless." Sanele said.

"So, not one of our divine spirits?" A prisoner asked.

Sanele thought for a moment and examined Morgyn's body. "I would think not. Tell me, there was a girl with you before – the one who broke our chains – is she with you now?"

Morgyn glanced at the other prisoners eagerly waiting his reply, and looked back at Sanele.

"You may sit, if you'd like?" Sanele gestured toward the floor in front of him.

Morgyn sat down. "Yes, but she was distracting the librarian while I sneaked down here," he said reluctantly.

"You knew what you would find, and you knew where to find it?" Sanele probed.

"Not. . . exactly." Morgyn's forehead wrinkled. "I wasn't entirely sure what I'd find down here. I just knew I'd find something, and that it was important."

Sanele and the other prisoners listened attentively.

Morgyn's voice caught in his throat. He spoke his next words carefully, "That tunnel to the library. . . are you all planning to escape?"