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Icarus stared down at his tome as he poured wax upon the metal frame that would act as his wings. The sole item left over from his wife, he felt the need to hold it near him at all times in memory of his lost love. Now that he was the remaining member of his little family, he could only dream of freedom. Unfortunately, that same freedom had been at the cost of his one and only son.
Twelve years had past since then but Icarus had come to the realisation of something quite important. The longer that the genius stayed there the younger he got. But there was no way that his master would keep him alive forever, for Giasis the Black was growing bored with mind sorcerors. Soon he would be bored enough to find pleasure in the death of another servant. Icarus feared that it would be soon and he held the belief that his soul was doomed should he die in this tower.

Icarus heard the voice and quickly went about hiding the wings under his bed. Nearly tripping over as he went to the door he made a lot of noise getting there with the accompaniment of cussing and curses. The sliding of the latch suddenly brought in the light of numerous lit torches into his room and the face of his "Master's" daughter.
A quick bow to her came as he stepped away from the doorway. He dared not show any sign of disdain for the guards in case they felt the need to make an example of him by locking him away from his work. "Highness?" he said in mock surprise that seemed to amuse him momentarily as he shut the door behind her as she walked in.
She smirked as she saw that welcoming mess that was Icarus' cluttered workshop-bedroom. It was small by at least he had vision. Her father had been keeping her as almost a prisoner as well but she was denied things such as tools lest her virginity come into question. She knew that she would later be used as a human sacrifice for some entity that Giasis wished to conjure from whichever 'hell' that he wanted it from.
"Have you finished my item, Icarus?"
He had forgotten about it for the past week but at least it was done. The item that she wished for was child's play for the engineer who felt that he could make the tool in his sleep given that he had the right items to build it. "Yes, I have..."
She tilited her head in annoyance and raised her voice in a deliberate manner, "then where is it man?"
He just sighed and pulled it from a cupboard nearby. He saw her longing eyes fall upon it with some look of joy and wondered what she might use it for just before handing it to her. "It is a strong cutting tool for you to use, though I am a bit surprised that you had me build it..."
"I am restricted from having tools as I have to stay pure until my sacrifice but I long for the outside... I am a bit too young to die."
He nodded in understanding but it did seem strange that she would reveal these things to him in the first place. She was a mystery to him but he resisted the urge to tell her of his own plans as he feared that she could be using him for her own amusement. "I too long to get out but I haven't the energy to spend on plans like that anymore. Last time I escaped from a tower my son died... That is how I got here actually."
She remembered vividly the day that he fell onto her garden as a child. The strange man in his slightly waxen wire frame seemed like some sort of monstrosity. Her father just laughed in excitement for now he had in his hands the famous engineer Icarus. That is when Giasis the Black began to toy with him and use the man for experiments. What Icarus had felt as torture under his former master now seemed like child's play.

There was a ring of truth in what she spoke, even in her wish for him to come to no harm. "I was wary of you... but now I shall tell you that if you bring me candles, I shall work on something that will get us out of here. Neither of us should stay here for any more time then we need to complete our plans of escape. Gather possessions for a long journey and I should have something completed in a few days... Bring no less then seven rituals candles to me before tomorrow is done as well for my plans to succeed. Hide them if you must, but I specifically need that much wax for us to get out of here."
She was confused by what he said. Earlier he had told her that he had no plans so the shift was dramatic. And what of the candles that he spoke of? What could he need them for. That was when she remembered the frame for his flying contraption. It had wax on the inner parts but it all seemed a bit wierd to the girl who had never seen the glider in its full glory. If she had she would understand that it solidified the paper. Without the wax the paper would simply fall apart under the pressure of the air around it.

Icarus resisted the urge to smile as he saw her exit his chambers into the dimly lit hallways of her father's 'palace'. If he had even showed a mild enjoyment of her company in front of any members of the household he would risk them both being punished, even killed. The engineer soon went back to his work with the quick ammendment of the frame by reinforcing it for the woman's weight. It was a quick change but it was required nonetheless.
The man counted his blessings that he hadn't been further into the project as it would have meant pulling the whole contraption down. At least he had the paper to place through the seperate sectors already. It had taken him several years to gather enough of the right type of paper for the job. Icarus had learnt the hard way that the fine religious paper was not a worthy component but at least he had learnt it in a way that didn't end in his demise.

***

Diasis the Black looked at the man in front of his. The bronze breastplate of the former roman legionaire sat behind his throne as a way of taunting the young general. Caius knelt in front of him with hands bound tightly behind his back. "So your 'Ceasar' wants me dead? I have never been dead before, fool! For two hundred years I have preserved my lifeforce by drinking from the souls of the likes of yourself. Do you really think that Ceasar can stand against one whom even the Gods fear?"
The handsome youth showed no emotion. He just knelt in front of the madman with his head lowered in submission. Caius had believed that the purpose of his incarceration was merely to torture him for information. Now his heart sank into a pit of despair. He prayed to Jupiter under his breathe for some miracle to get out of here but the man didn't feel the solace that he seeked. Instead, he merely offered up his soul to the God of Justice that he didn't quite remember the name of for Diasis to fall to his own wickedness.
"You say nothing, boy! Why is that?"
"You did not ask a question that you expected me to answer, my Lord."
"Are you defying me, SERVANT?"
"No, Sir. I simply answered the question that I felt that I could answer. I am one to follow orders, not give them," came his lie.