When they rode into town, Faldrid couldn't stop himself from smiling despite the situation he was in.
He pushed back the curtain that covered the windows a bit with his head, so that he could get a little peak at the goings-on.
The streets were packed to the brim with people Celebrating Galaris. Bars were lively with lines going out the door. Street performers were almost anywhere you looked. Jugglers, dancers, musicians, and so much more.
Faldrid's eyes widened at the sheer amount of fulgcere he spotted. Their small stature and diamond eyes made them stick out amongst the luxcians who towered over them. Faldrid had seen some in Skotous but not many thought it worth going. It makes sense that many would flock here at the prospects of good money with their stories and songs.
The buildings of Sangai were painted all different colors. It reminded him of almost a rainbow. The only colors that Faldrid didn't see was the color of wood, like the wall before, or black.
As the carriage rode down the packed street, beggars in rags darted out of the crowd and started begging. Faldrid wished he could tell them that they were wasting their time. There was no way that the general had any intention of helping them. Actually he might consider punishing them before even thinking about giving back.
Some luxcian's called out to the carriage with merry greeting and wishing them a happy Galaris.
Faldrid always thought the holiday was weird in a sense. On one hand he thought that celebrating the day itself might be appropriate, but on the other hand he could see why it would be the exact opposite. Then again he guessed he had a part in making the celebration.
Memories from his past flashed through his head, but fortunately this time he was able to control himself.
Some other sights also caught Faldrid's eye. A boy played with a wooden sword with a friend. He held it as if it were the real thing. Luxcian's brought exotic food from vendors that had traveled a long way. A man lifted a little girl on his shoulders so she could see the fulgcere performing.
Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. There was no doubt in Faldrid's mind that some crime would happen on this day, but it still looked so merry and happy; it almost made him envious. It was the same whenever he witnessed any luxcian holiday.
"Well it’s about time I put this on you."
Faldrid looked back at General Amian who was now unfolding what seemed like a small sack out of his pocket,
"What a pity. You seemed to be enjoying yourself watching our customs. I really can't blame you for admiring us."
Faldrid smiled dryly, "That's a little excessive don't you think?"
The general pulled out a sack, which looked to be covered in stains; no doubt from the drink that he spilt while going on his rants. As he put the thing over Faldrid's head Faldrid didn't resist. He knew it would be worthless, and he would only end up making a fool of himself.
General Amian smiled back at him, "It's only a precaution. I wouldn't want anyone to find out who I caught without my permission."
As Faldrid's vision went dark the only thing that remained was a faint smell similar to jasmine, "You are aware the more you abuse that the slower it acts."
"As long as I heal I don't care. I just needed to get better for a guest that might be arriving."
Faldrid shook his head, "You can't really think that they'll come for me. Especially her."
"Why wouldn't she! If you're really who you say you are, which I firmly believe you are, then you should be top priority! Besides you two arrived together in that village."
Faldrid chuckled, "I just wouldn't get your hopes up. You'll only be disappointed."
No one would ever try to save him. Not the him of the present.
"We'll just see about that won't we." General Amian still didn't sound convinced.
The carriage soon started to slow down.
"I know this may be premature, but what is Mortis planning?" General Amian asked.
"Didn't I tell you? I've given up trying to figure out what he's trying to do."
Faldrid could tell the general was deeply irritated by his tone, "That's fine, that's fine. We just have more to talk about later."
Suddenly the carriage stopped entirely, and Faldrid was shoved out of it, face first, onto the ground, "you don't have to be so rough."
Faldrid was ignored as General Amian spoke to someone else, "Thank you for your service driver. They really were quite adequate. I half expected you to get lost in the city, but you actually took me to the right place!"
The voice that responded back sounded as if it was trembling in fear, "That's great sir, but what may you want me to do now. Can I perhaps go join the celebrations?"
"Just leave the carriage, I haven't been to Sangai that much, so it will let me find this dungeon easier."
"Sir with all due respect, what about the vodena?"
Faldrid started to be pushed forward as the general continued, "I don't intend to take too long at the mayor's house, so they should be good for a little while. I'll have the mayor of the city see to their needs."
