Blood and Scales

Chapter 11 – The Lizigoth Prison

Aelia stood perfectly still as a dozen speartips rested so close she could practically feel the cold of the metal against her neck. Her first thought was that Ardera had betrayed her, but her heart rebelled at the thought. She was sure that there was some sort of misunderstanding.

“Whoa! Hey!” Ardera exclaimed at the serious looking lizigoth guards, “put those away!”

“I’m afraid we won’t be doing that,” a lizigoth man said as he came from the shadows of the doorway, “Good work catching one alive, Ardera.”

Aelia had thought that Grunna was large but this new man was bigger and just as muscled. Every inch of the man was lithe, lean, and deadly. The scars that spiderwebbed his exposed torso were a testament to just how much experience he had fighting.

With that thought, her mind finally caught up to what the man had said.

She betrayed me, Aelia thought with disbelief, she actually betrayed me.

“Captain, wait, you don’t understand,” Ardera tried to interject but she was quickly shut down with a wave of his hand.

“I understand perfectly, lieutenant, you managed to capture one of these monsters,” the captain of the lizigoth guards stared her down with a look that would make a charging bullmantis stop in its tracks, “ I understand that it managed to get Grunna before you could stop it, but you still managed to complete your duty and capture it. Well done. I’ll accept your full report in the morning. In the meantime, go get some rest, we’ll take it from here. Dismissed.”

“Captain, I…,” Ardera started lamely.

“I said dismissed, lieutenant!” the captain barked.

Ardera stood there with her mouth agape as Aelia was chained up. Aelia only looked at Ardera once, and it contained unimaginable anger and utter betrayal. After that, she refused to look at Ardera.

“I didn’t betray you,” Ardera had tried to say at one point, but the words stuck in her throat. After the woman she had fallen in love with was dragged away at spearpoint, she fell to her knees, and her eyes filled with tears.

Grunna had been in the prison cell for two days. The first night they had tried to feed him, but one look at it had turned his stomach. He didn’t fully understand why. When he had first set foot in the village, he had doubled over with the pain from the nastiest headache he had ever gotten.

Everything was so vibrant, and the pounding of what he had now realized was the heartbeats of everyone around him, was deafening and disorienting. He had to stop nearly a half dozen times in his futile search for the guard headquarters. A few of them he had vomited horrible black clumps of blood, which had earned him more than a few weird looks.

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After a while he was stopped by guards on patrol, who had apparently thought he was drunk. They had taken him the rest of the way to where he wanted to go, but one look from the guard captain had seen him chained and thrown in the prison.

He was angry about being arrested but also immensely grateful for the darkness and the cool stone of the cell. He lay gratefully against it while trying to come to grips with his new heightened senses, until he fell asleep.

He woke up several hours later to what he thought was the smell of roasting meat, but then he felt the pain. Sunlight streaming through the cell’s only window, had landed on his tail and was burning him. He let out an awful scream before dashing into the shadows, far from the offensive light.

The guards, hearing the scream, had appeared at the door demanding to know what was going on. He didn’t know what answer to give them so he just told them he had a nightmare. They told him to keep it down, and moved on.

When the sun went down, he didn’t move from his corner. It was some time later that another person was pushed into the cell. He wasn’t sure how but he immediately knew it was Aelia.

“You two better not get too comfy,” one of the guards said with derision, “I hear they’re gonna execute you soon. You know, for all the people you’ve taken.”

“I’m looking forward to that,” the other guard said hatefully, “Serves you bloodsuckers right.”

After they left, Grunna moved forward to try and help Aelia. He hoped that they hadn’t hurt her too badly. There was a painful sadness that pulled faintly at the bond in his mind.

“Back off,” Aelia snarled at him, her fangs fully extended.

Grunna immediately obeyed her, and sat at the other end of the narrow cell.

“Aelia, What happened. Did you manage to find the missing girl?” he tried, after what felt like hours.

“Yes, since that’s all you people seem to care about,” she hissed venomously at him, “we found the girl and brought her safely home.” Aelia’s anger lessened slightly at the thought of the girl in the cave.

“At least she’s safe,” Grunna sighed with relief,” but, that’s not all I care about.”

“And what about you,” Aelia asked, “did you manage to warn them about my father?”

“I didn’t even get a chance to… wait, that man was your father?” Grunna asked, eyes wide.

“Yeah,” Aelia sighed, and pulled herself up, “I recognized his handiwork when we…”

Aelia’s heart ached at the memory, and she mourned what she thought she’d had with Ardera.

“I can’t believe she betrayed me,” Aelia muttered under her breath, the anger rising in her almost like it was trying to protect her from the deep sadness that threatened to make her give up.

“Who betrayed you?” Grunna blurted out before he could stop himself.

“Your sister,” Aelia spat.

“Ardera?” Grunna said, scoffing, “She’s not capable of betraying anyone. There is not a single person who is more trustworthy or straightforward.”

“And yet, here I am,” Aelia said coldly.

The two passed the rest of the night in uncomfortable silence, and when the sun began to stream through the cell window, they pushed themselves into the darkest corners on opposite sides, and did their best to sleep the day away.