As Ylre began to wake up, he heard voices everywhere around. He dimly glimpsed a group of familiar people and the person they were talking to but his eyelids were too heavy to keep open, so he closed them again.
He had no idea what was happening, he felt exhausted and had the impression that every movement cost him more energy than he could expend. He was unable to think normally. It was as if he was still asleep and only partially aware that something was happening around him.
He would prefer to doze off, but something told him he couldn't. Therefore, after a while, he opened his eyes again, looked around. He took a soft breath and shook his head. It had been a while since he had been so spent and although he had no idea what was going on, how he got into this state, he didn't even have the energy to think about it.
When he felt a foreign touch on his body, he blinked a few times trying to focus. But he didn't make it in time and the stranger's hand pushed him into the stone wall behind him. He felt a cool touch of air on his chest as someone parted his robe to reveal his bare skin.
Ylre blinked again, trying to clear his hazy vision, with which he could only dimly see the person who dared to touch him. He subconsciously raised his hand and grabbed the palm on his chest. He tried to pull it off, but to no avail.
"Shh...keep sleeping," a calm voice told him, "it's better if you sleep, we'll be done soon." he said.
Ylre subconsciously frowned. He bent his legs and automatically moved to the side away from the voice. He straightened gently as the guy's words partially woke him up and turned to him.
The man sighed deeply "How much did you say he ate?" he asked.
"Half the baskets, they both ate them...and two drinks in the pub," a familiar voice said.
For a moment Ylre didn't know when he heard it, but after a few more words he realized it was the owner of the establishment they stopped at today. Ylre looked at the man who had once served them and after a moment moved his gaze beyond him. A bunch of villagers, including children and adults with their heads down, were giving a report to the man who had touched him a moment ago.
"Half a basket," the man stated, "how come you're awake after eating so much?" he bowed again to Ylre.
Ylre looked at him hostilely from behind half-open lids. He wanted to sleep, he wanted to keep his eyes closed and don't care about what was happening around him, but he couldn't. He slowly lowered his gaze down to the stone floor next to him, where his eyes stopped at the familiar black hair with shiny strands, falling on a gentle-looking face. Rue was sleeping as he had been, and Ylre gaze on him intensely.
He knew that no matter what happened, he couldn't fall asleep again.
He looked at the guy in front of him a little more clearly, "Who the hell are you?"
The man just sighed softly and reached his palm to Ylre's orange hair. He slowly touched them and stroked Ylre, "Guardian of luck, child," he said.
Ylre blinked in confusion. For a moment, a bitter feeling of fear filled him, his stomach tightened, and he resisted nothing for a few long seconds. Panic gripped his insides and he just snapped his gaze to Rue in fear of what they were getting into before returning his eyes to the man in front of him.
He remained in shock for a few seconds before suddenly calming down again. He stared into his eyes for a moment longer before letting out a loud breath of relief after a while.
"Ah," Ylre straightened up, yanking the hand from his hair and leaning against the wall, "you're not…damn, you scared the crap out of me." he breathed out as the man's irises were clearly not golden…but bright blue.
"You must still be exhausted, get some sleep, child." He reached out to him again, but Ylre didn't let him, and although he was sleepy, the previous shock had woken him up enough to defend himself against his touch.
"I'm not a child…I'm older than you…the only reason you're still breathing is that doesn't look like anything happened to him," Ylre said, "but wait until my head stops spinning… If I were you, I'd run." he stated threateningly.
"Oh, do you hear what he's saying?" the man shook his head and looked at the villagers.
"Sir, I'm sorry, but...but we all followed the instructions," the innkeeper said, "some children won't last much longer, please fulfill your words."
"But of course, thanks as always for your help," the man smiled and went to the table at the end of the room.
Basically, it was a chapel. It wasn't big, it didn't look like it was used at all, but anyone would know what it was built for. After entering the main hall, the first thing that caught everyone's eyes was a large statue representing the guardian of luck. In the past he was described as the king of the Infey, nowadays people called him luck itself, although no one knew the form of luck.
The statue was prayed to, gifts were given to it, and everyone believed in it, as Luck was the only thing that could help people in their life journey. At leas if they didn't believe in the second religion that arose in recent years...the bad luck church. But that didn't apply to this village.
