Author's Note: Things aren't looking good for Diaval and they're going to get worse before they get better. I don't own the characters from Maleficent, onl Maira. Here we go!

Chapter 2

Maira hated working at the castle. She had been brought to live and work there by her Aunt Madge, who was in charge of the kitchens and laundry. When Maira had finished celebrating her 14th birthday, she had moved from the small two room house on her family's farm to the servants quarters of the castle. It gave her some security and in the last two years, she had managed to save a few coins to start thinking about her dreams to travel to distant places. Neighboring kingdoms, the Islands of Gems and maybe even the Moors.. She helped her Aunt with the laundry and sewing, epaired torn clothing for the guards and other servants. Her stitches weren't good enough for the royal cloths but she could repair just about anything put in front of her, and that saved them alot of linens. When she wasn't helping with the laundry and if there was a large celebration, she was in the kitchen making sweet breads and lucious deserts. That seemed to be where her real talents were, but her Aunt wanted her to have a useful skill before a lavish one. Aunt Madge wanted Maira to take over for her when she was too old to work anymore, and the laundry would always be there. At the rate King Stefan was going with the Queen and court, there wouldn't be celebrations for awhile.

When neither baking or sewing needed to be done, Maira would walk around the courtyard practising her reading, lounge in the stables studying the horses and practising weaving small baskets, or explore the lower levels and dungeons of the castle finding herself ways in and out of the castle. This helped when she needed to go to town, or wanted to get out without the guards seeing her. The King had become increasingly paranoid about his servants abandoning their posts in the year after Aurora had to be sent away. Maira herself was completely unremarkable in her appearance and now, at 16, it didn't look as if that would change as she got older. She was skinny, but had some lean muscle from hauling wet cloths to the lines and walking. Her skin was pale from indoor work, and she knew she should get more time outside to maybe add some color. Her hair was braided in a single thick dark brown braid down her back, a tan and a cream colored wrap around her forehead kept sweat off her face and loose hair from falling off the braid to get in her way. Her eyes were brown, and large with curiosity, and her face was simple and round, with little of the regal chin or sharp nose that seemed to denote royalty or nobility in the kingdom. Nope, Maira could disappear in any crowd and blend in with a mass of servants and that's how she liked it.

It was a cloudy day, and she had just finished hanging the linens on a line in one of the inner hallways to dry. There was a possability of rain coming, and the Queen was taking her meals in her own bedchambers. The king had been in the war room for days, but just last evening, he had been down in the dungeons. Roth, the only jailer down there, had come up to the kitchens and said there was to be bread and water on a plate made ready each day. All these things crossed her mind as she gathered up the baskets from where she had left them empty. As a servant, she heard gossip all over the place. Some was ignorable, like who was sleeping with who, or how many plates broke while being cleaned. But Maira was overwhelmed with curiosity about the meal that Roth requested. She stacked the empty baskets in a corner,stretching, and walked to the kitchen to grab an apple. Hiding it in the folds of her skirts, she took the time to glance around and see where her Aunt was and how the kitchen was faring. The kitchen was a buzz with the normal quiet mutterings. Mostly how the king was going crazy and the despair that sweet princess Aurora had to go into hiding. There was alot of talk about the Moorfolk and Maleficent. Maira had never seen a Moorfolk but imagined they were very much like the fae or the legends of bogwraiths and pixies. She hadn't been in the main hall when the curse happened so she never got to see the pixies or Maleficent, but the stories that the servants spread from the many guests and nobility made her imagination run wild. Now she looked at the plain wooden plate with a small chunk of bread on it and a wooden bowl of water. This made her confused because it was past the morning meal time for everyone else and was quickly moving to the afternoon meal, even for prisoners which usually got fed in the mornings. Looking around the kitchen, Maira saw her Aunt walking in with a list for the evening meal and all of its preperation.

"Auntie? Where is Roth? The prisoner's meal is here." Maira motioned to the untouched plate as she watched her Aunt walk around delivering instructions. Her Aunt looked flustered and shook her head.

"He was asked to go with His Majesty on a brief sojourn into town to speak with a smith. Something about fine iron work and moving some of their apprentices to the castle for most steady work"

Maira frowned. "Well, what about the prisoner down there?"

Her Aunt seemed to think, looking at the plate and then picked it up, pushing it into Maira's hands. "There's guards down there, just take it down to them and then come back up."

Blinking, Maira started to protest, but her Aunt hurried to the cook to discuss the menu. Grumbling, she turned and headed down the corridor towards the steps for the dungeon. It was through a thick bolted door, down a sloped corridor and then to another bolted door at the top of steps that would spiral down to levels of hallways and cells until it hit a flowing water loch that flowed through barred grates to the moat around the castle. Maira knew all of this and carefully walked with the plate in her hands, trying not to lose the apple folded and tied into her skirts. When she got to the second doorway,she saw a guard and lifted the plate. "Meal time for the prisoner. Here you go."

The guard scoffed. "I'm not feeding that thing own there. You take it down."

Maira shook her head. "That's not my job. You do it. I don't want anything to do with that prisoner, whatever it is."

