CHAPTER 6: acquiring the keys.

Without any means to keep track of the time, Theo had no idea how long he had been here. but he expected that another day had passed since the blond-haired man came again. The keys on his belt rattled with every step he took.

This time he had brought a girl who looked roughly four years younger. Her eyes were bright blue, and her hair was a slightly darker tint blond than that of the man. She was wearing good quality clothing that was decorated with some white pelt.

The man handed the piece of meat to her and nodded in my direction.

"Go on. He has yet to bite me so I doubt that he would hurt you."

The girl carefully came closer and tossed the piece of meat in Theo's direction.

The meat made a dull slapping sound as it hit the floor. But Theo did not even look at it. He was desperately hoping for the girl to come closer so he could use her to escape.

But she stayed on guard, as to be expected when someone encounters a strange blue creature. She took a few steps back and waited for Theo to grab the meat.

The man placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I guess he likes you. But please don't just throw the food. We don't know what he had been through, and this could have been a trigger to a trauma."

The girl shrugged. "How can it be scared of a piece of flying meat? If it is a carnivore then it should also be able to hunt. It would be pretty miserable if it was scared of something like that."

The man sighed and grabbed the empty bowl from the floor. "That is not what I meant. As I said we don't know what he has been trough and maybe people have thrown rocks or other projectiles at him. If we don't want him to become needlessly aggressive then we need to be verry careful with him."

The girl ungallantly leaned against one of the bars. "I just think that it is a scaredy-cat. It barely even moved since we got in here."

Theo resisted the urge to roll his eyes as that would imply that he could understand what they were saying. How could that girl call him a scaredy-cat when she did not even dare to come close enough to hand the food to him like a normal person.

"Really I don't know why you bother trying to tame this creature," the girl continued. "I mean shouldn't you, you know, study if you want to become the family head."

The man smirked and looked at the girl. "Well unlike you, I actually pay attention to the lessons. So, I have time to spare."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"I have read those knight story's at least a hundred times over. And if I manage to get him accustomed to people, he will live a better life."

The girl frowned in response to his statement. "Do you think that mother would care?"

The man sighed and placed the can of water on the ground. "No, but I can try."

He stood back up and started to walk out of the cell. Still with his back facing towards Theo he spoke. "Come, we should leave him alone for now."

The girl sighed and walked next to the man. He playfully pocked her side. "Maybe you should come more often. He was a lot calmer than usual."

While the people walked away Theo slowly repositioned himself. His wings were starting to hurt because he had not moved them for a few days, and the leather pressing them down on his back also did not help.

He sighed, if his horns had faced forwards like that of a bull, he might had been able to cut the leather in one go. Now the best he could do was slowly rip it apart with his claws and hope that the man would not notice the damages.

He picked up the meat that had been lying on the floor. It had landed in a rather dirty spot. There was dirt and dust all over it, clinging to it like a shadow. He thought that it was disgusting, and he did not want to eat it anymore.

But he was not certain if he would still get fed on a regular basis, so he tried to drip some of the water on it to wash most of the dirt off.

After he cleaned the meat as much as he could, he closed his eyes and took a bite. There was still some dirt there and he could feel it getting stuck between his teeth. After chewing for some time, he swallowed it.

He shivered as he had eaten the entire piece of meat. Then he begun to scratch the leather bindings. The best possible outcome would be if he could immediately free his wings as soon as he got out.

After a few hours of clawing on the leather he heard shouts from above. His ears twitched as he tried to make out what they were saying. But it just wasn't words. It was mostly just screaming. Knowing that he could do nothing about it, he just continued to destroy the leather.

He immediately stopped when the man and the girl ran into the hallway. Curiously he glared at the two humans who halted in front of his cell and were trying to catch their breath.

Both of them turned to the door when a loud banging echoed through the cells. They seemed as scared as one could be without passing out.

Yet the man managed to collect himself and opened the cell to grab the can that he had left there. He slammed the object against the wall and piked the largest shard up.

While he was doing that another bang rang through the cells. Out of pure instinct the girl took a few steps backwards to be further away from the door.

Seeing that this was his chance he grabbed the girl from behind. She screamed as his claws sunk into her shoulders.

As if struck by lightning the man turned around. He unconsciously let go of the shard of glass and desperately tried to separate the two. While the man was focused on saving the girl Theo swiftly grabbed the keys that hung on his belt. Now that he had those, he let go of the girl.

The man and the girl quickly headed to the other end of the cell. So, he could look at her wounds.

"Are you alright? Did he bite you?"

She strokes her hand along her painful shoulder and looked at the blood.

"No, I am fine. It just scratched me."

While the man was checking up on the girl, Theo quietly undid his chains with the newly acquired keys.