The next thing I remembered was being in a damp cell, rays of light passing where I was lying and straw poking me like tiny spears. I sat up, brushing a couple pieces of straw from my hair, though it didn't matter since it was almost the colour of my hair, and walked to the cell door.
"Is anyone out there?" I called out tentatively. I was too small to see out of the small bars on the door.
"Oliver?" I heard Alys call out.
"Alys?" I replied. "Where are we?"
"The dungeons I think," he replied. "Probably about to be executed,"
"Executed!" I exclaimed. "But what about Elaria and Lydan?"
"Possibly still asleep," he replied. "Or lost. Who knows?"
I paused for a moment. "How long do you think we have?"
It took him a while to respond. I assumed he was looking around. "I don't know. The window is too small for me to see the time,"
"Thanks," I replied, knowing he was trying his best.
There was a long silence, and I attempted to look through the window on the door. By standing on my tiptoes and pulling myself up I could see a little, but it just looked like a hallway with another identical door outside. I assumed it was where Alys was. Since my first investigation gave me nothing, I decided to see if I could look out of the window, but again I was too small and it was too high up for me to see clearly. All I could see was the blue sky with a couple of clouds. I sat back down on the straw, only then noticing some shackles attached to the wall. I poked one, only for it to burn like a hot metal. I let out a hiss of pain, moving away.
"You should be thankful you're not wearing them," Alys told me. "It took a lot of effort to distract them and make them forget about you,"
"Thanks," I replied, letting his words sink in for a while. "What about you? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he told me, but it was an obvious lie.
"Be truthful with me," I said as sternly as I could, which wasn't very sternly.
"Alright, alright," he replied. "I can hardly move,"
"You shouldn't've distracted them," I scolded.
"It was going to happen anyway, it's what they do to the darkened," he told me. "There's just one or two more, nothing too bad,"
"Just one is too bad," I replied. "Let's just hope Elaria and Lydan are close by,"
"Let's,"
There was a long moment of silence. It was tense, I felt as if anything could jump through the door at me, as if anything would too. There were a couple of voices outside the window, I could hear them, and every time they spoke I felt myself tense up in fear.
Eventually, some elves appeared outside the door. I heard them. I didn't quite catch what they were talking about, but I heard witch and darkened. A door opened, it crashed against the wall. I stayed silent, hoping I was able to hear the conversation. I was proud when I could.
"Lydan says you work for the witch?" An elf said.
"What does it mean to you?" Alys retorted.
"What is she planning?" The elf asked, ignoring what he said.
"Why should I tell you?" He asked.
"Be good, and we may think of letting you see your friend again," the elf hissed. "Tell us what you know, and we may let you out for a while,"
"May? I'm not as dumb as I may seem. I know you won't let me out,"
I heard the elf groan. "The Altiorem has made a decision with the Altium. If you help us and tell us what you know and prove that you are trustworthy, he will allow you to help and prolong your execution,"
"Why didn't you just say that?"
"I didn't think I'd have to explain everything,"
"The witch plans to assassinate the Altiorem," Alys began. "I don't know much, but I know she was planning to use your Altium as a piece in her plot. We managed to free her and a friend, so I know she won't be able to use that method. I'm unaware of any other methods, but I know she has an army of dwarves under her control,"
"When was this plan to take place?"
"Today, when they would be most vulnerable,"
"And how does she plan to kill him now?"
"I don't know, she never said much around me, never fully trusted me enough. But if I had to say she'd possibly use her dwarf or do it herself now,"
"What is she capable of?"
"I don't know, she's only ever fought me once, but it shouldn't be too difficult to fight her again,"
"You're going to fight her again? How do we know you're trustworthy?"
"Ask your Altium, I've saved her twice,"
"You kidnapped her,"
"The elven laws?"
I heard the elf let out another groan. There were a few clinks of chains, and some footsteps.
"What about him?" I heard Alys ask. "Is he requested too?"
The door slammed open. An elf walked in, roughly grabbing my arm and dragging me into a standing position.
"I'll take that as a yes," Alys mumbled.
"You two better keep quiet, I don't want to hear a word unless you have been spoken to, alright?" The one holding me sneered. We both nodded in response.
