Chapter 7: A cold night

"Let's hear about how you ended up here."

Hin told me a tale of his previous master dying, and the masters' eldest son, who inherited Hin, had a lot of debt. The man had bought two gladiators as well as carried a large betting debt. The sale of Hin had helped the man, as the djinn was acquired by a general on behalf of the Roman Emperor.

The Emperor was displeased with Hin. For some reason, the Emperor expected Hin to be as powerful as me. But the type of djinn that Hin was didn't have the same level of raw power I did. As a result, the Emperor felt Hin was a waste of his money and had him thrown in here.

Hin was very surprised, as he never had someone express that they felt he was completely useless before.

"Hey," I told him, "it could be worse. I'm here and I will protect you."

Just then, the screech of rusting metal was heard, as the hinges of the dungeon door protested the doors' opening. Guards appeared with large bowls.

'Dinner time already?' I pondered absently.

Like every other day, the bowls were brought in, the guards left, locking the large door behind them, before the first group of men began growing and fighting with each other as they argued over food.

I rolled my eyes at the lot of them, and I heard a loud grumbling sound from close by. I looked at Hin.

"Are you hungry?" I asked.

His stomach let out another loud growl. "Yes." he said nodding.

I followed his gaze to the mob of hungry men. "I've seen the mush and scraps in those bowls." I informed him. "There is nothing in them that I would willingly eat if I were you."

Hin said nothing.

"Don't worry," I said reassuringly, "I'll see what I can do for you that is still low key."

I requested Hin to bring me some crumbled bits of mortar that had detached from the thick stone wall. I used my power to change the mortar, on a molecular level into two warm, fresh leaves of bread.

Of course, my actions were noticed. So, in the end I turned what was still left of the uneaten scraps into loaves of bread. That night all the men had enough to eat; it was a change that they seemed pleased with.

Everyone else satisfied, I decided to meditate and recharge the level of my demonic energy. It had depleted over the last few weeks. When I was finished, Hin and I had a lively discussion about sleeping arrangements. We both knew that having him sleep outside of my rectangle of space was out of the question. I was all for having him sleep close to me, but he didn't like that idea. I knew he would soon see that he was wrong, but I let him win the discussion.

At lights out, I lay down positioning myself near the edge of the rectangle line, making a physical barrier between Hin and the other men. 'If any of them touch him, they will die.' I thought.

As it turned out, I didn't sleep at all that night. One reason was that all I needed is about 4 hours of sleep for my physical body every 48 to 72 hours. The other reason was that I wanted to keep watch. I felt I needed to protect Hinhin.

Three hours had passed since lights out. The chill in the air was easily felt in the damp, dark dungeon. Though I felt perfectly comfortable, I could hear a few men across the room shivering in their sleep. Much nearer to me, Hin rolled over to face me. The damp and cold had him shivering violently. I could tell he was exhausted, and desperately needed sleep.

"C..Cyrus," he said through chattering teeth. "I'm..

I'm so cold..."

"Come here." I said to him gently. I pulled him farther from the cold stone wall and held him against me. Then I rolled us both, so I lay on my back, with Hin on top of me; his face against my collar bone. I knew he would be warmer if he was not in contact with the cold stone. To help his body warm faster, I allowed my already warm body to raise in temperature.

"mmm" Hin mumbled in a happy, yet very sleepy way.

'Glad to see you appreciate my body warmth' I thought, 'I don't know why you didn't listen to me in the first place.'

"Cyrus?" Hin murmured. He was clearly half asleep.

"Ssh," I hushed him, "if it is really important, then you can tell me about it in the morning." I whispered soothingly. He quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, as the sun rose in the sky, Hin still slept peacefully. I could smell his hair, so close to my nose, giving off a good scent. It was the sound of the other prisoners waking up and starting their day that awoke Hin. It took him a second to be awake enough to interpret his surroundings.

"Ahh!" he exclaimed, beginning to blush, as he pushed himself away from me and stood, not looking at me or anyone else. Hearty chuckles were heard from some of the men. Hins' blush deepened. I smiled at his foolishness.

The door to the room opened and some guards came in with 'breakfast'. They stopped when they saw some of the men holding and others eating some of the leftover bread from last evening. I had never bothered to check if there were any loaves left or make any rule about hiding the food from the guards.

A pair of guards grabbed one man.

"Where did you get that?" one of them demanded.

'Oh, here we go.' I thought.