My eyes have rolled into the back of my head. I only see darkness in this everlasting moment. Then suddenly there's shouting.

Footsteps.

A grunt.

Light.

I gasp for breath as I blink away stars.

"E's done a number on you, 'asn' 'e?" I hear Billy's voice as I'm turned over onto my back.

"Breath boy, you're alright now."

"I can't believe I'm alive," I choked out, exhausted on the floor. I looked to the side and saw Pete's unmoving body. Blood poured from his head, his eyes glassy. Billy had killed him. I looked towards him as I realised what he'd done for me, only to see his foot coming down on Amir's head. A terrible sound followed and I knew he was dead. Before I could recover from the shock, he went over to Roach and did the same to him/

"Wha–?" I stammer, scrambling back as Billy makes his way over to me.

He grips me by the collar, effortlessly lifting me into a sitting position.

"Calm down." His voice is firm, leaving no room for argument. "I know this is a lot but this is what happens when you don' hide yourself well enough. Do you hear me? I 'ad my suspicions before. I wasn' sure mind you but this confirms it."

I rubbed my neck as I wondered what he was talking about.

"You might think you're invincible with whatever power you 'ave but trust me… you're not."

Denying it is the first thing that comes to mind. He can't know that. There's no way. The look he's giving me says otherwise though and any excuses I have die on my tongue.

"As far as anyone else is concerned, we did this together. Do you understand?"

I gape at him, my mind struggling to catch up. Before I can respond, he gives me a sharp shake.

"It's obvious that you have powers, Brandon. You're survivin' fights you shouldn' be against grown men." He lets out a frustrated sigh looking at the bodies around us. "Not just grown men. Killers. You 'ear me? You're makin' it too obvious. You're a poor kid with some fightin' experience but this?" He gestures around. "This is too much, too soon. You need to cover your tracks better."

A moment goes by without my response and he slaps me.

"Do you 'ear me? If someone else had come instead of me, you'd have been fucked."

I jerkilly nod. Words wouldn't form so I couldn't speak but he was right. I was being careless. Hubris was taking over. I attacked thinking… well I wasn't really thinking. Without Billy coming to save me, I'd be dead. If he hadn't? There's no doubt people would have figured out I had some sort of power.

"We won' have much longer," he said, throwing a look towards the door. "The story is that they were attackin' you, I 'eard it from outside, came in and lost my temper defednin' you."

I looked at him with blank eyes, not sure why he was doing this.

"Answer me, Brandon."

"Y-yeah. They attacked me. You came in and saved me."

He gave me a satisfied nod just as we heard a whistle from outside.

"Stick to the story," Billy told me before he smashed his head into a wall.

The clang of armored footsteps echoed through the corridor, announcing the arrival of the guards – with Maggot at the helm.

He cast a look around the showers, ordering his minions to check the bodies on the ground. His face lit up as soon as he confirmed they were dead.

"You've done it now, Maggot," the sadistic prick said, bending down so he was right in Billy's face. "For years you've been on the edge, and now finally. Finally! You've gone over it. Oh, I'm gonna enjoy doling out the warden's punishment, Maggot. Take them."

He motioned to the guards who dragged us away.

The warden's office was far more luxurious than I had expected. Plush rugs covered the floor, so opulent they felt almost too expensive to walk on. Everywhere I looked, extravagance surrounded me. Polished furniture, gilded trinkets, and delicate sculptures. Each one seemed more expensive than the last.

Mana lamps lined the walls at equal intervals, their steady glow a decadence I had only seen once before – on the train journey that got me sent here. Paintings adorned the walls, their gilded frames glinting in the soft light. Sculptures stood proudly in corners, but one, impossibly, hovered in midair.

A massive white desk was the focal point of the room – luxurious, pristine and seemingly carved from a single slab of marble. Its polished surface gleamed under the soft glow of mana lamps, utterly unblemished except for the perfectly arranged stacks of papers and books atop it.

Behind the desk, the warden sat in a high-backed chair, his quill—its feathers shimmering in a cascade of colors—gliding across the parchment with methodical precision. He didn't so much as glance up at our arrival.

Notably, there were no seats. No invitation to sit. He made us stand, waiting in silence while he finished whatever task was more important than acknowledging our presence.

Finally, after what must have been nearly half an hour, he let out a long, weary sigh. The kind that suggested he bore the weight of the world on his shoulders, as if we were nothing more than another inconvenience in his endlessly burdensome life.

"William, I thought we had come to an understanding."

Billy didn't respond. He stood motionless, unreadable, his expression carved from stone. If I hadn't heard the warden, I would have assumed nothing had been said at all.

"And you, Mr Horlock." He said, fixing his eyes on me. "I thought I had made myself clear when we first met, that it would not be good if we were to meet again."

