Gloria was at first surprised by the sudden outburst and crying, but she could understand. She didn't care about him but she understood; most battle-oriented elves this close to the border had fought in battles and had lost friends and families. She knew it would take a bit of time to process things and she wanted to wait a bit but
*Slam
The door suddenly swung open with force and an elf with four guards came in. The sudden sound alarmed Ango and snapped him out of his memories. Gloria turned her head to see who had entered but when she recognized the elf she immediately stood up and bowed towards the figure and moved aside.
'What is happening? Who is she' thought Ango. If before he was afraid of the elves, now he hated them; He had seen his family die before him and had nothing else to lose so he did not stand up and bow like Gloria.
"I am Vallis Folium, daughter of Lord Arbor Folium" the elf declared.
'It's her!!! The demon all the servants try to avoid, why is she here??'
She waited a bit but she didn't see any sign of Ango getting up.
"Why aren't you on your knees slave?"
Ango chuckled dryly and answered "Hehe, all humans must be exterminated according to the orders of the king, I'm already a walking corpse, why would I"
There was a sort of hollowness to his words, it was already clear to him that he would die regardless of what he did or said.
She seemed like she was looking at an idiot "the king? It was my father who ordered the extermination, he is a lord not the king"
Ango just smirked silently and didn't say anything which annoyed lady Vallis to no end.
"Quite a cocky slave" she remarked and started imagining what she would do to him but she quickly remembered she was here for something else.
The look in Vallis's eyes creeped Ango out but he was mentally exhausted and couldn't care that much.
"I'll discipline you later, for now, tell me what happened, why was this on you?" she said as she brought the royal medallion out of a pouch on her waist.
'Why does she have it? If I want to tell anyone I should only tell the lord, anyone else might be a traitor, someone from the inside might have told the dwarves about Tallia's journey' Ango had given up on life after his parent's death but wouldn't refuse an opportunity. If he told the girl, he knew he would be killed without getting any sort of reward.
With an uninterested look on his face Ango said "We were attacked by dwarves on the way and everyone besides me was killed, that's it"
"That's it? tell me what happened in detail" rage was building up inside the young daughter of lord Folium.
"That's it. Where is lord Folium?" he answered and asked bluntly, still filled with rage towards the elves.
"Insolent slave, speak. My lord father is not in the palace, I'm in charge of the household while he and my brothers are away" Anger now truly showed on her face, never had she seen a human disrespect her like that.
With her voice rising in intensity he added "And you believe you can see my lord father whenever you want? Know your place slave" she released her magical aura and focused it on him.
Ango could feel the pressure but didn't answer, he knew he would die if he said anything.
'She is far weaker than Talia and lord Folium'
The four guards also released their aura and put pressure on him, he was struggling to breathe and his almost healed wounds were opening with blood sipping out of them. But he did not speak nonetheless.
Gloria was still standing on the side doing nothing. She was loyal to the lord, not his daughter but she could easily kill him so she did nothing, not that she cared for the life of a human.
Vallis's angry expression slowly gave way to a sinister smile.
"I see, we get to have some fun then. Guards, take him to the torture chamber" and Ango felt a chill down his spine and he unconsciously shuddered. Lord Folium's daughter was known to have a passion for torturing, among the servants and the guards.
'Someone will tell the lord that I brought back news when he returns, she won't be able to keep this under wrap, I only need to hold on'
Ango Tried to struggle but how could a human body and a wounded one at that, ever compare to four trained elf warriors? His voice died out after less than ten seconds as he was knocked unconscious under their beating and taken to the torture chamber in the palace dungeon.
The city had a prison but there was a dungeon under the palace, reserved for traitors, spies and whomever the lord liked. The lord didn't visit the dungeon often, so it became a playground for the sick-minded Vallis to have her way with those she wanted and since she let the guards have fun, the guards were more loyal to her than the lord.
Vallis looked toward Gloria and with a still smiling face said "I don't need to tell you what you should do no?"
Gloria who knew of lady Vallis's habits and didn't want to face her wrath quickly bowed and said "No my lady, I was never in this room"
Vallis just nodded and didn't spare a second glance toward Gloria and left for the dungeon.
On that day, Hell descended upon Ango's life.
...…..
Upon awakening, Ango would be tortured till near death only to be healed by the torturer's or Vallis's healing magic.
The dungeon's condition was terrible; it was built underground, under the roots of the tree the palace was built inside of. There was no sun, Water droplets continuously leaked from the roof and insects were crawling all over the place. The prisoners, who were usually in their thick wooden cells were fed only one meal a day and were abused whenever lady Vallis, the guards or the torturer liked. There was no escape, the cells were enchanted, they were restrained using special chains that restricted magic, for those who could cast it, which Ango was not a part of.
…..
Drip, drip, drip
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Drip, drip, drip
"aghhhh"
Drip, drip, drip
The only thing that could keep Ango sane was the piercing sound of water drops hitting the hard and coarse wooden floor; Hearing them, counting them and getting lost in that rhythm to escape from that little torture chamber and cell he was in.
His world was one of only pain, water drops, and torture.
Torture
Endless torture, day and night.
He had grown frailer, his skin had turned pale and was cracked in many places and many nails and pieces of flesh were missing. On his face now was a green pair of hollow eyes, brown messy hair reaching his shoulder and cracked lips.
No one except the ones here and Vallis even knew he was alive. The prisoners wouldn't talk to each other not because they were forbidden, no, they just didn't have the will but once in a while they would sing. The song was old, so old that no one knew who had written it, a song known by all slaves and captives, only known by the name of 'Birth of Dolor'. After he was tortured on the first day, when he was in his cell, the prisoners were singing the song.
*Author's note: Read it like Rain of Castamere, from the Game of Thrones series.
[Who are you, the shadows asked
That we must Kneel before
Only a brother of a different soul
That tore away our door
the souls of light and the souls of dark
The shadows fought them all
They were spent and all alone
But they did not succumb
And they arose, they all arose
Those wretched shadows of hate
And now they serve all the lords
That took away their fate]
That day Ango was in terrible condition and could barely mouth the words but he did the best he could.
…
Time had passed and he was still tortured regularly, It wasn't about the information anymore… no .. they extracted that from him 2 years ago, the day he was brought down here. Now it was for the Fun, the joy of hearing him scream.
He should have gone insane a while back but they kept him sane by giving him one of the most terrible tools of torture … Hope. Making him believe that the lord would come and see him or sending someone to fake a prison break. Vallis and the torturer took great pleasure in seeing Ango's face as he realized that there was no hope.
Vallis had told her father about the attack and had explained that Ango had escaped and informed them but had died from his wounds. She had also found out from Ango about the prophecy but she didn't kill him; she wanted to play with him until he died years later, so he could suffer, for he had disrespected her.
When the soldiers searched where the ambush took place, they did not find anybody but they knew it was the dwarves. They searched and found unique markings on the ground and had determined that they belonged to the vehicles used by the Ironclad family of the dwarves; the ones neighboring the Foliums on the other side of the border. It was easy for them to determine since they had been fighting for a long time.
Skirmishes happened between the two kingdoms since a royal was killed which led to a full-scale war. The soldiers believed they were fighting for the borders but the higher-ups knew the truth. The war had been initiated by the dwarves, true, but the elves also wanted it.
The other kingdoms had listened to Fate scribe Solomon, after verifying the matter, and had exterminated the humans which led to a shortage of the workforce; and so they needed slaves, slaves that they would get through war.