I crawled as far as I could to find a wall. My hand found a slimy substance with the consistency of a moist moss soaked and wet. When my hand squished it, a pouf of odor emitted from the substance, filling my nose with the sickening sweet of decaying rot. My other hand sunk down into something hard but gave in under my weight. Forcing back the bit of bile that came with a gag, I let my hands drift farther along the seeping substance until they found a deformed bulge. There were several holes my fingers could fit into and something smooth and jagged. Teeth.
My heart leapt into my throat as I jumped back. This is a tomb!
That explained the decaying odor. My breaths came quickly, making me nauseated inhaling the fumes of death.
“Hello!” I called out to discern how far my voice would go. I needed an idea of what I was dealing with. My voice echoed around me and came back to me so quick there had to be a mistake. The room couldn’t be as small as the echo implied.
“Hello!” I called again, my voice falling around me repeatedly. I still couldn’t believe the room was so small. It had to be much larger.
My head became light, as though I floated on the surface of water. Consciousness threatened to slip away.
Marren…
My body seemed to drift downward. My heart beats, swishing in my ears, faded away into the silence, and an overwhelming peace came over me. I couldn’t help but think death came to claim me.
***
A sound floated to me from somewhere. Something scraped around me, starting a small distance from me and then became louder, as if it were going to come toward me, but faded back into the distance, only to start back up a few moments later. I didn’t start at the sound. It sort of moved around me, creating a ripple in the liquid black surrounding me then faded away.
I tried to move, but my body turned thick and heavy, ignoring my will. I had become like the corpse, shriveled and decaying, chained by some great weight keeping me submerged under the black waters.
Marren…
A bang filled my ears and, for the first time in what seemed like ages, I felt my heart jolt. I wanted to open my eyes, but they seemed sealed in permanent sleep. Not that I could tell, the air around me held a darkness so thick nothing could penetrate it. I waited for the sound to come again, though nothing but the echo of silence surrounded me.
A loud grinding noise sounded louder than anything I had heard before; so loud that, for the first time, my body responded, instinctively moving my hands to my ears and curling myself into a ball to ward off whatever came for me. A wave of fresh air encircled me, and my eyes searched beyond the blinding orange light dancing from side to side. A fire?
“My Lady Relena,” a woman’s voice whispered.
I wanted to tell her I’m here and entombed by mistake, but the only thing I could force out was a groan of pain.
“Don’t speak. Don’t make a sound. There are people here who would rather let you rot in this cell than get out.” Her form shifted. My mind couldn’t fully process what race she belonged to, except for a black blur far too massive at the waist to be considered human. “My name is Neyr. I’m a friend of Marren’s. I brought you some food and water, this is all I can spare without notice.”
I reached the salted pork stuffed dumpling and the flask of water.
“Thank you,” I forced out. My throat scratched each word, like I had swallowed sand.
Her head lowered toward me then she slowly closed the stone wall, leaving me alone in the dark, decaying air. I forced down the dumpling, eating around the cloth Neyr gave me, trying not to breathe in while eating. I washed that down with the flask of water.
I laid my head down and waited for the next time she would show up, which came frequent enough to keep me from expiring from the lack of fresh air. She explained finding the right cell had taken her nearly the remainder of the night and through the next day. She ran messages to Marren, who waited for nightfall, when the guards would be asleep, to break me free from the prison.
I relished in the fresh air blowing around my body, making the moments when I didn’t have it a little easier to bear. The water helped to wash away the bitter decaying flavor from my mouth, but a few times I crawled to a corner to throw up what little contents I had in my stomach. I wished for night to hurry up and come.
***
The sound came again. I knew who it would be, though the length of time she stayed away seemed far too long. Bright light filtered into my eyes, stabbing them and making them water while I bathed in the swirling, cool, fresh air, chilling my skin that had formed beads of sweat. The stagnant air became too thick with the stench of decay and death. I struggled to breathe. Harsh voices filtered to me from out of sight, in a language I didn’t understand. They were like Marren’s in beauty, but the tones were rushed and cold.