Chapter No. 29 Canis mortis

When I say, my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:

Darkness hurts. It's not the hard cold walls of her prison that bothers Tara; it's the lack of light. Darkness is a punishment, a torment that pains the soul.

The only light in her little cell filters down from a small slit of a window high above and it does little to inform her of what's going on out there in the big wide world. Lack of gossip, lack of news is the worst punishment of all.
At least she didn't have to lie in hay on the floor like most prisoners. Her bed was made of wood and had a down filled mattress. She even had proper clothing and a blanket to ward off the chill of night and, best of all, a decent privy. The food wasn't all that bad, either.

What she really longed for was news of Estard. She hadn't heard from her since Taka's murder and it was driving her nuts. She would give anything to hear some tidbit, anything even if it were bad.

She had no idea why she was taken from her comfortable chambers to this miserable cell deep inside a hidden part of the castle where she had no hope of communion with Timka. No one knew that she was here other than Grimsy; or at least that's what she thought. Perhaps, Grimsy wanted her out of the way so that she couldn't tell the true story of how he had acquired the throne.

There were other prisoners in this section, but she seldom conversed with them. They seemed afraid and reticent. She had no idea why they were relegated to this limbo of distorted justice. Hell, she had no idea why she was here.

The cells ran around the wall of a large round chamber and they faced a large pit that she could not see into. Occasionally, she heard barking, but she had no idea where the sources of this barking were. At least they didn't keep her up at night.

###

Mansa approached the throne with trepidation. As the former director of prisons he was fully aware that his regime had been judged corrupt and many of his underlings had been dismissed or prosecuted. He still had a job as clerk of courts basically because he was clever enough to avoid making enemies, but he was concerned about being summoned to the throne. Such summary invitations usually result in bad things happening.

Grimsy stared at the bowing man with anticipation. The Emperor had questions that needed answering.

"Master Mansa," he said with a salutary smile. "I require a bit of education."

"You have only to ask, my lord," Mansa replied, casting a wary eye on his emperor.

"I seem to have lost some prisoners. My only conclusion is that there is a hidden chamber somewhere in the environs of this castle."

"A hidden chamber, my lord?"

"Yes. There is no other logical explanation."

"Are you searching for a particular individual, my lord?"

Grimsy rubbed his brow. "I have been unable to locate Tara, my cousin."

"As I recall, she was implicated in Taka's murder," Mansa said, expressively gesturing with his hand. "Perhaps she was executed."

"I sincerely hope not," Grimsy said, frowning.

"I will make some inquiries, my lord. If she's still alive, I will locate her."

"I would most appreciate your effort," Grimsy said.

Grimsy watched the man bow and retreat, and he wondered if the affairs of this intransient empire were getting out of his control. The damn empire is just too large to manage, especially when all he had to help him was a gaggle of incompetent fools.

###

Tara jumped out of her bed the instant she heard a commotion. The first thing she noticed was that her cell was flooded with light coming from the area in the center of the chamber. Her cell was secured with heavy iron grating, and she could easily see by the light of several torches on stands around the pit.

What she could see was other prisoners standing by their gratings, eyes wide with curiosity and fear. She did a quick count. There were five males and two females. They were dressed in similar simple clothing as she was and they appeared to be in reasonable condition considering the circumstances.

The source of the commotion made its entry onto this stage of horrors. Two guards had unlocked one of the cells on the other side of the room from hers and were in the process of extracting a prisoner. From the sound of it, the prisoner was not happy with the process.

The naked prisoner appeared at the entrance to his cell with his hands secured behind his back. Of average height and build, the man appeared to be in his early thirties. He had a strong face and his hair was jet black and curly.

The two guards dragged the reluctant male over to the pit. The instant they arrived at the edge, a maddening chorus of barking erupted. After allowing the victim to contemplate his fate for several maddening minutes, he was pushed into the pit. The barks transformed into snarling growls to which the victim added hysterical screams.

Tara fell onto her bed with her hands over her ears. Her body shook and she cried, even after the screams and barking subsided.

