Deliverance [malexmale]

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

I was a prisoner.

Despite leaving the door open so that I may freely leave, I soon learned why Dianna felt it was safe to do so. I left my room two days later in the morning, walked down the hallway with the intention to find an escape, only to discover that the hallways had been rigged with a spell so that I automatically forgot where I was and couldn't find my way back, which led to a four hour aimless wandering. I'd tried to leave marks on the walls, but either they disappeared or the hallways were possibly switching on me.

Either way, I was now lost in a giant palace in a place I'd never been to.

As if I wasn't screwed before.

I winced at that particular word use, rubbing at the insides of my arms. My forearms were sore and red from viciously scratching at them and cutting them more than usual. While the wounds healed to scars, it didn't feel like enough. I needed something more, and that suicidal sensation left me with my only option-- try to find an escape. Either I'd get out or someone would find me and beat the shit out of me, so either way I would win... maybe.

I walked through the hallways, listening to the distant sounds of the ocean waves crashing on a white sandy beach, the sound of palm tree leaves rustling in the wind, the soft crackle of fire in the oil burners mounted on the walls. Every so often, I'd pass a window and hoped it wasn't a dozen feet off the ground, only to be disappointed. All I had learned about the place I was at was the fact that it was an island and it was rocky and mountainous and there was no fucking way out of the damn building. I hadn't even come across a door, just open archways into another hallway. I'd found a courtyard, but there was nothing there, but grass and a dragon fountain.

This is it, I thought dryly as I walked through the hallways.

I'm gonna die like this. Wandering the hallways forever until I can't take it anymore and smash my head open.

I tried once again to retrace my steps, but to no avail. It just led me even deeper into the winding, twisting castle of horrors. Well, not really. Just the fact that I couldn't find where I was going. The building itself was strangely nostalgic. It was massive, everything was made of nicely carved stone blocks, oil burners made of bronze, plain open air windows with nothing to prevent the cool breeze from outside to come in. It was open and airy and I would've enjoyed it if I wasn't imprisoned here by the enemy, who had yet to come stop me or kill me.

I had no idea what Atlan had up his sleeve, and at the moment, I didn't care.

"Where the hell is a bathroom?!" I shouted, stopping abruptly in an archway to glare at yet another empty courtyard.

"You should've asked earlier," came Dianna's voice from behind me. I stiffened and whipped around so fast, I almost gave myself whiplash as I backed up against a wall, glaring at her as she stood a few feet from me, wearing a long summery dress with her hair swept back from her face, a smile spread across her lips.

"Where did you come from?" I demanded. Dianna arched a brow.

"I believe it's called reproduction. See--"

"I don't mean that," I said, trying not to let it show how impatient her sarcasm made me, "I mean, how did you find me here? Where were you?" Dianna relaxed, kept smiling. Did she ever stop smiling? Didn't it hurt to smile that much? Then again, Arikos smiled that much too. Was it a ploy to make me relax around them? Because smiling just made me uneasy now.

"I was nearby and just happened to hear you wandering around. Are you alright? Do you wish for something to eat?" She asked. I eyed her suspiciously. While she was physically too frail and obviously not a soldier, she could still be dangerous. I wasn't entirely sure how; poison, maybe. Iapetus had always told us to be careful of women in that respect. Women were far more likely to poison than men; men preferred torture, apparently. I think I'd rather be poisoned than tortured.