Darkness had fallen... pah, darkness is always around, it does not fall, nor does it rise, it is not like light, that comes and goes as it pleases, but darkness, that is a companion that never leaves you, that is a friend who will always be at your back. Looking up and out of the hole at the top of the cave i watched an owl fly over head, probably searching for its pray...mmm...food...Now there's a thought. Where was the god damn prison warden when you needed him. Heaving a sigh i crawled over to the bars, chains in toe and looked out hopefully. It was dinner time and having been starved for the past five days for assault on a warden, i was hungry for whatever slop they decided to throw at me.
I eyed down into the corridoor, watching the man in a grey tunic approach me with a bowl, i must have looked insane, eyes round and saucepan shaped, drool dripping from the tongue hanging out my mouth, as i jumped up and down on all fours in excitment, come on, i was hungry as fuck, give a guy a break, he pushed the bowl through the bars and i all but face planted it as i licked up every last segment of... you know i dont even know what it was. Looking back at the warden, with the vain hope he had seconds with him, i just about whined when he did not and flopped back down into the dirt. I wanted to be able to eat what i wanted, when i wanted, and as much as i wanted. I wanted to run across the sands of egypt naked and free with no need to fear guards, i wanted to stroll through a market place, pockets clanging with gold and mercents fussing over me. These wants were not realistic, snorting at myself for falling into a temporary pit of self pitty, i turned over and curled up in a ball, letting darkness, my last and only friend, enslave me once more for the night.
"But... but sir, the child... he is.../weird/ sir...he" I opened an eye and watched my warden hazily, curious for the whispering, usually the guards enjoyed tormenting me and my fellow inmates with stories of what they did last night, backing off to the dark corner of the cave i continued to listen in. "The pharaoh wants a new squire and he will fit the bill just fine. He's young and not bad looking either, which means the pharaoh wont get offended when he looks at him. Now let me have him before /you/ get put in a cell." Were they talking about me!? /Me/ i was a restricted prisoner! "Ye...yes sir... but i warn you... he may cause problems.. he is...weird" I listened to the door of my cell creak open. "Well let me take a closer look at the runt at least man, goodness it's a slave child, he cant do anything." Just a slave child. Pah, if only they knew, if only i had the energy.
I had left my eyes closed for too long, a heavy kick in the gut was the wardens greeting to me, coughing and spluttering i stood and bowed subconsiously. Shit i was whipped. What had i let them do to me! "Si...sir...warden sir..." I stood back up straight.
"Mmmm... bit skinny but he'll soon fatten up at the palace, looks to be about... twelve? "
"Yes sir, i would say twelve"
They were wrong, my past had aged me some but i was only eight. I kept my eyes on the floor, i couldnt manage another whipping for disrespect, i couldnt believe how weak i had let them make me.
"Let me see him walk so i can see he's functional."
I looked up ever so slightly to recieve a cuff round the head. "Well you heard him slave! Walk for the man!" I walked, jumped, hopped, skipped and sang for that man. And i was not impressed with it. Turning round to the warden with a piercing glare i stopped the hopping, swaying on my legs, i had not the energy for this. "He will do, get me the papyrus works and ill sign for him. Just put his number on the name because the Pharaoh will name him when he recieves him. I cannot believe this piece of sewage is all you have in your cells, do you not catch thieving children anymore man? Have they outsmarted you!?"
I watched the warden hurry off and come back again with a small scroll. "No sir, they keep getting taken to the pyramids to work on them for the Pharaoh." Bowing his head the warden moved back as this imposter took the scroll and signed it with the most beautiful hyrogliphical skill i had ever seen. Just as i was about to turn away and go back to my corner i felt a sharp pain in my skull.
"OWOWOWOWOWWOWOW" Kicking and snarling, i whimpered as the strange imposter dragged me out my cell with my hair.
