[Danny]

i am curious to know which of my fics people prefer. escpecially Teal and Mai, who are the only people who regularly reply...

welcome back to this guy here...

CHAPTER 39

The door was thrown open, and they were shoved roughly inside. There was a flight of steps from the door down into the dark depths of the cell. The walls and the floor were made of a uniform cold, hard material, like glass. Gormanul hit the ground first, and twisted to catch Tillyn before he hit the hard floor. They lay there, exhausted. The tests had been rigorous, not just medical tests but physical ones as well, testing their endurance levels. When he caught his breath, Tillyn rolled off Gormanul onto the floor.

“Are you okay?”

Gormanul nodded, but Tillyn could see he was in pain by the expression in his eyes, lit up by his goggles. Gorm always tried to hide his pain, which had unfortunately resulted in him receiving far worse torture than Tillyn, who had screamed at the first tounches of the knife. The Vykkers seemed to have been testing their pain barriers, but Gorm gritted his teeth and tried to pretend he wasn’t suffering, so they had almost killed him trying to reach his pain barrier.

“You’re not okay. You’re bleeding badly.”

Gorm mouthed some words, but Tillyn couldn’t make them out in the darkness. He lay his hand on his companion’s shoulder, and sat beside him. Whatever pain Gormanul was in, there was nothing they could do about it now, so it would be best to let him rest. Tillyn looked around the cell. Now that his eyes had gotten used to the darkness, he could see that it wasn’t as dark as he had thought. In fact, there was a dull purple light coming from the walls and the floor. It seemed to come from all around them. It wasn’t very bright, but just bright enough to let them see how dark it was, as it were. The only light worth mentioning came from the tiny window in the door, through which could be seen the ever-present slig guard’s head, and the occasional passing head of the Intern making its rounds.

Looking around, Tillyn was surprised to see that they weren’t alone in the cell. There was a dark figure sitting in one corner. Tillyn couldn’t make out any details, but it seemed to be unmoving. Tillyn stood, unsteadily, and walked over to that corner. He put out his hand to the figure, but it spoke before he touched it.

“There’s no need to touch me. I’m awake.”

The figure didn’t move at all as it spoke, which it did with a mudokon’s voice. Tillyn withdrew his hand, and tried to see where the figure’s head was, but couldn’t make it out.

“I’m Tillyn, he’s Gormanul.”

“Orim. You new?”

“I suppose. How long have you been here?”

There was a pause. “Too long. You lose track of time.”

“Do you know if there’s any way out of the cell?”

“Only the door.”

Tillyn half-turned to look up at it. “Could we knock it down?”

“It has a timed lock on it. It can only open at feeding time.”

“Maybe we could surprise the guard when he comes in. When’s feeding time?”

The figure made a movement. Judging by where Tillyn had estimated its head to be, the movement could have been a shrug. “Couple of days.”

There was a pause while Tillyn took this in. “You mean they only feed us every two days?”

Head shaking. “No, every three. They fed me yesterday.” There was a brief pause. “On the other hand, maybe they’ll feed us more often now you’re here!”

Tillyn sat down against a wall. The cell certainly seemed inescapable, if this Orim could be believed. He needed to think.