As Faldrid was continually pushed forward he suddenly heard the loud creak of two doors opening. Shortly after that he felt hard stone under his feet instead of dirt. The air had also become more damp.
Faldrid walked aimlessly, mostly being pushed around by what must have been more people than General Amian. He took many twists and turns as well. With nothing else to do he started to try and memorize it all.
"Left, right, long straight, right, right..."
"What may you be mumbling about, mmm?" General Amian cut him off.
Suddenly he had no desire to say the directions they went out loud, and started to voice them in his head.
Just when Faldrid was thinking that they had been walking for quite a long time, he was shoved into a chair and the sack over his face was snatched off revealing the room and it's inhabitants to him.
The room itself was dark with only a single lamp hung by the doorway. Unlike the wooden houses of the rest of town, the room was made entirely of stone. Faldrid had heard one that wood wasn't very practical for luxcian prisoners, who were talented with the blessing of light.
By the doorway there were two luxcian guards with orange vest and spears. Across from the table that Faldrid now sat at General Amian glanced at him teeming with anticipation
The only thing else in the room was a single chair on the other side of the table, and what looked like leather straps on the table itself. Faldrid didn't have to think too hard as to what their purpose may be.
Faldrid suddenly felt something fidgeting with the shackles around his wrist. There must have been another guard behind him, though he knew better than to look back behind him. He shortly felt the weight on his arms fall away with the sound of metal on stone that rang throughout the small room.
The guard behind came around so that Faldrid could see him. The light of the lamp reflected off his scale armor. One of General Amian's men. Faldrid suddenly found himself thinking about how similar the guards of Lucel looked to actual soldiers. Maybe they were veterans?
The guard from Lucel then strapped Faldrid's hands into the leather straps on the table in front of him.
Faldrid frowned, "There's no need to make them so tight. I'm not going anywhere." The guard ignored him, continuing to tighten the strap until it hurt, and Faldrid couldn't move his arms an inch.
General Amian slammed his hands onto the table and peered into Faldrid's eyes, "I can hardly wait Faldrid, can you?! I apologize as I must keep you waiting a little longer as I have some other business to see to. But I assure you it won't take long." The general voice lowered so that only Faldrid could hear him, "You don't have anything you want to get off your chest before then do you?"
Faldrid's face remained unchanging as he looked back into General Amian's dark star eyes.
The general shrugged, "So be it. More fun for me then."
General Amian turned back to the door, grabbing the lamp that hung by it, "Hopefully I meet that Hand while I'm out," He said dreamily.
Faldrid shook his head, "Didn't I tell you that she wouldn't come for me."
The general looked back at Faldrid with a deadly smirk, "There's still a chance isn't there."
As General Amian walked out of the room with the only light source the two orange vested guards followed him and then they were followed by the general's man.
Faldrid smiled. It looked as if there was some distrust among them.
As Faldrid sat in the dark room, with not even a glimmer of light, his eyes slowly adjusted. The tenebrage's eyes were more accustomed to the dark, so Faldrid could now see the vague outlines of the things in the room that would have been lost to the normal eye, especially a luxcian's.
Faldrid just sighed to himself. How was he going to get out of this? Could he even? Maybe he would be better off just telling Amian what he knows. At least then he won't have to go through all the "fun" things that the madman had in store.
Faldrid shook his head once more, there was no way he could do something like that. A while ago he would have chosen to do that in a heartbeat, and then get his revenge on the luxcian in question later. It was the type of mindsets that thought sacrifices were necessary for his safety. It was a belief based off his pride and also the fact that he didn't care about the people it hurt. It was just a number to him anyway. Now though it wasn't even an option for him.
Well maybe he could let some things slip. He smiled at the thought. He wasn't going to change overnight. Though hopefully in time he takes these emerging thoughts fully to heart. He wondered if it would happen naturally, or would he need something to happen to make it a reality?
Faldrid pondered these thoughts as he was left alone in the dark. He didn't know how much time had passed but soon the door opened.
"You really don't waste any time do you..." Faldrid paused, getting a look at the orange vest of the man, "Oh...who might you be?"
The man ignored him and closed the door behind him. Faldrid could see the man breath heavily as if he was firming his resolve just before a light emerged in his hand.
