Wild Magic

Chapter 26. Dungeon

Juvalgrim woke in darkness and pain.

There was an iron harness on his head that trapped his tongue and held his mouth immobile. He couldn’t speak; he could barely grunt.

His hands had been forced into iron gloves, his arms strapped to his body; he couldn’t move his fingers and the tiny shifts he could make with his arms were useless for anything but easing cramps. They know. They have to know. Reyna tried to warn me. K’lann! Why didn’t I listen? I thought I could ride this out till the Change. Wrong guess, Ju. Stupid, stupid, it the fire for me… fire!

Fire. It hit him suddenly and he panicked, struggling desperately against the unyielding iron and the broad leather straps that bound him immobile. He screamed. Tried to scream. All that came out were animal grunts. He rocked on the cot, banged against the wall, pulled at the gloves and surged against the straps, tearing open his arms and wrists, scraping skin and hair from his head; his sphincters let go and the stench of feces and urine filled the cell. He struggled on and on until he finally crashed off the cot and knocked himself out.