Episode Three: Summoned
Hamar pressed his face onto the latticework, but Adept was nowhere to be seen. Yet, Hamar now reasoned, that didn’t mean the man wasn’t there!
He spun round. Was this a cell or someone’s room? No other person was in there.
This place had no chimney to be climbed up on the inside, only some kind of vent in the ceiling that was drawing up lamp smoke from the many lamps in the room. A hearth would have been good, it was humid underground. The tall tapestries seemed to move a bit in the draught and he hoped they might cover other doorways, but he felt around behind them and they only hid niches; he didn’t want to peek at whatever was in them.
He gingerly walked among the cushions on the floor which were arranged the way a woman would do it, and it made him hope there was one down there. At least he seemed truly alone.
Then he smelled food. Delicious food.
Just beyond some big square cushions on the floor a brass tray came into sight, skewers of steaming, spice-crusted meat all laid out on it in a row. There were flatbreads, a bowl of clabbered curds with split dates on top, what looked like honeycomb cut in squares, yellow onions and lintels in a dish, and grapes and fresh fruit. To one side was an ornate water jug and a goblet. “You may eat, if you wish,” said Adept’s voice, sounding official beyond the latticework. So, the man was still on guard after all.
Eat? Could there be a bad reason they wanted him to eat? Hamar didn’t care! He’d never seen such a feast and all of it could be grabbed without someone smacking it out of his hands. He hunkered down and took fistfuls!
He emptied each dish and then licked up the juice and oil, and finished by sucking honey off his fingers. Only then did he realise his bum felt cold in his still-damp loincloth. He squirmed, and as he looked around the room he was suddenly aware of heads staring at him through the lattice. As soon as he looked, the heads ducked away. Then more came to look.
He realised he was in some kind of cage.
Leave a Reply