Fiery Lands and Stormy Seas (Pokemon Watty Award Winner 2014)

Chapter 28

HECTOR

 

            He wanted it to end sooner but it was his own fault that it hadn’t.  Every day since they had arrived in Lavaridge, Starfall marched the prisoners that had set out from Mauville to the throne room.  Every day, a new prisoner was burned and eaten by his vicious Salamence after none of them could reveal the location of their King, Chris Marsh.  Hector found himself wishing that he had been eaten sooner.  He was the only one left now, and the waiting made the thought of his impending death worse.

            It will end tomorrow, he knew.  Hector was scared, that was why he had been spared.  Starfall enjoyed watching him watch his companions being murdered.  If I didn’t tremble so much and sob, he wouldn’t have made me watch for so long. I hope Wingull got away safely. The sea-bird Pokémon had deserted him as they made the climb up the mountainous road to Lavaridge.  For once, Hector was glad he didn’t have a spirit bond with Wingull.  One of us should live, at least…

            It was known which prisoner would be killed the day before they met their end; they would be taken individually to a cell in the darkest dungeons of Lavaridge’s castle to a prison within a prison.  Hector noted how dry and hot the air was down here, as Starfall’s men took him to the cell to spend his final night on this earth. 

            It’s my own fault I’m here, he thought once again.  If I had not been so scared during the battle of Mauville, then Ryan would still be alive.  Of course, if Ryan was still alive, he needn’t have come on his quest.  He wouldn’t have had to show how sorry he was for the death of his friend to his conscience and King Chris.  But then, it would be some other man in my place. Hector felt strangely at peace with that thought.  By getting the last man drunk and stealing his armor, he had saved his life. He will still get to live and love his family. That was more than the rest of the party could say. 

            Hector’s thoughts dwelled on Chris Marsh next.  I’m glad the Forrests saved him, he thought.  He was jarred from his memories of his last friend when the guards led him through a dark door.  The room inside the door was unlit by torches, yet the jailors found the locks of the single cell and with an iron groan and a harsh shove, Hector knew he was in his penultimate resting place. 

            “Enjoy the company,” the jailor said gruffly as he walked back out the door, and when it shut, all light left the world.  That’s what they always say, Hector knew.  A cruel joke, unless my company is my own thoughts. 

            Hector had always thought that his death would stink.  He had envisioned it would come in the middle of a storm at sea surrounded by a fresh, stinky catch of Tentacool and Remoraid.  He felt himself smile in the darkness.  Well, it stinks alright. Except this smell was mold, and urine, and other foul waste.  Likely the last remnants of the other prisoner who now resided in Salamence’s belly.

            Hector wasn’t bound or chained, so he stood up and decided he would find the layout of his cell.  He suddenly wanted to remember everything that he could.  It would be his last glimpse of the world, and he wanted to take every memory with him; even one as dreadful as the feel of a prison’s stone walls and iron bars.

            He couldn’t even see the hand in front of his face, yet it still came as a surprise when he tripped over something.  The ground rushed up to smack his face as a punishment for the crime of curiosity in the dark.

            The fisherman’s son was about to rise when he heard he jingling of heavy iron chains, and the thing he stepped on moved.