The Book of Terrus: The Ghosts of Goran

Chapter 7 - Candles in the Long Night

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The usual sounds of the prison at night echoed dimly through the dark, damp passages. Somewhere someone was banging against their cell bars and shouting; most likely a new arrival. A guard yelled back, and for a time there was silence. Then elsewhere another prisoner started singing in a broken, off-key drawl. It was one of the bawdiest tavern songs known to Utunma, and soon a few other voices joined in the chorus. This carried on for some time, until the singing rose in volume at a particularly saucy part. The guard's voice cut across the tune with a slamming door and a "Shut up already!"

Sitting with her knees folded to her chest on her cot, Vinie took no part in the nightly bedtime ritual of the prison. Provoking the guards was often fun, but tonight there were other things on her mind.

This time last night had been the first time Vinie had seen her father in over ten years. She recalled every detail of him that she could remember. The stoop to his shoulders, the white of his hair and beard, the deep wrinkles and worry lines, all of these were new aspects of Bakko in his daughter's eyes.

"Oh Dad...please hurry."

Her little cell felt more oppressive and stifling now than it ever had. The urge to claw her way out through the very stones and breathe the good clean night air outside made her bones tingle. Unable to sit still any longer, Vinie jumped up off her cot and began to pace. Her poor sandals were nearly done for, and pacing would not help their plight. Still, Vinie tracked ever tightening circles around the room. Every so often she would glance at her fractured map.

"Broken. The world is broken," Vinie observed to herself.

Her mind was buzzing like a hive of bees; never a healthy thing when shut up in tiny spaces. Some deep instinct told Vinie that it was alright now though; she need not hold back and plan for forever in this room anymore. Her father would come for her, she was sure of it.

"And if he doesn't? Then you'll really be in trouble now, won't you?"

"He'll come."

But what if Bakko did not come, or whatever he was planning did not work? The thought overwhelmed and terrified Vinie. With such hope swelling up inside of her, how would she ever survive if all that hope was for nothing? Lesser things had driven people mad.

"If I do go mad, I suppose it will make the rest of my life pass more quickly. I'll be perfectly happy; it will be the guards who will have to deal with me forevermore."

It was a dark thought, but it made Vinie smirk to herself all the same. Her singing was awful, and if she went mad it would make her joining in on the evening chorus far, far worse for everyone involved. That seemed like an appropriate revenge. If she had to stay trapped in here with them, then they would have to stay trapped in here with her too.

These pleasant thoughts kept Vinie amused for a few minutes more. Then little by little she began to sober back to reality. Once again, her map caught her eye and she slowed in her pacing. The line she had carved separating southern Goran from Amenthere stood out particularly in the dim light of her cell. Remembering her daydream of Zaneo, Vinie smiled and reached out to brush the deep groove with her fingertips.

"What a world it could have been, Zaneo."

"Vinie."

It was barely even a whisper, more like a breath of memory. It filled her mind and sent goosebumps racing up her arms and neck. There was no mistaking Zaneo's voice though, not even after ten long years parted.