Season 2: Chapter 55: Captives
“M-Marcus!” Simone cried, reaching out but freezing as the woman covered in blood turned towards her with a sinister smile.
“Stop! Please! WAIT!” Lhikan barked as the woman wearing Natalie's clothing brandished her blade towards Simone. “She's just a healer! Leave her alone, she hasn't killed anyone yet!”
“Interesting. Unfortunately I don't ca-”
The woman paused, her black blade merely an centimeter away from the healer.
“Of Course my Lord.”
The woman lowered her blade, Lhikan and Simone breathing a sigh of relief as the woman suddenly took on a gentle look.
“In accordance with my Lord's will, as of this moment you are all prisoners of Lord Hiro.” The woman stated, the armored goblins surrounding them beginning to move.
There it is again. Lhikan said to himself, the second time he'd heard the changeling refer to her master as “Hiro”.
“If you resist. You will be killed. If you disobey our Lord’s orders, you will be killed. If you-”
“No! No! No! You can't take him!” Simone cried, the scribe throwing herself over Jesse as the goblins moved in.
“Simone!” Lhikan barked, his skin tingling from the bloodlust radiating off the woman whose skin seemed to visibly wiggle. “Let them take him.”
“But-!”
“That is an order.” Lhikan said, his eyes drawn to the yellow duck atop his assailant's head.
The woman approached Simone, kneeling down, her slender fingers taking a hold of Simone’s chin strap of her gas mask.
“You may rest easy, your friend will know no harm under Lord Hiro’s protection.” The woman said, resting a hand on Jesse's curled up body.
Simone locked eyes with the woman whose pupils reflected no light.
Lhikan frowned, feeling the presence of holy mana in the air.
“Cough! Ugh! AAAAhg!” Jesse let out.
Impossible. Lhikan's mind dulled, his mind telling him that his eyes were lying to him.
“JESSE!” Simone cried, hugging the man who cried out in pain.
“What's? What's going-well, hello beautiful.” Jesse said, eyes wide at the false Maiden of Light. “Who is thi-”
The woman smiled, brandishing rows of sharp teeth
“-Nevermind.” Jesse finished, eyes wide with shock as they gazed at the corpse lying nearby.
“What are you going to do with us?” Lhikan asked as the goblins surrounded them and forced them to move.
“Whatever Lord Hiro deems is necessary.” The Woman replied. “Now move. We won't ask again.”
He walked forward, stepping over Marcus but not before tripping, sprawling in the dirt with his hands moving frantically across the sand.
“Senior!” Simone cried, rushing over and helping him up to his feet.
“Strike One.” The woman replied, Lhikan stopping in front of the woman.
“Please, you have to know that if we're kept down here, our purifiers will run out of power.” Lhikan said. “If that happens we'll become blighted and die.”
The woman cocked her head. Now that Lhikan was face to face with his captor, it suddenly dawned on the old paladin why she looked to familiar!
Lyndis The Skyshot Huntress!
She was a mirror image of the woman, at least, the statue of the Big Six from Lizaria. In fact, now that he was so close, the weapon she held with the tip in the sand had an inscription that read DRAGON SLAYER.
Lhikan's breath caught in his throat.
“We will take care of that.” The woman said.
“Wait!” Lhikan exclaimed, drawing spears that were aimed at him from his captives. “At least, tell me your name. As Commander, I need to know who is in charge of my soldier’s well-being.”
“You are testing my patience, human. You will not gain any intel from me.” The woman said, her skin starting to visibly shift from human pink to crimson red.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
*****
“Are… they going to kill us?” Simone asked, sitting in the darkness of a damp cell with Jesse and Lhikan, the only company they had being a pit in the earth with rows of sharp teeth.
“I don't know.” Lhikan replied, the gears in his mind turning as he stared at his goblin guards through the prison bars made of bone.
Could he escape? No doubt. But could Simone and Jesse? Short answer was no, especially if he had to fight off the False Maiden. Then there was also the Tarantual Monarch and the Tarantual Titan, the two monsters flanking the throne room leading out of these caves.
“Why didn't we fight?” Jesse asked, sitting propped up on a wall tossing pebbles into the pit with one rock being snatched up by a tongue. “Gross.”
“You want to go up against an army with no mana, backup, or clue what we're in be my guest.” Lhikan said, before putting a hand up. The symbol for halt.
Jesse and Simone’s eyes shifted to the paladin, their gaze reading the gestures the man was doing.
*Tipsy is still free.* Lhikan signed, the man speaking inaudibly in a language known only to agents of the Ministry. A language introduced by the Hiro himself to speak to the deaf but adopted by the church at large.
