Chapter XIV: Friends Who Try

Alakar tosses a pebble against the wall of his cell, catches it, and asks, “So Jack, how do you pass the time down here?”

Jack replies, “Eh, I usually just play tic tac toe in some sand, and sometimes I think about how I’ma get back at the guards.”

Alakar then asks, “Will they ever bring us any food? I swear this shitty water is making me more hungry.”

Jack says, “We’re at the back of the lowest block, they’re hoping we die a slow death. Yet from what I can tell, they bring us food maybe once a week.”

Alakar says, “A week! I’ll starve by then! I already feel like I’m losing my damn mind. All I can think about is food! What’d I’d give for a slice of deer meat or even a rabbit, ugh,” and he tosses his pebble against the wall again.

Jack says, “Yea… Actually, I might have some food if you got anything to trade.”

Alakar says, “You have fucking food! Hmm, well I have one of the Rakahsha’s nail files that I’ve ground down. It’s yours depending on what you have,” and he catches his pebble again.

He says, “Well, my celly died last night. You can have some of him…”

Alakar gasps and says, “You’re kidding right? There is no way I’m going to eat a man, you’re nuts!”

He laughs and says, “I didn’t think so, but if you’re willing to trade anything else for that shank, let me know.”

There was a long period of silence between them. Faint conversations could be heard from time to time, and the occasional torch of a guard could be seen, yet it never made it to the back of the block.

Alakar’s mind was unable to wander, and the thought of food kept looming over him like a mountain. His stomach rumbled constantly, and the taste of feces lolled around in his mouth. His water supply came from a trough that ran along the floor through the entire block, and he swore someone threw waste into it; the water only made his hunger worse, and he truly desired sustenance.

The offer of food lingered in his mind like a pest, and his nose kept reminding him that it was there. It smelled fresh and it soon enthralled him.

Alakar says, “All do it.”

Jack asks, “You’ll do what?”

Alakar looks into his cell, right at him, and says, “I want the trade…”

He yells, “Woah, for real?!”

Alakar grabs the blade from a hiding spot, holds it up, and says, “You’ll cut off one of his legs with this, and toss it through the bars.”

Jack exclaims, “Huh?! What if I don’t?!”

Alakar looks for torch light and then shouts at him, “You made the fucking offer! And if you refuse to do it, then I’ll tell everyone what really happened to your cellmate!”

Jack yells back, “Shut up like you know anything!”

Alakar then whispers, “I watched you strangle him in his sleep. You did it with a smile the whole time too, so you should have no problem severing his limbs.”

Jack gasps and grabs the bars of his cell, and asks, “The fuck?! How do you? Can you see in the dark or somethin?”

Alakar replies, “You’ll have to trade more food for that info,” and he tosses the blade into his cell.

*Clang*

The man patted the ground in search of the blade and upon finding it, he cracked the biggest smile Alakar had seen in a while. He paused for a moment, likely contemplating his task yet went to work on his victim’s leg regardless.

Alakar watches another man saw through a human hip; he is so ravaged with hunger that he forgets that it’s another person. His mind is weak from the constraints put on his body, and his instincts take over. He salivates through the bars and sniffs the air like a mad dog.

Alakar says, “C’mon now, my wife can butcher something faster than this. Hurry up.”

Jack yells, “Chill out! This thing is dull as fuck. You’ll get it when I’m done.”

*Swish* *Twack* *Swish* *Twack* *Rip*

*Swish* *Twack* *Swish* *Twack* *Rip*

Jacks says, “Aight, it’s done… Here,” and he shoves the leg through the bars and flings it through the dark at Alakar.

Alakar catches it and pulls it through his end, and says, “Finally, something to stop this pain,” and he sinks his teeth into the thick calf muscle.

*Nom* *Nom* *Nom* *Nom* *Nom* *Nom* *Nom* *Nom*

After he took several mouthfuls of human flesh, his train of thought started to come back to him as his hunger pains subsided. He slowly felt more and more disappointed in himself, yet it didn’t stop him from eating. With every bite, he tried convincing himself it was something else.

