War Aeternus 2: Sacrifices Page 11

  “What’s . . . What’s going on?” Lee sat up in bed while trying to figure out what Ethan had spotted. He swapped his vision over to the rodent’s and was greeted by the sight of at least twenty Firbolg and Leprechaun guards making their way toward the rooms they occupied. They were dressed in studded, black leather armor with short swords and bucklers, and they reminded Lee of a discount version of a Roman legion that couldn’t afford proper tower shields and had settled for whatever they could find instead.

  Are you sure they’re here for me? Lee asked, studying the mouse’s view. The question was answered a moment later when they stopped right in front of his door.

  “This that cledor’s room?” they asked.

  One of the Leprechauns from the front desk snaked past them and into view. “Yeah, he’s in there with a woman,” the Leprechaun said before handing the man an almost comically-large ring of keys. “Please be quiet with the arrest though. The other guests are sleeping.”

  Lee looked up at the group of soldiers and then swapped his vision back to his own. He quickly nudged Amber awake and whispered, “Put some clothes on, but don’t make a sound. Quickly. We don’t have much time, so I need you to follow my instructions without question.”

  Amber nodded as she got up and started dressing, equipping her armor one piece at a time. I knew sleeping in the buff would come back to haunt me, Lee thought, as he did the same. He turned to Amber once he had his clothes on, remembering what Miller had said to him earlier. “Look, you know how to work an inventory,” he stated quietly.

  She nodded.

  “Good, take this and put it all in yours. They’re coming for me and me only. It’s the town guards, so I don’t think I’ll be in any immediate danger, but it’ll be best if none of this is on me. I don’t know what they’ll try and keep. They might search you since you’re here in the room with me, so split it up between Ling and Miller at the first chance you get, okay?” Lee ran through the instructions as he cycled his entire inventory over to Amber. After it was done, he swapped back to Ethan’s eyes and watched the guard as he fiddled with the ring of keys.

  “Amber,” Lee spoke softly, reaching out and caressing her face.

  Since they were in a room without a window, there were only two real options. One was to exit that door and fight his way out of the Hunter’s Guild, but at that point, he’d probably never be able to step foot in the town again. He’d be blacklisted at best and hunted down like a dog by bounty collectors at worst. The second choice was the only reasonable one, but it was still grating and bad: to turn himself in peacefully. It was the only way that he could hide Amber and shield the group. There was still the hope that they’d figure out what was going on and spring him from jail in due time too if that became necessary. He had just handed Amber a ridiculous amount of money, so he had a little faith that she’d be able to bribe the right person, grease the right palm and get him free. That plan gave a lot better odds than trying to fight twenty well-armed and trained soldiers to the death in a narrow hallway after being caught unprepared with his pants down.

  “Yes?” she asked after Lee had gone quiet for a moment.

  “Hide. Under the bed, somewhere--it doesn’t matter. I’m going to turn myself in. Let Miller know what happened. Save me this time,” he said with a wry smile. I get to be the damsel this time.

  Amber bit her lip but then nodded and crawled under the bed, placing a pillow on each side of her so that she wouldn’t be visible without someone removing what looked like clutter that had been shoved underneath.

  With her hidden, Lee got up and walked to the door. “Can I help you gentlemen with anything?” he asked as he opened it.

  All of the guards looked a little surprised that he had heard them, but the closest guard to the door, a tall, red-haired Firbolg female that even Lee had to admit looked amazing in her leather outfit, just reached out and grabbed him. “You the uppity rat who has been killing off honest people? Acting all high and mighty like you’re better than them? The same upstart, cledor rat who has been undercutting the Berlong brewers by peddling your swill?”

  “I don’t think I’ve killed anyone who hasn’t--”

  Lee couldn’t even finish his sentence before a hand struck him across the face. It was so rough that Lee was surprised it hadn’t done damage. “If I wanted to hear from one of this town’s swine, I would have told you to squeal. You answer my questions with either a ‘yes’, a ‘no,’ or an apology for your incompetence and inability, you little worm!” The woman was carrying on and shouting at him as if she were a drill sergeant in a Hollywood film. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” Lee responded.

  “Now, answer the question: Are you the party responsible for murdering good citizens within the city limits?”

  His gut told him that it’d be the same as going to a trial and pleading guilty if he confessed, so he had to deny it. Every bone in his body told him that she only wanted a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ so that he’d never have the opportunity to explain what had actually happened. Then, it would be treated as an admission of guilt in whatever court of law this city had, and it’d be an open-and-shut case. They didn’t have DNA testing, and they probably didn’t have trial by a jury of peers, so it was likely that getting quick confessions was their way of handling criminals.

  The other problem was that if he said no, he needed an explanation. Wait, this language . . . it’s not English. It’s just me hearing and saying it as English. The translator is picking ‘murder’ instead of ‘kill’ for a reason. If we’re being strict about definitions, then I didn’t murder anyone. Even in this world, no one considers a self-defense kill to be murder. What are these guys playing at?

  “No,” he said.