In front of the statue stood a high stone table, behind which church employees usually gave sermons to the people. In this case, the man who pulled out a large sack from behind was a member of the church. At first glance, he looked different from ordinary people. It was clear to everyone that he was not a Rinselan, and although his bright blue eyes would have made him appear to be Lacrisan, the villagers were convinced that he wasn't. And he wasn't.
His shoulder-length pale brown hair fell against the familiar white church robes. Pure white with burgundy or gold stripes on the side was the worldwide symbol of the Church of Luck. Its members were respected, although they came from all kinds of countries. Usually the employees were the citizens of the land where the church was located, but sometimes people from Lacrisu or Equil were also found in Rinsel and vice versa...and sometimes there was some Infey among them. Although people didn't know about it. Like now.
"Thank you, thank you," the villagers knelt down to the big bag and immediately opened it enthusiastically. Everyone gathered around it trying to get their share of the contents. The amount of yellow stones in the bag became the center of attention, and the innkeeper immediately started handing it out to everyone around...as always.
People who didn't have many opportunities for earnings, who didn't live near the city and their surrounding land wasn't the most suitable for growing salable raw materials, didn't have much to earn their luck. No one could afford any Lacrisan, the yellow stones were also more expensive than they had. They were in need for a long time, every day was about survival and everyone would take any chance if it meant that the situation would improve.
Therefore, when a member of the church appeared in their village promising to provide them with yellow stones for everyone whenever they brought him passing Lacrisans, there wasn't any reason to object.
"One can supplement his luck directly from them. Who will it be today?" the man asked, whereupon the innkeeper stood up.
"Thank you, thank you," he bowed and found the most endangered boy in the crowd.
A small child of about ten bowed gently to the man, "T-thank you, sir."
The man gave him a soft smile and walked with him to Ylre, who was sitting leaning against the wall trying to regain his composure. He was feeling better than a moment before, but still not the best, so when the man bent down and took his hand, it took him a moment to shake it of.
"Don't fight back child, give your luck to others," the church guy said, but as Ylre continued to fight back he motioned for several men to hold him down. Since Ylre was still quite exhausted, he didn't react quickly enough and before he could do anything, the man cut into his forearm with a short knife.
Ylre closed his eyelids for a second as the sharp pain shot from his wound. He looked down at his bleeding hand confused before the small boy approached him. Ylre simply shook him off and tried to get up, but the villagers pounced on him and held him in place. Sighing deeply, Ylre let go of his defiance as he had no energy for futility and decided to wait for the daring child to come to his senses by his own.
He gave him a look, "Stupid human kid," he remarked looking at the boy, "didn't you hear what he told you?" he remembered how Rue had been talking with him when he was selling him apples, "You have to earn luck, deserve it...do you think you do by stealing it?"
The boy hesitated, but the innkeeper holding Ylre objected, "Don't listen to him, you're lucky to get opportunities," he said.
The boy hesitated for a moment before lowering his face to Ylre's bleeding hand and gently touching it with his tongue. Ylre watched silently as the boy drank his blood and waited. The boy tried to get some luck from Ylre, but he didn't feel anything special on his tongue. A metallic taste filled his mouth and after it didn't change, after it didn't become sweet and his body didn't fill with luck, he pulled back confused and looked at Ylre.
"Why doesn't it work?" he didn't understand.
"Because you didn't deserve it," Ylre said and shook off the villagers in irritation.
Several guys grabbed his side and after Ylre kicked the little boy away from him, he slowly stood up. His head was still spinning, he was still pretty tired, but that didn't change the fact that he couldn't stay here much longer in case the guy in white wasn't the only member of the church nearby. If the real Guardians of Luck came, if one of the highest Infeys came, it would be a real problem.
"What's going on?" the man in white didn't understand.
"It doesn't work...I tried, but no luck came out of him," the boy said.
"What?" the man frowned and looked at Ylre, "Equilan?" he asked.
Ylre laughed irritated and leaned against the wall for a moment, "Not even close."
"Sir...won't I get the luck?" the boy looked at the man.
