Felix tried to open his mouth in response, but he was still frozen as Lord William entered and approached the beast, flanked by a pair of guards. Lord William was practically swaggering with pride. "Well, slave," he repeated harshly, "what do you think of it? Tell me."
"L-Lord William," Felix whimpered finally, feeling the close proximity of the great, bird-like creature. "Please...please don't let it eat me."
The lord laughed, and Felix felt another shudder at the mirthless, corrupted sound. "I ensure that you shall be perfectly safe," he said. "At least, just as long as you obey me." Felix watched as Lord William beckoned to him. "Come, slave, come."
Felix stared at his master, anxiously shifting his gaze between the noble fowl and the foul noble. Deciding the worse of the two beign the foul noble, he stood and scurried towards Lord William. "Be quicker about it next time," Lord William growled, and one of his signet rings cut into the boy's cheek when Felix received another warning slap. The boy winced from the pain, gasping and clutching his face as Lord William gestured for a few stronger slaves to bring in a great chest, large but plain and wooden. He could smell some sort of spice in the air as it was dropped next to him. "Slave." Felix, no matter how badly his instincts were telling him not to, stepped closer to the cruel man.
"Slave," Lord William began again, and Felix ventured to look up into the nobleman's face. He recognized the glittering malice of pure evil in his master's dark eyes. The boy had seen that look before, but only just after Lord William was done torturing his prisoners. "Slave, I should like you to care for my phoenix. You shall be now a sort of stable boy to my creature. All you need is in this chest, but the breaking..." Lord William's eyes shone with even greater delight in Felix's fear. "The breaking of the beast shall be done by me." Lord William stepped back and out of the cell, his guards falling back with him. "There isn't much else you need to know, slave."
Felix tried to follow Lord William, but his master motioned for him to remain where he was. "Where do you wish me to stay in the meantime, my lord?"
Lord William shook his head, and Felix felt a cool layer of ice coat his insides. His master was grinning sadistically. "Why, if you are to care for my creature, here is where you must stay." The smaller door shut tightly, and Felix let loose a sob as the clasp of the latch metallically clicked what was sure to be the slave's last sound before he was devoured by the winged beast behind him.
It was not much longer before Felix could feel that hot breath on his skin again. "I really am going to die," he thought as the sharp tip of the cool, smooth beak rested gently on the top of his head. The tears spilled forth eagerly like from the spout of a fountain. He was scared. What was it like to die? No one knew, because no one who had ever died lived to tell what happened.
Felix felt wetness slide down the beak as it tenderly nuzzled his stinging, cut cheek. To the child's surprise, the dull throb was gone in an instant. He stared up intot he coal-black, shining eyes set amid the dazzling sparkle of gold plumage. The phoenix was crying, too.
Its tears dried quickly, as did Felix's, and the slave boy slowly stepped closer to the great mythical being. The phoenix seemed to mean him no harm, as the head at the end of the swan-like, slender neck pressed close to the slave's body. Felix was at least mildly intimidated that the creature's head was slightly larger than the whole of his being. Nonetheless, he ran his hands through the soft, downy feathers, like the bird had run its beak through his hair earlier. The phoenix allowed the slave boy to curl close to its hot, feathery body.
Felix remained close to the being for almost an eternity. Then, he could feel it beginning to shrink into something approximately his size. The boy stepped back to see the phoenix, his mirror-image twin, smiling back at him with genuine warmth and companionship.
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