Her hands and feet were bound to a steel table, surrounded by nurses and doctors wearing masks. She tried to scream, but the gag on her mouth silenced her.

"Who put the gag on her? I want to know her responsiveness throughout the procedure." A woman who wore full surgical garments came out of the dark. She had wild, unkempt brown hair, shining brown eyes, and a malicious grin. She wore an armband with an emblem of a human skull inside a lion’s head.

"How are you today, number sixteen?" She said as she prepared a fiendish looking saw with a drill attached. "Ready for our duet?" The doctor personally removed her gag.

She struggled and screamed. She cried, but the doctor smiled as she watched her struggle in vain. The doctor enjoyed listening to her screams and swished and flicked her hands, like a conductor in a concert.

"Turn it on." Tubes attached to her body pumped amber fluid into her arms. She begged for the doctor to stop. She begged to be killed instead, but the doctor watched her with a smile.

"Come now, number sixteen. You want to stop? But your voice is so wonderful."

The doctor took her time to savor her tears. Then she plunged the drill into her chest and her blood spurted out.

"Now sing for me."

=0o0=

She startled awake.

Luna slept in a separate room while everyone else slept in the living room. She checked the clock and found it had been only two hours since both of them went to sleep after they drank. She forgot to drink from the vial Gerwulf gave her days ago, and instantly her nightmares came back with a vengeance. It was four in the morning, so she went downstairs and headed for the balcony.

Baldric was asleep on the couch. While Annie, Elizabeth, and Willow slept together on the carpeted floor, the child used Annie’s arm as a pillow. Luna propped their heads with pillows, covered the three of them with blankets, and quietly went outside.

She stared at the dawn sky and sat by the edge of the pool.

The cold water felt good on her feet, and it made her feel distant from her dreams, like an anchor that held her to reality. When she felt her feet going numb from the cold, she headed back inside and laid on the other couch. She closed her eyes as she silently got out some beads and prayed to the Maker.

Luna woke up when someone knocked on the door. She made her way through everyone to find a bestian and a glorkan worker with their breakfast delivery. She let them in and they quietly delivered the food, and Luna gave them a huge tip.

"Also Miss." The bestian worker handed her an envelope. "A message for you arrived this morning. It is from someone named the Shadowman."

She thanked them, and they quietly left, so as not to disturb everyone. When Luna closed the door, she ripped open the envelope. Inside was an invitation, Solomon was in Zicaster as well and invited them to a lunch at another hotel where he stayed. She was about to go back to the living room to sneak in a few more minutes of sleep when another note slipped under the door.

The note stated that their pass to cross the bridge out of Zicaster was moved from tomorrow to today, and strictly during the late afternoon. Luna saw that the note was written in such lazy handwriting that it felt familiar. She opened the door to see who had slipped the note but found no one. Suddenly, she felt something was wrong.

"Get up." Luna nudged Baldric by the ribs, which caused him to jolt awake. "Our pass got moved from tomorrow to today."

"Wha?" Baldric said as he read the note Luna handed him. "That’s impossible."

"Well, it’s possible." Luna took the note from him. "Which means we need to check out and get everything ready right away. We still need to buy food and supplies before we leave."

"What’s that one?"

“Ah, this is an invitation from Solomon. He is here in Zicaster as well, and he is inviting us all to lunch."

"Why?" Baldric said as he stood up and headed for the breakfast laid out for them.

"It doesn’t say. You want to go?" Luna joined him in the dining room and grabbed a piece of bread.

"Hard pass. I do not need another lecture from him on how to run the emporium. Besides, if we are leaving this afternoon, then I need to get my winnings at the casino." At the same time, Annie, Elizabeth, and Willow joined them at the table.

"Morning, you two slept well. Annie, our travel date has moved forward to today, so do you think you can get maintenance work on the Landraider done before then?"

{No problem. Most of the engine is in great condition, so it won’t even take longer than half an hour.} Annie then grabbed some coffee for herself.

Also, Solomon invited us to lunch. Do you want to go, Annie? Baldric already passed up."

{Pass. There is a boutique that we passed by that I want to check up on before we leave.}

"Alright, well, that just leaves you, Sunny. You want to go with me to have lunch later?"

"Sure!" Elizabeth replied as she ate some frosted doughnuts. "Can Willow come too?"

"Probably not." Baldric said as he grabbed the newspaper and a frosted doughnut. The headline caused him to laugh. It said that there was no significant news for the past day. "Boy, they are not trying to hide news, are they?"