"You'll get it, child...try another one," he nodded to Rue, who was still lying on the ground.
The boy nodded and moved towards him, but Ylre intervened and stepped forward, "You touch him, I'll kill you." he declared in a dark voice.
***
The boy hesitated in terror, but just then the villagers approached Ylre and tried to grab him again. However, Ylre didn't let himself go and simply shook them off. He kicked the innkeeper hard in the stomach, sending him to the ground...he punched several other guys in the neck, and when he gained some energy, he punched another in the face. He heard the sledge crack. The guys fell to the ground, Ylre shook his wrist as he had the guy's blood on his skin and glared at the man in white.
"Does your highest know what you're up to?" Ylre asked, kicking away the boy who had tried to get to Rue in the meantime. He stood in front of the sleeping Infey and gave the boy a hostile glare.
The man was silent for a moment as if recovering from the unexpected realization, before he smiled softly, "Everybody out!" he raised his voice, causing the villagers to run out of the chapel in a second, before he spoke again, "Are you one of us?" he asked.
"Definitely not," Ylre said.
"The lowest aren't allowed to leave Infey. The highest...I know all of them...you must be middle class," the guy deduced, "you're with us."
"You bring me down to your level one more time and I'll kill you even before you tell me who sent you," Ylre said.
"Sent?" the guy didn't understand.
"Yes, who sent you for us? Who else knows we're here?" Ylre asked.
The man blinked confused, "I think you don't understand something, I have no idea who you are. I ordered the Lacrisans to be brought in," he clarified.
Ylre hesitated, "Too much of a coincidence, don't you think?"
"I mean," the guy said amusedly, "unpleasant coincidences happen to unlucky people...who ever saw them happening to an Infey?" he laughed, "I've never seen an Infey with more bad luck than luck. Your highest doesn't give you enough of it?" he deduced.
Ylre smiled softly, though his expression was more frightening than amused. He glanced at Rue, about whom the claim of unlucky coincidences was right, and shifted his gaze to the man again, "Do you know who he is?" He nodded behind himself.
Infey looked at the black-haired youth and shook his head, "I don't know all the second-rates in my category…I only know the highest ones," he said.
Ylre smirked, "Ignorant brat."
"What did you call me...I'm a hundred years old, over hundred!" he shouted.
Ylre chuckled, "You're at least another century away from knowing all the highest...ignorant brat," he repeated, but before the man could explode, he asked, "Why are you kidnapping people?"
,,Why not, you bastard? It is the best way to get luck...the more luck, the more satisfied the highest. You know they are impatient. When you improve yourself, they don't care how you did it," he said.
"Luck?" Ylre raised his eyebrows and laughed, "An Infey stealing people's luck." he didn't believe.
It wasn't impossible, but it was definitely not common. Ylre couldn't imagine the lows he would have to stoop to in order to steal the luck of ordinary people. The Infey were born as servants of luck, the highest being the source itself. Their guardians received a portion of it from them, linking their luck together. Although it was up to the supreme how much luck he would give to the servant, just having a connection to the source itself elevated all Infey above ordinary humans.
Moreover, their state of luck depended on the will of the owner, the highest. Therefore, ordinary people couldn't take it from them without permission.
However, it still happened that Infey helped himself and stole people's luck...with his sword.
The sword that the guard had was mainly used to protect the highest. It was a tool that was able to move luck around. The more luck Infey took with it, the stronger he became...which was quite a priority since no one wanted a weak guardian. But if the highest really wanted to, he could easily give more luck to his guardian, since most supremes wouldn't allow their guards to harm people.
Ylre hadn't killed many people in his life, but given his level of luck, he didn't need to either. However, some were apparently more greedy than they should be. And some of the highest probably didn't care.
Anyway, Ylre didn't expect to ever meet someone like that.
"And?" the man didn't understand what Ylre found strange about his ways.
"So today's generation doesn't know that how much luck you have depends purely on your highest? Even if you rob all the people in the world, if your highest wants, he will take everything from you. If he wanted you to get more of it, he would give you luck." Ylre laughed.
"My highest gave me his luck," he frowned.
"You should be satisfied with it, not steal more from ordinary people," Ylre explained, "who is your highest anyway, why aren't you with him?" Ylre asked.
