The Prison of Deviants

Chapter 14: The Truth

I'm back in my cell, locked up for a week as Knut has decided. Right after my wounds began to heal, I was moved back to my cell from his chamber - on the torn mattress from his royal bed.

It felt awful. The only good times were when Knut would visit me to change my bandages. He updated me on Shon's whereabouts too. Thankfully, he's recovered and is fine now. However, he too is going to be locked up for a week just like me. Because of me. I really need to apologize when I see him again.

Knut's been fun to interact with. Yelen and Annabelle had been cackling amongst themselves as they contemplated our conversing with smiles on our faces. They must still think I like him when I'm only thankful for all he's done for me and Shon. The girls can be such nuisances...

Fortunately, they're out on the hunt now, so they won't disturb me. I'm alone in my cell.

I keep thinking about Honorée - how she managed to break out and was caught. If the warden hadn't awoken back then, she would've escaped. That means if the warden is somehow caught off-guard or immobilized, escaping from here is possible.

But it is a very small chance. How can the warden be immobilized? As far as I've seen and heard, everyone here is terrified of him.

"Hey there, prisoner!"

Rufus has opened my cell and walked in. 

What has he lost out here, I wonder? Yelen's on the hunt. Why isn't he with her?

"What do you want?"

"Nah, just checking on you," he says. "How are you doing?"

He closes the cell door, walks up to me, and takes a seat beside me on the floor. He proffers a large bottle of blood.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Deer blood. I got it for you." he smiles. "Yelen's told me you love it."

"What are you getting at?" I grab the bottle out of his hands, uncork it and drink some. It's delicious. "You want to say you've changed your mind about Yelen and are interested in me now?"

"Ravens mate for life!" he softly hits me on the head, as if a scolding mentor. "I just knew I had a grumpy fledgeling left behind, so I came back to offer her some company during her one-week confinement."

"I don't need your company, papa bird."

I shrug and drink the deer blood. I really don't need his company - he's rather annoying. I'd prefer to be left alone with my thoughts now.

"What am I to do with you, Theo?" he sighs. "You've gotten yourself in so many troubles, yet not even a month has passed since your arrival! Do you not think you're going overboard?"

"I only want freedom, Rufus!" I retort. "You've never had a problem with that - you're always free to choose whatever to do, wherever to go, only because you were born a deviant. We, on the other hand, have to be confined here for the rest of our lives, rejected by our families and friends, considered beasts by them! Don't you think it's unjust? Especially when you guys are the ones who infect us."

"Oh, Theo, if only it were so simple..." he smiles, "I am not free at all, and none of the administrators is. Administrator posts are hereditary - they go from parent to child. De Corbet family of ravens has been patronizing the vampire district for centuries. I am bound to this place, just like the other administrators are. We aren't free at all."

"Wait, so, you mean, you can't leave this place even if you wanted to?"

I thought these deviants could roam around as they pleased! Instead, they too, are captives like us?

"No, we can't," Rufus replies.

"So then, why don't you rebel against the warden and escape? He's the one holding you, isn't he?"

"Not really..." he chuckles, "I've told you - all the administrator posts are hereditary. It includes also the warden position. He too has gotten his post by heritage, so there's nothing much he can do, even if he wanted to."

"But then, why don't you all escape?" I wonder. "If even the warden feels the same, as you say, then why don't you all go?"

"It's not so simple, Theo. Many administrators enjoy their work here and think they're holding honourable positions. Not everyone thinks like me. And then, the entire deviant society outside expects us to do our jobs properly. These positions were entrusted to us by our forefathers. We can't just abandon them as we please. This prison was built for a reason."

"What can be the reason for locking up poor humans who have been infected against their will? It is unjust, Rufus!"

I can't hold it anymore. He's justifying his race when what they've done is just wrong. I can't accept it.

"The reason was the extermination of the mightiest species. The dragons died out a thousand years ago, by the hands of an infected human."

"What?"

I knew dragons went extinct a thousand years ago, but I never knew a human was the reason!

"We generally don't tell this to humans, but... the infected humans actually turn out stronger than the inborn deviants, once their transformation is complete," Rufus explains. "That human was the first-ever infected dragon, and she killed the entire race, once her transformation was complete. Ever since then, this prison was built to keep the infected deviants like her in check."

"So, it is not that the deviants think we're inferior, but that... they fear us?"