Daughter of Death

XXI

Cade wasn't expecting someone to have fallen for the trick so easily. So he and Nowad were both completely unprepared for the moment when the lock clicked, and the heavy metal door was slowly pushed open, letting soft yellow light from outside seep through.

As Cade mused over how in the world their stupid plan had worked, he reached up to the top of his head, to wake and warn Nowad, but it was already buzzing away, hiding behind the stinky toilet. He strapped the shield to his arm as he stood, grabbing the satellite phone as well.

Suddenly, a large, hulking shape appeared, walking in. Wait...not walking. There was something odd and wrong about the way it moved. A weird clip-clop sound followed it. It was definitely taller than Cade, and had to dip its head to avoid hitting the top of the door; around seven or eight feet. When it fully entered Cade's cell/room/whatever, the space felt tiny. Cade had to take several deep breaths to keep the panic from rising in his chest. Claustrophobia is an awesome thing, isn't it.

He examined the newcomer to distract himself. The creature's body was in almost an L shape, and he recognized a part of it: the body of a horse. Then he looked up at where the head was supposed to be, and saw in the dim light the vague shape of a human torso...

"Alright, have fun in there," a gruff voice outside said. "Just don't kill him; the Key-ler will send the both of us to Boreas if you do—if he doesn't kill us first. But give him a few permanent injuries for the migraine he's been giving me."

The creature right in front Cade snorted very much like a horse. "Of course."

Then the door slammed closed, and Cade had to force himself not to wince.

He stood warily in a defensive stance, the shield in front of him. The dim light it gave off was just enough to make out the creature's features. Cade was pretty sure he wasn't hallucinating, but then again, he had been in a dark cave for who knows how long, and only managed to stay somewhat sane with the help of a sentient sarcastic droid. But he was pretty sure this creature was a centaur. It explained the weird way it moved, and the sound of its footsteps—well, hooves.

"So what made you decide to give this poor old prisoner a visit?" Cade asked, squelching the rising panic. Admittedly, the plan was mostly out of the nonexistent window now. Originally, the sat phone was supposed to attract someone or something—like one of those horse-legged ladies. Then, one way or another, they would hopefully get into the cell, where Cade might be able to interrogate them by annoying them with the sat phone's frequency and wavelengths and radio waves and...whatever.

Look, he was no genius in engineering. Nowad was literally a walking (flying) computer, so he just asked it for numbers and logics and stuff.

Anyways, the plan. It was definitely out the window. It seemed like it would be more willing to fight Cade than talk, which was unfortunate.

The centaur tossed his head, flipping his brown hair—the same shade as his horse flank—which was in a low ponytail. He snorted. "For a poor old prisoner, you have some nerve, using that machine of yours to bother us. Do you have a death wish?"

Slowly, he started trotting in a tight circle around Cade, counterclockwise, who stayed still where he stood.

Cade shrugged. "Well, I honestly don't know. But if you want to kill me, go on and try." He didn't point out that in this tight space, Cade had more of an advantage than the centaur. It was the first thing he always noticed when trapped between a rock and a hard place. This time quite literally. The centaur would have a hard time moving around, and while it wasn't exactly easy for Cade either, it was easier.

"I wasn't going to kill you, but now the temptation is overwhelming. Would you mind?"

"Eh, I do kinda—"