Chuckling, the guard opened the door and motioned her in. "You take it down and leave it with one of the men there. I can't leave my post." Maira hung her head, resigning herself to go down into the dark dungeon.

She knew where she was going at least. The dungeons rarely got used since she had moved there, and they made great places to run around playing tag or hide and seek with the other young servant girls and boys. Ocassionally a cell was used to hold slaves that were traveling with visiting Barons or Dukes. Today, only one cell would be occupied because the castle only had one prisoner. Rumors were saying it was a spy of Maleficents that had been caught. Someone else said it was just a theif that was caught near the thorned wall. Aunt Madge had told everyone to stop talking about it and leave the King's business to the King.

Now, she noted that more lights were lit then normal. She also noted that there was no guard below waiting for her. If the prisoner did get out, he would probably have to deal with the guard at the top of the stairs, and anyone else he could call to him. If there were more guards down here, they were elsewhere and weren't at the immediate entrance. She sighed and pushed open an iron gate and then another bolted door. This prisoner must not be so dangerous if it only required a few guards and Roth. Then again, she knew the dark pit at the end of the hall led to one of the torture chambers. Maira had only ever seen it one time, and even then she only stepped into the room a foot or so. The gleam from some of the devices scared her in the dark and she had run, terrified of getting stuck. As she peered down the hall trying to find out where to go, she saw a helmet.

"Ok, maybe he gets a few more guards. But where are they?" Maira waited, shifting on her feet. She didn't want to be down there and yet she did. She was curious about this prisoner. Was it a Moorfolk? Was it just another person? She didn't want to be feeding a prisoner though, not when she could be borrowing a book and reading.

"Hello? Guard?" Sighing, she looked at the 6 doors on this hallway and saw the second one on the left had dim light coming from it.

Maira wasn't an incredibly brave person, but she knew there were more guards down here somewhere, and one at the top of the stairs. So she walked to the door with the dim light and peeked inside. The room was small, maybe an eight by eight, and there were iron rings on both side walls and the back wall. A thick chain had been locked to the ring on the far wall across from the door, and it led to a curled up black huddle in the right corner. It was shaking, and she saw hints of pale skin. Maira held her breath trying to get a better look.

"Hey, um. Food?" She tried to speak softly, the huddled person flinching when she spoke. It reminded her of a beaten dog she saw in town once. Taking a step back and looking at the door, she saw a small flap style door on the bottom and looked back inside the cell. The huddled form had sat up and was a man. She could hear he was struggling to breath, his wrists had thick shackles around them connected to the long chain on the back wall and were hugging his midsection. He rested his back against the wall looking right at her, dark eyes gleaming slightly from what little light was in the room. His skin was so pale and scared, the shadows in the cell making him look like a skeletal man that reminded her very much of a bird, and his eyes were staring at her.

Maira could see bruises on his chin and blood on the side of his head. With the way his breath rasped, she guessed he had been beaten badly. Her breath came out shakey as her heart went out ot the poor man. She crouched down to push the plate through the door and pushed it in as far as she could from the door. She wasn't sure if the chains would allow him to get all the way across the room, and if not, she wanted him to be able to eat. When she stood back up, he hadn't moved, but was watching her from his position against the wall.

"Thank you." He whispered, but it sounded cautious. Like he wasn't sure if he could say it.

Maira couldn't stop staring at him. He made no move for the food, and she looked down the hallway, the guards not back. "Who are you?" She finally asked. "Why are you here?"

He tilted his head slightly, a very bird like gesture from what she could tell, and his response was again cautious.

"I'm Diaval."

"Diaval." Maira spoke softly, glancing down the hallway for the guards and still didn't see them. "Are you a spy?"

Diaval coughed with a groan and slid to the side, almost falling over, but caught himself with a rattle of the chain. Maira bit her bottom lip and blinked tears back. She didn't know who this person was, but she knew right from wrong, and no human deserved to be treated like this.

"I can't...I can't help you." She said with uncertainty in her voice. "I don't even know why you are here. I just came to give you your food."

"What...is your name?" He asked as he struggled to control his breathing as he looked at her with pleading eyes.

Maira looked down the hallway again, and then back into the cell at Diaval. He looked desperate for any kind words or even just her name. Maybe if she gave it to him, or tried to comfort him.

"My name is Maira." She watched him smile crookedly, because one side of his face was swollen.

"Thank you,Maira."He spoke softly and struggled to move towards the door and the plate. She was about to say something else when she heard the guards coming back. A quick glance down the hall and then back into the cell and she saw a scared look on Diaval's face because he had also heard it.

"I'm sorry." Maira whispered before walking quickly from his cell towards the hallway and stairs that led back up. One of the guards stopped her at the gate while the other walked down to check on Diaval, but once she explained about the prisoner's meal, they let her go back up to the kitchens. As Maira hurried up the stairs, she heard laughing from below and shuddered to think what was going on. She didn't stop until she got out into the courtyard and took a few deep breaths as tears fell down her cheek. Walking, Maira hugged herself and let her mind drift to the scared black bird like eyes that were now burned into her memory.