###

At least no new executions had occurred in the following week. Tara still shook at night and she had trouble eating, but she was able to force herself. She stood at the grating to her cell and stared at the other cells. None of the other prisoners were visible. She had no idea how they had coped with witnessing the horrible execution. She could only assume that this was Grimsy's demented idea. Feeding prisoners to dogs was one way of wiping any trace of them away, and it was just the kind of demented cruelty that Grimsy was capable of.

She sobbed when she entertained the thought that Timka had been executed in this fashion. The thought of him being shoved into the pit to be eaten alive sickened her, but she could not purge the morbid thoughts from her mind. Not seeing Estard again was bad enough, but realizing that Timka had been executed in such a horrible manner was more than she could tolerate.

###

Tara recoiled when she saw the two guards approaching her cell. The thought of being eaten alive made her sick to her stomach and she retched what little remained in it.

The guards unlocked her cell and entered. She cowered in a corner whimpering. They grabbed her and pulled her to a standing position. All that she had on was a nightgown, and she assumed that it would be stripped off of her. To her amazement, it was not. The guards simply dragged her out and pushed to the precipice of the pit.

The full horror of the pit was now visible to her. A dozen snarling, growling Mouser bulls awaited their next human meal. They pranced and jumped about in anticipation, their teeth bared, saliva spewing and dripping from their mouths on the scattered bones of previous victims. The bones of a recent carcass were in the process of being cleaned by rats and insects.

She screamed and tried to resist her plunge into hell. The devils of this hell growled and howled in anticipation of their next unwilling victim.

One of the guards, a short stocky gnome-faced man with sandy, disheveled hair, approached and wrapped his stubby gnarled around the collar of her nightgown. He pulled, tearing the fabric in a ragged line down her chest.

"Stop!"

The guards turned to look at three armed palace guards.

"That woman is to be taken to the Emperor," a tall well-built guard bellowed. "Have you not heard that the new Emperor has decreed that all prisoners are to be released?"

The prison guards' faces reflected disbelief.

"We were not informed of this," one of them admitted.

"You are not to execute any more of these prisoners."

The prison guard looked down at the angry dogs before turning to the palace guard. "What are we to do with the dogs, sire?"

"Let them eat one another," the palace guard said, flashing a toothy grin.

Mansa bowed as he moved toward Grimsy's throne. Grimsy was not sure how to read this. Did he have good or bad news?

"The lady Tara has been found, my lord. She was a hair's width of being no more."

Grimsy smiled. "Where is she now?"

"The guards are escorting her to you, my lord."

"Don't bring her here," Grimsy said, holding his hand up like a traffic cop.

"Where do you want her?"

Grimsy held a contemplative finger to his lips for several minutes before he answered. "Have her placed in that small cell in the east corridor. I will arrange for her care."

Mansa bowed. "As you wish, my lord."

"Oh!" Grimsy said, holding a finger up. "I want you to track down all of the others."

"Others, my lord?"

"All of those persons implicated in Taka's murder."

Mansa's face cycled through surprise and dismay. "As you wish, my lord."

As he watched Mansa leave, Grimsy slouched in his chair and sighed. This was not what he had in mind as the Emperor.

Tara lay on the bed of straw and cried. She had stared into death's cruel maw and had seen its horrible reality before being snatched back from its jaws. That awful moment of contemplating her mortality filled her with a morbid fear of death, and she could not relieve its miserable depression. Only her beloved Timka could do that, but she had no idea if he still lived. That was the cruelest torture of all.

The door to her cell suddenly clanked open, startling her. She stood up and tried to balance on shaking legs and hold the ripped edges of her nightgown together.

"Thank goodness you are ok," Grimsy said, sounding genuinely concerned. "I thought that you had been executed."

"I nearly was, my lord. If it was not your wish to have me slain, then why was I interred in that awful prison?"

"I was not aware of your situation," Grimsy said. "I have officials looking into the disposition of all other prisoners at this very moment."

Her eyes exuded both hope and anxious concern. "Do you have any knowledge of the disposition of Master Timka?"

"Not as yet, but I should have this information shortly." He noted her solicitous expression. "I will inform you as soon as I know anything."

"I would so appreciate that, my lord."

He gestured to the door. "In the mean time, I have made provisions for you in much better accommodations."

She didn't hesitate exiting the cell. Anything would be an improvement over a prison chamber.