Chapter 37:
Second Chance
The sound of heavy boots on wood woke Silas out of his hazy sleep, and as his blurry eyes were adjusting, he felt a hard tug on his left arm that pulled him off of the bed he had been laying on. The pain in his shoulder made him grunt, and his fierce glare was directed at Captain Laurent, who was dragging him towards the sitting room.
"Where are you taking me now, barbarian?" Silas was unable to move much. His hands had been tied together behind his back after he had fallen unconscious, and his legs were still weak, making it difficult for him to stand upright. Being pulled around by his arm, he felt like his shoulder joint was moving out of place, making him want to grimace.
The captain paid no mind to Silas's struggles and instead gripped his arm harder, tugging his arm, just above his elbow, and pulled him towards the seats. Silas was pushed down into the chair he had fallen asleep in earlier, and he was forced to sit upright in the chair, facing Beau, who was standing tall above him, looking down on the weak elf with a dark gaze and a heavy frown on his face. With his arms crossed at his chest, Captain Laurent opened his mouth and said, "You have something I want. And I have something you want. So, let's make a deal. You tell me who sent you here, and what they plan on doing, and I can get you a lighter punishment." The captain added, in a calmer tone, "If you choose to cooperate, then I will help you."
Silas knitted his brows in visible irritation and confusion, "Where did this come from? I thought you were ready to take me back to the capital to pay for my crimes."
Beau's face contorted as he smirked, reaching into the front pocket of his uniform. Silas watched wearily, as Beau pulled out a necklace with a purple gem hanging heavily on it, twinkling in the dull light of the room. Beau wrapped the rough string of the pendant around his hand as he held the gem close to Silas. His voice was low and deep as he asked, "This is yours, isn't it? I found it around your neck while you were sleeping." His pensive gaze was fixed on Silas's face, reading his every expression.
Silas felt the air in the room tense as he looked at the gem with a blank stare and then back at the captain, "Of course, it's mine." Though Silas's heart was thudding in his chest, he kept his expression calm, as if Beau had placed an ordinary rock in front of his face. Silas knew that lying about his ownership of the necklace would be pointless. Beau knew the answer already to his question.
Beau was testing him.
The captain hummed as he twisted the gem in his fingers, holding it an arm's reach away from Silas's face. Nimbly, the captain moved the gem around in his palm as if he were inspecting a gold coin. The warmth of the gem heated his palm, making Beau curious as to what the gem was, and how the elf had used it. "I've hunted elves for a long time, but I've never seen anything quite like this. What is this gem for? Where'd you get it?" Beau's voice was placid, as if he were asking routine questions.
"It's just a regular necklace." Silas was curt, keeping his words as short as he could to keep himself from saying anything that could implicate him, "Men can wear jewelry too, you know." Beau snorted as he threw his head back, still holding the gem tightly in his grip. While he did this, Silas looked down at his binding, My hands are tied tightly, but if I can get my amulet back, I could change my appearance to loosen the bindings. Then I can use my mana to knock this brute out and escape.
Beau abruptly stopped laughing and looked at Silas, "Goodness, look at your mind turning. I'm sure you think since you've had time to recover your mana, you'll be able to escape." Beau laughed again as he pulled over a chair and sat a few feet away from Silas, mocking him with a knowing smirk, "But didn't I tell you I've hunted elves for a long time? It's almost become a full-time job at this point. And I've learned a lot from the elves I've hunted before you. One," Beau said, holding up his pointer finger, his arms hung lazily over the back of the chair, "Elves die if their mana gets too low. Found that out by accident actually," Beau said with a cruel laugh, "Two," He continued, holding up another finger, "There's certain herbs and flowers that can make using magic difficult for you elves." With that, Silas glanced to his side, where a large vase sat, full of an arrangement of flowers, many of which did weaken elves' use of mana.
That's why I felt strange. Silas thought angrily to himself, chiding himself for not catching it earlier. If I had tried to escape, he probably would have killed me, and I would have had no mana to fight back.