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At the sight of the new source of light Faldrid was mildly blinded for a few seconds. As his eyes recovered, the man in the orange vest sat across from him.
He was deeply tanned with a strong chin and baggy eyes. His golden hair was also cut short.
The man studied Faldrid for a bit, because he couldn't do anything else Faldrid matched his gaze.
"I would like to ask you a few questions." The man asked, still studying Faldrid.
Faldrid just smiled wryly back at him, "First you need to get these straps off of me. They're really starting to hurt. At this rate I might lose feeling in my hands."
"Who are you?" The man asked, ignoring him.
This time Faldrid definitely didn't want to answer that question, this time out of the desire not to die in this cell. He had lucked out on General Amian, in that he wasn't killed on the spot, but some might have other plans. That was if they even knew his name. Frankly he didn't really have the upper hand at the moment, so he didn't want to lose what ground he had left.
"Just a Nocturnal. Why would you ask?"
The man furrowed his brow at the answer, "Dilem Amian wouldn't go through the effort of catching, "just a nocturnal." The man's tone told Faldrid that he still wanted an answer.
"I can assure you I am no one special. Though I appreciate your interest."
The man across the table grew irritated as he shined the light in his hand closer to Faldrid's face as if that might give him a clue to his identity. After a moment he sat back in his chair, which Faldrid was thankful for. That light really was blinding.
The man's tone became more relaxed, no doubt in an effort to gain Faldrid's favor, "If you won't tell me who you are, than tell me what Amian wants with you. Do you hold some type of valuable information? Were you a spy that found out a secret of one of the luxcian noble houses? Is he using you to blackmail others? Maybe something like that?"
Faldrid frowned. This was the one part of luxcian society he was glad he had forgotten about, but also the most important. He would often use it to his advantage in his plans, but after Mortis put him on somewhat of a leash, he had almost no opportunities to take advantage of it.
It was just the politics of it all. Everything a person of the higher class did was held under extreme scrutiny. Lords competed for power and land. To Faldrid it all really seemed to be exhausting. Though years ago he had fun playing with it.
The fact that General Amian had taken a single tenebrage prisoner was likely to make others in powerful positions feel suspicious or even threatened.
The only thing that he wanted to know was how word spread so fast. There was no way that the news had spread to a lord himself. No, the man in front of him must be taking the initiative. That in itself was admirable.
"What a good servant you are. Talking to me without even an order from your master. Though I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you're not going to have anything to report back to him, whoever he is."
The man shook his head, "You must really hate Amian. I can give you the opportunity to ruin him, and get out of this cell with more riches than you can ever imagine. My master is a powerful man. He can meet anyone of your request."
Faldrid was amused to say the least, "All the lords think they are more powerful than they really are," The deranged face of Dilem during their first fight flew through his mind, and he chuckled a bit, "How brazen you are making promises like that without your masters consent. Besides I fear that general more than whoever your master is. I advise that you do too, if you want to keep your head."
The man across from him seemed taken aback, "Your arrogant for a lowly little tenebrage, aren't you!? Dilem Amian is a fool. He lacks vision. It is only a matter of time until one of the lords takes care of him," the man's look darkened, "Besides you shouldn't take my master so lightly..."
Faldrid shrugged, but it felt as if he almost ripped his arms off with them strapped to the table, "Still you shouldn't take General Amian lightly either."
"Why should I!? My master will change Lysets for the better. What will Amian do? He'll just bring blood shed wherever he goes. He is an ungrateful pest who lacks respect for those higher than him. So tell me why should I think anymore of him?"
"For one of his daughters."
Faldrid could hear an audible gulp, but then the man started to try and laugh it off, "Don't try and use a rumor as an excuse. Amian just talks about them to threaten others. All the lords know this, my master included."
"Your master is a fool."
Faldrid couldn't believe where the conversation had gone. He knew for certain that the man would never say those insults to General Amian's face, and he felt a strange obligation to put him in his place.
The man clenched his teeth and reached out towards Faldrid with his hand, "I've tried to give you a chance but you just wouldn't listen. You are the fool. Now you give me no choice. Sorry if I make a mess up there, I haven't practiced much."
