Fool's Dawn

"O...okay." He downs the glass in his hand, clutching it tight. "....god, I'm so. No. This is fine. Just fine. Did they say what we were doing?"

 

"Take our friend downstairs, make him sleep, and build a wall," Mutt quotes. "Are you tired? Is that why you have to sleep?"

 

"..I... I don't know. You're...making me sleep?" He looks on edge, jumpy.

 

"I guess." The stairs seem to go down forever. "I can sit with you until you fall asleep. They didn't tell me how to do it, or how fast."

 

"...I... okay..." he hesitates. "...did they tell you anything else?"

 

"Not really. Did they tell you anything?"

 

"...no. what kind of wall?"

 

"I don't know. They didn't say. I wonder if there's bricks or something down there."

 

"I... did they. Uh. H..happen to name the story?"

 

Mutt frowns. "A casket of tea and doe? Something like that. They said it meant sherry."

 

"...the cask of amontilliado?" Jack whispers.

(( crit on a chance roll. Put on your seatbelts, kids ))

 

"Yeah, that! Why, do you know it?"

 

"...yeah. yeah, I know it." Jack's expression twists, and they lunge for Mutt, fingers grabbing for their throat.

 

Mutt pulls the knife out instinctively, swinging at Jack and missing by a wide margin. "What are you doing?" they ask, terrified.

 

"I know how that story goes! You're going to wall me up alive and leave me to die!" He bares a doublerow of teeth. "So I'll take your place and you're going to be walled up, not me, I'm not ready to die!"

 

"What? No! I don't want you to die! They didn't say you were going to die!" Mutt presses themself against the wall of the stairs, holding their knife out in a shaking hand, eyes wide.

 

"Why don't you ask them how The Cask Of Amontillado went when Poe wrote it, kid?" He backs against the wall, baring his teeth.

 

"When who wrote it? What? They didn't tell me anything, just to take you downstairs and make you sleep and build a wall!" They blink in sudden realization. "They didn't tell me you had to be inside the wall."

 

"Maybe they expected you to know it. Maybe you're lying to me. Maybe you're not." His voice wavers.

 

"Take our friend downstairs, make them sleep, and build a wall," Mutt quotes again. "That's what they said, exactly. They didn't say I had to kill you." They put the knife away as obviously as they can. "Please don't hurt me."