Chapter 19 #2
For a moment, Eve almost looked grateful for the helpful bit of advice. It lasted all of a few seconds before she tipped her chin up, setting her jaw in a stubborn line that told me she would rather suffer than admit I had given her something useful.
“I can make do,” she responded, albeit her voice came out with a slight nasal tone like she didn’t dare take more breath than necessary.
Her stride lengthened to overcome my pace, and I let her. If she wished to try and prove a point, I’d stand back and wait.
The escorting guard turned down another corridor leading to a steep staircase that wound and turned in ways that didn’t make sense to the mind.
Stairs that appeared to jut right were downward steps that actually guided you up a level.
It was just a taste of what made Blackscale a breathing nightmare.
We finally arrived at a marble archway that looked out of place in the cement block and iron bar aesthetic Blackscale was known for. The guard turned to face us.
“Rules. Abilities will be scrubbed going in and once again coming out. Any deviation in your scans will be investigated and dealt with accordingly. This facility is not liable for any injuries sustained during visitation with inmates. When you step through this archway, you are agreeing to abide by all directives as set forth by Blackscale personnel.”
He eyed us both with oval eyes covered by vertical eyelids that blinked with unnatural slowness. The weight behind his gaze assessed our understanding, looking for any disagreement before stepping aside.
“Prisoner 92526 is in Cell Block I, the exterior unit.” His directions were precise and clipped.
I nodded and nudged Eve forward with my hand between her shoulder blades. We would step through together and return just the same.
She moved with me, and we passed through the archway, the air buzzing around us. Once through the magical barrier, the scenery changed and not for the better.
Instead of being surrounded by cold and dank stone walls, we were consumed by humid air, ripe with the scent of burnt flesh. The temperature rose uncomfortably, and above us was open sky. Not the same sky we had flown through, though. This was somewhere deeper into a realm unknown.
Crimson clouds loomed so dark they bordered on a shade between rust and dried blood.
Beneath our feet, the ground turned into volcanic rock, wet with something too thick to be water.
“He doesn’t deserve to be here,” Eve commented in quiet devastation.
I didn’t have the soul to tell her this wasn’t the worst of it.
“Keep moving,” I commanded, my hand never breaking contact with her.
We followed the straight path until we saw a sign for Cell Block I. The arrow directed us down a spiraling set of steps until we were greeted by a row of units, each bearing different attributes fitted for each inhabitant.
The first cell had spikes of various lengths coming out of the floor and walls, leaving its captive unable to so much as pace without risking impalement.
Another unit seemed less tormenting by comparison. The ceiling of that particular space barely allowed for an average-sized man to sit on the floor comfortably, let alone do much else.
Eve took in the sight of each holding area with undisguised horror. So far, none belonged to her brother.
As we approached the far end of the cell block, a howling could be heard. The sound was haunting, a low groan that belied a hunger of something ready to snap its jaws shut.
The steel bars of the final cell were thicker than standard. One couldn’t merely hold onto them. They reminded me of watching Eve’s small hands attempt to wrap around my cock, girth and unrelenting steel.
On the other side of the bars, the source of the low groaning became visible. There was no fourth wall, just open space with a sharp drop-off where the floor ended. Hellish winds whipped through the cell. A dense fog rose up from the ledge.
Not fog.
Worse.
Breath. The exhale of an invisible beast lying in wait for its next meal to fall into its jowls.
Near the ledge, sitting with his back against the wall, was a shell of a man.
He didn’t stir, just sat there with his head bowed.
Overgrown locks of hair, a shade brighter than Eve’s with more orange highlights and less of the blond cutting through the copper hid his face.
A forearm draped over the top of a bent knee, the hand hanging limp while the other rested on top of his thigh.
He was the very picture of a man without purpose.
Recognition registered on my Little Spade’s face, her hand already hovering over her lips parted in disbelief.
“Tighe?” she whispered, her hand falling to her side as she stepped closer to the bars.
At first, the man didn’t move. Didn’t even speak.
Then, with a slowness that mimicked a fly drowning in a tar pit, his head turned. Eyes opened to reveal a color rivaling permafrost, a stark contrast to the fiery locks that framed his face.
When he spoke, his voice came out hoarse and almost too low to catch. “Did she send you?”
I shifted my gaze to Eve, who was already pressed up against the bars, trying to close the distance between her and her sibling.
“Did who send me?” she asked, confusion and desperation for understanding filling her voice.
No response. Only the sound of whatever beast lay breathing beyond the steep drop-off that Tighe sat near—a bit too near.
“Tighe, tell me. Tell me who—”
A bitter laugh escaped him, cutting off Eve’s plea for clarity. He forced himself upright, and his joints audibly creaked as he did. His steps were weighted by pain, stiff and uneven.
Up close, you could see the filth caking his skin, fingernails broken and packed with dirt, and a beard left unkempt. Nothing like the man my Little Spade had described to me.
Blackscale made its inmates pay their penance in more ways than one.
“She came here first, you know. Said you’d be by. Said you’d be different.”
He may as well have been talking in riddles. The expression on Eve’s face reflected her struggle to connect her brother’s cryptic words, leaving her at a loss to find any of her own.
The tension between the siblings grew with only a few feet and unforgiving bars between them. Tighe stared at his sister like she held the order for his execution, and Eve met his gaze with one that held the grief of a pardon delivered too late.
Breaking the standstill, her brother leaned forward. His eyes no longer hid the suspicion in his gaze.
“Mother sends her regards.”