Chapter 398

"You heard that, right? Is she serious?" Cedran asked with mild disbelief, "They know we're prisoners, right?" He asked, rattling his chains when he brought a sweaty hand up to scratch his head. His heart pounded in his chest despite his calm air, the failure of his strength, the first such failure of his life, was weighing heavily on his courage, the chains dragging down his will despite his outer bravado.

Alain kept his swallow out of view and instead addressed the speaker, "Come in."

The door opened and to their surprise, a pair of women entered the room. An emerald eyed woman with auburn hair and a steady look in her elven eyes. "Skana, at your service." The woman at the right said with a slight bow and a brief downward look.

"Nua Calen Aiwenor. Very much not at your service." The woman on the left said with icy collected calm and a level look that found each of their eyes in turn without any hint of love, pity, or fear.

Alain kept his cool, his pulse was under control and even unarmed, he had another weapon at his disposal. He gave a congenial smile at them both and gave a gentlemanly bow wholly unsuited to their circumstances, "Forgive me, ladies," he said when he straightened up and with a twinkle in his eye that had charmed off many a dress, "but I don't really understand why you're here or what is supposed to happen. I respect your boldness for coming in on us but… isn't it reckless to enter this room unguarded, we are not exactly guests… but I can promise my comrades won't take advantage of your… situation."

"Who said we're unguarded?" Skana reacted, utterly nonplussed, "My Mistress has lent the Queen of Frost a handful of guards capable of handling you, and they're in the room right now."

"Bullshit!" Heaven and Earth reacted immediately, his eyes reflexively darting around and hands clenching into fists, nor was his response the only one of that sort.

"Ahem." Skana said, and several of the beds behind the Black Scripture members scraped over the stone as they moved several inches.

Heads turned one and all, "It could be a trick…" Divine Chant pointed out, "Magic or-"

"Don't be stupid, human." Nua spat and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "We came in here with you while your paralysis spell was deactivated. Do you think we'd come in unguarded but plying some petty first tier telekinesis spell instead?"

The divine Chain snapped her little mouth shut at the rebuke, a furious red blush on her face that contrasted with the ashen gray on the faces of the other humans.

"So why are you here?" Alain asked, ending the lengthy silence that would have remained uncomfortable even without chains and hidden guards that he, and the others were ramping up their senses to try to find.

It was Skana who answered, "Some of you are coming with me to Nazarick. Some of you are remaining here. First you'll be given a full meal, a short briefing, and then you get to decide who goes and who stays."

"Are we going to be killed?" Alain asked the question on everyone's mind.

"If it were up to me, yes." Nua answered, "But the current elf King pardons your past crimes against elven kind as the result of the last King's actions. I'm only here for… well you'll find that out later." She had a malicious smirk on her face that could only be called cruel, like a serpent that enjoyed the paralyzed fear of a wounded bird.

"But it isn't up to her." Skana added, "If you were going to be killed, that would have happened already. Instead, you could think of this as an opportunity."

"An opportunity for what?" The Third Seat asked, his vicious expression rested as naturally as paint on canvas, his long, drawn face almost hollow at the cheeks, like he was one step removed from death itself, his waif thin body concealed by the loose dark robes he wore, mana practically crackled off of him like lightning beneath the surface of clouds.

"That's up to you." Skana said with a shrug, "Maybe to die. Maybe to find a better life. Maybe to see your Captain married and save your country before it destroys itself. Maybe a lot of things. But opportunity follows the God Who Stayed."

"And if we run the moment the chance comes?" Alain asked.

Nua spat onto the stone floor, her long ears lowered and her eyes narrowed in displeasure. "You'd run and leave your comrades to whatever fate behind you? You really are humanity's champions. How did you ever end up under a man like Raymond."

The scorn was so unfamiliar, so outlandish, that it was as a slap across their collective faces. Elves did not speak that way to humans, let alone the Black. Shocked wide eyes gave way to angry reddened faces, but it was Alain's calmer temperament that noted the way she brought up Raymond.

"You're the one he wrote about, aren't you?" Alain asked, his brief flash of anger buried by something else.

"What are you talking about?" Nua demanded, a hateful glare fixed down on the smaller Alain.

"The book. My Journey to Nowhere. You're the one it was based on." Alain guessed.

"Is that what he called it?" Nua raised a golden eyebrow and against her will a little smile traced over her lips that almost erased the viciousness of her expression and made her light up in spite of herself so that she almost glowed.

"If that's you, yes. I read it." Alain admitted and the heads of his comrades turned to face him.

"What?" Alain asked when he looked back at them, "You know how I am about rules. Tell me not to read something and that's the best way to guarantee that I do. It's all the rage in the underground shops, it's like black dust for the literate."

"I see." Nua said and visibly clamped down on whatever thoughts were whirling behind her luminous blue eyes and her glare toward Alain resumed. "Then we know a great deal more about each other than I like… but then, I did tell him all that." Nua rolled her eyes, "I just never considered I'd be face to face with someone else who knew my… history with your kind."

When Alain's eyes looked away from hers, it was subtle, but she caught it. She took a deep breath and let it out before setting her hands on her hips. "Regardless of all that, this is only a favor I'm doing for the only humans I know who aren't worth less than hen shit on a pump handle." She clapped her hands and an army of footsteps echoed from the hall behind them.

"Your meal. A feast fit for kings. Enjoy it. There's no poison. The Queen of Frost is honoring your Captain's wishes." Skana said and various goblins made their way into the room bearing silver trays steaming with meat laden bowls and plates, though most of the meat was unfamiliar, some of it was as common as goat or cattle.