While Silas glared at the vase, Beau pulled the gem back up near his face, looking at it closely as he lightly sniffed the gem.
"I can smell the mana on this item. What is it used for?" Beau poked forward, looking at Silas with a heavy gaze.
Silas looked up at the man with a stiff grimace as he repeated. "The only mana on that item is from me. It's just a pendant. I-" Silas swallowed his spit as he lied through his teeth, "It was a gift from my wife."
Hearing that answer, the captain hummed to himself, looking at the gem more carefully under the light of the room. "Is that so?"
With the captain's gaze moving towards him, Silas adjusted his facial expression as he said, "Yes. It's only a pendant."
"For being a gift from your wife, you seem rather calm about its welfare."
Silas shrugged, trying to keep his tone nonchalant, "It's only a necklace."
"Is that so? Then you wouldn't mind if I tested it a little, would you?" Beau asked, his sharp eyes watching Silas closely, but he did not wait for the elf's reply. Instead, Beau held up the gem in his fingers before he began to apply pressure to the gem. With the ragged edges, it was difficult for him to hold, but soon heavy cracks began to form in the purple gem, and the sound of the gem cracking flooded Silas's ears like waves.
No! Silas's thoughts flew through his mind, almost making him jump up to stop the barbaric man from destroying his only escape. Without the gem, how will I find Meredith? And I won't be able to disguise myself anymore! Silas felt panic quickly building in his chest, but he forced himself to remain cool on the outside, not so much as breaking a single bead of sweat
The more the gem cracked, the darker the color became, until it was a dark purple color, and mana began to spark out of the cracks in the gem, looking like a flickering candle in the captain's hands. Even with the heat of the mana burning out of the gem, the captain continued to apply pressure, occasionally leaning closer to the gem to inspect it closer, until the gem was no longer stable, and after a moment, the mana had been released into the air and soon left the gem, turning it into a dull grey color.
It was extremely difficult for Silas to maintain his expression, but he kept his face flat, digging his fingers into his palms to keep himself grounded. If he were to say anything now, or fight back against the captain, it would be a bigger loss for him than losing the gem.
"Just a pendant, huh?" Beau said mockingly as the mana danced around Beau's head, raising his eyebrow at a scowling Silas, "Now that that's out of the way, some honesty from you would be appreciated." Beau watched Silas's face carefully as he continued, asking, "How were you able to move through the Yursear Kingdom without being found by any Yursinean guards or patrolling troops?"
Silas swallowed, looking reluctant as he said, "I would never sell out my people, captain. If you've been hunting elves as long as you say you have, you of all people should know that elves prioritize loyalty over everything else."
The captain's eyes were piercing, cutting through Silas's flesh and blood to peer directly into his soul, attempting to find what Silas was hiding. Silas could only close his eyes and exhale, letting out the breath he had been holding before he looked back up, challengingly.
"You know you will be tortured and killed if you do not cooperate." The captain said, playing on Silas's desire to live.
Silas maintained his glare, saying in a low voice, "If it's for my people, then I'd gladly give my life."
The captain sighed and got up from his seat, moving only feet away from where Silas was tied to the chair. Crossing his arms, he smiled, looking at Silas with an expression that was almost lax. "Don't worry, we still have plenty of time. And I have ways of making you talk. Have any preferences of which one I should start with?"
Seeing the captain's unwavering gaze on him, Silas fell silent, his expression falling as he looked at the captain.
…
Clarence and Alywin were able to quickly follow the crowd, moving through the wide streets of Cailith towards the Ivory Inn, where a group of nobles and commoners alike were gathered around the luxurious building, many of them looking anxious as they stood, waiting by the entrance. The nobles and commoners being intermingled in such a way was very odd in the Yursear kingdom, with the nobility typically tending to keep their distance from what they considered the "uncouth," but Eva's surprise appearance had shocked everyone in a way that everyone wanted to have a chance to get near her and see her, even if that meant being near "undesirables" to do it.
Within minutes, the buzzing crowd was getting even bigger, so the hotel was forced to quickly act. The intricate front doors of the hotel were opened in a grandiose manner, and an older man in formal attire stepped out, clearing his voice as he did so.
