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This caused Lio’s cage to roll again, the world to dance, and nausea to creep up on him. When the cage settled, he whimpered before quickly quieting himself, wiping tears furiously.
They will hate me if I cry. I mustn’t cry.
“Hello?” The voice was deep, Diagorian, though asked in Susconian, a curious, quizzical note to his inquiry. It was as though he were confused as to whether someone else was in the dungeon with him or not. “I thought I heard…Oh,shit!” The footsteps came right to him again, but this time stopped before he was kicked about. “My goodness, boy. I didn’t see you there!”
Lio looked to see who spoke. Sharp eyes. Tawny hair draped around an angular profile. And a small smile about his lips that Lio couldn’t even begin to understand. The Diagorians were touched in the head.
“Hang in there, I’ll get you out,” the guard assured. Could have been a guard. His badges of honor appeared slightly different than others he had seen. “Don’t cry, boy.”
Lio bit his lip.How does he know I am crying? I am not crying!
The cage door swung open, but even then, Lio couldn’t move. His legs felt as though they had been stuffed with wood and needles.I’m stuck!
“All right, all right, don’t panic,” the Diagorian murmured in reaction to a noise Lio must have made. Reaching hands pushed through the opening, causing Lio to cringe. But then he was being lifted up and hoisted into strong arms.
He squeaked when he was bounced once to a more secure position.
“How did you get down there?” the Diagorian murmured.
Lio’s throat was finally convinced to work after some heavy swallowing. “F-f-fell.”
The Diagorian went quiet.
It was only when Lio shivered that the guard began to move again.
Lio was carried through the Dungeon, a thick arm under his bottom, supporting him easily, while the Diagorian’s other appendage remained completely free for the man’s mobility.
Lio was beginning to think the man’s status amounted to more than a guard with the rings he wore to indicate probable offices of power. Who was he?
Before Lio could dwell more on it, they reached the stairs. Since his fall, Lio now had a decided fear of heights, and without thinking, swung his arms around the guard’s neck in order to better secure himself.
The guard didn’t respond to the clinging, merely clutching Lio tighter as he ascended the stairs. It was only once they were out of the dungeon that he spoke. “What is your name, boy?”
Lio swallowed. “Lio…” He wished he were brave enough to ask for the guard’s.
He didn’t have to be, it seemed. “You may call me ‘Tarick,’ if you would like.” The smile remained on his face, as well as in his voice. He was an odd one, this Tarick.
It was perhaps because he seemed so friendly in a setting that was anything but. Diagorians couldn’t smile. Not after what they had done.
“Where are you taking me?”
Tarick’s smile broadened. “Where would you wish me to take you?”
Lio’s eyes widened. “Su-Suscon?”
The smile slipped. “I’m afraid we have to stick to the palace up north. Are you hungry?”
Lio considered this, deciding it best to keep his mind away from his home country. All he could draw up from the imagery was violence and gore. He cringed.
His focus went back to the question. Before he could answer it, his stomach growled.
Tarick chuckled.
He was taken through the castle, which became warmer the further they twisted through the confines of the torch-lit corridors.
Lio decided not to ask why he was being fed and not killed, a wave of exhaustion overcoming him, and he slouched into the odd Diagorian. The man smelt warmly of pine forest and peppermint and other sweet greenery. A surprisingly good scent.
Tarick jostled him once they had reached a mess hall. Amazingly, Lio had fallen asleep. The other birds were in the hall, sitting at a long, benched table, digging into what looked like lentil soup filled with pork bits. Many dropped their spoons when they spotted Lio, awaiting his arrival anxiously.