The elf dragged me down the hallway by my arm, barely letting me keep up. I had to almost run to keep up. The one with Alys was a little more gentler; he merely pushed him along. I was a little envious. The hallway was sparsely decorated, except for a couple of doors and lights. At the end was a large spiral staircase. We climbed it, passing two other floors and then making it to the top. By then I was worn out by the sheer speed that I had to climb them in. At the top it looked like a dead end, except the wall pulled close to us and slid into the other wall. I was in awe at the makeshift door that the elf had to force me to move, dragging my feet along the floor, not even giving me a chance to walk. The stone floor turned into a plush red carpet, and the wall closed behind us. I assumed we were in a castle of some sort, since the walls were a pearly white and had golden vines and flowers sculpted on the wall. The bottom half jutted out slightly, like a large skirting board with a skirting board. It was just pure white, in contrast with the vines on the top half. A golden rim separated the two. Paintings hung from the vines, and tables and cabinets were put up against the bottom half, stopping just at the golden rim. A few had vases of flowers in them, I didn't quite know what they were, but they faded from gold to white and were extremely beautiful. It was a shame I didn't get to see more of the castle, I was pulled through a large door and into a great hall. The vine pattern extended to the roof this time, wrapping itself around lights and letting the dull glow flow around the room. There were some steps at the end, leading to a raised platform where five thrones sat. The two in the middle were tall and golden, and there were two smaller ones to the left and one smaller one to the right. Sat on the end was Elaria, who ran over to Alys as soon as she saw him.
"Are you alright? Did you get hurt?" She grabbed his cheeks, turning and inspecting his face.
"Elaria, I'm fine, honestly," he picked her hands off his face. "What about you? You were the one to pass out," he moved his hand behind her head, feeling the bottom of her head.
"It's just a bruise," she replied. "It's nothing much,"
The man sat on one of the large thrones coughed loudly. Elaria turned away from Alys and sat back down on one of the smaller thrones, with Lydan stood beside it, leaving one in between her and the elf who coughed. The elf was tall, and had long hair that pooled on the floor that was dark brown. His skin was only a little lighter. His face had many wrinkles on it, and he generally looked old. He was clothed from head to toe in fancy golden clothes. Beside him, on the next golden throne, was an old woman who I assumed was the Queen and that he was the King. Again, she was clothed in a long golden dress, with long sleeves and ends that were even longer. She was a little paler than the King, and her hair was almost the same colour. On the small throne beside her was a young boy, six at least, with long hair and again in gold, except he had many flowers tucked into everywhere he could. His skin and hair almost matched the Queen's. He looked at Alys with a little bit of fear in his eyes.
"So this is the darkened and the human?" The King stood up. "It's been a while since I've seen such young faces, it'd be a shame to execute you,"
"We agreed you wouldn't execute them," Elaria mumbled.
"I did no such thing," the man hissed back. "I promised not to execute them yet, I can still execute them later,"
"But-" she cut herself off, sitting up straight "Very well,"
Knowing he won the small battle, he turned back to us with a triumphant smile. "I heard you kidnapped our dear Elaria,"
"I also saved her twice," he replied.
"I haven't been told," he shook his head. "Care to explain?"
"Once breaking her out of the witch's clutches, and again when she attacked," he explained. I saw the elf's face fall.
"I told you he was telling the truth," Elaria mumbled.
"Quiet," he hissed, glaring at her.
"Hycis dear, I think he's innocent," the woman stood up, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He's saved the Altium twice, she's given us the evidence, and Lydan has told us he hasn't lashed out at them, not even once,"
"That doesn't mean he's innocent," Hycis replied.
"As much as I hate to say it, he's done nothing but help us," Lydan admitted. "I don't like the idea either, but just for today I say you let him help us to defeat her,"
Hycis looked him up and down with distaste. "I suppose it will do. But tomorrow comes, and he will no longer be alive, you hear me?"
"No!" Elaria stood up. "You kill him, you kill me!"
Hycis glared at her. "What are you going to do?"
"I," she paused. "Execute myself!"
"Lydan, make sure she doesn't," he turned back to face us both.
"Yes, Altiorem," he nodded.
"Lydan!" She turned to him. "You're just going to let him be executed?"
"Altiorem's orders," he replied.
Elaria sat down in a huff, crossing her arms and biting her bottom lip. I saw tears brimming on the edge of her eyes, and couldn't help but feel sorrow too. It soon turned into fear as Hycis stared at me.
"And what of him?" He turned his nose up at me.
"He's a guardian, you can't kill him," Elaria's voice shook as she talked. Hycis turned to her, and Lydan nodded in confirmation. I saw Hycis roll his eyes.
"Very well. He stays alive,"
Elaria gave me a faint smile, most likely to distract herself and what was going to happen tomorrow. Hycis turned to Lydan.
"What time does the ritual begin?" He asked.
"In about fifteen minutes," Lydan replied. Hycis turned away and nodded.
"You should get outside and ready," Hycis said.
Elaria practically ran out of the room, with Lydan close in tow. The Queen and the child left, accompanied by the guards who brought us here. I followed, and so did Alys. I rounded a corner, and I heard Hycis speak.
"What are you doing here?"
"Making sure she doesn't succeed," Alys seemed to have changed again, since his words were very harsh. "Consider it a blessing,"
I decided to hide around the corner and listen.
"You should be dead,"
"So should you, but I've decided to be courteous and stop that from happening,"
I heard Hycis groan. "I will get rid of you, darkened,"
"Your plan won't work," Alys said, and I heard his footsteps begin again. I quickly walked away before he could round the corner and find me.