Book 3 Chapter 34: I've Missed You Dantes
Dantes looked out over the no-man’s land that surrounded the Pit as he rode in a caged wagon protected by more than two dozen guards. It was a wild, overgrown area filled with all manner of vermin and strays. He wondered idly why he’d never considered focusing on building a garden within it. It seemed like a stupid waste. Was it because he had been avoiding thinking about the Pit? That seemed the likeliest answer, but it was foolish of him to waste all that prime green space. It was something he’d have to start amending.
The wagon reached the edge of the Maw and came to a lurching stop. It wasn’t the usual time to drop new prisoners and supplies into the Pit, but they’d made an exception for him. It made him feel so very special.
The guards moved warily to get him out of the cage, but Dantes simply took off his manacles and leg locks, and pushed it open himself. He’d idly picked all of the locks during the trip, it was a pleasant way to keep his hands busy.
The guards all jumped as he stepped out, and several raised crossbows to aim at him, but he held up his hands, and Pacha gestured for them to lower them, approaching Dantes with his sword and gesturing for him to start moving, which he did with no complaint.
“Do you feel bad for Gavain?” Dantes asked as they moved. Gavain and Pacha had separated after Dantes had been locked in the wagon. Taken by different guards to be held until he was given up to Frasheid.
Pacha shook his head. “That man lives with no regrets. Exists only for Justice. I don’t feel bad for him, I feel envious.”
Dantes shrugged. “I feel bad for him. Considering what Frasheid does to its slaves,I can’t imagine what they’re planning to do to Gavain.”
Pacha’s expression hardened and he kept pushing Dantes forward until they were near the edge of the Pit.
Security at the Maw had changed a lot since Dantes had escaped, or rather because of Dantes’s escape. There was a wooden fence surrounding the maw, ten feet from the lip of it where men with crossbows stood watch. The guard presence in general had doubled. Dantes guessed that most of them were happy for the job, the jail itself may be difficult to manage, but watching the Maw? That was easy work for a lazy guardsman.