Faldrid started to feel a ticklish sensation at the back of his mind, but he could feel that it would soon become much more than that.
Just before Faldrid could protest a creak rang throughout the small room. The man spun around in a panic to see who had opened the door, but there was no one.
The man examined the doorway, perplexed, "What..."
Suddenly a shadow pounced out of the darkness onto the man, sending him and his chair flying. The shadow brought the man to the stone floor and rolled off him with ease.
Faldrid's eyes once again adjusted to the change in light of the room, and still it was difficult to make out the shadow in it's black cloak. What he could tell was that it was small with two short blades, maybe knives.
The voice sounded younger than he expected, "Your Faldrid right?"
"Yes...and you are?"
The small figure seemed to flinch at the question for some reason, "I'm Kagi. I came here with Umbren and Thestra. Sorry to make you wait. I know you've been expecting us, I hope we're not too late."
"Of course and you're actually just in time," Faldrid lied about the first part.
The man that was just about to look through Faldrid's mind started to choke on his own blood, and it sent a shudder through Kagi's body.
"Umbren…wasn't he that other survivor? Were you the two in Lucel."
Kagi nodded proudly, "Yep."
"I would like to ask why, but where is Umbren now."
"He stayed a little bit behind to look out for any more guards."
Faldrid put a finger to his chin, "Now that I think about it, it must have been very hard to get here unseen."
Kagi chuckled awkwardly as if she heard a joke only she understood, "It was actually sort of easy. For me at least," She paused for a split second but it was noticeable, "But that's to be expected, I can't speak for Umbren though. We were going to try and get to you sooner, but Thestra said we should wait till it was almost nightfall to come get you. Luckily for you, me, and Umbren, we convinced her to come get you at dusk, but even after that she wasn’t in much of a rush to get here. She said something about the celebration being the most intense at night. I don't know what she meant, but she must have been right. It's already dusk and we were able to get here without too much trouble."
Faldrid nodded as if irritated, "That's great and all but can you by any chance get these things off of me?"
Kagi gave a start as she saw the leather straps that bonded Faldrid to the table with the little light coming from the open door, "Sorry, right away."
After Kagi took what seemed to be way too long fiddling with the straps trying to figure out how to free Faldrid, she finally managed it.
Once his hands were finally free Faldrid had tried to massage them but he found that both his hands were asleep from the lack of blood flow.
As Faldrid followed Kagi out of the room into the illuminated hallway he finally got a good look at her. He thought she sounded young but she was surprisingly young, especially to be wearing a black cloak. She was also quite small with twintails.
"Hey, are you sure you're a Hand?" He doubted someone like her was a Hound.
Kagi smiled dryly, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Before he could answer they came upon a left turn. Faldrid dismissed it as he recalled that they would have to take a right turn to get out but Kagi came to stop. She looked down the hallway, then back down the passageway. She finally went past the turn, but then abruptly turned around and examined the left turn again.
"What's wrong mistress, are you lost?" Faldrid said jokingly
Kagi's face went red.
"You got to be kidding me," Faldrid walked past her, "It's this way. Really, they covered my head with a sack and I still no my way around better than you do."
"Hey! Don't talk to..."
"Besides where's Umbren? Didn't you say that he was keeping watch." Faldrid looked back at Kagi and found her biting her lip in frustration.
"We sort of split up." She said quietly
"Split up? Did you think that you would find me faster? I still don't understand how he could be keeping watch."
Kagi's voice lowered to almost a mumble, "No we just lost each other while searching for you."
"Lost each other!?"
Kagi put a finger to her lips, "Quiet they might hear you."
Faldrid shook his head as they took a right turn, "Even if they did, if it's already dusk Mortis should act soon so I don't think we have to worry too much."
"Oh! Do you know what Lord Mortis is planning on doing?"
Faldrid led Kagi down another turn, "No, but he's going to do something. I know that for sure."
Kagi didn't look impressed, "Well that's pretty vague. Aren't we all doing 'something'?"
Faldrid just grimaced at Kagi's comment as they walked down the hall. It was made of the same smooth stone as Faldrid's own cell, but the halls themselves were much more lively with murals of historical events; some Faldrid was rather intrigued by and some that he would rather forget. The walls were also littered with banners of a hand holding out the sun.
