Allure Of The Night

Music Recommendation- Too many legs- ASKII

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The head guard of the dungeon started to make rounds in the passages to ensure everything was under control. Though many of them behaved, some liked to cause commotion and needed discipline.

Deacon’s hand made its way to touch his head and felt it had swollen. For a human and a woman, she had hit him too hard and he wasn’t satisfied with the punishment he had passed to her. He wanted to see the woman cry and beg him, something she hadn’t done and it left a thirst in his mind.

He quickly walked through the passage with light and darkness because of the lit torches placed against the wall at regular intervals.

Deacon reached the front of the cell where the woman he had whipped was held. At first glance, he didn’t catch sight of the human in there.

He wondered if she was sitting in the corner of the cell where light didn’t reach. He raised his baton to the front before hitting it hard against the iron rods that caused a vibration. But the woman didn’t respond.

“Hmph.”

Deacon pulled out the bunch of keys from his pocket. Picking the key, he went to open the gate, but when he touched the gate, it pushed itself open without needing to be opened. “What the hell…” Why was the gate open?

The head guard quickly stepped inside the cell and didn’t find the human. Where did she go?!

When he stepped outside the cell simultaneously, a man with refined clothes and clean shoes appeared in the passage, with his shoes clicking against the dusty ground. The man’s thin blonde hair had been combed to the side. He was accompanied by one of the dungeon’s guards.

The man introduced himself, “I am Bryant Cripps. The person incharge of Jones Fowler’s murder case and I am here to speak to the offender.”

Deacon bowed, “Welcome to the Raven’s dungeon, Mr. Cripps. I am the head guard here, Deacon Sampson.”

“Lead me to the offender,” ordered Mr. Cripps. Noticing Deacon not make any effort to move, he questioned, “What is it?”

Deacon stared at the empty cell. There was no way the woman had escaped from the cell because only the guards carried the keys. When another guard appeared in the passage, he demanded, “Where is the woman who was in here?”

The guard bowed his head before answering, “She was convulsing earlier and foaming from her mouth. Talon and I took her to Fletcher’s room.”

Deacon glared at the guard and then turned to the councilman with his face red, who said, “Take me to where she is.”

“Please follow me,” replied Deacon, leading the councilman to the floor below and toward the physician’s room.

But when Deacon and the councilman arrived at the physician’s room, they only found the guard and the man in charge of this room. He questioned Fletcher, “Where is the woman?”

Fletcher shrugged his shoulders and pushed the thick-rimmed glasses up his nose. His hair was unkempt, and he replied, “I don’t know.”

“Sire, we left the unconscious human right here,” explained the other guard, who had gone to get Fletcher to have him look at the sick woman. “She was foaming too much and her eyes went blank. We placed her here and I went to get Fletcher.”

Deacon clenched his jaw in frustration as anger started to bubble in his blood. He ordered,

“Find the woman and bring her to me immediately! She shouldn’t have gotten too far and is still in the dungeon! Inform the others too!”

“Yes!” The two guards quickly bowed their heads and ran out of the room.

The councilman didn’t look pleased with the poor management in the dungeon. He said, “Is this how you manage prisoners here? Who roams around without notice?”

Deacon bit his tongue as this was the first time something like this happened, and he had always been efficient in his work. To think the woman had dared to think that she could escape from here. He assured the councilman,

“The dungeon is completely secure and it has been years since anyone has been able to get out of here. The escapee mustn’t have gone too far and is hiding somewhere in these very passages. How about I lead you to the office, and I will bring her to you myself—”

“That’s not needed,” snapped the councilman, who didn’t have the time to sit around. He said, “I will come with you. I want to see this woman who murdered Fowler and is now out of her cell where no one noticed.”

Deacon bowed his head as the dungeon operated with the council’s help and the inner circle. He complied, “Of course, Mr. Cripps. Let us find that rat.”

Soon the guards started to spread and looked for the human who was out of the cell and was trying to escape from there.

In the meantime, Eve ended farther into the dungeon, as the paths she had crossed had guards securing the place.

When Eve heard a guard’s footsteps, she quickly hurried away to the other side before she would be caught. The further she walked, the colder the place turned because of the lack of torches and heat around this place. The sky had turned dark, leaving the place slightly unclear in the shadows. She carefully navigated through the passage while keeping her ears alert for any noise or movement.

She wanted to return and walk in that direction but at the same time feared crossing paths with the guards.

Eve noticed that the place she had wandered into was not only dark but it was left in ruins. A few walls were broken along with the pillars, which left the stones scattered on the ground with dust.

Knowing this wasn’t the way to get out, she wondered if this place had a secret passage to get out from here. She was desperate to leave. She knew that it was only time when the guards would be alerted and would come looking for her. She couldn’t hide in here forever. She would die… or her legs would turn.

Turning around, she quickly made her way through the passage and hid from the guards’ sights. She noticed other prisoners here looked lifeless, as if they had lost hope to live. They were in dull white gown-like clothes. There were only two torches lit in this long passage.

But it wasn’t long before Eve heard footsteps from both sides of the passage. Sweat trickled down her forehead and back, and the salty water that dripped down her wounds that burned her skin.

Eve looked back and forth, realising at any moment she would be caught. Noticing a cell’s gate, which was left ajar, she quickly stepped inside it and carefully tried to lock the gate. Her hands and legs trembled out of fear, and blood rushed up her head making her dizzy. The sounds of the guards footsteps turned louder, and she looked at the dress she wore.

If one were to peek into the cell she was in, they would realise it was her with the vibrant dress she wore. After all, she was the only offender brought to the dungeon since yesterday. Running out of ideas with the stress she felt of being caught, she did what she thought was best and removed the outer layer of her dress. It left her in her sleeveless, beige inner dress, which was enough to cover her body modestly.

The backside of her beige dress was stained along with some sides of her skirt because of the blood bled out earlier from the head guard’s whip on her skin.

Hearing the guards’ footsteps ring in her head along with her loud beating heart, she tried to calm down. She took a corner and laid down on the ground with her back facing the front of the cell.

“Did you find anything?” Eve heard one of the guards question.

“This side is clear. I didn’t find the woman anywhere here,” replied the second guard, who came to stop in front of the cell Eve had taken shelter. He huffed, “Can’t believe that the woman escaped. It looks like she will set to step on the Gallows sooner than the expected time.”

“I heard Deacon wanted to do the woman tonight, but the councilman is here too.”

Do her? Eve’s hands clenched while she hoped the two guards would leave the front of her cell.

One of the guards laughed and whispered, “She is beautiful, isn’t she? Even I felt like touching her. I wonder if she’s been touched before.”

“She must be. A woman who is capable of murdering a man of such high position, she must have whored around. But I wouldn’t want to do her, who knows how she even killed the councilman,” said the other guard. “We need to find her quickly, who knows we might rank higher today in the presence of the councilman.”

As if two guards weren’t enough, more footsteps approached, and this time it was the head of the guard, Deacon and the councilman arrived with two guards following them.

“Did you find her?” Deacon barked at the two guards because twenty minutes had passed, and there was no sign of the human.

The councilman said, “You should have disciplined the offender. She wouldn’t have thought to step out of here.”

“Believe me, Sire. I did.”

“Clearly, not enough though,” stated Mr. Cripps, who looked at the passage before his eyes fell on the cell, where Eve was.