InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lady Unicorn ❯ The Dungeon ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A/n: I know the prologue was short, but that gives me an even better excuse to toss a chapter out the door today, isn't it?

Ladydeath31178: Congratulations on your expecting :D. Mine is due February 22, right after you ^^. And thank you for that tidbit of information. I suppose writing in a way is like keeping a metaphorical diary, isn't it? And also, thank you for your review ^_^. I kind of decided last night to continue 'Sleep Paralysis', because I reread a lot of it and realized towards the later chapters, it wasn't quite so graphic. Thank you.

On with the show!




As soon as he was unceremoniously dumped upon the cold stony floor, the Fox darted into the shadows toward the back of the cell. His apparent anxiety just caused the guards to laugh at him.

"Not so brave now ye are down here, runt?" the taller guard barked at him, slapping his knee in enthusiasm. "By me, tis the best idear we brought 'im down 'ere. Warden will cook 'im up right, that he will." He turned to the other guard, the same one that had threatened his life, and they shared a pair of matching grins.

"That be the truth, sir!" the subordinate male said, and together they walked down the hall as soon as the celll door was slammed and locked. The sound of rusted steel crashing echoed down the hall with the effort, causing the Fox's hairs to stand on end. It was an ominous noise.

Glancing about, he noted two cell mates- an older male with a beard grown out easily to his sternum, and a middle aged man that reflected him. Both were nothing but bones, and seemed to have all life sucked out of them... not to mention obvious signs of the abuse they endured here, plain to see with the scars that marred their bodies.

The Fox cautiously approached the older of the two men, speaking low in tones, "Hey, old man?" He waited a moment, but his efforts for conversation were ignored.

Clearing his throat and speaking in louder tones, he tried again. "Oi, old man."

Again, nothing.

The small boy crept closer, waving his hand in front of the man's face, and practically yelled, "Hey, bag of bones!"

"I can damn well hear ye, boy!" The old man glared at him, surprise knocking the Fox backward onto his bottom.

"What is it ye want, runt?" he was seethed at, and the Fox bristled indignantly. "Sit here and rot then, old man, I don't need your help with yer venom!"

Skulking away, he did not bother with the younger man (younger in comparison to the other, he was still middle aged). He noted the way he was watched, that he would be no help either.

So he thought.

"What it be ye want, boy?"

Hope entered the Fox's eyes, as he approached the man tentatively. "All I wish to know is the daily route of the guards, and the Warden."

"Aye, that piece of information will cost ye, young man..." eyeing him warily, the middle aged man stroked his beard thoughtfully as the Fox calculated him carefully.

Deciding, the Fox reached into his secret pocket- a place guards always failed to search- and pulled out a small leather bag that was his reserve. Opening its contents and dumping them on the floor before the man, he watched as his eyes sparkled with greed. "This is all I got. Is it enough to satisfy your tastes?"

Coughing a bit, the man warily picked up one of the silver pieces and bit it with his teeth. Solid and sound, the man hastily began to collect his prize. "Aye, aye, that it is."

He may have been greedy, but any man in a cell knows a good opportunity when it greets him. The old man in the corner was absolutely boiling at this point.

"And what makes ye think that man be reliable?! By, I be here for more than twice as many moons as he has! Why not ask a genial old man like me?" he snapped roguishly at the Fox, who simply supplied him a haughty look.

"That I did, but ye got no manners," the Fox turned his back to him, and the old man looked as if he had been many years younger, he'd have knocked the young boy out of his wits.

Ignoring the two, the middle age man spoke, "What be the name of the young lad I have had the pleasantries of doing business with?" The Fox grinned.

"My actual name be Shippo, but those around these parts know me as the Fox," was stated proudly, as he puffed his chest and strutted about a little.

"Look at this boy who thinks he's some sort of cock! Leave such a walk to the birds, for I never heard of ye before, lad!" the old man mocked him, quickly deflating Shippo.

The other man, on the other hand...

"My Lord in Heaven, such a small thing as yourself be the Fox! I hardly believe it. Stories say he is more than thrice your height and stocky in build, a great thief, he be. No guard can catch him, and he melts into the shadows to become one with them!"

Shippo made his agitation apparent.

"How in the hells do you think I can fit in such small places if I were that big?! Enough banter, can you tell me what I ask for or not?"

Clearing his throat in slight embarrassment, the man said, "The guard comes by once a hour, and the Warden comes when he damn well pleases. We are fed when the sun is in the middle of the sky, and that be water and bread. And expect a long stay here, legendary Fox, for I hardly believe you'll be able to escape here any easier than the rest of us."

Shippo simply looked smug and said nothing.

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud banging on the metal of their door, "Aye, ye scum! Shuddap with the talking and file before me eyes so I can take a good look a ye!"

Three heads turned simultaneously to stare at the man who made the demand.

The Warden.

Shippo looked down at himself, then at the others. He looked far too healthy, and he was sure he'd be the one to go under the Warden's attentionif he did not think quick...

Looking about, he threw himself into a pile of soot and feces he found in the corner, making a horrid face he rolled about and scruffed his hair in disgust, and came forward before the warden once that was done. The two others followed suit, and looked down at him in disgust. The older man looked at him as if the devil himself had possessed him.

But the Warden's eyes carefully examined each one, disgust on his face apparent when he came across Shippo as well, and quickly passed over him to the oldest man.

"I think yer time on this earth is up, come with me geezard."

The man let out a horrid cry as the Warden grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him forcefully out of the cell, locking the other two in as he made his way down the hall.

Two sighs of relief were given, though Shippo watched the old man be dragged off with sympathetic eyes. He may have been a bastard, but no bastard deserved such a fate...

"You nasty boy, go clean yeself off! There's hay in the corner where Thomas used... to sleep..." the middle aged man's voice went quiet, and he wandered off to be in the corner the older man had been. Sitting down, Shippo watched in fascination as his head dipped low and he covered his eyes with one hand.

An unmistakeable sound of sniffing came from him, and Shippo could have sworn he heard him mumble, "Father..."

Becoming uncomfortable with his forlorn companion, Shippo felt the pressing need to leave after what he had just witnessed. Running to the hay the man had indicated, Shippo began scraping at himself with it to get the stank off. It wasn't to much avail, but it got some of the nastier chunks off...

Shuddering, he tried not to think of how gross it was, as he began to search for his way to escape.

There was a small hole in the wall... Some of the bars of the cell were warped and twisted out of shape, maybe he could fit... and there was a grate that lead to the sewers.

Thinking quickly, he figured going underground would be the best option.

Looking at the other man who was currently preoccupied with mourning, a stab of guilt came at him when he examined his exit.

It was too small to fit the man, and he himself would just manage the tight squeeze.

Though he prayed none too often, and only in the worst of circumstances, he offered a quick prayer that the man be spared a horrible fate.

Grabbing the grate with his tiny hands, he pulled with all his might.

To his surprise, it moved with ease, and he fell for the second time that day flat on his bottom.

Luckily, his clumsiness went unnoticed.

Scanning around one last time, Shippo quietly lowered himself down into the dark hole and covered it up with the grate.

He wasted no time in running down the passage, away from what most certainly would have been a horrible fate.