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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/interactive-story/item_id/1562917-The-Prisoner/cid/702531-Rusty-Chains
Rated: 13+ · Interactive · Fantasy · #1562917
A young slave encounters another prisoner in the castle that isn't human!
This choice: a basilisk  •  Go Back...
Chapter #3

Rusty Chains

    by: Bruce Lee Gifford Jr.
"The creature we have captured is a basilisk," Lord William explained.

"A b-b-basilisk?" Felix questioned nervously and frightened.

"Basilisks are powerful creatures that can turn people to stone and they have powerful venom in their fangs. Think of everything I could accomplish with such a powerful beast once I control it," Lord William replied.

"How are you going to control it?" Felix questioned.

"The same way I keep all you slaves in line. Soon it will know that I'm its master and it will obey me or it will suffer a terrible pain each time it disobeys," Lord William informed the slave.

"Won't that just make it mad at you? Don't you think it will want to kill you if it ever got out and realized you were causing its pain?" Felix questioned.

Lord William looked down at the boy and said, "Is it you're job to question my actions?" Lord William asked.

"No, but..." Felix began to argue, but when he saw the Lord's hand raise, Felix shut up.

"You are to feed and clean up after the basilisk," Lord William ordered, "It will need feeding today, and once the chains are set up, you are to come down here with food and water and feed it."

Before Felix could say anything else, the Lord left the prison chambers.

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Felix came back down to the prison chambers. Felix was carrying a large bowl of water and one of the guards helped him with the deer. The guard helping him with the deer was Henry and he was one of the few guard fair and nice to the slaves. Felix was glad that Henry would be one of the guards guarding the basilisk.

As soon as they were down, Henry nodded to the other guard and the other guard began to fiddle with the locks. Henry saw Felix was shaking, but luckily none of the water was splashing out. "Felix, it will be alright. There is a chain wrapped around its neck. It will only be able to reach the light. As long as you don't pass out of the lite area, the snake won't be able to harm you," Henry tried to assure Felix.

"What about the eyes? It could turn me into stone," Felix argued.

"The eyes have been blindfolded. It can't turn you to stone," Henry informed Felix. The door was opened and Felix entered. Felix set the bowl on the ground and Henry handed the deer while saying, "If you need help, all you need to do is scream for it." With that, Henry closed the door and Felix turned around with the deer.

The cell room was large, but it was hard to tell because the torches on the other side weren't lite, this was probably because they didn't want to go near the torches that were in the basilisk's reach. There was a barred opening at the top of the cell at least a hundred feet up which shined a light from the outside that created a circle in the middle of the cell. Felix walked to the circle with the deer and set it on the ground.

Felix then left to get the water and when he turned to walk back to the circle, the basilisk's head was in the light. The head was far larger than Felix's body and it had the combined looks of a dragon and snake. The mouth was large and was probably full of razor sharp teeth, in actuality, it only had the two fangs. The snake head was on the ground and it was about the same height as Felix when it was on the ground. The basilisks eyes were blindfolded with a large red cloth.

Felix suddenly became very fearful of the basilisk and didn't move for the longest time. The basilisk kept darting its tongue out and it seemed to know exactly where Felix was. Felix didn't know it, but the basilisk were getting Felix's scent from the air when it darted its tongue out. Instead of that truth, Felix thought the basilisk wanted to eat and taste Felix.

"It has the deer right next to it. Why does it want me?" Felix wondered, "Maybe it enjoys human flesh more than deer." Felix shivered at the thought of dying slowly and painfully in the stomach of an over sized snake.

Felix began walking to the basilisk and he kept muttering to himself, "It's alright Felix, as long as you keep out of range, it can't eat you."

Felix held out the bowl in front of him and the snake's tongue hit the water first and the tongue began to lap up some of the water. Felix was a little relieved, because it seemed like it only wanted the water. Then as he started setting it down, the tongue darted out of the bowl and ran across his arm. Fear came over him and stood very still with his eyes closed. He thought the snake would wrap its tongue around him and bring him in, but the snake only licked him a few times and then went back to the water.

Felix set the bowl on the ground and the snake seemed to loose interest. The snake went to the deer and began licking the deer. During that time, Felix noticed the chains around the basilisk's neck were rusty. The chains could break off with the right amount of force. Felix thought about telling the guards, but all that was forgotten when the basilisk opened its mouth and sent two fangs into the deer before dragging into into the shadows. Felix freaked and ran to the door and pounded on it.

The guards opened the door and Felix ran out of it and the prison chambers. "Felix, what happened?" Henry asked worriedly, but Felix kept going.

"Stupid kid, scared of a baby basilisk whose chained up and blindfolded," the other guard commented.

"That basilisk may only be slightly older than a toddler, but it is bigger than any of us, Jensen," Henry commented, "I'd be scared if I was his age as well."

"Lucky for him he doesn't have to feed the thing every day," Jensen said.

"The basilisk like most other snakes digest their food slowly to only gain the energy when needed. They only need to feed about twice a week, but since this basilisk is just going to be lying around the whole time, it might only need to be fed once a week," Henry told Jensen, "However, that water needs to filled more often than that."

Felix never told them about the rusted chains and Felix forgot about it because of the basilisk eating the deer scared him. The basilisk had enough to strength to break the chains. It was only a matter of time when it would happen.
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