Freya practically jumped out of her skin as she heard the weak voice cough.
"Who are you" she almost screamed in fright as she turned, simultaneously pulling her dagger.
She had been so focused on escaping the guards, she didn't remember she had jumped into a random room in an unknown place.
She stared at me he scrawny figure that lay on the bed.
All the rooms Freya had entered were quite different than this one.
She was just noticing that. Unlike the previous rooms she entered this one was way too bright.
Light streamed in through the windows behind the bed and the lamps on the ceiling.
There was no imminent threat in The room so Freya withdrew her dagger but she still kept it at Bay, so she could access it immediately if there was an unexpected turn of events.
"Who are you" Freya asked again while keeping her distance.
"My name is Droos" he replied weakly "Who are you?... And how are you here?... Only the soldiers are allowed in here" he replied her with a long pause between each sentence.
"I don't know what I'm doing here either, and the name is Freya. How did you get here?"
"I was brought here" Droos said
"Brought?" Freya asked
"Yes… By the soldiers"
"What is this place?"
"This is Vong 'Shada" *coughs* "a secret base of the Emperor's soldiers".
Freya flinched at the mention of the Emperor.
"Why are the Emperor's soldiers here?" Freya asked.
"Freya is it?" Freya nodded.
"I'm glad you're here" he paused "I guess the good spirits and red my prayers after all"
"What do you mean" asked Freya immediately becoming a little but edgy.
"I've been held here for almost a year and I can't escape because of my state *coughs* In my first months here, they gave me only little food once a day sometimes they were generous enough to get me food twice in a single day and they beat me almost every night.
So even if there was a chance I was too weak to escape, so I prayed to the good spirits to bring someone I could at least tell the things I know. So, if they could at least take down Vong 'Shada"
Droos entered a fit of violent coughs.
Freya saw that the talking was placing a strain on him but she needed the information so badly.
She looked around the room but there was no sign of water, so she dug her hand into her bag and brought out a small flask she kept for her use and offered it to him.
He drank it slowly, she could almost see his chin bone as his Adam apple bobbed up and down to accommodate the water.
"Thank you" Freya nodded to his appreciation
"I've been captured for almost a year now, along with a few other people, the soldiers discarded me saying I was useless but they wouldn't release me.
They kept me locked up, I later discovered that the others were sacrificed for the Emperor.
And some others were used for experiments, used to create weapons"
Droos now spoke a little bit freely and without his incessant coughs, and Freya was grateful for that.
But there were still little pause between his sentences
"During my stay here, I have learnt a lot of things, some which rattled me toy bones and some which left me huddled in a corner shivering until I get the words out of my head."
Freya wanted to ask a question, but decided against it, since this man looked like someone who could drop dead at any moment.
She wanted to make sure she first heard all he had to say.
"From what I've heard, Vong 'Shada is but a small group compared to the Emperor's battalion but Vong 'Shada is quite tough and full of gruesome soldiers.
So it gives me the creeps to think of what his main battalion seems like.
That's why I have been praying for the capitol to discover this place and at least send an army to reduce their forces.
But you're even a lady, I don't know how you got here. And I doubt you could even get out" Droos said with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
This man really thought little of her, she couldn't blame him.
He didn't know she was a part of the Seven. Well she couldn't blame him.
This was a world where the men were mainly the combat type and often dominated in an arsenal of skills and magic class.
"The soldiers also said something about getting a soul stone to please the Emperor and waiting for the right time to attack as the stone in question is in the Capitol"
"The Capitol?" Freya asked. This was a whole lot more than she had bargained for, she had learnt more than she even came for.
Droos cleared his throat to continue 'and he wasn't even done' she thought.
"This place holds up to two thousand of the Emperor's soldiers and the fact that they claim this number is just a minute fraction of the main army still scares me till now.
They also have mages here, who work for the Emperor. They somehow make people into puppets.
The mages also help to make human weapons, I don't know how they do it since I've been confined in this room for most of the time.
But there was a time I went out, I saw people in tubes in a lot of other rooms."
He was right, she had also seen this, thought he thought it was only humans.
"Fuck" Freya cursed inwardly, these were people that could have been taken against their free will.
"If that amount of people storm the Capitol. It's just a matter of time, before it is reduced to rubble."
Freya knew, what he was saying was right in a way, currently the Capitol didn't have the numbers to match two thousand of the Emperor's soldiers.
For all she knew of the seven Amber was not in the Capitol, Marshall could be anywhere in the world right now and Michael… No one usually knows where he is and she was currently in Vong 'Shada.
Leaving just three out of The Seven