Mel woke up on a wet rock in a dark place and her first thought was that she was stuck in the wastes. That she had never made it out of Bahlan and was stuck underneath the ruins. But then her eyes adjusted and she saw a lantern burning low at the end of the hallway. She saw the metal bars of her cell, holding her inside the small confinement. She smelled the water dripping through this place and the stank of unwashed bodies.
Mel scrunched up her nose and crawled into a ball on the floor. She leaned against the wall of her cell and felt the cold creep into her spine. She hated this place, and she had only been here for what must have been one night. Or maybe it was still night outside, and she’d only been down here for hours?
Mel wasn’t sure anymore of the passing of time. Without the sun, she felt unstable. This was perhaps what they wanted. To strip the prisoners of the mother completely. To not feel her blessing anymore and therefore break faster. She shivered at this thought and relaxed her jaw down on top of her knees.
A new sound emerged in the darkness, the sound of footsteps coming closer. Mel’s ears picked up voices too and then keys dangled together. She heard the lock in the door click and it swung open. Light emerged from the entrance and Mel had to shield her eyes from the suddenly bright sensation.
“It’s the girl,” a voice said.
“What does he want with her? She just arrived.”
“I don’t know. I just got the orders.”
“Yes, I know. But speculate a bit, please. I’m so bored down here.”
“Fine. He’s called for a meeting. There are others coming. I don’t know who, so don’t ask. She’s maybe attending the meeting.”
“Why would a prisoner be attending a meeting?”
“Like I said, I don’t know.”
“Fine.”
The keys dangled again, and Mel’s eyes shot up, adjusting to the light. They’d been talking about her. A guard in Aldrion blue opened her cell door and swung it open. Mel just stared at it, feeling frozen to the cold ground.
“Can you walk or what?”
The guards shared a glance and looked like they were going to come in here and drag her up if she didn’t walk over to them. Mel stood up slowly, feeling her legs protesting. She had been cold for so long that every single muscle in her body felt stiff and gave her pain.
She walked past the guard, eyeing him with suspicion. But he didn’t do anything, didn’t even touch her. He closed the door after her and shook his head. He muttered something Mel couldn’t hear and then the three of them walked to the door leading out of the dungeon.
One guard walked behind her and the other in front. Mel immediately thought about escaping and what her chances were. But without the dagger and without any magical item, she was helpless. Mel had a small frame to begin with, and her body felt exhausted after spending hours down here. She hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink either, and she was sure she couldn’t make as much as one of these guards stagger.
Mel released an audible sigh and followed the guard up a winding staircase that she had been brought down not too long ago. She followed him out of this place, through a long corridor and then up another set of stairs. Mel already knew they led to the town hall, but she had no idea where the dungeon was actually located. The corridor was long enough that they could have traveled around Aldrion by now.
The guards kept making small talk, speaking about the weather, their dinner tonight, when the shift ended and about someone called Sandra. Mel tuned out after that, feeling dizzy and a bit disoriented from exhaustion. She needed to keep her full focus on walking and not falling down.
They got up the stairs finally to the town hall building and to Mel’s surprise it was empty here. She looked over her shoulder at the guard behind her and gave him a quizzical look. But he didn’t seem to care what she thought and only sighed like he was dealing with a child. Maybe to him, Mel was. She was only sixteen, after all, and he looked like he could be maybe in his mid twenties. But the difference wasn’t that big.
They led her through the empty hall, and their footsteps echoed against the polished floor. Mel felt like this room was too fancy for her current state, like she didn’t belong here. But she kept reminding herself of the evil that ruled this place, of the governor and his cruelty toward her.
Of course, as if the dragons wanted her to suffer, the two guards led her into Edward Perrole’s massive office and dropped her into the middle of a conversation between the governor and Headmaster Lorken.
The guards closed the office doors behind them, but kept standing around Mel like they were watching her every move. There were more guards in here, too. Two were standing close to Lorken and one behind the governor. Mel knew it was impossible to escape. She knew they would probably send her back to those dungeons after whatever they wanted from her was done.
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“...but you can’t expect me to deal with…”
Lorken was interrupted by Perrole. “Yes, I expect you to follow my orders and do what’s best for Aldrion. That is not unreasonable. Or do you want me to find someone else to lead Falden?”
Lorken took a step back, and he glanced over his shoulder. He noticed Mel and stuck his hands in his pockets. Edward Perrole’s eyes landed on Mel and his face drew into a grim line. Mel’s breath hitched, and she wanted nothing more than to run away from this place.
“Are you okay, Melissa?”
Mel turned and saw Austin standing close to the wall. His face was drawn into a tense expression and his hands balled up into fists by his sides. He looked angry and hurt. Mel wanted to run into his arms and hug him. She took a step toward him; her face releasing some of its tension. But the guard held out his hand in front of Mel, grabbing her attention. He shook his head.
