Chapter 8: The Shadow

"Wait here," he said, with which he pushed Alex towards the table. "Someone will be with you shortly."

With that, he turned and left the room, locking the door behind him once more, leaving Alex to his silence. This time, though, the quiet moments in passing were heavier.

The flame of the torch danced about, casting long and ominous shades of everything in the room.

The means of escape seemed to run through every variety in Alex's mind; there was none. The door was locked, the windows barred, and even were he to break free from this room, where would he go? He was at the very heart of the demon king's domain, set upon from every side by enemies.

He took a deep breath, willing the panic rising inside him to subside. It was a room too small, too dark, and seemingly falling in.

He needed to think-needed anything that might bring him out from underneath this nightmare.

But the more he tried to, his mind kept going back to the same bottom line-there was no way out.

A soft grating noise drew his gaze to the far corner of the room. Alex's heart jerked, and he strained hard to make out something in that poor light.

There was no further noise for a while, and he wondered if he could have imagined it. Then, in some kind of slow motion, a figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

It was small and hunched, draped in tattered clothes that hung about its thin frame.

The figure limped, dragging one leg after the other, as it stepped into the weak light of the torch. Alex's breath caught in his throat as he saw the figure's face-or what was left of it.

All this pale taut skin was pulled over his bones, and his eyes shone like two empty caves sunken far back in his skull. It had no nose, just two dark holes where it was, and its mouth was a twisted toothless grin.

A low rasping breath escaped the creature, and he shuffled closer, fixing Alex with a stare that ran a shiver down his spine.

"Wh-who are you?" Alex managed to stammer in a voice almost inaudible.

It didn't answer. It just kept on crawling, in super slow motion toward him. When only a couple of feet separated him from Alex, it came to an absolute standstill. It cocked its head to one side and regarded him.

For a long, dramatically suspenseful moment, neither of them moved. Alex could feel his heart thudding against his chest, his body sanguine from anticipation of an attack of some sort.

It did not attack him. In its voice, low and raspy, the sound of dry leaves crushing beneath his feet, it spoke.

"You're the new one," it said, its voice more curious than threatening. "The one they brought in from the surface."

Alex's eyes welled up with wonder-the creature spoke unmistakable words. "You… you know about me?"

A wheezing chuckle issued from the creature; it sent a shiver down his spine. "I know about everyone who comes here," it said. "I've been here a long time, long enough to know that no one escapes."

There was a finality in the voice of the creature that washed over Alex in a wave of despair. "What do you want?" his voice quavered.

The creature cocked his head the other way, his empty eyes glinting in the light of the torch. "Want?" he repeated as if savoring the word. "I want nothing. But I can offer you something."

Alex frowned. "Offer me something?

He nodded slower this time. "Information," he said. "I know things… things that could help you."

Scared, yet by then curious, Alex wanted him to speak further. He had, up until that moment, literally nothing to lose, and any information, no matter how minute it was, could mean his only difference between living and dying. "What type of information?" he asked a little cautiously.

With every step closer he came to Alex, his voice was just a little softer, until he whispered, "I know the layout of this castle. I know where the guards are, where the keys are kept… I know things that could help you escape."

Alex's heart leaped at the word escape. "You'd help me?" he asked, hardly daring to hope.

Another grating laugh escaped the beast. "Help you? No, not out of the goodness of my heart," he said. "But I'll bargain information for something I need."