{Don’t worry, I will take Willow with me to the landraider so you can both enjoy the lunch.}

"Thanks Annie. So after breakfast, everyone got ready because we would be checking out soon after. Then we will hit the shops before me and Elizabeth go to Solomon, and when we get back, we are leaving. Everyone fine with that?"

"Yep." Baldric replied as he put down the newspaper. Elizabeth and Annie nodded while Willow climbed onto the table and began to eat the plate of ham and bacon. Oddly enough, no one stopped him.

=0o0=

It was almost noon when they all finished shopping for supplies.

They decided to shop in the Zicaster market square, where it was close to Solomon’s hotel. Baldric left their group first to head to the casino to get his winnings from the night before. Annie rented an automobile and took Willow, along with all their supplies, and they headed for the landraider, which left Luna and Elizabeth. It was only a short distance, so they both decided to walk there while Elizabeth held tightly to her hand.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The hotel Solomon chose wasn’t as luxurious as the one they stayed in, but it was still just as lavish. The lobby was decorated with black marble and gold, which made it hauntingly beautiful. They were escorted to the restaurant named "Oval Salmon," which was in the middle of the high rise.

When they arrived, the restaurant was awfully quiet for this time of the day, with only one worker who manned the door. But Luna knew how Solomon liked his peace and quiet, so she thought nothing of it.

The view from the tall glass windows was amazing. Elizabeth looked from the windows and found it had an incredible view of the downtown area, the neighboring buildings, and the busy streets down below. The worker offered to take her coat, hat, and weapons, but Luna declined. She was going to talk to Solomon to make this lunch quick.

The worker then guided them to a large round table in the middle of the room, where they sat down. As the worker left, Luna had to admit that with only the two of them in the massive restaurant, it felt a bit eerie. Elizabeth, however, looked around with a curious look on her face.

"How come no one is here?"

True, even for Solomon, this seems too quiet. “Yeah, it is a bit scary, isn’t it?"

"I’m not scared."

"Why?"

"Because I’m with you." Elizabeth said it with a smile, and Luna couldn’t help but smile as well when she heard it.

Ah, there they are!" Solomon appeared alone and approached them. He and Luna shook hands. "How come there are only the two of you?"

"This is Zicaster. Of course, everyone will be busy. Also, Solomon, I want you to meet someone. I hope you remember Elizabeth."

"Hello, little miss, I hope you remember me." Elizabeth hid behind Luna, but she nodded.

"She’s a bit shy." Luna said as he put her hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder. "So Solomon, how come you’re here? Shouldn’t you be in Ilkor?"

"No, an important matter came up which needs my personal attention." He then moved to his seat across from them and sat down, so Luna and Elizabeth sat down as well.

"What about Oichi? Is she fine with you leaving her all alone?" Luna expected him to reply, but Solomon didn’t. He had a pensive look on his face while the silence stretched for so long that Luna coughed to break the ice. "Solomon? Everything alright?"

"Of course, pardon me, I was just lost in thought." Solomon gave Luna a smile. "Where are my manners? We came here to have lunch." He snapped his large fingers, and a waiter approached them and gave them menus. "Order anything you want."

Luna felt something was wrong. Solomon was only this quiet when something happened or was about to happen. Elizabeth picked a pasta dish while she only ordered a soup. The waiter bowed, then left.

“Solomon, is something wrong? You’re pretty quiet." Luna pressed. "You do know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

He only looked at Elizabeth.

"No nothing. Don’t worry, I just lost some investment opportunities, is all." Solomon gave her a smile again. Luna trusted him to tell her when he was ready, and so she did not press on. She then continued to talk about other things, like Baldric’s shop and Vhlad’s high business profits, but Solomon only answered with one-line answers.

Soon their food was served to them. As Elizabeth and Luna ate, she saw Solomon had only ordered a bottle of wine for himself.

"So I heard you were quite busy since we last saw each other." He watched them eat.

"Yeah. I am actually in the middle of a contract right now."

"I heard. Asterion contracted you and Baldric to look for the princesses of Braenarim and Aspana."

Luna froze and looked at Solomon.

"Solomon, how did you-" Luna’s vision suddenly blurred and her head felt like it was in a tight vice. Elizabeth fell unconscious and almost fell to the floor, but Luna managed to react quickly and catch her.

"Solomon..." Luna hissed as she struggled to stay awake. "What... the hell is this?!"

Solomon finished his glass of wine but did not rise from his seat. "This would have been much easier if you had just fallen asleep as well."

Luna reached into her pocket for a syringe, which was filled with an amber liquid, and injected herself on her thigh. As she threw away the syringe, the pain suddenly became so bad that it caused Luna to roar in pain. She gritted her teeth and, despite the pain, carried Elizabeth in her arms and backed away as she stumbled. It felt as though there were ants and fire underneath her skin.

