Vaerun was tossed unceremoniously into his cell, the guards evidently having had more than enough of his smart mouth from the long walk to the dungeon. He rolled as he hit the ground, taking the impact on his shoulder and distributing the damage across his shoulderblades. He bit his cheek to stop himself from giving the guardsmen any satisfaction from a cry of pain, and instead began to look around what was likely to be his new home for the rest of his life.
It was dank. Dreary. Cold...
Everything a cell below the capitol building of Providence should be. The bars were over two inches thick, and ran ceiling to floor and were covered in rust, blood, and other substances best left to the imagination. He knew these cells harbored only the worst kinds of prisoners, the kind that the kingdom simply didn't trust without a virtual army living over their heads. As his eyes scanned the dark shadows of his cell, he noted several things, each more disheartening than the last.
The first was that although the bars were quite filthy with rust, evidence of several attempts to pry them apart was also present, with no signs of success. The second was that the bucket he could only assume was meant to be his bathroom, looked as though it hadn't been changed in several days and Vaerun could swear there was a splinter of three poking upwards from the rim. His bedding was in a similar condition, the filthy straw scattered about the cell and practically soaked in grime. All of that could be managed, what really made Vaerun's hair stand on end was one simple fact.
He wasn't alone in the cell.
A massive and overly muscled man leaned against the back wall of the cell, grinning at Vaerun with a look that was halfway between hunger and amusement. To either side of him were two less burly men, but each still likely had a good twenty five pounds or so on Vaerun. As they stared each other down, the guards began to laugh.
"We'll be back in a few minutes for you, traitor," one of them said between chuckles, "you'll have to wait and introduce yourselves later boys, but do give our friend here the best of your hospitality."
Vaerun smirked, "oh I'm sure we'll be the best of friends. I'm very sociable."
The guards departed, leaving the four men to glare at each other in silence for a few minutes. Vaerun had yet to move from where the guards had thrown him, save to stand up and dust himself off. Deciding that this was getting him nowhere fast, Vaerun approached the other group and held out his mind, smiling at the biggest of the three men.
"Good evening friends," Vaerun said, "let me guess....,"
He pointed to the biggest man "Alpha male...,"
The biggest man grinned again.
Vaerun looked at his companions, pointing at each of them in turn, "and his two bitches. Am I right?"
Both men stiffened, a look of pure rage crossing their features yet neither made a move to attack him. Vaerun guessed they wouldn't, not unless big boy here told them too. That was good, he liked dealing with people who couldn't think for themselves. "And I assume I'm supposed to be the new prison service boy, eh?"
The big man grinned again, and now that he was closer he noted the peculiar burn marks around the edges of his mouth. Someone had placed hot coals in his mouth, a common punishment for those who had spoken ill of the ruling caste. Small wonder he hadn't spoken yet. Scars were a good sign though, it meant he was either too slow, or too stupid to avoid getting caught.
"Well see that's just not going to work I'm afraid," Vaerun began, walking back to the bars, "you see my friend, I've become accustomed to doing things a certain way." He ran a hand down one of the cleaner area of the bar. Pure wrought iron.
"And one of those ways is not taking orders from men who look like they pound their face with a meat tenderizer every morning," Vaerun said, and the man's smirk disappeared, "what's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
The man let out an unintelligible grunt of rage, likely attempting to threaten Vaerun with something nasty. He began to stomp forward, raising his fists when the guards returned. The man glanced sideways at the guardsmen then retreated to the back of his cell.
"That's right little doggie, the masters are here, time to tuck your tail and hide," Vaerun said, chuckling. The guardsmen entered the cell, tying Vaerun's hands together with rope and giving him a good bash in the stomach with a cudgel for good measure. Vaerun doubled over, coughing and trying to resist theurge to vomit as they hauled him down the corridors.
"Time to get your mark, scum," one of them said, "you'll bear it the rest of your miserable life. Don't worry though, that not like to be very long at all..."
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