Dragon Days MxM (Staten Krown)

8

"Water please..."

My throat is dry. Back in Nair, many people imagined dungeons to be dank, dark and deep vaults below a castle, where prisoners were held – and where the unluckiest among them were tortured. I always thought they were jokes. Tuti trying to scare me. He wasn't though. They were real and I'd been in them.

"Water..."

I'd been brought back to what the prisoner referred to as the Oubliette – or the 'forgotten room' – was a punishment worse than being thrown into a castle dungeon. The oubliette was a tiny, vertical shaft which was only large enough for an individual to stand up in. I'm lucky I'm as small as I am. A man any bigger would have had a lot of issues in this dungeon. They wouldn't have been able to crouch down, to kneel, to sit, or perhaps even to turn round in it.

"Give him water. You hear him begging don't you!"

For a moment I think I'm dreaming. I've been in the dark for days on end. Long days. My lips are chapped. I don't know if the shadows in the darkness will kill me before thirst will.

"But the Prince said..."

"We're moving him to another cell. This is a signed order from the Empress Dowager."

It isn't until the door opens that I realize that this isn't a dream or a hallucination. Natasha has finally come. When I see her I grab at her and give her the warmest hug I can muster.

I am crying in her arms like a child for a few seconds before the jailer angrily grabs me by the collar around my neck and moves me to a bigger jail.

"Bringer of flames. That's how it describes you," Natasha states, "No offense...but you don't really look much like a bringer of flames."

"At least I have a new nickname."

"Nik, this isn't funny."

She looks at me as though I should know what the book states. I shrug. The new jail is more like a palace compared to the old. Sure it's dusty and dark but it wasn't the forgotten room. Not by any stretch of the imagination. I should be angry at Natasha that it took her so long to come to see me but I figured she must have been working on getting me a more suitable jail cell.

"I don't know what any of this," I'm stating, "You have to believe me."

Every day the jailer came and asked me what I knew about the Elven articles.

Every day I told him I had no idea.

Every day I was returned back to the darkness screaming and crying for mercy.

I'm more confused than ever. We had made our way North to the Border of where the Wilds meet Nair. There still had been no sign of Maxim. There was no time before the Empire came---most likely looking for the prince----but instead found us with the Elven scrolls. Soon after arriving at the capital I was thrown in jail.

"I believe you," Natasha states, "But I'm not on the Roundtable. My voice doesn't count. Raisa is the only one speaking up for you."

"Raisa gave me away."

"It was---"

"I know. Her duty."

Still, I felt betrayed. I felt backstabbed. A part of me wished I was who they thought I was. A part of me wanted to burn down their cities for throwing me in a jail cell without so much of a trial or anything to go by. I'm not though. I'm powerless.

"Everyone is afraid," Natasha states, "People know about the dragons. Every city north of Nair is fortifying as though a storm is coming. You should see the Capital. You wouldn't even recognize it. Raisa is doing her best for you. We all are. But it's just---"