Chapter 72 - In The Cell of Imprisonment, There is a Light

Lanaru sniffed and looked into the dark surroundings. Larudo was asleep on the concrete flooring, insisting that Lanaru should sleep in the straw. She wished Larudo to stop sacrificing her comforts for her, but Larudo wouldn't see otherwise. Now, all Lanaru could do, was wait. Wait to be healed, and wait to serve. She had been told that Larudo took care of the Twilit Assassins that would eventually come down and attack Link, or guard cities. Lanaru was scared of them. She was basically nurturing the things that could threaten Link's life. And she had a dept to pay up to him. She had to help him restore the earth to normal. Even if it meant her life on the line for him. But at this point, she was willing to throw away her existence. She was very willing. Food was scarce as well. Twilit Bulbins brought in scraps from their camps for them to feast from. Lanaru had once gotten so hungry; she had attacked one of the goblins, attempting to eat his flesh. She had to admit, they didn't taste too bad... After that, Bulbins rarely came to the cell, out of fear. Most of the time in her imprisonment, she was deemed a wolf. She was weak in her human stage, and without thumbs, she was pretty much useless as a human. As a wolf, she looked much more threatening and much stronger and scary. She liked the feeling of being dominant over the other weak prisoners. She wanted to show them that even though she was hurt, and starving, she could still be scary."You feed her!""No! You do it!""It's your turn!" Lanaru turned her ears to the usual bickering and arguing of the Bulbins. They did this every morning. They always argued over who would feed them, and who would get the tray out of the cage. Lanaru snarled, and bit back a nasty thing to shout at them. All of them were cowards. Big, fat, nosy cowards! Finally, she couldn't resist the urge to but in, "Hey! If you're so scared to feed me, why don't you give me a filling breakfast so I won't hunger for your flesh?!" She heard their faint gasps of horror, and snickered. At least she had scared them enough. That might actually convince them to bring better scraps."Get some more meat for her!""O-okay!" Lanaru heard the pattering of feet and the muffled growls of frustration from the nearest goblin. She stuck out her head from the prison bars and swung her enraged eyes at them. They shrunk in fear, backing away from the cage that held her back from tearing them apart. "Rats." She sniffed, baring her fangs, quivering her lip threateningly, showing her anger. They shied away with a whimper. Lanaru felt her pride grow. Torturing these guys was so fun. It was also fun to scare them out of their wits! Sort of like this... Walking back and forth in pacing fashion, making herself looking concentrated on something else, she waited a few moments before the Bulbins let down their guard. When this step happened, she lunged at the bars, barking like a rabid pit bull, saliva foaming down her teeth to the floor. Her paws scrabbled to get them, claws ready to tear them apart. The monsters squealed in terror, running away blindly. One crashed into a cell, while the others ran aimlessly around, fearing her escape. Lanaru continued her rage until she was amused enough to stop and snicker. Pushing herself off the bars, she went to the tough that held water for her to drink. She stared at the murky, green water, feeling sick. Instinct won, though. She lapped up as much as she could handle, and returned to her pacing. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to be a hostage. But then again, who would?! Lanaru glanced at the other prisoners, now awake from the sudden comotion. They stared at her with fear and awe, and she couldn't help but raise her chin at everything. Just to show that she wasn't regretful of what she did, and would gladly do it again. Swinging her head to get a better veiw of who she was sharing this damp place with, she caught sight of a small boy, gray eyes as round as tennis balls with shaggy brown hair, the ends of his bangs black. Lanaru folded back her ears, ashamed that she scared him. Instead, she lowered her head so that she estimated she would be at eye level with him if right in front of him. She trotted quietly to the bars that seperated their cells, and pressed her nose to the cold metal, resisting the need to recoil against its icy surface. IN addition to her pathatic appearance, she also lowered her tail between her legs, in total submission. The boy kept staring at ther, blinking slowly at ther actions. Lanaru whimpered, trying to get him to come closer to her. Takling would only scare him more than he was. Her green eyes locked with his, and just as you would react when you saw a dog at the pound, The kid hesitantly crawled nearer, giving in to the eyes of sorrow. When he passed his left over bread, he picked it up, as an offering to her. Lanaru eyed the food greedily, feeling her wolf instincts overacting. But holding back the growling in her stomach, she focused on the boy...When he was only a foot away from her snout, Lanaru let out another whine, wagging her tail in a friendly manner. The