The Slave and the Felaryan Ch 5

Chapter 5
Back to Those Rubies in the Dark


       Felix pushed the creature’s dinner along with a jug of water to fill the large bowl he left in the cell for the giant dridder down to the dungeon. But when he reached the cell, a guard stepped in his way and said, “You can’t go in there yet, Felix.” It was that strange guard that called Felix by his name and led him to the cell the first time he had to feed the creature.
       Felix wondered why he couldn’t go in to feed it, because it was his job, but Felix didn’t ask. Because of how different this guard acted, Felix wasn’t sure he could trust him. In fact, so many people have acted differently ever since he became the creature’s caretaker. First a guard, then Bowan, and even the creature seems different from what Bowan told him. Was Felix’s whole world going crazy?
       The guard must have sensed Felix’s confusion because he answered the question that Felix never mustered the courage to ask. “The tamers are in there.”
       Felix looked past the guard as he waited. Only two others were in the corridor. One was a guard known by the slaves for sleeping on the job, though he had never gotten caught by the other guards or the officers. The other was a brute of a man in fancier and shinier armor. His very armor lit the corridor up by the torchlight. Felix had never seen him before, but he knew who he was: General Ethan. He was Lord Williams most trusted general for his private army. General Ethan stood there with arms crossed, staring at the door leading to the cell.
       The door opened and the tamers walked out. Whips dripping blood were coiled in their hands. “Well?” General Ethan said.
       “I don’t think there will be any troubles breaking this beast. Tell Lord William to expect the dridder to be tamed and under his control in maybe about a week.”
       General Ethan left with the tamers.
       “You can go in now,” the guard told Felix as he stepped aside and opened the door. Felix pushed the cart in. He heard sniffing and fractured breathing that sounded like a shivering person breathing out. The sounds were coming from the creature’s end of the cell, but he didn’t see those ruby eyes. Before he could pinpoint what exactly he was hearing, the door slammed behind him and the sounds stopped. The giant eyes suddenly appeared in the dark and stared at him. There was something different about the eyes though. They looked blurry as if it was-
       As if there’s tears in its eyes. Felix started to put together the sounds with the watery eyes. Was the creature crying? Bowan did say there were… they were… oh what was that word? Never mind, he said they have emotions as well. Felix remembered the whips the tamers were carrying. There was blood on them. It was understandable why the creature would cry, even if it was a monster. He knew what whipping felt like and he started to sympathize for the creature. But then he shook his head, remembering what Bowan said. This was a Felaryan creature and even though it had emotions, could talk, and think like humans can, it still viewed humans as food, not people. He couldn’t trust such a monster.
       Felix looked away from those desperate looking eyes, and pushed the cart towards the white line on the ground. He stopped the cart right in front of the line and he looked around. He found the empty bowl he had to fill with water, but it wasn’t where he expected it to be. Instead, it was on his side of the cell. He looked up again at the blurry eyes that didn’t move and then back down at the bowl. It moved it. Otherwise, it would be on its side of the cell. It had to have moved it, but why? If it kept the bowl on its side, I would have had to go on its side and it would have had me, again. But, it had him before, and it didn’t do anything then. Maybe it had no intention to-
       No, this has to be some kind of trick. Bowan said that Felaryans eat humans. They don’t even see humans as people, just snacks. It sounds like he came from that world. So, he should know they’re monsters. This must be all some kind of game to it.
       The giant eyes were still in the same spot. Felix took the container of water and poured it in the bowl till it was full. But now he had to push it across the line. It was an easy enough task to do without crossing the line himself, but what if it was a trap? It could have coated the bowl with webbing and then it could drag him with the bowl (as ridiculous as that sounded). He pushed the bowl across the line. There was no webbing on the bowl.
       Felix looked up, but the ruby eyes were gone. He froze and examined the area where the eyes had been closely. He thought that the creature could have just closed its eyes, but he couldn’t even see the outline of the creature. Thoughts pulsed through his mind as quick as the throbbing heart in his chest. Where did it-
       Something purple reached out from the dark. Felix snapped his head just in time to see that it was one of the creature’s hands stretching out towards him. Though he was on his side of the cell and in no danger of the hand actually being able grab him, Felix jumped backwards and shuffled like a crab. The hand paused for a small moment and then continued stretching out. Thick fingers touched the bowl and raked it closer into the darkness.
       Felix calmed his breathing, but his breathing’s pace only picked up again when he saw two hands reach out for the cart, but because the cart was still on his side, the creature couldn’t grab it. Those eyes looked down at Felix pleadingly. It just wants the food. I…I can do that. All have to feed it diner after all.
       He stood but he almost fell back down due to his trembling limbs and fear stricken muscles. He took in a deep breath and held it just before walking over to the cart.