Alakar, with a mouthful of man flesh, mumbles, “This is the sweetest slab of beef I’ve ever tasted.”

Jack yells, “Man, you’re so fucked in the head! I don’t want to know that.”

Alakar ignored his distress and focused on filling his stomach.

He strips the leg of every little bit of meat with his teeth while licking the femur clean of its stringy bits. Eventually, he makes his way down to the foot and plucks the toenails off. From there, he bites off each of the toes. They roll around in his mouth with delight, pressing between his molars, only to fall into a pit that is his stomach. A mauled foot soon follows afterwards, and he rests in a corner while picking his teeth with a few bone fragments. He is now stuffed and has a pot belly full of man meat to prove it.

Alakar then went into a long slumber. His body had been deprived of resources, and it demanded that he continue to grow.

Jack throws a rock into Alakar’s cell, and whispers, “Dude, you alive in there? Somethings going on, wake up.”

Alakar stretches on the floor, and yawns, “What?”

Jack exclaims, “It’s too quiet. Somethings up man.”

Alakar understood what he meant. It was oddly silent within the block, usually, there was always some distant chatter going on, even throughout the night. So, he stood up, gripped the bars of his cell, and tried to peer down the aisle.

Alakar smiles with glee, and states, “I hope you’re ready Jack. We have about a dozen visitors coming right to us.”

Jack says, “Only a dozen, ha. They must take us for chumps or somethin.”

Alakar replies, “Right… Just stick to the plan.”

Soon roughly a dozen Rakahsh march down the hall towards the back of the block. Alakar wasn’t sure of it till now, but the Rakahsha definitely had some degree of dark vision like he did; they coordinated themselves all too well in the pitch darkness. This made him question their plan, but he knew they couldn’t change course now.

As the group walked between both their cells, Alakar yells out, “My cellmates need help! They haven’t responded in days!”

The guards were plentiful enough to fill the entire gap between their cells, yet Alakar could still tell that half of them considered what he had said. They then begin to debate something in their foreign tongue and promptly opened Jack’s cell door. A couple of Rakahsh walked into his cell and plugged their noses from the stench. They likely assumed both prisoners were dead and dropped their guard; that was a mistake.

As one of the guards kicked Jack’s motionless body, he sprang to life. At the moment of the kick, Jack grabbed the guard’s boot and threw her to the floor. He then immediately tackled a group standing in the doorway of his cell.

Chaos ensued, and the whole block went from dead silent to raging. Everyone knew a fight was going on and the excessive cheering and yelling became nearly deafening. The guards were clearly panicked. They were too crowded to draw their blades, and most defaulted to their claws in self-defense.

While Jack was shoving and stabbing guards like a lunatic, Alakar bided his time until the guards that were brushed up against his cell turned the other way. Soon a few did, and he seized the moment.

He leaps onto the bars of his cell and puts one of the guards in a reverse choke hold. In a fluid-like motion, he plants a sharpened femur bone into the cat’s neck and draws their own blade from its sheath. Alakar wastes no time and quickly stabs many of the guards through the bars with a stolen scimitar.

A couple of minutes had passed and more guards came flooding into the block. Jack was caroled and surrounded now in his own cell. They all focused on Jack, and none of them would go near the goblin’s cell. Alakar injured many guards but was unable to kill more than one. Their plan was losing its grander, and Jack was soon pressed into submission.

A group filled Jack’s cell and they processed to beat him into a bloody pulp. They kicked, punched, and jumped on him relentlessly. Alakar felt helpless, and all he could do was swing his scimitar at the bars in anger.

*Clang* *Clang*

He yells, “Why don’t you pick on someone who can fight?!”

Almost right on cue, a caster with a staff came forth and began to invoke magic. Everyone had stepped back from the caster, and flickers of sparks began to appear around the head of the staff.