Lighting the halls were podiums that held stones that emitted a bright light. Faldrid was always intrigued by the stones but he had never found out how they were made. If they were even made at all. As they made their way through whatever building they were in, Faldrid found that Kagi was telling the truth.
There were barely any guards in sight. They had to hide from some here and there, but it wasn't much of a challenge. Though for some reason Kagi tried to make a competition of it and would try to beat Faldrid in getting past whatever guard was blocking their way.
However, Faldrid noticed more guards making a raucous in what he assumed to be their quarters than actually patrolling the halls.
"Hey Faldrid, are we near the exit yet?"
The two turned the corner, "How should I..."
The sight that greeted them was a hooded figure in a black cloak leaning over a body. At first Faldrid thought the figure in question was doing something morally compromising to the body, but he soon noticed that the figure was speaking into the body’s ear. Though whatever was said was lost to Faldrid.
The hooded figure tensed up, and jerked his head up at their arrival. Though after seeing the two he finally relaxed. The face that greeted Faldrid was a familiar one. Thinking back on it he probably thought more about the boy than actually having spoke to him
***
Umbren looked at the dead man with a frown on his face. He was more angry at himself than anything. Why did he let himself get spotted? Was he really so careless? Now he had another's blood on his hands. It could have been avoided. It could have been avoided so easily.
His train of thought went from blaming himself to the dead man on the floor. Why hadn't he just run away? Why did he have to try and attack me? What was the reason for it? If he ran this never would have happened.
Umbren looked down at the man's lifeless starry eyes. Instantly a scene from what felt like an eternity ago flashed in his head, and he nearly vomited then and there, but was able to hold himself back.
He looked back at the man that he had killed with an even deeper frown. His gaze rested on the throwing knife in his throat. When he leaned down to pick it up, another scene went through his head. One of a general uttering a prayer into a dying man's ear.
Umbren didn't know what he prayed for, all he knew is it had something to do with letting the man rest in peace. He didn't remember if he had defined which god he was praying to at the start of it all. Would the prayer just go to Tenebrage then? He guessed that was alright.
As Umbren was consumed by his own thoughts and the prayer, he heard footsteps come up behind him. His mind immediately went to the worst case scenario, though as he caught sight of Kagi and the bald man next to her his worries were put at ease.
"Umbren we finally found you! How could you leave me like that!"
Umbren rose from the body shaking his head in irritation, "Be quiet if you're that loud someone might hear you. Also you're the one that started to sprint away when you started to get bored."
Faldrid looked down at Kagi with a confused expression, "Eh! You did what? How could you get bored in this situation!?"
Kagi pointed at Umbren, "None of that's important. All that matters is we found Umbren. He probably know a faster way out of here."
Umbren sighed, "You can't be serious. You know I have no idea what the fastest way out of here is. Also a little concern for my livelihood would be nice."
Kagi looked back at Faldrid elated, "See Faldrid I'm not the only one that got lost!"
Umbren's eye twitched, "What did you say? Is that all you got out of what I just said?"
Faldrid looked to both of them, "Anyways it's good that we found you Umbren. I see you've been taking care of that new cloak of yours."
He must have been being sarcastic. As Umbren looked over the thing he noticed many tears and not to mention the fresh bloodstains from the man below him.
Faldrid looked as if he remembered something, "Kagi didn't you mention that Mistress Thestra was with you too."
"Hey I think you forgot part of my name," Faldrid didn't seem to care, so she continued, "She's waiting outside just in case something happens."
"Now that I think about it, General Amian should be arriving here any moment now. She should be fine, she didn't have too hard of a time winning last time," The two others flinched as they realized who Faldrid was talking about, "The only thing that really happened was that she was caught off guard once by his power over the mind, but I was able to protect her. I don't think she'll fall for the same trick twice, so she should be fine."
The words "power of the mind," were mimed on Kagi's lips and at the next moment she was running down the hall at full speed, "I'm coming to save you Thestra!"
"Idiot you'll get lost again!" Faldrid called out as he chased her.
Umbren took a moment to process what he just witnessed, but he too ended up chasing both of them, "Be quiet, we can't afford to be swarmed by guards!"