  Another slap hit his other cheek. “Don’t lie to me. Weren’t you just about to confess a moment ago? We have witnesses who say you went into the alley where they were. They didn’t come out with you, and they weren’t found in the alley.”

  And you know they followed us in there to kill us, don’t you? I get it now. Ling was right: We should have just killed the guard. Lee gritted his teeth but didn’t say anything.

  “Go on, confess. Tell me you murdered citizens of this town so that you don’t waste any more of our time!” Her already too-loud-for-indoors voice was starting to reach the point where Lee really wanted to put a finger in each ear and turn his head to avoid potential spittle.

  “No.” Lee repeated himself and closed his eyes as he knew what was coming next.

  Sure enough, the slap hit him square in the chin, nearly lifting his body off the ground with its force. For a woman who looked more akin to a cartoon princess than a medieval knight, she packed one hell of a wallop.

  “I’m being nice, and that’s more than your kind deserves. Why don’t you save me the damn effort and come clean! Tell me what I want to hear so that I can make both of our lives a lot easier! Or else! You have no idea what’s coming next!” she yelled. Lee could see a few of the other guards behind her starting to snicker, and a few were clearly trying to repress cackles.

  “No,” he answered firmly. He had been beaten continuously by poor decisions in fights, Ling’s well-placed attacks during training, and Miller’s inability to control his strength when patting him on the back. There was no way that he was about to break from a verbal lashing.

  “Fine. Have it your way, but don’t tell me I didn’t warn you, and don’t think you’ll get a chance at leniency again. I was just going to use you as a toy if you had been an obedient little dog and just told me what I wanted to hear, have you do the occasional chore and whip you when I’m bored, but since my kindness isn’t good enough for you . . .” Her face twisted around in disgust and she growled, “Drag this filthy rat down to the dungeon. Beat him if you like. He’s got a busy day ahead of him.”

  This is all a complete farce. What kind of justice system is this? You’re punishing me for telling you I don’t need to be punished? Don’t I get a say in this? Shouldn’t
I at least get to face my accuser? Lee’s urge to reach up and smack this woman was compounding by the minute, but he couldn’t do anything about it. Four men stepped forward, pushed him to the floor and placed shackles around his wrists. He received more than a few kicks as he tried to stand up, taking nearly twenty points of damage just from the small effort. They dragged him back to his feet after they got their kicks in, punching him in the gut one last time before yanking on his chains to pull him forward.

  “That’s right, cledor rat. Come along now.” One of the guards jerked the chain shackling Lee, forcing him to stumble forward after the sudden yank.

  “Don’t bother talking to an animal,” the Firbolg Captain cautioned as the guards passed her by, dragging Lee in tow. “It obviously can’t understand our good intentions.”

  Lee winced when another guard hit him and did his best to not lose his cool as he was dragged out of the building in shackles just like the animal they were making him out to be. He knew that it wouldn’t help if he overreacted, and his only solace was that they hadn’t bothered to check the room after he walked outside to meet them. If they were treating him this badly, if they had been ready to imprison him from the start without giving him so much as a chance to defend himself, then there was no telling whether or not they’d rope in a girl he was with too.

  He was keenly aware of all the people watching him as he was dragged outside. The Firbolgs and Leprechauns alike seemed rather happy--a few even occasionally raising mugs to the guards when they yanked his chain--but the Humans’ reactions were much less jovial. They turned their heads away, and the few who maintained eye contact stared at him lifelessly as if what they were seeing was an unavoidable and expected everyday occurrence. Lee’s eyes fell on one man in particular that held his interest: the same gentleman he had seen at the grocer who had insisted on buying all of Lee’s ingredients for him.

  -----

  After parading him through what must have been a two-mile scenic route through the city, they finally arrived at the prison. Unlike the rest of the town, which was by and large constructed from red brick, the prison was built from large, grey stones. It was completely surrounded by guards, many of whom were on patrol, and all were dressed in black leather uniforms with gold-colored etchings that were almost identical to those the guards behind him wore.

  The guards marched him inside and brought him to an unceremonious stop in front of a large information-booth-looking structure. There were three in total, and there were guards behind each, processing prisoners as they were escorted through.

  An old Human man sat behind the stone kiosk to which Lee was taken. He was the only Human in the entire room aside from Lee, and he stood out like a sore thumb. That, combined with the fact that he was the only person over the age of forty and that he had a beard which was so long it could have been wrapped around his waist and used for a belt, made him an anomaly. All of Lee’s problems lately seemed to have stemmed from Firbolgs and Leprechauns, and it made him uncomfortable to realize that only he and this old man were Human.

  “He was arrested for murdering six Firbolgs by himself--single-handedly--while even his group watched on in horror. We didn’t know what he was capable of, so we decided not to take any chances,” the woman who had berated him spat angrily.

  “I murdered no one.” Lee was quick to speak out and correct her, but as soon as he did, he was struck again. Yay, another 3 hit points gone! Over the course of the journey, he had dropped from 270 hit points when he first opened the door to 209 from the frequent kicks, jabs and other assaults.

