Chapter 3869: Make It Count (Part 2)

***

When Owl woke up a few hours later, Lilax and Aryk struggled to keep their eyes open. They wore fresh clothes, the room was pleasantly warm, and their stomachs were stuffed with good food.

Each one of those things was a rare occurrence for a street urchin. Experiencing all three at once while sitting on something soft and clean, without the noise of traffic, and with no fear of rats, was something they had never experienced their whole lives.

That and the stress from the kidnapping drained their malnourished bodies of their energy. If not for the instincts ingrained in Aryk and Lilax from the years of surviving on the streets flooding them with adrenaline, the two youths would have fallen asleep in a matter of minutes.

Truth be told, they were not the only ones.

The rest of the prisoners had also formed small groups and took turns resting. Trust was hard to come by, but rest was inevitable.

Everyone gambled by associating with the meanest, biggest, and most tired people they could find, insisting on taking the first turn of sleep to regain their strength while their "allies" grew weaker.

The protection offered by the warden and his promises of retribution only helped so far. The homeless and destitute of Dekari didn’t feel safe while surrounded by so many people and with no way out.

"I’m up." Owl stretched his arms and took in the changes in the atmosphere in the room.

Most of the hostility was gone, replaced by the silent determination of those awake and the snoring of those asleep.

"I’m going next." Lilax dropped on the hay without waiting for a reply, starting to snore almost immediately.

"Jerk." Aryk cursed the exhaustion dulling his reflexes. "I bet she’s just pretending to sleep to avoid arguing."

"Can you blame her?" Owl asked.

"No." Aryk sighed, shaking his head. "I’m just envious she beat me to the punch."

"Why?" Owl gave him a quizzical look. "You gave me a name and still don’t trust me?"

"What do you mean?" Aryk was too tired to think, his head felt full of cotton, and his eyelids as heavy as lead.

"You can sleep too." Owl replied. "I’m wide awake, and if something happens, I’m sure I can make enough noise to wake you up even before the warden arrives."

"Good point." Aryk plopped down and took Owl’s hand in his own. "Just to be sure, squeeze my hand hard the moment something happens. Dig your nails if you have to. No offense, you are scrawny, and even someone as big as me could take you down before you can make a peep."

"Okay." Owl replied.

Aryk had just closed his eyes when Lilax grabbed his hand on her side. She kept pretending to sleep, but the message was clear.

"Okay." Owl said while looking around the cell, and a thin smile appeared on Lilax’s face as she finally relaxed.

***

"Dinner time!" The metal door rattled open without warning, waking up those asleep and startling those on guard duty.

Owl squeezed his companions’ hands in time to see the warden walk in. Aryk and Lilax pushed their backs against the wall with their feet while their hands searched for the hidden weapons they no longer possessed.

"Dinner already?" Lilax rubbed the drowsiness off her eyes. "How long did we sleep?"

"Enough." Owl replied, studying the movements of the guards bringing in the trays of food and the corridor outside the cell from the open door. "You can let go of my hand now."

"I knew you were faking it!" Aryk grumbled, letting of Owl’s hand as well.

"I don’t know what you are talking about." She lied through her teeth.

"Shut up and eat." The warden said to quell similar arguments born from the scare of the sudden wake up call.

The meal this time was a large steak with roasted potatoes, another loaf of bread, and cherry jam. Each prisoner also received a pitcher of water.

"Eat slowly." Owl stopped his companions before they started shoving the food down their throats. "The warden won’t leave until everyone is done. No one is going to steal our dinner."

By the time everyone else was over, the trio had yet to finish half their steak. The meal was good, and savoring it without fear made it thrice more delicious. Lilax hiccupped with joy when she took the time to cut a slice of bread and spread it with jam.

"Keep glaring and I’ll gouge your eyes and feed them to you." Many prisoners were having their own liver for dessert, and the warden didn’t like how they stared at the three still-dining specimens. "Next time, use your brain like the kid there and enjoy your meal."

"Next time?" A man asked, half confused and half hopeful.

"Yes." The warden nodded. "The bad news is that you folks are not going anywhere. The good news is that Mogar keeps spinning, and tomorrow you’ll have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Make them count."

His lips curled in a smug grin when he said the last phrase, sending a cold shiver down the prisoners’ spines. They hadn’t survived that long without learning to recognize true kindness from a veiled threat.

Once the trio was done eating, the warden collected the trays, made sure no piece of cutlery was missing, and then left.

"Thanks, Owl." Lilax took his hand in her own, still sticky with saliva after she had licked the jam from her fingers. "This was the best meal of my life."

"No problem." Owl gently took his hand away and cleaned it under the stream of water from the tap. "We can wash our hands before and after a meal here. You know that, don’t you?"

"Gods, I’m so sorry." She blushed a little and followed him to the tap to clean herself. "I’m not used to this. The only times I see so much clean water is when it rains."

"Maybe I was wrong about you, Owl." Aryk was third in a long line for the tap that circled around the cell. "You’re too wise to be an owl. Maybe I should have called you Dragon."

***

The lights dimmed to nigh-darkness a few minutes after dinner and everything went quiet. The prisoners returned to their cots and took turns sleeping again. It was Lilax’s guard shift when a shriek woke everyone up.

A man had slipped into the women’s area and was assaulting one of the prettiest prisoners. The few who had noticed his movements had done nothing to alert the others, whether because they trusted the warden or didn’t care about her fate it was impossible to tell.

Lilax squeezed the hands of her companions at the same time, yet while Aryk was still trying to adjust his eyes to the poor lighting, Owl was already up and looking at the door.

"All according to schedule." Owl nodded, ignoring the desperate screams of the girl who no one tried to help, not even her alleged allies.

"Why there has to always be a smartass in every batch?" The warden rushed through the door, brandishing his lightning whip.

The first lash electrocuted both assailant and victim. The following four ripped the man’s shirt to shreds and turned his chest and back into a bloody, sizzling mess.

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