"Not you business," the guy said.
"So no one important," Ylre stated.
A remark that would have pissed off any Infey made the man yell, "Crey! My highest is Crey! Call it off now, you bitch!"
"Crey," Ylre laughed, "I remember, he never has time for his guards." he knew.
,,Shut up! That's not true!" he got angry.
"It's, when I started, he had another by his side, but not even two centuries have passed, where did he go? Has he stopped enjoying him? If I were you, I'll make sure you don't end up like that." Ylre smiled.
The man gave him a murderous look, and when Ylre laughed again, he angrily pulled out a golden sword from behind his back, "Shut up! Where is your highest? I don't see him here either!" he shouted.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Ylre smiled softly and slowly reached behind his back where he felt his own sword. He pulled it out in a second and took a step forward. It was considerably larger than his opponent's sword, and at first glance it was clear who had the upper hand.
"You ignorant brat wouldn't know...even if I told you his name," he remarked.
Infey was annoyed by the sentence, so without hesitation he charged at Ylre with his sword. Ylre dodged and simply blocked the ensuing lunge. Although this Infey before him was indeed young, his stupidity was beyond that of the greatest morons Ylre had encountered in the past three centuries.
All Infey knew that hierarchy came first. Ylre was sure any other guard would recognize him immediately. The fact that this Infey had no idea who he was, that he didn't recognize Rue, and that he was walking around the world as a member of the church and killing people for his own luck was all so comical that Ylre didn't even feel sorry that he will make one of the highest stay without his guard.
That's why when the man ran at him, when he chased after him, Ylre took a step back and in the subsequent movement thrust his sword into the young man's chest. He didn't give him a chance to recover and with a stroke of the sword he rolled him against the wall, against which he slammed him with the blade.
The man gasped in surprise, blood spattering Ylre's cheeks. As he moved his sword deeper and pierced him completely, Infey parted his lips in confusion, as if he didn't realize when he got to this position.
"When you meet Luck," Ylre said, "tell it that Rue still believes, still waits...when you say that, it might take pity on you." he declared, drawing his sword sharply and stabbing lower.
"Aagh!" Infey spat out more blood, "Aghh...Rue?" he looked confused at the ground beside him where the sleeping Infey lay, "Sinner...Rue..." he rasped before Ylre stabbed him again, letting the blade soak up Infey's luck.
"If you recognized him, you wouldn't have ended up like this today, thank your ignorance," Ylre said and after looking at Infey's expression for a moment, he pulled the blade out of him.
The man fell limp to the ground. Ylre stared at him for a moment before his body turned to yellow dust. Each Infey was merely a creature of luck to keep the world going. Some more important than others, but without luck, basically nothing.
Ylre sighed deeply and walked over to Rue on the ground. He slowly leaned down and lightly caressed his face as if he wasn't sure what would happen to him if he wasn't with him today. Without luck, without the usual abilities that he should have as the highest. Ylre was really thankful that the one they met today wasn't the actual guardian of luck that had first scared him.
However, whether it was his own luck or something else, he was going to make sure that from now on he wouldn't let his guard down even for a second...because Rue with his luck were always in danger...just like today.
***
When Nielle and the soldiers arrived at the chapel where the Infey were supposed to be, he ended up disappointed. Apart from the villagers, crying as they had just lost their source of luck, he found no one.
Nielle let search the nearest forest, though it was clear that once the Infey disappeared, they probably wouldn't be the easiest to find again. That's why he just started talking to the locals and had the situation explained to him.
The villagers came to their senses pretty quickly when they noticed his white hair and understood that he would be from the royal family. Everyone fell silent and left the word to the innkeeper, who more or less ran the village.
"Your Highness," he had no idea which prince Nielle was, but he knew that if he didn't want to get all village killed, he musn't show any disrespect, "What brings you here?"
"What a stupid question," Nielle laughed, "I believe you don't think I accidentally went into a chapel at the end of nowhere where kidnappings and other illegal things happen." he declared and sat down in one of the benches, whereupon the guy knelt down, as he didn't think it was appropriate to stand.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about, sir...we came here today to worship Luck," he lied.
