Abasdarhon's Castle

-- If you speak, you might see your dearest father again. He'll probably lock you up, but that's your problem. But if we find out you've said anything bad about my hospitality, you know what will happen.
Of course, he won't let him go. Why would he? It was obvious from the start that there was no hope of getting a ransom from the merchant. The boy's fate has been sealed for a long time, just as the fate of a mouse caught in a cat's paws is sealed. When a cat plays with a mouse, it struggles, then finds itself in the cat's claws again, and this repeats over and over, because from the mouse's perspective, there is neither a cat nor a game – only life, freedom, so close, yet so unattainable – it is completely incomprehensible to the poor rodent's mind. From the cat's perspective, the outcome is perfectly clear.