I had no way of knowing how much time had passed.
I came to learn as, what I could only believe to be night passed, that allowing sleep to come to oneself while being suspended by the arms from a stone wall.
I'd struggled as the hours had passed, as much as I could given the circumstances. I'd tried breaking them, squeezing past them, even gnawing through them, but I came to realize quite soon that just as my mouth couldn't reach, that just as they were too tight, and just as they were too strong, that I wasn't going anywhere.
I was stuck there. That's all there was to it.
Maybe this is it? I found myself wondering. Maybe they're not actually going to kill me. They'll just leave me hanging here until I starve. And judging by the ache in my stomach, it wouldn't be long. I hadn't eaten that day, nor the day before. And to think I'd made just enough copper to have bought myself a half loaf of stale bread. And if I'd gotten that information to the Rats, about the carriage…
Then so…so…so much more.
I tried to force myself not to think about it as the train of thought only took me in a round trip back to where I was, here, in this stone cell, tethered by a rope to the wall, the consequence of having seen too much.
I was beyond complaining about the 'unfairness' of it all to myself. That had grown stale in the first 2 hours of my confinement. Who cared if it was 'against the rules', if it broke the 'unspoken neutrality of the information broker'? The deed had been done. I was here, and there was no mediator to step in and speak on my behalf. Rule or no, this was where I was.
More efforts were made, of course, to try and squeeze my way out, but those too dissipated after I came to the realization that I was only rubbing my wrists all the more raw while accomplishing absolutely nothing in the process.
And for a while, I just lay there, a faint hum, almost a whisper, bouncing across my mind
Time passed, alone with my thoughts, but they only provided me comfort for so long before even my mind grew tired of itself.
Eventually, it just slowed to a stop as I tried to surrender myself to a slumber that never did come.
It was only when a sliver of light had shown beneath the door that I had realized a full night had passed, having been deceiving myself for what must have been hours that I could still manage to sleep, and maybe, by some miracle, when I'd wake up, everything would be resolved.
Of course, it hadn't been. I wondered if perhaps it had been due to my failure to sleep, but no, I forced myself to realize, preventing myself from being any more of an idiot. That's not it.
I was still a captive of the Hornets, and I was running desperately thin on time, no matter the outcome here. Blade, rope, starvation, thirst? It didn't matter. An end was an end, one way or another.
The light beneath the door made no difference. I let my body slump, just wanting sleep to take me, to let the time pass all the quicker. What good was there in being awake now anyway when each moment was just another pain?
Perhaps I had even managed to fade away, somewhat, as I found myself jolted into awareness by the screech of the metallic door before me, the light now shining within, nearly blinding me in the process. With practically the full force of the sun, a shadow stood there. My executioner? I wondered, squinting my eyes as I wondered who it would be. Would it be Danev, would I have the honor of it being done by Riu himself, or would it be somebody I've never met, somebody earning his strikes, proving his worth by killing the 'wayward enemy?'
Eventually, I would find myself recognizing his voice before my eyes could adjust, which, they had slightly done, enough so to catch the reflection of the sun against iron. So they do it with their new toys too, huh? At least it would be clean, all things considered. I waited for what the voice would say, if it would be listing my many crimes, pronouncing my death like the captain had done just yesterday, or if maybe there would even be pity there.
I didn't want pity. I wanted to live. I wanted to live, damnit!
I closed my eyes, tears forming around the corners, saying prayers to whatever spirit was listening to spare my life, not even believing the words I spoke, just expecting the cold of steel at any moment followed by the final release.
But instead, there was no cold, no release, only Danev's words.
"Consider yourself lucky."
What?
"Congratulations, Fluke. You get to live today."