Nielle sighed deeply, "I don't have much patience today, you disturbed my pleasant plans," he looked at Shane, who was standing by the soldiers, "I know you kidnapped two men, I want to hear your reasons, if you kidnapped someone else, where are they and where did the pair go... every time you lie to me, I'll kill one of you, what do you say?" He suggested.
The innkeeper looked around at the villagers, who were kneeling on the ground with their eyes down in terror, and then looked at the prince again, "We...we're sorry, sir. We didn't want to. "
"Don't apologize and answer the questions," Nielle said, "where did they go?"
"I don't know, one of them woke up and started arguing with the church messenger. He sent us out and when we came back there was no one inside," he said.
"A messenger of the church?" Niella didn't understand what the church had to do with it.
"Yes, sir...we were doing everything on his instructions," he said.
"What instructions?" Nielle didn't know.
The man hesitated for a moment before he said, "Every time the Lacrisans passed through the village, we were supposed to bring them to him...we drugged them and...and brought them...and he gave us yellow stones in exchange, which lasted us for a while ."
"Yellow stones?" Nielle looked at the large bag by the edge of the benches.
"You traded the Lacrisans for stones." Shane was almost in disbelief.
"There's nothing wrong with that," Nielle said.
"Nothing wrong?" Shane gave him an angry look.
"You wanted to save the lives of the Rinselans, good choice," Nielle complimented him, continuing to ignore Shane.
"Th-thank you, sir," the innkeeper didn't know what to say.
"However...when there is a similar situation, there is another option than to illegally kidnap people...if Lacris finds out about it, it would be a problem," he clarified, "when the village cannot afford yellow stones, they can apply to the capital, Prince Louis always fulfills requests." Nielle said.
"I've never heard of that being a possibility, sir," he said.
"Didn't he hear?" Nielle sighed, "Never mind...where are the Lacrisans you were selling?"
The man seemed to hesitate: "I don't know."
"What did I say about lying?" Nielle asked sternly.
"I-I really don't know, sir...most of them disappeared without a trace, only a few we were tasked to transfer elsewhere," he said.
"Where?" he didn't understand.
"We came to the member of another church, sir," he said.
Nielle raised his eyebrows and asked, "So some were taken by the church of bad luck...and some were taken by the church of luck," he laughed, "I understand what the other church uses them for, but what's the church of luck doing?" he didn't understand.
Nielle knew that the second Church was quite secluded in Rinsel, but he wasn't stupid enough to tell himself that it was really weak. He was sure they were doing some illegal things behind everyone's backs, but he honestly never cared much about the functioning of the churches as he had many other responsibilities. However, since the religion of bad luck focused on selling bad luck to others, rather than drawing luck, he understood that the Lacrisans were the most advantageous targets.
However, the Church of Luck, focused only on the worship of Luck, neither needed to strengthen its influence nor the Lacrisans to function, so he didn't understand the significance of kidnapping them.
Anyway, Nielle didn't care about the Lacrisans…however, some church doing what they wanted in their land was something he had to discuss with his brother when he got home.
"Didn't any of you see where they went?" He asked.
"No, sir," the villagers admitted.
Nielle believed that they were telling the truth, so after a while he got up, "We came here for nothing...beautiful...we are going back to the camp," he told the soldiers.
"S-sir...wait!" the man stood up.
Nielle looked at him and moved his gaze to the villagers behind him. There were about fifty of them, among them a few whose skin was already beginning to be covered with black spots. Nielle just turned to the soldiers and said, "Take them to the camp," he commanded and headed out.
He had other more fun things planned for today. And since he had wasted enough time on the unnecessary journey, he didn't intend to stay here any longer. He glanced at Shane, who was greatly irritated by the local people's behavior, and laughed softly, "Let's go…we'll pick up where we left off, Lacrisan."
***
He always knew when he was dreaming. During all those years in the cell, he managed to sort out in his head what were memories, what were dreams, and what was reality. That's why he knew he was sleeping.
However, unlike the usual dreams, when he lived outside, when he ran in the meadow and had fun with Luck, today's dream was different. He couldn't decide what to do, he couldn't move as he wanted. All he could do was watch from his own body what was happening.
