re-animate this creature to feast on the rest of your precious blood.”
The sadistic tone in his warning was more than enough for me to dismiss any further thoughts and arguments on the matter.
He led me out of the dungeon and into the ‘hospitality’ portion of the cave. There were some cabinets and a pantry lining the wall of this small cavern. A small table with two chairs was placed in the center of the room. This was perhaps the most inviting of all the rooms I visited.
“Here is where you will eat,” Master Dagg explained with a simple hand gesture.
Despite all of the grisly scenes I had endured, I never lost my appetite. The thought of food immediately roused my hunger, as I could not remember the last time I had a good meal.
“Have you had any trouble finding food around here?” I inquired. “The drought took a heavy toll on the countryside. I'm curious to know if this area has been affected, as well.”
Master Dagg gave me a light shrug. “It is not too hard to find food,” he replied. “Sometimes, I find rare delicacies like eel around the swamps which lie just above this cave. I am not particular with my food and neither should you be.”
“Oh! Of course, not!” I shook my head quickly, though the sound of eating anything from the fetid swamps was not exactly appealing, either. “So, um … what are we eating today?”
“That depends on what you catch,” he said, then flashed me a fanged smile. “As for me, I feel like eating bream tonight.”
My jaw dropped. “Do I really have to
“You do, unless you wish to starve to death,” he said, nodding once. “Though, I
There was no time for me to protest any further on the matter, as he had already left for one of the tunnel exits that led to the outside world. As I proceeded to follow, I suddenly realized that the day was not yet over and I had already found Master Dagg hauntingly intriguing.
With hastened steps, I followed Master Dagg out of the cave and was graced with the darkness and cool, refreshing air of the outside world. It was a stark contrast to being down in the rank caverns below.
The cave itself sat in the midst of a large area of swampy lands which stretched beyond my line of sight. These wetlands carried their own unique beauty shrouded in the dark shadows that the Blood Moon provided. It appeared to always be cloudy here and raining most of the time without signs of relenting, which, I assumed was the reason for the area's constant, dreary state.
Master Dagg looked at me expectantly, as though waiting for me to initiate the hunt. Tonight, it seemed, I would learn how to become a predator.
I gazed across the wetlands, frowning at my limited choice in targets. My eyes caught sight of various movements of small fish in the murky water and I approached the banks slowly. The vibrations of my footsteps were easily felt by the tiny minnows that swam about and they immediately scattered. I exhaled in frustration and could hear Master Dagg's dark chuckling behind me.
“You do not even know how to catch your own food,” he said smugly. “You truly are a pitiful little child.”
“Then, show me how!” I snapped back, not realizing the thin line I tread from my sudden outburst.
His eyes flickered at me in amusement and he averted his attention back to the water. Perhaps, my eyes were not as attuned as his, because he began traversing the waters, following a seemingly invisible path laid by the fish that swam beneath the murky cloud. Master Dagg's eyes were focused, following the slightest of movements. He sniffed once, then stood perfectly still, watching the waters. As swift as a cat, he suddenly lashed out into the water, pulling out a handful of minnows. I cringed as he showed the abundant, tiny, silver fish to me while keeping them from wriggling free from his grasp. Afterwards, he began consuming their live bodies by the mouthful, practically swallowing them whole.
My eyes widened in disgust at the sight and I finally turned away and covered my mouth as I felt the urge to vomit. The loud sounds of his slurping and lips smacking unnerved me further, practically spoiling my appetite.
“That's disgusting!” I exclaimed.
Master Dagg licked the excess fish innards from his lips and wiped the rest from his mouth with the back of his sleeve before looking to me icily.
“Such a spoiled little child you are,” he replied. “But of course, you can choose not to eat at all and continue withering away to nothing. Alive or dead, I will find use for you.”
I wanted to protest, but my empty belly spoke otherwise. With a long sigh, I turned and resumed to try again. I stared down helplessly into the swamp water, unable to spot anything. Watching Master Dagg, however, he seemed to be catching fish effortlessly. Frowning, I decided to blindly reach down into the cloudy water, in hopes of grabbing at least one fish. After several, repeated attempts, I acquired my first catch. It was but a tiny fish spanning no longer than the width of my palm. I winced as the fish's wriggling tickled my hand and it nearly got away as a result, but I held on to it by its tailfin.
Master Dagg watched my pitiful attempts and laughed. “I doubt that will satiate your hunger, My Dear,” he jeered.
I writhed with humiliation inside. “May I cook this in the laboratory?” I asked.
His smirk faded and he arched a brow at my request. “My laboratory is not to be used for cooking food. You would do well to not have such …
I blinked in surprise.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance and resumed his hunt. “You humans and your ridiculous presumptions.”
“Are you saying I will not get sick?” I asked, my eyes remaining on him.
“I am saying nothing further on the matter,” he hissed.
I watched as he caught another handful of fresh fish and gobbled them down hungrily. Glancing down at the small fish in my hand, which now lay dead, I twisted my face in disgust. Closing my eyes, I slowly brought the fish to my lips, taking a small bite out of its scaly flesh which reeked of the swamps. My body shivered as I felt very close to vomiting, having the slick taste of the fish scales in my mouth. I wanted to chew; instead, I cowered and swallowed the small piece whole, hoping the fishy taste would quickly subside. Another shiver ran through my body as I felt the morsel ease down my throat and leave a small, undesirable aftertaste of the swamps in my mouth. My eyes burned and I felt lightheaded afterwards, looking down to the rest of the fish in my hand.
Master Dagg soon approached me and grabbed the fish in one swoop of his hand before eating it whole.
“The thing will spoil rotten by the time you finish eating it,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “Perhaps, later, when your hunger is more severe, you will not be so hesitant.”
I stared up at him, dumbfounded. “Are these disgusting fish really your staple food?”
“Fish are more abundant, but that is not all that can be found here,” he explained. “There are crabs, turtles, snails, mollusks, birds, animals … Pretty much any living creature that treads upon my territory is fair game.”
“Even humans?” I raised a brow.
He sneered. “I do not desire human flesh unlike others of my kind. Humans do make excellent test subjects, however.”
“‘Others of your kind?’” My eyes widened in horror. “You mean, there are
He simply laughed.
Chapter 7
The events following the remainder of the month left much to be desired. Master Dagg was especially critical of me during this time, trying to break me into his own bidding. I was resilient, having still been in a state of shock since witnessing my family's untimely death — and at one point, my own. I never knew how swift death could be in the face of fear. Master Dagg trained me into a normal routine from the time I arose from bed, to the time I shut my eyes for the night. I complied with his terms grudgingly, knowing that this was merely part of the debt I was repaying after he saved my life. However, in the back of my mind, I believed he had other motives.
I awoke to the reverberating sounds of metal clashing with bone in Master Dagg's laboratory. Hungry and still
