Read Online Shaper of Stone (The Shapers Book 1) by Keith Keffer - Free Book Online Page B

was only a little better than the cell I found myself in
earlier.
    The woman helped me sit down on one of
the bed frames. We were not alone. Garit stood nearby. The rest gave
him ample space in the crowded room.
    “Garit,” I said, “Thank
you. Are you okay?”
    The guard hardly looked bothered by the
beating. He shrugged his shoulders, “I’ve had worse.”
    Talia appeared at my side and started
to probe at my head while giving me orders, “Sit still and let
me see how bad you are hurt.”
    “I’ve had worse too,”
I said with a nod to Garit. I immediately wished I hadn’t as my
brain felt like it wanted to slosh from one side of my head to
another.
    Talia finished her examination and
wrapped a bandage around my head. ’Going to have a goose egg
there, but you’ll be fine. One of the rocks opened a cut, but
it has already stopped bleeding.”
    I gingerly touched the bandage and
decided that for now I would be alright. I got to my feet and took a
deep breath, trying to steady myself.
    Taking Talia’s hand, I thanked
her then said, “Talia, I want you to make sure everyone here
has something to eat and drink.”
    I then walked over to Garit and placed
my hand on his shoulder, “And you, my friend, can you find
bedding and clothes for these folks. Anything that they need to make
this place more comfortable.”
    “I can help with that,”
said the bald man who was comforting Talia earlier. “I’m
Hahns, the caretaker around here.”
    “Great! Thanks a lot!”
    “No, thank you Sir. From what my
wife tells me, you’re the first person to stand up to Lord
Vatrale. You’re a sign of hope for any of us here. No one has
ever left here alive. Only The Master and his personal guard. The
rest of us are going to die here unless something changes.”
    “No one else is going to die
here,” I promised. Now I just needed to figure out a way to
keep that promise.
    -o-
    As everyone went off to complete their
tasks, I found myself alone with the woman who led me into the
building. We kept our voices low as we talked so as not to disturb
the others.
    Her name was Shira. She had survived in
the pit longer than anyone else. Her husband had been a student of
Vatrale. When he disappeared, her son was taken, and she was thrown
into the cell, isolated from everyone.
    That was over eight years ago. Her
imprisonment changed four months ago when she was taken from her cell
and thrown into the pit. Another to be drained by Vatrale. At least
fifty people have died since she was placed in the pit, and none of
the others lasted half as long as he she had.
    The draining sucked their will from
them. They could act and were aware of what happened around them, but
they lacked the desire to do even the simplest tasks. Many of those
who died starved to death. Not from a lack of food, but because they
simply couldn’t exert the effort to feed themselves.
    Those who survived the longest shared
something of a group mentality. If one ate, they all ate. When one
slept, the others followed. She wasn’t surprised that they all
attacked. It wasn’t that they were violent. They were just
conditioned to act together. The man who threw the first rock was one
of the newest prisoners. He was also one of the bodies left behind
when the guards rushed in.
    I talked to Shira and the others for
the rest of the night. Her story was unique in that she knew Vatrale
before she was abducted. The others were bought from slavers,
captured while traveling on the road, or attacked in an alley after
having too much to drink. They were taken alone, and no one had ever
met their fellow captives before.
    Talia, Hahns, Garit and the other
guards worked for the mine before it closed. That was about three
years ago. When it shut down, they were asked to stay. It seemed like
a good idea at the time, but within a few months they realized that
they had become prisoners there.
    Anyone who left the compound would be
found several days later at the foot of the gate. Not all of