He didn't remember experiencing something like this, but something told him that it had happened once in the past. He sat at the end of the room next to the throne and smiled. He felt happy inside, though he didn't know why. There was a crowd of people around. The entire main hall of the royal palace was crowded with Infey, familiar, unfamiliar, but Rue didn't really recognize any of them.
Next to him the king sat, the only person whose face he would never forget, no matter what happened. Just looking at him made him feel strangely sad, although the body he was in was clearly excited.
"At the age of your twentieth birthday, the day has finally come when you become one of us with permission to walk among humans," the king said, "I know you've been looking forward to it, Rue. We're all pleased that you've lived up to the expectations you've been given."
The enthusiasm that filled him could be felt as he said, "Thank you, father, I can't wait to see the world outside, thank you for the opportunities I am getting."
The king nodded. The subsequent long turn that took place, Rue didn't remember at all. Sometimes he got the impression as if he really experienced a similar scene, sometimes he had the impression as if all the things really happened. In the end, however, he still couldn't find anything in his mind and just passively stared with the eyes of his body at the memories he couldn't remember.
A lot of people bowed to him, a lot of people spoke to him, gave gifts, and he just enthusiastically thanked him. But the next part was more important. The condition for highest Infey to enter the common people's land was to have a protector who always accompanied them. Today was finally the day he was going to get one and although Rue still didn't remember anything, at least he could relate to the joy. Because his protector was the only one from his past that he had at least dim memories of, that he never completely forgot.
"Among the twenty candidates, will you now choose one, have you chosen a method?" the king asked.
"I did," he nodded, "I want Luck to decide who will stay by my side." he said and stood up.
He slowly walked down the steps from the throne to the kneeling group of twenty middle-class children.
"Luck?" the king didn't understand.
"Yes, I wanted Luck to play a major role in who I chose," Rue said, pulling two dice from his pocket.
He slowly leaned towards the first of them, "Do you like games?" he asked the first boy.
"G-games?" he stammered, "I-I...I like games sir..." he looked nervous.
No one would be surprised if they even collapsed from nervousness. Today was the most important for them, especially knowing that only one of them would win Rue as the supreme, only one would get a piece of luck from him, and only one would become his companion.
No one spoke then, and everyone waited in suspense to see what Rue would come up with. Before the youths were even breathing, Rue examined them. All the middle Infey looked alike. They all had bright blue eyes, all had red or brown hair, exceptionally different colors. They seemed like normal people, and whoever he chose, the people outside would be able to tell them apart from the highest ones at a glance.
"We'll just play... we'll roll the dice... whoever rolls the biggest number against me or rolls a bigger one, I'll keep him, what do you say?" he smiled.
The boys, apparently between the ages of eight and ten, who had come today prepared to fight to the blood with each other in an attempt to gain a place by the side of the highest, looked at him in confusion. They all slowly nodded and when Rue was sure they understood, he walked over to the prepared table and invited the first one to join him for a game.
The young boy stumbled on the way to the table, how shaky his legs were, slowly sat down and waited without making eye contact with him.
"Which one do you like better?" Rue asked, pointing to the dice. One black with gold dots, the other gold with black dots.
"The one you would give me, sir," the boy said.
Rue didn't remember the following moments at all and therefore watched them carefully. However, despite the fact that it was a dream, that he had experienced it in the past, and that he tried to concentrate, he couldn't see everything clearly. He felt like he was losing consciousness at times and couldn't stay fully aware of his surrounding, as if his memories were fading and fading again.
He saw the first fight where the young man threw a one against his six, he saw the second fight that ended with the number two, he didn't see the third, but he saw the fourth fight that ended with the number one...and then he didn't see a few more.
He didn't know how many had played before his memories gently cleared again and he welcomed another child to the table. His red hair was similar to that of his predecessors, his bright blue eyes on his young face looked like they didn't know where to look, as the stress was filling him.
"Don't be nervous," Rue said gently, placing the dice on the table, "Which one do you like better?" he asked.
Young Infey looked up at Rue's hesitant gaze and swallowed dryly, "B-black...I like black."