I wanted to be stoic like Billy and stand my ground in silence. But I couldn't stop myself from squirming under the warden's gaze. He looked at me like he was a predator sizing up his next meal. It made my skin crawl.

"So," he said, putting his elaborate quill down. "Who's going to tell me why you have interrupted my work?"

Maggot practically leaped forward in his excitement.

"These maggots have murdered their fellow prisoners, sir. I caught them red handed." Pride oozed from his weasley face, like he was the cat who got the cream.

My eyes returned to the warden and for the briefest of movements, I saw a look of utter contempt before he smothered it up. The corners of my mouth tugged up in response… which was a mistake.

"Something amusing about murdering your fellow inmates, Mr Horlock?"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"No sir," I answered as respectfully as I could.

"So you admit it?"

I looked at Billy for guidance but he remained like a statue.

"It wasn't murder, Warden. They attacked me and then Billy came to my rescue."

Maggot kicked me in the back of the legs and I slammed down hard on one knee. I threw him a baleful glare only to get a smirk in response.

"A likely excuse," the warden replied dismissively. "Do you know how many prisoners tell me a similar tale? If I was to believe you all, then I would have a prison full of innocents!"

The guards behind us all laughed as if it was the funniest joke they'd ever heard, giving the warden a self satisfied smirk. He briefly looked over his sycophants before returning his smug eyes to me. "Why don't you tell me exactly what went on, and I will decide if you are innocent?"

"It was the end of the day and Roach approached me with Pete to say that their 'boss' wanted to talk with me. I didn't know it was at the time but they led me into the showers where Amir was waiting." I knew lies worked better when they were surrounded by truths so I tried to keep the story as honest as possible. The part I had been worried about on the walk over was how it would line up with Billy's but him being in the room would make that easier to handle.

"Amir was angry and frustrated because a… business idea… of his had… gone wrong…" I spaced out my words to sound nervous. I didn't want to outright announce about Amir being responsible for No Shoes' death. I felt like it would be too obvious of a gambit.

"What 'business' idea would that be?"

"He… umm… he had been…"

Maggot kicked me in the rib. "Answer the warden, maggot. Tell him everything."

I looked up at the warden, trying to look as fearful as possible before looking away. I wanted to appear reluctant, and scared but cowed by his presence. I wanted to appeal to his ego. He was in charge, he was powerful, and that was overcoming my prisoner behaviour.

"Amir had been…" I took a deep breath like I was coming to a big decision. "He'd been working on a new drug. He wanted to erm… he wanted a new foothold in the market and so he'd made a new drug and sent out a trial." The warden's face was absolute thunder. He was infuriated and I knew I had him. I let my story flow out like the floodgates had been opened, looking to the side with narrowed eyes as if I was recalling and explaining everything as I remembered.

"He'd given the first one to someone called 'No Shoes' and he'd died from it. I'm not sure how or why but everyone's been talking about it all day. There's been loads of theories about what actually happened but nobody knew for sure. I could tell Amir was worried about it but he didn't seem to care about No Shoes, he was just annoyed about the loss of resources."

"And what does this have to do with you?"

"Well, he'd tried to recruit me into his gang a while ago but I said no. I just want to serve my time." I gave the warden my best puppy eyes. An obvious manipulation but one that would be expected by someone like me so it served as a cover. The warden snorted dismissively as expected but didn't comment so I continued. "He said he'd given me enough time to come to a decision and that now he would be forced to be more aggressive. He said Roach and Pete had seen me in the workshop and he knew I could make him some weapons. I tried to refuse. I told him I wasn't even good at anything really but he wouldn't listen."

I tried to force myself to cry at this point but I couldn't get the tears to form. I settled for lowering my head instead. I wanted to seem overwhelmed by the events that followed. To be honest with you; I was.

I'd seen people die before but never that dispassionately. The brutal efficiency of Billy finishing them off coupled with his stone cold face was something I wasn't sure I'd ever forget. In a way I was glad the guards had come. Not to save me or anything but because it got me into a situation I was more familiar with. One I had more control over. Lying to authority figures was another day for me. It was like breathing. Being able to throw myself into this was a reprieve from the turbulence of my mind. I probably could have forced tears if I thought more about what had happened, I just wasn't sure if I could stop the dam once it was broken.

"Amir said I didn't have a choice. He needed someway to get back the lost resources… and I would be that way. I don't know how long we went back and forth before they attacked me, I just know that I was lucky Billy came to my rescue."

I figured the warden was buying it because he still looked infuriated beyond reason. He'd been tapping against his desk in a progressively faster rhythm as my story went on, and now I'd passed it onto Billy, he had clenched his fist hard.

