"I wouldn't be so sure. You forget that moment when one came back to life.”

“Well, in that… I can give you reason. But I still think it's tricks, or that he wasn't really dead.” Nataña responds disinterestedly as if she already had the same conversation several times, and the truth was that she had. After all, being cooped up for so long left you with nothing to talk about.

“Oh! I think our little talk went on too long. The boy falls asleep again.” The man in the next cell picks up on this when he gets tired of arguing with the stubborn woman.

"That's right, I'm not surprised. It is better that you enjoy your deep dreams now that you are not in danger.”

Ezer didn't want to fall asleep, the short conversation between Nataña and that man had given him enough information to ask a dozen questions, although his body didn't tell him the same thing and he begins to force him to rest.

“It's a pity, I'm interested in knowing the story of the boy. But it's not like I don't have time, we have all the time in the world…” The man walks away when he finishes talking to himself.

Nataña is left alone as she watches the sleeping Ezer with a complicated look on her face. Only she knew what was thinking at the moment.

Ezer chewed with difficulty the bread that he had received from the guard moments ago, seeing how Nataña soaked it in water, he decides to do the same, discovering that it made it easier to eat, although it ruined the little flavor that the bread had.

"How many meals do they give us a day?" Ezer asks when his mouth is free and he stops chewing, manners his mate didn't mind.

“If there are no shortages, two a day... and if it is not a good time, only one.”

"And that's when...?"

“In winter. In winter there are ALWAYS shortages.”

"Not much left."

"Exactly, enjoy the heat and good food while you can." Nataña recommends, leaving Ezer incredulous. Good food? Heat? It was clear to him that, at the moment, there was neither. The bread was a stone and the bricks of the cell were ice.

“How...? Ehh… how do you go to the bathroom?” The morning was advanced and Ezer began to feel urgent.

Nataña smiles at the question and points to the back of the cell where a kind of canal extended from beginning to end and, apparently, also ran through the other cells.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“That...”

“Yes, that's the bathroom.”

Ezer finally understands the unbearable smell that reigned in the place, although he got used to it, it did not mean that it didn’t exist. The canal had a slight incline and passed through all the cells, Ezer's being the last. Urine and feces did not move easily, on the contrary, they often stagnated creating a fetid odor.

“A guard throws a bucket of water into the two rows of cells once a day.” Nataña speaks when she sees Ezer's apprehension in his eyes.

“Only one?” Nataña just shrugs in response.

It was at that moment that Ezer understood his new reality, he was locked up, deprived of his freedom. Because he had experienced so much change and suffering, this fact did not overwhelm him, but he did not accept it with stoic calm either.

"Is there any way to escape?" Ezer asks as begins to carefully analyze the surroundings.

“I don't recommend it, not if you want to live.” Nataña warns seriously, abandoning her usual cheerfulness. She knew very well the answer to that question since all the new ones asked it.

"I know it's dangerous, I won't make hasty decisions.”

"You're taking them right now." She indicates.

"I just want information, that doesn't mean I'm going to hit the bars and try to escape. I'm not afraid of death, but being locked up is...”

“Unfair? Claustrophobic? A torture? People get used to it, believe me. And dying is not the problem... The problem is not being able to die. The jailers will torture you to make an example of you, that's why you have to listen to me.” Nataña warns gravely, making clear her own fears.

“She's right, boy. You gain nothing by disappointing yourself. —The one who intervenes is the same man from the last time, the one with a dark hue to his skin. “My name is Anjani, as you can see, I come from the south. He leans back against the bars again, trying to get a line of sight and for his voice to reach them easily.

“Armond. Nice to meet you.” Ezer responds formally in the same way Anjani introduced himself.

“What I'm getting at is that it's impossible to escape without anyone noticing. The guards may not put much effort into their work, but they have this Breno guy who leads and makes sure they do their part. In addition, not only do you have to escape from the prison, but also from the city. As far as I know, you can only exit through the gates and those are better maintained than this place.”

Ezer understood that escaping would not be something to plan for a few days, but he still had to try, since they could discover his identity at any moment and that could be worse. At least now he was a simple prisoner and nobody paid him especial attention, although that would change when they learned his full name.

"Thank you, what you said is useful to me." Despite not having much time, Ezer still had something left to take it easy.

"So... why did they lock you up? I don't see you as a murderer or a thief.” Anjani asks changing the topic of conversation to which Nataña looks very interested in joining.

“Even I don't know very well. I was traveling to this city to take a boat and cross the sea, it was on the way that I met a woman in trouble and I decided to help her. Both of us were heading to the same place, so we did it together, little did I expect that she was a noble and a persecuted one at that. Somehow, they found me guilty and locked me up, simple as that.” Ezer shortens the story and leaves out much of the detail. Both Nataña and Anjani knew that he was hiding many things, but they let it go for obvious reasons.

"And the house to which this woman belonged?" Nataña is the one who asks, intervening in the conversation.

“The barony that controls this city. Karsin, if I remember correctly.”

"Then that explains everything." Anjani recognizes who Ezer was talking about right away.