They ignored me.
“I want water. And food.”
Where are you? Another answered my request.
Beyond your reach, my friend. How are you?
Fine. But I have missed you. You slept so deep, almost I thought you dead.
Almost I thought myself dead. That night. Did you guide them to the horses?
I did. And they left. Heart of the Pack told them I was a half-breed you had tamed. Like I was a cur, doing tricks.
He sought to protect me, not to insult you. Why did not Heart of the Pack go with them?
I do not know. What shall we do now?
Wait.
“Guards!” I called again, as loudly as I was able. It wasn’t very loud.
“Get back from the door.” The man’s voice was right outside my cell. I had been so occupied with Nighteyes I had not heard him approach. I was not myself at all.
A small panel at the bottom of the door slid open. A pot of water and a half a loaf were set inside. The panel closed again.
“Thank you.”
There was no reply. I picked them up, examined both carefully. The water smelled as if it had been standing for some time, but neither smell nor a cautious sip revealed any trace of poison. I broke the loaf into smaller pieces, looking for flecks in the dough or any discoloration. It was not fresh, but it was not poisoned in any way I could detect. And someone had eaten the other half of it. In a very short time they were gone. I went and lay on my stone bench again, and tried to find the least uncomfortable position.
The cell was dry, but cold, in the way that any unused chamber in Buckkeep was cold during the winter. I knew exactly where I was. The cells were not far from the wine cellars. I knew I could scream my lungs bloody and no one but my guards would hear. I had explored down here as a boy. I had seldom found occupants in the cells, and even more rarely guards upon them. The swiftness of justice at Buckkeep meant there was seldom a reason to hold a prisoner for more than a few hours. Transgressions of the law usually demanded you pay with your life, or with the work of your hands. I suspected these cells would see a deal more use, now that Regal claimed to be king.