The Old Man from Dungeon

The old man from Dungeon might look a little bit like the old man in this picture:

Picture from the movie "The Count of Monte Cristo"
via Pinterest

Quotes from the old man:

     “What for?” came an old man’s voice out of the dimness.

    The princess spun to look for this new voice. Her eyes could barely distinguish more cells across the hall. One of them held an old man with long, white hair.

     The old man shrugged under her stare. “What else can you do to him?” he asked pointedly, waving his hand at the despair around him.

***

“Using bribery now, are we?” the old man lilted.

***

The old man picked the dropped pear. He took a bite, slurping up the juice as he went. The princess raised an eyebrow, thinking how horrified her mother would have been at the old man’s manners.

“Don’t want to waste a drop,” the old man explained, catching her expression.

***

The old man coughed and dragged a small sharp stone against his stone wall. “By my calculations, I should make it out in another 20 to 30 years,” he said with a sigh.

***

The old man is an interesting character. In his younger days, he was more of a hothead, too outspoken for his own good, landing himself in a dungeon to be forgotten for eternity. By the time of my story, he still has a quick tongue but it has been tempered with maturity and wisdom. He has been through all the phases of fighting against the bars that hold him in and hating those that put him there, but those who meet him now find a wise old man who is past all of that...mostly.

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The Pen of a Ready Writer

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