"What is this?!"

"I must admit, I underestimated your resistance." Solomon said as he stood up and walked towards them. "But believe me, I do not want it to come to this."

"Stay the hell back!"

Luna distanced herself and Elizabeth from Solomon, who was walking slowly towards them. Her body was still on fire, and her vision spun violently. She could feel cold sweat on her head, but she continued to fight it as best she could.

"Do you have any idea what you have done? You deceived the crown prince of Silvus! You robbed him! Attacked him even! Did you really think that it won’t have any serious consequences?"

"Why... would you care?" Luna gritted her teeth. "It doesn’t involve... you in anyway."

"It does, actually." Solomon approached them again, but Luna scooted back.

"They took her Luna. They took Oichi."

Even through the pain she was suffering through, Luna suddenly felt as though the ground was swept away from her.

Solomon drew something from his pocket. It was a ring box, and he slid it towards her. He did not do anything as he stood there and waited for Luna to open it. Part of her screamed not to do it, but she slowly reached for it and opened the small box. Luna quickly dropped it in horror.

Even through her blurred vision, she knew what she saw.

It was a severed finger with a ring that had a pink diamond. Luna remembered that Oichi proudly showed her the exact same ring after she accepted Solomon’s proposal.

"They took her and mutilated her. And she is with child, Luna, with child. They want the princess in exchange for her."

Luna felt a large variety of emotions, with the dominating ones being shock, fear, and rage. “Why do it like this? We could have talked this out! Planned this out!"

"I know you too well, Lunabeth. I know you would no doubt concoct a plan to save Oichi without surrendering the princess, but we would run out of time. I had planned to take her when both of you were unconscious and she would have been gone before you awoke. Believe me, this was the easiest solution we had."

"This is... easy?" Luna hissed. "Solomon did you even think what would happen to Elizabeth when you handed her over?"

"Luna that is not our concern."

“Solomon! It's Silvus!"

"I do not care about that! I only care about the safety of my wife and child. "

"Solomon trust in me. Stop this and work with me. We can save Oichi together."

"I do trust you, Luna." Luna can feel the sorrow in his tone. "As I trust you now, Hand over the princess so we can save her and we can be done with this. Please."

Her vision returned and she saw that Solomon’s eyes were pleading. Luna looked at Elizabeth, who was still unconscious, and held her tighter.

"I love Oichi and your child, but believe me Solomon, This is not the way to bring them back."

"Luna. This is my final offer. Give me the child." Luna managed to stand and slowly back away.

"After everything Oichi and I have done for you?" His tone changed as he seethed with anger. "This is how you will repay us?!"

"This is not the way Solomon. We cannot save Oichi this way!"

“Why do you care so much for that child when you barely even know her? You have only known her for a few days! Think of everything we have done! What we have been through! Oichi treated you like her own sister! Like her own flesh and blood! We can save her Luna if you just hand over the child!"

Solomon then did something Luna had never seen him do. He kneeled in front of her. A massive mountain of a man knelt before her.

"I’m begging you, Luna! I’m begging you! See reason! They will kill her! They will kill my wife! My child! They are everything to me!”

Luna felt tears streaking down her face. All her life, she looked up to Solomon, admired him not just for his strength to face problems, but for his tenacity as well. And yet here he was on his knees. The man Luna looked up to, the one he considered her bigger brother, begged her. But Luna held Elizabeth tighter, and as tears streaked down her face, she shook her head.

Luna did not know why she could not let go of Elizabeth. Everything Solomon said made sense. She barely knew the child while she knew Solomon her entire life and Oichi was the one she considered as her older sister. Every part of her brain was saying to just surrender Elizabeth, but her heart knew it was wrong.

"No. This is not the way Solomon. I’m sorry, but I can’t. We can find another way."

Solomon would not let her continue as he charged at Luna. Her senses barely recovered, but she managed to dodge. For a man his size, Solomon managed to stay on pace with Luna, who avoided Solomon’s heavy swings.

But she had not fully recovered, and a split second was all it took for him to land a backhanded strike on her, which slammed Luna onto a pillar. She used her body to shield Elizabeth, which meant she took the full force of the swing and the impact.

Solomon charged again, so she did the only logical thing left. She headed straight for the large glass window and used all her strength to smash through. Her large coat deployed and allowed her to glide to a nearby lower building. But her landing was rough as she rolled, using her body as a cushion to shield the child from any impact.

Luna looked up and found Solomon staring down at her from the other building. There was fury, untainted fury directed towards her. Luna, with tears in her eyes, turned and ran with Elizabeth in her arms.