Arena: Escape Point (Book 2) by Daniel Young

Author:Daniel Young [Young, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-01-12T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

The Lilri escorted Richmond and Dalif to another part of the palace’s underground maze of cells. The party hiked a long way before they finally returned to the cell Richmond assumed must be Dalif’s.

The Lilri opened the door. Richmond helped Dalif inside and lowered the big alien onto the bed.

This cell resembled Richmond’s in every detail, even down to the size of the bed. He doubted if this bed was big enough for a Drichi or especially a Yenus, but the beds weren’t designed for anyone to sleep in them for more than one or two nights.

Dalif groaned and roared again and again through the whole process, until he finally fell back on the mattress.

Richmond straightened up and stretched the kinks out of his spine. “You should be all right here until⁠—”

An echoing slam startled both men into spinning around. They both stared as the cell door boomed shut and the lock clicked.

Richmond blinked at the door, trying to understand what the hell just happened. The Lilri had locked him in down here with…

His gaze darted over to Dalif just as Dalif looked up at him. Their gazes met—and then the stone scraped above the table behind Richmond’s back.

He turned around in a daze and went through another flurry of confusion when two identical trays slid out onto the table.

The stone slotted back into place and silence descended over the cell. No sound came from outside, except for the ring of Lilri footsteps getting farther away and disappearing up the stairs.

Richmond knew all those sounds. They marked the inevitable turn of one day following another in this giant prison. Everything followed exactly the same pattern—except that he was in the same cell with Dalif right now.

Richmond turned around. Dalif stared up at him in silent astonishment, too. The two men locked eyes, and Richmond finally understood.

The Lilri had confined both men in one cell. They really must plan to leave Richmond down here overnight—probably to take care of Dalif and help him get back upstairs again tomorrow night. This was the last thing in the world Richmond had expected, but it was nice to get a pleasant surprise for once instead of the nasty kind.

He took both food trays off the table and carried them over to the bed. Dalif came back to life at the same time, gasped in pain, and went through a long, agonizing process of arranging himself in as comfortable a position as he was likely to find.

Richmond put one of the trays on the bed next to Dalif and the other on the floor. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for the rest of your injuries.”

“You’re doing enough,” Dalif growled. “If I can use Zuna’s ship tomorrow, I won’t ask anything else.”

Richmond picked up his water carafe, unscrewed the lid, and took a gulp. He could ration his food and water just as well here as he did in his own cell.

“Did you hear what Zuna said about the shot that hit you coming from one of the screens?” Richmond asked.

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