She was not allowed to step closer to the people in here, not even her friend. Mel’s gaze landed on Austin again and she nodded to him, even though she felt everything but okay in this moment. She saw him relaxing and wanted to give him more than just a quiet reassurance that she wasn’t irrevocably hurt. But she could give him nothing at the moment.
Her eyes left Austin’s. It was all too hard to see him here. He stoked up emotions in her that she didn’t want to deal with when the governor and Headmaster Lorken were present. She finally noticed the last member of this meeting.
Master Foss was standing on the other side of the room from Lorken. His eyes were also on her and he looked like he felt sorry for Mel. She didn’t know if that was good or bad yet. But she hoped he was an ally.
“Austin,” Edward Perrole said. “Do you want to tell her about what you convinced me to agree to?”
Mel’s eyes darted back to Austin, and he stepped out from his place next to the wall. He walked into the center of the room and turned to Mel. He swallowed noticeably, and Mel felt a shiver run down her spine. What had he done?
“I told them about the dagger,” Austin said, dragging a hand down his face. He looked tired. She could see it now. “They’ve agreed, or Perrole has agreed, to let you into the dragon forge under Lorken and Master Foss’ eyes and create more double imbues.”
Mel said nothing. She just stared at him like he was crazy. She certainly felt like he was. Why would she do that? Why would they let her do that when they thought she was a spy for the void?
Austin seemed to read her mind and continued. “Look, a lot has happened since you were in this room last. Since we were. The new weapon that was supposed to kill the dragon, it… well, didn’t. And it instead destroyed parts of Aldrion. Demolished buildings, even killed people.”
Austin’s eyes were even darker than usual when he said this, and he glanced back at Headmaster Lorken. Mel’s eyes lifted to him for a second and she saw Lorken rolling his eyes at Austin’s comments. Mel knew it was Lorken who had designed the new weapon, but she didn’t think he would care this little about killing people with it.
“They, we, everyone, need that dragon dead,” Austin said, and Mel’s eyes returned to him. “I told them you can kill it. That if they give you time and resources, you can create a strong double imbue and with it we can kill the dragon. We found the right metal alloy and Gabs is working as we speak with the metallurgists here in the city to create more of it. You know the song and we have the dragon stones right here in the city. Do you think you can do it?”
Austin’s eyes had changed again, and this time they were pleading. She even saw him reach his hand out toward her before remembering himself and letting it slide back to his side. She took in a deep breath and looked past Austin to Perrole.
He was the only one seated in the room behind his desk, and his eyes never left her. They were hard and unyielding and he looked like if he had had any other option, he would have killed her on the spot.
Mel licked her cracked lips and felt around in her mouth. It was dry in there, dry as a desert, and she wished for water and maybe some food. A real bed to sleep in, not a wet cold rock. She wished for a hot shower and she knew her best bet to get these things was to agree. To buy herself more time before they’d throw her back into the dungeon again or kill her.
“I think I can do it,” Mel croaked out. “I need some help, though.”
She looked over at Master Foss and tried to form a smile, but felt immediately how insincere it must look.
“I’ll help you at the dragon forge,” Master Foss said. “I will even suggest that you continue with my classes for the semester. I know Melissa might have an affinity like you said.” He looked over at Headmaster Lorken. “But affinity to magic or not, she will need to learn mage smithing in its basics and-”
Perrole interrupted him. “This is not one of your students, Foss. This is a criminal, a void worshiper. The less she learns about our techniques, the less she can report back to the enemy.”
Mel’s eyebrows dipped.
“Okay,” Master Foss said. “But how are you expecting someone who knows little about mage smithing to smith a groundbreaking double imbue for you to kill a dragon with?”
Perrole’s jaw rolled, and he stared daggers at Master Foss. “Fine. She can learn the basics, so she can create the weapon. But honestly, I expected you to make it. She can just tell you the song or whatever you need to know and you can make the weapon.”
Master Foss shook his head. “It won’t work. She can teach me, of course. But even with the song, the metal and the dragon stones. We need to figure out some details to actually make it work. Mage smithing is more complicated than that. We need to be able to collaborate. I need her to be well rested, showered and fed. I need for us to discuss the details, make plans and tests. We need to experiment before we create anything substantial. Otherwise…” He looked over at Headmaster Lorken. “We’ll blow up the dragon forge again.”
Perrole let out a long sigh, rubbing his forehead. “Fine. I will make sure you have whatever you need and the dragon cult girl can stay at Falden, like she did before. But by herself, alone, under supervision. At least two guards at all times, watching her, making sure she’s not reporting anything to the void. And no metals, unless she’s with you at the dragon forge. Understood?”
Master Foss nodded, seeming to agree to these things.
Mel’s forehead had by now created a permanent crease between her brows. She didn’t understand most of what they were agreeing to or why they would go to these lengths. But a part of her felt like she didn’t care. She just wanted to return to Falden, shower and sleep, then she could deal with these things in the morning.