He saw her being lowered into the pit. It seemed strange to him that she was not struggling, but was willingly being put here. As she was being lowered the men in the cells began howling like animals, their bodies pressed against the bars and arms outstretched trying to touch her. As the woman's feet and elaborate skirts touched the floor, she let go of the rope and immediately brought her hands to her stomach protectively. She was pregnant. The woman put on a face of pride and lifted her nose to the air, but it was very easy to see that this was merely a façade. She was terrified. You could see it in her eyes. The prison doctor walked towards her slowly with his hands put up so as not to frighten her.

"I am the doctor of this prison. I will escort you to your cell now. Please do not be afraid of me." He motioned at her with his hand to follow him. She looked at him cautiously but knew it would be much more dangerous to stay there where she could easily be reached. As he led her to her cell he kept his hands in the air and looked at her with reassuring eyes.

Bane watched her pass and felt pity for her. There had been few women placed in the pit before and what had been done to them was unimaginable. The men down here were always starving for something, be it food or women. The men in the pit were all malicious murderers or had done some act that deemed them traitors to their country. 'But what could a woman have done?' Bane thought to himself as he watched her enter her cell. 'She can be no older than 25 and looks to be of considerable wealth. And she is with child. She does not belong here.' Bane himself was a young 17 years of age. He was born here in this hell. He and his mother were to be punished for the crimes of his father against the King. His mother had died of disease 6 years after his birth and had left him to raise himself. There had been many days when he did not eat or drink, and he spent many nights awake, afraid to sleep, afraid of the darkness. But eventually the darkness became his ally. He learned how to sink into the shadows and silently go through the prison and explore it. He learned to defend himself and learned to killed for food. He had become one of the most feared inmates there. A child born in fear of the darkness was now its greatest friend.

He wondered if the same would become of the child of this woman. But then he doubted this woman would live as long as his own mother did. This was a woman of privilege; his mother had been a woman of strength and endurance.

The doctor locked the cell of the woman and said to her "Please do not attempt to open it and do not attempt to make contact with the prisoners. I will not save you should something happen." She nodded and proceeded to sit on her small cot and rub her stomach. "Wait doctor!" she yelled out as she walked towards the cell door. "How will I eat? What food will I receive?" He looked at her face and then stomach and thought hard. "Down here men will kill for food and even sometimes for sport. I cannot guarantee you a meal, but I'll see what I can do." He looked again at her stomach then walked away and began to let the other prisoners out. She hurried quickly to the cot at the corner of her cell again and just lay there with her hands rubbing her ripe belly. Immediately the prisoners became a crowd around her cell and began yelling obscenities and offers of food for her body. All she could do was cover her ears and close her eyes as tightly as possible. After some time had passed, the men left and went to look at the sky. Food was being lowered and the men were in a frenzy. She walked towards the bars of her cell and watched. The men were soon throwing each other to the floor and were becoming increasingly violent as the food came closer. She saw a muscular man come out of the shadows from the cell across from hers. They stared at each other for a few seconds and then she backed away from the bars and turned away from him. Bane watched her a while longer until she herself disappeared into the shadows of her cell. He ran towards the mass of prisoners and pushed himself in until he was in the middle of the men. As the food came within reach he jumped up and pulled it down. The men began roaring and tearing at each other. Bane gathered as much as he could and quickly retreated back to his cell. He sat on the cold stone floor and took hungry bites of his stale bread. He looked up at the men still fighting each other. Then his eyes went to the woman. She was at the bars again, watching the men. She had hunger and desperation in her eyes. She reached out one of her slender arms as if to grab some of the food for herself. Bane began to make his way to her cell. She let out a small scream and fell back onto the stone floor. Bane came up to the bars and looked at her with compassion. "Please don't be afraid. I have brought you food… Food for you and your child." He held out the bread he had been eating. She looked at him with apprehension and said "I will not give you my body."

"I am not asking for your body. All I am asking is that you take this food on behalf of your child." He said as kindly as he could, though kindness was not something he knew very well.

"Why? I don't know you. How do I know you will not try to ha-"

"If you do not take this, you will not eat for the rest of the day. I am doing you a kindness," he said with a hint of annoyance.

She slowly walked towards him. He was a handsome young boy. 'Too young to be here and too young to know violence,' she thought to herself. She took the bread from him and backed away quickly. Bane turned and went to his cell and lay on his cot.

This became a routine. When the men were let out they would crowd her cell and then as the food would come down, they would all go into a frenzy and Bane would bring her what he could. She was growing to be unafraid of him and would sometimes even talk to him. She asked him why he was put here and he told her. He asked her the same and she answered him.

One night, the entire prison was full of her screams. She was giving birth. The doctor ran to the cell and gave her medicines to ease the pain. It did not look as though her small frame would allow her to give birth to the child. She looked weak. Weeks of living in this hell had done that to her. Her skin had become a pale brown and her body, apart from her pregnant stomach, had become very thin.

She was gasping and panting for hours, and the men howled all the while. She thought she would go insane from the pain, but she finally had the child.

"A girl," she managed to breathe out and smiled weakly.

"No," the doctor whispered to her. "You must never let it be known that this child is female." She looked at him in weak confusion. "If the men here find out that the child is female they-"

"They wouldn't!" She gasped.

"Shhh! These men are animals, thrown down here for a reason. They do not know compassion. They have not known the pleasure of a woman in years. Please take whatever measures you can. Cut her hair and dress her in bigger clothes than necessary if you wish to protect her," He whispered. Panic went through her body. What if she couldn't protect the child? She had to. But was spending and eternity in this hell better than death?

She held the child up to her breast and began to feed her. She sat there for several minutes trying to calm herself. "And what should I name you little one?" she crooned weakly. The baby had the sweetest blue eyes. They resembled two sweet and pure blue dew drops. It was a miracle the child was born healthy. The lack of food and clean air should have caused her to be born a sickly child, but this child was a gift from God. "Talia? How do you like that?" she whispered to her.

Although she survived the pregnancy, it did damage to both her body and spirit. She found it painful to walk for long periods of time and would not talk as she used to with Bane.

When he would bring her food he would try to catch a glimpse of the child but she covered it with blankets when he would come near.

"How is the child?" Bane asked after months of wondering about it.

"He's fine." She answered quickly as she looked back at it.

"Oh, so it's a boy? That's great. Perhaps when he's older I can teach him a few tricks," Bane said with a slight smile, trying to be friendly.

But she furrowed her brow and looked back at the child.

"Can I see him?" He asked.

"No!" she almost screamed out. She quickly went back to the cot as the baby began crying again.

"Why not? I've gathered food for both you and the child since you first came here. Why can I not at least see him?"

"It's too dangerous," she said as she walked back to the bars to him.

"How? I won't hurt him. You don't trust me?" He was becoming annoyed.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to seem ungrateful, but I have to protect him." She said apologetically.

"If it weren't for me he wouldn't even be alive. Neither would you for that matter," he said with his anger increasing.

She looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry. Please don't be angry," she said as she walked back to the cot.

After that he no longer attempted to speak to her. His anger almost cost her and the child their food, but he always felt guilt at the thought of them starving. That's how it was for years, until one day after the doctor had finished his routine check up on the child and mother, he forgot to lock the door to the cell.