*What's the plan?* Jesse replied.
*We wait. Any day now Commander Danse and his army will breach these walls. When that happens, we'll make our move.*
*And? What is our move? Why did we surrender?*
*Because we'd die.*
*We'll die without mana batteries to recharge our packs!*
*I don't think so. These monsters want us alive.*
*To violate us and cook us!* Simone signed vigorously.
*No. I think the Hiro is alive.*
Simone and Jesse froze.
“Oh, great. You've actually gone senile.” Jesse laughed, resorting in him being punched in the shoulder by Simone. “Ow! Wounded!”
“Have some respect for the Senior!” Simone hissed.
*Or, at least something bearing his name. Maybe his likeness. The woman with the sword. The woman wearing Natalie's clothes, she's a copy of The Skyshot Huntress.*
*Of the big Six?* Jesse replied.
*Yes. And the weapon she's using is-*
“DRAGON SLAYER!” Simone exclaimed, immediately going flush as she recovered from her outburst.
Lhikan turned to the guards at their cell door who remained unmoving.
*Yes.* Lhikan continued. *Something is going on here. Something we need to uncover.*
*No. What we need to do is find this artifact and leave! Especially before our air runs out!* Jesse refuted.
Lhikan sighed.
*We already did.*
Simone and Jesse went wide-eyed.
*WELL? WHERE IS IT?!* Jesse demanded.
*The Rubber Duck.* Lhikan replied.
Silence took the prison cell.
“Ok, maybe you were right.” Simone said to Jesse. “I'm sorry for hitting you.”
“Apology accepted lass.”
*I'm serious.* Lhikan signed.
“Yes. We're aware you're serious sir.” Jesse said before leaning to whisper in Simone's ear. “Well, our chances of survival just hit zero. Wanna make out before we die?”
Simone looked at Jesse with disgust.
“Well, a simple no would suffice.” Jesse shrugged.
“Quiet.” Lhikan ordered, the sound of heavy marching sounding.
With baited breath, Lhikan and th others kept their eyes focused on the door where a green-skinned humanoid woman with scales stood. Well, her torso, her head was obscured by the underhand of the door.
“Hello.” The scales woman slurred awkwardly, crouching down, the tone of her voice monotonous, almost deadpan with the black spots under her eyes contrasting the rest of her body.
The cage opened.
“Follow me.” The woman said, yawning, her fangs on display.
Lhikan and the others did as told.
“Is it wrong that I want to bang her?” Jesse said, causing Simone to furrow her brow.
“I should have let you die jerk!” Simone spat, flustered and walking faster to match pace with Lhikan.
“Excuse me, ma’am.” Lhikan said, attempting to make conversation with the lizard-woman. “But, where are we going?”
The woman grunted, but said nothing.
“Smooth sir.” Jesse commented, earning a glare from Lhikan. “Here, let me handle this. Hello beautiful miss! My name's Jesse, what's yours?”
The woman turned. “You look tasty.”
“Right. Shutting up.” Jesse said, retreating.
“Smooth. You handled that well Jesse.”
“Thank you sir, ya know me, I always aim to please.”
Walking through the smoothly clean and carved caves, it wasn't long before they were brought into the throne room, the massive fourteen foot tall throne seating the false Maiden of Light.
Lhikan eyes shifted left and right, taking in the armored goblins flanking the massive pulsing pillars lining the walls and the two massive tarantuals.
“Still want to try running?” Lhikan whispered, tracking the string of goblins moving in formation carrying the bodies of several dead goblins.
Lhikan and the others observed as the goblins laid out their deceased, putting them into the stone caskets laid out in front of the throne before kneeling.
A goblin in vestments walked into the room, along with hundreds of its breathren, the slow march of the goblins making Simone and Jesse scrunch into themselves.
The goblin in silk robes stood at the foot of the throne beside a statue of a rubber duck as the chamber filled with congregants, flanking Lhikan, Jesse, and Simone.
“Ok, anyone weirded out by this?” Jesse said as the goblins began to chant.
“This!” Simone let out, her alarm bells ringing.
“I feel it to.” Lhikan said, gritting his teeth. “This is a funeral.”
The priest goblin spoke in their goblin language, saying a few illegible words before the caskets were closed and placed into openings lining the walls where they joined other caskets.
A moment of silence past with even Lhikan, Jesse, and Simone bowing their heads, an act which may have saved their lives.
“Welcome, humans. To Lord Hiro's domain.” The woman atop the throne said, her form shifting from Lyndis the Skyshot to a massive blue slime.