  The old man winced when he saw Lee struck. “You shouldn’t talk out of turn,” the old man advised without any of the hateful tone that everyone else used present in his voice. “If you just learn your place now, life will be easier on you.”

  “What happens to me here doesn’t matter,” Lee said defiantly. “It’s what happens in the other world that’s important. If I’m here, doing nothing and accepting this injustice, then who is out there helping others?”

  This was the first time he had spoken in his sleazy, charlatan manner and actually meant it. It didn’t matter what happened to him here. He could always find a way to go back to his world where he could rest, relax, have fun and play games. The way Augustus had explained it to him, Faith was only consumed in the back and forth of the trip. How long he spent there didn’t matter. He could theoretically stay there for all eternity, and it wouldn’t age him. If his understanding of the system was right, he could spend a thousand years there living out a good life without ever losing a day here. What worried him the most was that, if something happened to him here, or if he ended up being some pet toy for some crazy, psychotic, power-tripping guard captain, he didn’t know what would happen to Satterfield. He didn’t know what would become of Ling, Amber, Miller or any of the other companions he had spent time with here. This war of the Heralds seemed ridiculous, and the people involved seemed to be violent, kill-first-ask-questions-later types with no sense of humanity. That was the only reason he needed to make sure he got free somehow: so that he could continue helping people. That was why, regardless of how painful the abuse became, Lee refused to give in and tell them what they wanted.

  “Other world?” The man’s eyebrow raised for a moment. “There is no other world for our kind. Maybe some time will teach you reason, loosen your lips, and make that tongue honest. You’ll understand what’s best for you in time, and then you’ll wish you had listened to them sooner.”

  “That’s right. Listen to the man who knows better. He’s the only one that’s trying to help you out here,” one of the town guards said, punching Lee in the lower back as he did so. “But if you never want to be honest, that’s fine by me.”

  What the hell kind of justice is that?

  “Sir, I’m so sorry, but please don’t be so open about violating our prisoner conduct laws,” the old man said. He wasn’t telling him not to hit Lee, just that he needed to do it somewhere that wasn’t so open and visible. “We have rules for a reason.”

  “Yeah . . . We wouldn’t want him to get away with murder because the arrest wasn’t handled properly,” another young Firbolg chimed in. “We have a duty to record all that happens in this building, and it all makes it to the judge. I may have not seen what occurred just now clearly--there was something in my eyes--but I can’t say that I saw nothing if others saw it happening too.”

  The guard lowered his head. “I understand, sir. Won’t happen again.”

  “Good. Now, take him to . . .” The young Firbolg seemed to have taken over Lee’s processing. “Hmm . . . It seems that both dungeon blocks B and C are close to emptying out. How about we throw him in cell 264C.”

  “But . . .” The old man on the other side looked like he wanted to interject, but his mouth just hung open in shock.

  “Excellent idea, Jenkins! Your wisdom and foresight are absolutely commendable traits!” the guard captain declared. She let out a deep laugh, and other the guards joined in on her unexplained joke.

  This can’t be good. Lee’s previous discomfort only deepened as he saw these twisted beings laughing so hard.

  “I’m sorry, young man. There is nothing I can do for you now.” The old guy sighed and then opened his gate and let the guards through. “I hope you’re right. I hope that there is another world for you.”

  Lee’s panic grew as he was marched down long hallways and constantly deeper into the building. The old man had made it sound as if he had just been transferred from a permanent prison sentence to death row. He knew there was nothing he could do to change anything right away, but as they dragged him down a flight of stairs and through the prison, he had both golems start scouting the area for every tiny detail they could find. He wanted to know everything he could about the prison just in case there was ever an opportunity to escape. He was still holding out hope that Amber or Miler would come up with something from the outside to help him out of this situation, but barring that, he was going to be a
s prepared as possible to make a move if it came up. Unfortunately, he quickly came to the conclusion that the prison was impenetrable. It was dark, dank, and the air holes for the basement level, which he was apparently in, were so small that even Ethan might not be able to worm his way through. And, to make matters worse, the cells were on the sides of long corridors that only had a single exit, which was guarded by at least four guards at all times.

  “What?” Lee asked.

  “Your inventory. Empty it out and give us the contents. We know you have a lot of money, so just hand it over now,” the guard demanded. “We’ve heard all about you swindling local merchants out of their money, so just be a good little rat and hand it over.”

  “What? I don’t have anything in my inventory!” Lee said, refuting the claim.

  The man didn’t bother arguing. He just pulled out a weird stone and handed it to Lee. “Put this in your inventory then,” he pressured.

  Huh? “Why?” Lee asked, looking down at it curiously. He regretted the question as another strike landed across his face. Great, 204 hit points now.

  “You know what it is. It’s an inventory check stone,” the guard spat and then sighed. “Your inventory has to be empty to put this in it. It’s standard procedure. We have to make sure you don’t have any devices, food, clothing or other items that you could use to break out or make your stay more comfortable,” the guard explained as if he were an annoyed airline stewardess showing him where the exits were for the fifteenth time in the same flight. “Just empty your inventory, hand over the gold to us, and we’ll make sure to check it in for you.”