Alakar knew an attack was coming, and he tried to weave back and forth within his cell. There wasn’t a lot of room to move around though.

*Boom* *Zaaapp*

He seizes up, while still grasping his weapon. Yet he is unable to move. His eyes dart from side to side as he face-plants into the floor. He growls in pain, and his body stings all over. He doesn’t realize he has been hit until the smell of burnt flesh fills his lungs. The only thing visible to him is the floor now, and he is dragged down the block.

Before he knew it, his numb body was hauled into the throne room, forced to grovel before the slave master.

Rawscow sits on his throne and speaks, “Oh my friend Purps, we meet again! I heard you made a friend down there and caused a lot of trouble too. Why don’t you be a good goblin and learn your place already?”

Alakar gathers himself to his knees and yells, “I have no friends! And even if I did, you certainly wouldn’t be one of them!”

Rawscow shows off a toothy grin and says, “No one likes a liar. Bring in my head slave!”

Alakar has his arms bound in chains behind his back, and asks, “Why bring Pierre into this?!”

Rawscow snickered at him, and slowly descended the steps of his throne. He stood there and locked eyes with Alakar until a blindfolded Pierre was handed to him. Pierre looked terrified and was sweating profusely.

Rawscow leans into Pierre's ear, while placing his hands on his shoulders, and asks, “Do you have any last words to say to your friend here?”

*Gulp*

Alakar screams, “Nooo! Why?! He didn’t do anything wrong!”

Tears run out of the blindfold, and Pierre says, “Alakar, I want you to know that none of this is your fault. I wish you best of luck getting back to your family, but my journey ends here… I have no regrets.”

Alakar screams and tries to rush towards Pierre, yet three Rakahsh pin him to a kneeling position.

Rawscow yells, “Yes! Oh have I been waiting to hear your glorious screams!” and he sweeps Pierre off his feet, dangling him upside-down over Alakar.

Alakar yells, “No, spare him! Please, show mercy!”

Rawscow only laughed at him as he grasped one of Pierre's legs in each hand. He then stretched them apart and began to rip him in half. Pierre screamed bloody murder and wiggled around uncontrollably like a worm.

Alakar screams, “Stop! Please!”

Before Alakar’s eyes, his friend was ripped in half with brute force, straight down the middle of his body. Rain of blood, entrails and gore showered him. The two halves were dropped to his left and right, and he felt a loss like never before. Alakar slummed over and wept his heart out.

Rawscow laughed at his loss, yet his enjoyment was interrupted by a large commotion.

*Boom* *Clang* *Zaaapp* *Crunch*

A group of fully armed knights and casters burst into the room. They were all draped in the sigils of the empire and began to cut down the guards at the front entrance.

One of the knights thrusts his sword in the air, and shouts, “Lord Rawscow, you are under arrest for war crimes brought against the empire! Come, quietly or face death!”

Rawscow grimaces, and shouts back, “Damnit, where was the alarm?! Bah! Kill them all!” and he jumps into the melee.

Alakar raises his cuffed wrists over his head, and shunts them downwards in front him, breaking his arms.

*Pop* *Crack*

Magical spells, blades, and claws clashed amongst each other as Alakar knelt on the floor and held the remains of Pierre. Nothing around him mattered, and no one acknowledged his presence as humans and Rakahsh massacred one another.

He shakes the fluids from his face and grips the entrails of his friend, and asks, “Why you? If only I wasn’t so weak…” and suddenly Pierre's last words flash into his mind.

The chance to return to his family fuels him, and he dashes for the entrance. He bobs and weaves through and under combatants. Swords and spells nearly miss him, and he bolts further towards his escape. He jumps over fighters, and even leaps through someone's legs yet makes it to the underpass.

Outside, a blazing sun smacked his face. It blinded him, and he almost forgot about its existence. The air was dry and scolding hot, yet the many parked camels pulled him from his discomforts.

He wasted no time, hopped on an unwilling camel, and rode off into the free lands.