kid still looked hesitant to trust her, and she could understand why. After all, she had looked very angry a few moments ago. What made this moment any different?Finally, he moved. He reached out with the bread in his fingers, waving it near her nose. Lanrau felt her stomach bite with hunger; and she was ready to tear the food from him, hand and all. But she had to control herself. If not, she wouldn't be able to find out what he was doing here. "Are you hungry?" he murmured softly, his voice lightly shaken. Lanaru reached her paw through the bars, until it rested on his lap. She stared him in the eye, letting him know that she wouldn't hurt him. The boy froze, but still held his offering out. Lanaru studied the loaf, and gently took half of it in her teeth, snapping it in half. The rest fell to the boy's feet. "For me?" He blinked, obviously stumped with her actions. Lanaru pushed the other half to him with her nose. The child cupped the food in his hand, staring at it. "We'll share..." He finally whispered, taking a large bite. Watching him eat made her sad. This kid was just wolfing it down! (No pun intended...) When he had fnished, he reached his hand out to stroke her head. She let him, and he moved behind her ears, watching her eyes close in content. "My moma always told me stories about big, bad wolves eating children... But you're a nice wolfie..." Lanaru felt her insides tingle. People did view wolves in a bad perspective, didn't they? She pressed her head to the bars, sighing. She wanted to know more about him. Just to be his friend. He needed someone to talk to. Somebody to explain why he was here... "Hi." She said softly. So softly, she knew he would barely hear her.He stopped petting her, and retracted his hand. "What?" "Please don't be scared..." She whispered again, "Don't run away..." "Are you...?" she heard the clattering of his teeth, as he hesitantly shied away. "Please don't run from me... I want to be your friend..." She said comfortingly, "I want to help you..." She looked up at him, feeling a twang of sadness when seeing his scared face, "Don't be afraid..." "Who are you?" He asked. "I'm Lanaru... I'm not really what you see..." She barked quietly, "I'm really just like you." The boy narrowed his eyes with interest, coming closer, "I'm Jeno..." He said, sitting in front of her, "Do you know why we're here?" "I know why I'm here." She replied, laying down, with her forelegs coming out in front of her, "But I can't see why you're here." Jeno stared at his hands, sniffing, "My family and village was attacked. I was taken from my grandma, and watched these monsters burn down everything. I fainted, and now I'm here." Lanaru clicked her teeth together, "That's sad... I'm just a pawn for the man here. When he gets his magic back, I'll be at his service again," When she saw his panic stricken face, she added, " against my will of course." She sighed, "I just want my old self back. I can't be human anymore." "Oh..." He said. After a moment of silence, he began to sob, "We'll never get out of here!" "No! No, don't say that!" Lanaru snapped, baring her teeth, "Do not say that in front of me! We will get out of here, okay? You will see your family again, you hear?" Jeno wiped his tears on his raged sleeve, his back heaving. Lanaru folded her ears back, leaning closer to him, "There's someone out there that's going to save us all. A hero's going to rise from the darkness, and get us all out of here. He is our light, our hope. He will stop at nothing to save us all. I know that to be true. If I've learned anything in my life, it's not to lose faith. Do not ever, EVER give up. Do not give up." She said reverently, as if reading a passage of the Bible, "We're going to get out of here.""You won't get out, Lanaru," A hissing voice spat. The two turned to outside their cells to see Zant himself, watching them. Although he had his helmet on, Lanaru could tell he wasn't happy. "And just to degrade your heart, I have some news for you." Lanaru perked up her ears, snarling at him, "My Lord has a present for you. He's going to use his magic to make you a killing machine."Lanaru felt her stomach flip. "No..." She murmured, floding her ears back down, tail going down, "No!""Yes." Zant confirmed, "You will see him when he arrives.""Zant snap out of it! We used to be friends, what's wrong with you!?" She screeched, leaping on her paws, lunging at the bars until she was squeezing her head past them to be face-to-face with him, "Why are you doing this?! Why to me? Me of all people!""Because..." Zant hissed. Lanaru caught a small wave of regret, "You have something that is of value. You have a power that is useful to me. You are a Halfie. Or, more formaly known as a Seppan. That is why." Zant turned away, his long sleeves swishing behind him, ignoring Lanaru's whines of protest. "Stop... Don't do this to yourself... Please...""It is not of my choice." He grunted, leaving the area. Lanaru shrunk down to the ground, rolling over on her side. Jeno made his way over to her, petting her sides, "It's alright..." He said, coaxing e softly, "It's okay..."

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