Shadows and Nothing by Harp_of_Gold  

Something moves in the shadows. I notice it blearily but can't bring myself to pull away. Not that I could go far; the cage I am closed in has just enough room to sit hunched or lie down in a curl of misery. It comes for the girl three cages down and one tier below me. I watch it steal over the floor, tendrils reaching toward her, slipping between bent willow bars. Shadows and nothing; not something you could fight. For all that, it has teeth of a sort. It wraps around her ankle and begins to gnaw. She jerks; kicks, but cannot dislodge it. We all stare silently as her foot disappears. She moans in pain and fear, but the sounds are scarcely distinguishable. Everyone here suffers. Everyone's throat is hoarse with screaming.

It takes a long time for her to die.

I flinch when the Lieutenant walks past. He is too bright to look at in this dark place. His teeth are sharp and too many, and every time he smiles I remember the searing pain upon his table. I have been cut once. I came back with arms too long and tusks in my mouth. After the third time, no one comes back. Whether they are dead or worse we do not know. He seems displeased, and I feel a slight flicker of something that might be hope. Maybe he will make it stop. Better his knife than the shadows.

"That's the third one this week. Unacceptable."

He disappears again, and I eat the porridge we are fed. I know it's drugged; a slow, cold haze settles over me as I swallow. There is no point in refusing. That gets you a tube down your throat and the food in your belly anyway.He returns but a little later, this time with his Master beside him. I do not flinch though I fear him even more than the Lieutenant. I can scarce move, and I have decided it is relief, for the numb feeling is better than anything else in this place.

"I'm not sure how to stop it," the Lieutenant is saying. "It keeps taking them no matter what wards I cast. And when I encountered it myself... it latched onto me, my Lord. I felt myself beginning to dim. It's dangerous to anyone if it can do so much."

"Seal it off. The whole dungeon. At this point, we need to cut our losses." He looks down at the Lieutenant, rests a fond hand on his head, and I can't help but shiver. "Was it painful?" He likes the thought.

"Extremely, my Lord."

"We can't have that. No one else should be hurting what's mine. No, leave your tools."

The Lieutenant had moved to gather them, and he scowls at this but obeys."

Leave it all. We can't tell what may have been infested."

"I'll give the orders."

The wall goes up quickly, mortared brick and tight spellwork. We are left in the dark. I do not scream. What good will it do? I don't know how long I have before it comes.

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