Rue smiled gently, "Good luck with you," he handed him the dice, "you can roll." he said.
The boy nervously took the dice. He hesitated for a while, wanted to throw it, but hesitated again. That's why, after a while, Rue smiled gently and said, "I'll roll first, just calm down." He threw the dice, which, as always, ended up on the number six and didn't calm Infey at all.
However, he couldn't wait forever, so after a while he also threw the dice and waited to see what luck would bring. Everyone watched as he inadvertently put more force into it, watching as the cube slammed into the other and spun it violently. The boy blinked in surprise as the number four appeared on his own black dice while the gold dice turned to the number three.
Everyone fell silent in shock.
No one spoke for a while before the king stood up sharply: "Insolent."
"Calm down, father...I said I'd let luck decide, you saw it...a clear stroke of luck." Rue smiled and slowly stood up. He walked over to Infey who looked like he was going to collapse from the stress as he had no idea if he just didn't do something that will cost him his neck.
"I'm Rue, nice to meet you," he said, to which the boy looked at him, "luck is on your side, you won today's game. Would you like to be my guard? We'll be able to play more often, what do you say?" he asked.
Infey raised his bright blue eyes at him and the moment he realized the meaning of his words, he just stood up abruptly. He dropped to his knees in a second and bowed at Rue's feet, "I w-want...want...please...I want so much."
The hall was then filled with hostility from the rest of the boys along with their panic, but since it wasn't up to them to choose whom the highest would choose, they couldn't say anything.
Rue bent down to the boy on the ground and said, "If you agree, today will be your first day by my side, your new name will be Qie," he said.
Infey nodded and stood up slowly at the instruction, Rue touched his palm which made Infey feel embarrassed and surprised to feel that he put something in it.
"Take care of it...it's our first thing we share, don't lose it…as long as you have it, we'll always be able to play again." Rue smiled softly.
Infey looked at the black cube with gold dots in his palm and looked at his new highest incomprehensibly, "T-thank you, sir…t-thank you." He looked like he still couldn't believe he made it out of today.
"Thank Luck, Qie," Rue stroked his orange hair.
"T-thank you... Good luck to you too, sir... I won't let you down," he stuttered.
"I know you won't," he stroked him gently, "feel free to call me Rue," he smiled and straightened again, "May Luck allow us to live a thousand years happily," he said contentedly.
The words he said, even though they were his own, filled the dreamer Rue with a strange sadness. Qie was one of the few people he remembered. He didn't remember all their experiences, he didn't remember his face, he didn't remember what happened in detail after that...but he remembered the basics. Therefore, he knew that his wish at that time hadn't come true.
Because it didn't take even one whole century before everything was shattered to pieces...completely.
***
When they arrived at the camp, Nielle had five Lacrisans brought from a nearby village. None of the villagers understood why they were brought to the camp and assumed that they would receive some kind of punishment for their misdeeds, that's why panic and a strange mood reigned in the group.
However, Nielle didn't consider their crimes to be of any importance, as the Lacrisans didn't matter, so instead of punishing them, he solved their problem. He introduced the five Lacrisans to the villagers.
"Normally I'd let you apply and let Prince Louis handle everything, but since I'm here, there's no need," he said, "Your population is roughly equivalent to the luck of five Lacrisans, so," he nodded at the five youths, "don't destroy them, they won't stand any torture and I won't give you new ones," he threatened and continued.
"You can put them to work, you can assign them to a group of people to whom they will be giving luck individually or make them a public resource for everyone. A few soldiers will check their condition sometimes just in case you want to go back to the crimes you committed. They are no ordinary Lacrisans, they are trained, obedient, and I don't have an unlimited number of them to give away, so I believe you all understand that you should cherish my work." he clarified.
The villagers stared at him in disbelief as they couldn't believe they got the Lacrisans, "Your Highness...why would you help? We can't afford them..."
"I know you can't but still they aren't for free, of course," he clarified.
The villagers calmed down at that sentence, as getting something for something was less suspicious than getting something for free, so Nielle told them what he wanted from them. It was nothing complicated. As the village was on the road between the capital, Dycae, and Alycante, it was a convenient point for his activities, so he only required regular reports and loyalty from the villagers.