"William the rescuer." The warden said with disdain. "Tell me William, why did this end in their deaths? A man of your prowess could have surely finished things without fatalities."

There was venom in his voice that made it clear he hated Billy. I wasn't sure why that would be the case, or why he hadn't killed him already but I filed it in the back of my mind to ask later. Assuming we got out of this.

"Amir and Roach were solid fighters as you know already." A flare of the warden eyes told me he was aware and didn't like Billy bringing it up. "Not easy pushovers at all. If it was just those two, I probably could have stopped them without killin' them but Pete was a giant who could fight. 'E made it so I 'ad to kill them all just so me and the kid could survive."

"Yes and now there are no witnesses to refute this tale. How neat."

His finger began drumming on his desk again as he thought.

"Lashes for you both. Five each. This will be your reminder to extradite yourselves from any future violence."

Billy thanked him and I quickly did the same, as Maggot began ushering us out of the room.

"Oh, and Mr Horlock." The warden called, a twisted smile on his face. "If I find out you are lying about what happened; the punishment will be death."

I nodded my understanding and left with Maggot snickering behind my back. There would hopefully be evidence supporting my story for them to find. There should be enough witnesses out there to confirm that Amir was the person who supplied No Shoes with the drug, even without any equipment to support it.

My goal was to put enough doubt in the warden's mind that he would suspect a wider organisation working with Amir behind the scenes. Everywhere suffered from internal politics after all and there would no doubt be some background machinations from the warden's enemies. Now all I would have to worry about was unintended consequences…

Instead of leading us back to our cells, Maggot led us into the courtyard with some of the guards. Even though it was open to prisoners for yard time, it was my first time seeing it. I didn't really come around here because it was out of the way of both my cell and the workshop. Right in the middle of the courtyard was a marked wooden pole with blood staining it, and the floor below. The realisation dawned that maggot was looking to instantly enact our punishments and I began psyching myself up for the damage.

I had taken over twenty five lashes the last time so I figured I could take this easily enough. The only downside was going to be my recovery because I would have to ensure it wasn't too quick or obviously magically influenced.

Thinking about magic made me realise I had some mana back. This was one of the quickest returns I'd ever had, and it had happened after I had pushed myself further than ever, without getting any rest afterwards.

I had been practising almost every night before bed, breaking several bones and recovering them before going to sleep and recovering. That was a consistent pattern in behaviour with the only deviation being how many bones I broke, and how quickly they healed. What had happened today was a marked jump up and I wanted to discover why. There would be time for investigation after though. For now, I would need to concentrate on refraining from using any mana at all.

Billy was first up. He stripped out of his top and positioned himself so his face was against it and his arms stretched out around the other side. One of the guards then shackled him in place so there wouldn't be a chance of him moving.

I noticed the scars crisscrossing Billy's back, some thin and precise, the unmistakable remnants of lashes, others jagged and cruel, carved by all manner of punishments. One patch of skin looked like someone had cut away a piece of him, leaving behind a twisted, uneven wound.

A chill ran through me. Just what had Billy been through?

Maggot stepped forward, brandishing a whip that looked as vicious as the man holding it. Without hesitation, without ceremony, he raised his arm and brought it down with a sharp crack.

"One."

Billy didn't flinch.

"Two."

Again he was motionless. He might as well have been a rock for all he moved. There was no change in Maggot's facial expression which led me to believe this was expected. Maggot was the type to take Billy's lack of response as a challenge, so his not escalating led me to conclude they had been down this route before. And Billy had won.

Once the five count was done, he was unshackled and led to the infirmary. The only signs of discomfort on his face was a bead of sweat. He gave me a comforting nod before he was out of sight.

"You're up, maggot."

I stripped off my top and positioned myself as Billy had done. It was disturbing standing in his blood but I steeled myself against any revulsion. I planned to be like a rock. To be like Billy and not give them anything.

I spaced out my legs and braced my hands on the chains as the whip came down.

"One."

I gritted my teeth but otherwise stayed strong.

"Two."

The next lash came down harder but again, I held on.

"Trying to copy your friend, are you, maggot?" Maggot shouted at me. I could hear the sneer on his face but I didn't respond.

The next two lashes came in quick succession, almost causing me to break. If he'd had followed up with the fifth, I might have done so. I grounded myself with a breath and focussed as the fifth one came down. The pain was a lot but I'd gotten through it without any–

Suddenly a sixth lash came down, followed by my shout.

"What was that?!" I demanded.

"Whoops," Maggot snickered. "Sorry about that, maggot. My hand slipped."

I seethed knowing I'd let him win. I'd let my guard down and he got the reaction he wanted. It was a lesson. I needed to always be ready. Always be aware.

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