A Tale of Heroes - Scene 13: DeFrantis

Her first deep breath of consciousness brought a fit of coughing and hacking. The thick air was tough to take in. DeFrantis rolled over onto her belly and tried to lift herself up on her hands and knees.

The second sensation was a sharp, but steady pain in her head and neck. That dropped her back down with a moan. Next came the cold, from lying on a stone floor in dripping wet clothes.

She lay, slightly shivering, as her breathing steadied, and her eyes took in her surroundings. She saw the shadows of the bars of the cell holding her on the stone walls on the opposite side. She raised up on her elbow and squinted through the haze. She could make out the form of a door and a table, and another cell next to hers. She thought she could see a dim shape up against the far wall. Could it be... a person? She couldn’t be sure.

She sat up, slowly, this time, and brought her arms tight to her chest, to hug off the cold. Her cloak was drenched and only making her colder. She unbuckled it and let it fall back.

“Are you awake, now?”

She reflexively jumped and rolled to the corner of the wall where the shadows were darkest, and curled up to be as invisible in the dark as possible. The voice had been quiet, but it had startled her nonetheless.

“I see you are.”

She passed her hand in front of her, and tried to will up the shadows around her, to hide her, but nothing happened. Confused, she tried again. Nothing. She tried controlling her breathing to make herself silent, and waited. But he didn’t move, and said nothing else.

Finally, she spoke. “Who are you?”

“Another prisoner, like you. A heretic, apparently.”

She began to feel another sensation, the pangs of deep hunger. “How long have I been here?” She wondered, out loud.

“Hours, maybe. Probably not more than a day. It’s hard to tell down here.”

“Where is that?” She began to creep toward her cloak.

She heard him sigh. “You’re in a holding cell under one of the guard towers built into the InnerWall. You’re here because you were arrested.”

The scenes of the night played through her mind swiftly. In all her life, she had never been caught stealing. She didn’t like it, and she knew she wasn’t especially good at it, but she’d never been caught, either.

She heard him move, repositioning himself on the floor. He said, “What did you do?”

“I tried to steal some chickens.”

He laughed. “A thief!”

“It’s not like that!” She hissed, “There are kids that are hungry. They count on me!”

“Still...” He thought a minute. “I’m surprised they’d put a thief here in the dungeon. Usually they’d just beat you and toss you back to the OuterWall. You must have done something particularly bad.”

She bristled at that. “No, I didn’t! I just tried to take--”

“Did you use magic?” Her silence was his answer. “I’ll bet that’s it.”

“Magic isn’t illegal. That wouldn’t be right!”

“Do you think ‘legal’ matters down here? Do you think ‘right’ matters?” He laughed again, “Nothing matters down here.”

Then more silence.

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This continues the story of the heroes in Wynne, in Twynne Rivers, in the world of The Hero's Tale, Family Friendly RPGs. Here's more info on The Hero's Tale, and family friendly RPGing.


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