The Interogation

In the afternoon. On the deck of the steam ship a woman stood, she had reddish hair and brown eyes. Her hands were completely tied up with a long rope; A God's Stone was also around her neck. There were several sailors around her with knives in their hand. However there was also a man with freckles on his face among them. He slowly approached and grabbed the end of the long rope.

"I am going to ask questions and depending on how many of those questions you answer I will let go of the rope a little bit. As you can see this rope isn't connected to anything. I am the only one holding you right now. After you leave the deck of the ship you will find a spear pierced into the ground on the other side of the harbour. There you can set yourself free from the God's Stone and the rope. Any questions?"

The woman was laughing." Why bother with all this? Isn't it faster if you just threaten my life or force me to do something?"

"What is the most common characteristic of every prisoner?" The man asked with a serious expression on his face.

"Tell me, my child." She said with her motherly tone and smiled.

"At least give it a thought... All of them crave for freedom. Nevertheless A prize is always better than any punishment. You can obtain your freedom easily without any effort and you already see your end goal. I am giving you a motivation. But let's not get into that."

The woman then started laughing even louder." Really... Now that you mention it, I never fought about using other methods... but how can you be sure that the answer I give you is true?" Her motherly tone then changed into cold" Only a desperate person can give you the truthfully answer."

"I just need some answers. It doesn't matter how you answer." He grabbed the back of his head.

"Being blind is worse than being misled."

"Are you sure? This way I can avenge my fallen believers. My children..." After saying that a curious

Expression took over her face and she directly looked into the eyes of the man with freckles.

"Tell me, how can you make sure that I will tell you something useful even if I am lying...

I swear an oath to the deity. "She looked up and put her tied up hand on her chest." that I will answer all your questions if you give me a good explanation."

The man just nodded. "It's not too difficult. If your intentions are hostile, I just have to avoid the places you mentioned because those will hold danger. Everything you recommend must be avoided. Everything else is unknown but I can at least make sure that I won't be caught by your followers."

The woman was surprised." I didn't expect that you would tell me your intentions. Now all of your questions are might be meaningless. You show both sincerity and cunning at the same time.

Such an odd combination... What would happen if I don't tell you anything from now on?"

"Well now you surely believe that what I said about your freedom is true, and time is on my side. The more you are on this ship the more you want to take the given chance. No matter how I look at it. I will get answers from you, without the use of violence."

"What if, I don't want to leave? "She said laughingly.

"Why would you do such a thing? That doesn't make any sense..." said with a confused look on his face.

"I am fascinated by you..." She started giggling. "You really didn't lie to me under the effect... You had no intention to harm me, the Chosen of the Deity. Do you know what this means? Why both of us here? On the same day?"

"No...I honestly don't know, what are you trying to say..."

"Then let me explain it to you. You see, you arrived on the same day as I did with my loyal followers. I came here because I was cornered by the duke and I wanted to rob your ship to have more followers. More armoured ones... I prayed to the deity for a ship to come here with help on its deck and here you are... You did not only show your capabilities but also showed no ill intention to me. All my prayers were heard. You are here because the Deity sent you... How do you explain all this otherwise? Will you just say it's a coincidence? I don't believe so..." she shook her head.

"I am sure I didn't come here because a higher power wanted me to... I came here because my decision led me here. This has nothing to do with your faith!"

"They all say this in the beginning... Then they slowly realise that they were pawns all along... Including me. I am no exception either."

"Then what about your believers... Why would a god not protect his own believers?"

"To show me your ability of course! I would never have recognised it otherwise."

"Enough! I had enough! I decline any sort of cooperation with you, but I won't change my previous offer. So tell me. What is the current state of the Kingdom?"

"They all this in the beginning. You will come around eventually. There is no need for rush. You yourself will see that I was right all along. I am his Chosen after all..."sigh"

"The current state of the Kingdom of the Eternal Winter is... Well chaotic at best. There are no open fights but as you could see, conflict is present. It becomes worse as you move further into Everwinter. There are no clear lines but there are four mayor factions who fight each other for control. These are the following."

"Duke Lionhart the Relentless. He alone controls all of the eastern regions of Everwinter. You have already encountered his men. They all wore their iconic armour. There is a legend behind it I believe It's the legend of the..."

"Focus on reality not on legends. Imaginary enemies can't hurt us, only if we believe their existence."

The Chosen was surprised. "Such a bold statement... You are clearly not from this kingdom. Well you will learn about it eventually. Next are the remains of the Church, the old, new, heretic you name it, there is one in the western regions of the Everwinter."

"Which one is yours?"

"The only true one." She said with a smile. "The Church fell apart when they suffered the great defeat, but if all these fragmented Churches would unite under one banner they would be able to take over all of Everwinter. The third one is the Council of the Seven Sages or just the Council. They control the Central region of the Kingdom including King's City the Capital. However they are quite a mystery. No one really knows their identity and the only suspects are the advisors in the royal court. "

"Lastly we have the Queen of Everwinter... She is an airhead, but an important figure nonetheless. She is the puppet in the puppeteers' hand. They say that one day she woke up and quickly went back to her bed because it was too cold. There are a lot of stories like these. She is the topic of gossip for serfs, nobles, and clergymen. She is also the reason no one respects royal power anymore.

These are all the relevant powers that are fighting for power. However there is more, but I am not sure they are worthy of our attention."

"We are not cooperating..." He then dropped the rope and gestured to the harbour.

"You are free to go; you can find the spear on the other side."

"Aren't you interested in more? Like why is the town empty and why is the duke waging war?"

"I heard enough. I can guess why all those happened... However I need some answers about the other withes in Everwinter. What do you know about them?"

She smiled. "Well it's a secret that is kept by a gold locket behind hidden doors... This means that all of them are in hiding, and they only tell to other witches their current hideout. That includes me. I used their services many times. However they will misunderstand if you want to find them alone, you need another witch to accompany you. Otherwise you will end up dead. "She then went to Machiavelli with her tied hands but still all the sailors with knives rushed at her. He then gestured them to stop, and yelled.

"Don't! She has God's Stone! She can't harm anyone!"

But she did not stop not even for a moment and then stopped right in front of him.

"I will gladly offer my favour to you. My saviour, sent by the deity." She then slightly bowed.

"I don't need you. I certainly don't want to be in your dept., and I don't want you to call me that..."

He replied coldly

She then began laughing hysterically. "You don't understand you will die without my help, this is where our cooperation begins because..."

"I don't need you. Just tell me. Where Is this hideout?"

Her eyes became wide "You must have something. You are indeed a fascinating person..." She then took in a deep breath and said:" Snowsyk Peak, further north of here. There you just have to look for the biggest mansion. Or the one with the most rooms. That is all I can help you with." She then began to walk down from the ship deck but halfway through she stopped and said.

"You can't outrun the will of the deity. Believe me. "She turned around "I tried."