It was a cage reserved for an animal. A musty smell permeated beneath the palace, as the walls were covered in moss and rotting wood. Mushrooms grew on the floor, a disgusting ecosystem. Rats scurried off as I approached the steel door, the only side of the cell that had even a semblance of a window. Barely, I could see the man inside—lying down on the floor because the guards wouldn’t give him a bed. He was turned to his side, not facing me. It was a cage for a despicable animal—a beast, coughing and heaving as he lay alone and depressed in these sad, pitiful conditions.
His walls had tally marks etched lazily in clumps of five. It looks like he stopped counting after the twelfth week. The cracked floor almost looked like it had drawings as well, though when I squinted through the slit, they were just puddles of water barely reflecting the outside torchlight.
“You only get a few minutes,” said the guard at the front office, “and don’t feed him anything,” the man winked, “we’re trynna see how thin he gets.”
How cruel. He lived in these decrepit conditions, and he couldn’t even get enough food to eat? I pouted at the sight of a cockroach zig-zagging across the floor to hide in a small hole in the wall. Does he deserve it?—was what went through my mind. He was at the top of the world at one point. Giving decrees like some king, as tyrannical as one could be with paranoia and the fear of being dethroned. Nonetheless, he managed an empire. And just with that fact alone, I have to ask: was he really that bad? That bad to warrant this?
I opened the door, scanning the room as the iron hinges creaked open. Outside torchlight showered inside, little rays fluctuating on the walls of the cave-like room. It was like waking up a beast—a dragon inside a mountain. There he rested, curled up in a ball, and hadn’t been disturbed for decades. Just waiting for someone—some brave knight to draw their sword for an epic battle. Shadows danced on the walls, creeping into every corner of the room as if it was trying to find the dragon’s gold stash it’d kept under the beast.
Ah, perhaps I shouldn’t call him a beast. It’s like pointing out the obvious. Only a beast would live in a place like this. The tragic part is that this man lives here against his will. Does he deserve this punishment? Was it really warranted?
“What say I get you out of here?” I said, standing at the foot of the door. The once-large man was now skinny, the meat on his bones thinned as his triple chin was now barely a single one. “Oh, Valdrec, what trouble did you get into while I was away?” I asked, peeking at his interest as his body rolled over. He looked me in the eye, wondering who I was, how I got permission to visit him, and probably guessing which guard I bribed. “C’mon,” I reached into my pocket, unwrapping a little treat for him, “I got a job for you.”
It landed on the floor, rolling not very long. He lunged for it, the stick wobbling in his fingers.
So the rumor was true, Valdrec does like cigars.