"When someone you know visits you, what do you say?" he tested them.
"That Prince Louis saved us," they said.
"When Prince Louis comes to visit you?" Nielle was satisfied.
"Your Highness have never been here...we made a deal with the Lacrisans ourselves," he said.
"That's right," Nielle nodded.
When the villagers understood, Nielle had them lead the Lacrisans into the village. It was convenient to have people in such a strategic location, but he couldn't allow the nonsense to spread that he had helped someone. On the one hand, it would be a problem if the king thought that he was trying to improve his name, on the other hand, he would really improve it, which wouldn't help anyone or anything, so insurance was necessary.
When he finally finished what he wanted, he looked at Shane beside him, who had been glaring at him the entire time. He clearly wasn't thrilled about using the Lacrisans as tools for his own people, but Nielle couldn't care less if he was satisfied. He looked at his soldiers and, as the hour was late, he said,
"We'll leave our entertainment program for tomorrow, today I'll have fun myself," he let the soldiers get to work and stayed with Shane himself.
"Don't look at me like you want to kill me, you're going to make today even more complicated for yourself," he laughed.
Shane continued to glare at him, "What do you think the Lacrisans are?" he asked hatefully.
"The tools...for fun, for helping, for work, for negotiation," Nielle said.
Shane gritted his teeth, "Bastard...I hope you'll taste your own medicine someday..."
"My medicine?" Nielle laughed, "You don't know what you're talking about," he said, "if you don't want me to call the soldiers back, shut up and follow me...you can make up for your insolence today with obedience in the bath." he said.
"I don't feel like it," Shane said in disgust.
"I said that if you cooperate today, I will be good to you at night. Do you really want to be disobedient again, Lacrisan? Can your ass take it? You looked like you learned your lesson yesterday," he said, moving closer to him, "when you yelled at me to stop...you were adorable...do you really want to do that again? You don't want me to be good to you ?"
"Good?" Shane laughed in anger, "Do you even know the meaning of that word?"
"I know," Nielle smiled and nodded at the two soldiers behind Shane who hadn't left yet, after which they grabbed Lacrisan, "but you didn't deserve me to show you yet." he said with a satisfied smile as the soldiers cuffed Shane's hands behind his back.
Shane growled in irritation, but the soldiers pushed him in Nielle's direction.
They led him for some time through the camp, up to the main building where Nielle's bedroom was. They walked to the side part, down the stairs, where they had a view of the bath area with a beautiful large cut out tub filled with hot water. It looked similar to the hole in the ground in the red torture chamber, but bigger.
"Leave us," Niella said, looking at Shane, "Since you're so exhausted you're collapsing in front of the king, I thought a good bath would be in place." he laughed and pulled Shane by his clothes towards him.
Shane glared at him, "Are you even thinking about anything other than sex? You horny pig." he growled.
"You never cease to amaze me, your vocabulary is getting better every day," he laughed, "but yes... sometimes I think about torture as well." he smiled and simply opened Shane's robe.
Lacrisan tried to fight back, but since he was bound and weakened, it wasn't much help, so Nielle simply pulled the robe off of him. He walked up to him from behind and ripped the clothes open, exposing Shane's body nicely and making him recoil in irritation.
"Don't be shy," he said and stepped forward, "today, we will proceed with your interrogation, what do you say? Since you don't deserve me to be nice to you." he said, simply throwing Shane into the water.
It reminded Shane of their first night in the red torture chamber. He quickly emerged above the surface, but Nielle was already in the water and walked towards him contentedly. Shane didn't have time to recover when Nielle was next to him and violently grabbed his hair. Shane glared at him but didn't speak and when Nielle laughed out of pleasure, he tried to break free from his grip.
"Where are you going?" Nielle walked with him and slowly made his way to the edge of the bath, where he pushed Shane violently.
"We're not leaving today until you beg me for mercy...nicely," he laughed, "or until I see your tears, or receive sufficient answers, Lacrisan." he smiled.
Shane looked at him in disgust, "Dream on."
And so passed another night full of fun for one and disgust for the other, from which Nielle again gained nothing of substance. But that didn't matter that much. At least not yet.