"We will begin by allowing all gentlemen and women with noble status enter first." The more socially unfortunate in the crowd quickly began to protest, but the older man stopped it almost immediately with a sharp glare as the nobles hurried towards the front doors, pulling out their residency tokens, proof of their noble statuses. As hotel staff began to check their tokens and politely hurry the waiting patrons into the largest room in the hotel where Eva would soon be holding her performance, the formally-dressed older man began to chide the antsy crowd, saying, "Hush, all of you. Be grateful Lady Ivana insisted all who wanted to enter be allowed. Without her graciousness towards all of you, you'd be forced to listen from the streets!"
This riled the crowd even more, though they now kept their complaints to mere mumbles, in case they would not be allowed in. It would be a social travesty for even the poorest of citizens to not see the performance of the mysterious Lady Ivana, so no one was willing to take a chance of complaining too loudly, on the off chance their admittance would be denied. Thankfully, within moments, a group of young women, holding baskets of flowers in their arms or on their hips approached the crowd, taking the riled crowd's attention away from the door and onto them as they began to market their bundle of beautiful wild flowers.
"A great gift for that special someone!" One of them cried as the group of flower sellers began to make their way towards the crowd.
"Or a beautiful tribute to the stunning Lady Ivana! Maybe to catch her mysterious gaze!" Another cried. Immediately, the young women were swarmed by people of all ages, wishing to buy flowers for the performance.
As the crowd in front of the door began to migrate towards the group of women, Clarence and Alywin, who had been standing at a distance before this, surveying the crowd, took their chance to slip in with the nobles entering the inn. Showing their fake residency tokens, they were quickly ushered inside the inn and into a large ballroom. The tall ceiling was covered with fabric drapes, hanging down languidly from the pins holding them in place. The seats and tables that would usually be situated in a room such as this were removed, making more room for the exorbitant amount of people they expected to watch this performance. The wood flooring shined brilliantly; however, it would soon be covered completely with all of the bodies that were trying to fit into the room. A flimsy rope fed across the room horizontally. It would soon be used to separate the nobles off from the commoners, but even a child could easily tell the rope would not last long in the rowdy crowd. Oddly enough, the nobles were so excited for Eva's performance, they did not seem to even mind, or notice, the flimsy rope as they excitedly whispered to each other.
As soon as the attendant leaning them in hurried away to bring in more people, Clarence and Alywin took the opportunity to slip out of the busy hall and into the quieter hallway. Alywin looked over at Clarence expectantly while Clarence scanned over the crowded room through the open door as he said, "This won't do. We'll never be able to see him like this."
Alywin leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest as they listened to the loud whispers from inside the ballroom, leaking out from the open doors, "What do you suggest we do then?"
Clarence sighed and rubbed at his tired eyes, "The outside is covered for now, so we should focus on trying to check the nobles inside."
"How do we even know he'll be here?" Alywin asked quietly after glancing around him.
"He will be." Clarence said resolutely, "I can't explain it, but I know it. And he'll most likely be in disguise, but the girls outside should be able to spot him anyway." Alywin raised his eyebrow at this comment, almost challenging Clarence's optimistic view, but Clarence continued, "We should hurry. We don't have much time before this hall fills, and then we'll be at a large disadvantage."
"Lead the way." Alywin said with a shrug, getting up from the wall and holding his arm out, gesturing for Clarence to go first. With a nod, he did. Deeper into the large inn.
...
This chapter is a little shorter than last due to the length of 38! To avoid any awkward cuts, we went with this for now ==; This chapter was a little troll to complete.... Thanks so much to Hunny for fixing this last minute! 人(_ _*)
Thanks for your patience! My wrist is feeling better, thankfully, but still sore when drawing. My job requires me to run around a lot and lift heavy items, so I may be off of drawing until work ends next month ;; When I get some more time off I'll try to write ahead some more and post an extra chapter as a thank you for you guys! It all just depends if Hunny and I have time ( ╥ω╥ )