Riley, The General, Prince Duncan, Mayra, and two halflings with their hands tied stood in the General's office.
"Tell us everything about Titania," Prince Duncan commanded. It had been decided that he take the lead on questioning the creatures, as the son of the purported ruler of Rhone, which had enslaved them.
The two child-sized people stared malevolently at him, silent as the grave.
"What do you want? Your freedom? Titania promised it to you when the curse broke. It is broken, and by rights you are now free." Duncan tried again.
"Ha! It is not you who has the power to free us," said the first.
"Titania is no longer queen. The rule of Rhone falls to me, and I say, you are no longer slaves." The prince grew frustrated.
"It is not by rights of being queen of Rhone that she commands us," the halfling explained, "but by her powers of darkness. She has commanded us since long before Rhone was cursed."
The humans in the room stared uncomprehendingly at the small man.
"Do you not know what it is that has ruled you? Have you no inkling of what enemy you make?" The halflings showed little emotion naturally, and this condescension coming from the mouth of one who appeared to be no more than a child chafed the humans greatly.
"Tell us, please," Mayra urged. "What is your name?"
"Bran." He answered.
"And is this Tom? I have heard of the two of you from Finn." She smiled at them warmly, causing Bran's eyes to narrow.
"Where is Finn?" Tom spoke for the first time. Bran elbowed him, and Tom ducked his head.
"Outside the walls. Maybe in danger, we're not sure," Mayra was clearly providing more information than the men in the room wanted her to, but she gave them a sharp look and waved them off. Riley looked impatient, but knew that his sister had a way with Jimmy. Perhaps her charm would extend to these halflings as well.
The two who were tied up looked slightly uncomfortable at Mayra's statement, and she pressed further.
"We want to help Finn, but we don't really know what we're dealing with. What is this thing we face?" She prompted.
"The Void," Tom began, "enslaved the halflings ages ago, long before Rhone was cursed. Our race had toyed with magic after the Sorcerer's... discipline," He seemed to choose this word carefully, with something akin to resentment. "Our forebears thought to escape his rule by slipping into another world. Unfortunately, the world we found was not the paradise of the Fae. Instead, the artifact used to create the portal was from the Darkness."
"What happened?" Mayra leaned forward.
"The Void, the sole occupant of that world, enslaved us since we would not follow it, and demanded we provide more beings from our world. Eventually, we cursed the Rhone to be trapped there in an attempt to replace ourselves as her slaves. The Void took human form and slowly infiltrated their ranks. Halflings remained slaves in secret, but the humans became loyal subjects. The Void killed the king and replaced him, raising his son as its own, and then repeating it through the generations until it had gained the people's very souls from them."
"That's why their eyes were black?" Riley asked. "And why they turned to color when the curse broke?"
Bran nodded slowly. "Once one begins to follow the Void, their soul is poisoned. Once it truly takes hold, the blackness is visible even through the eyes."
"How do we get rid of it?" Mayra asked, "How do we free you?"
"As long as it has followers that belong in this world, it will be able to come here," Tom replied. "Its magic enslaved us to its will, but now... Something's changed." He shifted and wiggled as if stretching.
"I set up a barrier to nullify magic within Klain. If the Void used magic to enslave you... are you free now??" Mayra's eyebrows rose. She had no idea Finn's plan would have such a side effect.
"You did this?" Tom's eyes widened. He had been quietly wondering when the backlash would come for saying more than the Void had commanded. "That's why I can speak freely?"
"I think it might be. Please tell us all you can so we can get rid of the creature!" Mayra encouraged.
Tom and Bran looked at each other with uncharacteristic emotion. It couldn't quite be called hope, but somewhere between determination and excitement.
"You have to get rid of its subjects," Bran said quickly, "Kill them, convert them, whatever it takes. There can't be a single human obeying that thing. Not a human man, woman, or child. That's what sustains its presence in this world. Before it had the Rhone within its clutches, it was trapped in the Darkness. Once you do that, it will be banished again."
The General stood up straighter and looked meaningfully at Duncan, gesturing for the halflings to be taken from the room while the humans discussed what to do next. The prince sighed as his brows knit together.
"I can get a message out to the laborers, women and children, telling them that the Queen is gone, and that I am Ruler of Rhone now. My aide in your jail should have a crow in his possession that would carry the message. That would rob her of those subjects. The soldiers outside the wall present a greater challenge."
"They will need to abandon her rule or die," The General said regretfully. There had been enough killing, in his opinion. He would like for it to be over. "I would much rather the former, but how do we accomplish that? We are besieged."
"Would it be possible to get out, perhaps a tunnel or around the edges of the walls? If I can go to my men, rally them to me over the Darkness," Prince Duncan began, but the General was shaking his head.
"Many of the tunnels are impassable. The only ones that are clear out of the city lead high into the mountains and would do you no good. We'd starve before you got there."
"We wouldn't starve," Mayra put in reluctantly. "The protection won't last long enough for that to happen."
The men in the room turned to look at her, and she looked at the floor.
"How long?" The General asked.
"It's not certain. This type of thing has not been done in hundreds of years, at least... but the estimates are that it will last between two days and a week."
"It must be nearly dawn now," Riley said, wiping his hand across his exhausted face, "and you finished the barrier just after midday... that gives us barely a day and a half we can depend on to get this done."
"What about the wall?" Prince Duncan asked, "Can I be lowered over it and get to my men?"
"That Thing ordered your men to surround the wall and not let anyone in or out. If they fear her enough, they will obey and kill you. We would lose our best hope of changing their loyalty." The General did not like this plan. Though he welcomed Duncan as an ally, full trust was still a far cry away. Letting the man out of Klain's walls to run free and rally his men did not seem ideal.
"Then what better plan do you suggest?" The Prince turned on him with a measure of impatience. His men's lives were at stake. Perhaps the General would rather exterminate them and eliminate the risk of future attack.
"I am contemplating this," The General said, rubbing his forehead. He had been awake many hours now, and the fatigue was affecting him.
"Can you not contemplate more quickly for the sake of all our lives?" Prince Duncan was used to having to cater to Titania's whims, but he did not care for this General's overcautious approach to saving his men.
"Your Highness, this is difficult for all of us," Mayra touched his arm gently, "I heard of your sudden surrender when the curse broke, and your calls for peace, unity and abandonment of Titania's rule. We want to preserve as many lives as we can. It is worth taking the time to find the best way to do that."
Duncan calmed himself and spared a smile for the young girl. "Are all Klain women like you?" He asked, thinking of the one who must now be his daughter-in-law.
"I'm... unique. And not technically from Klain." Mayra said. "By the way, will you release my mother and younger brothers? They were in one of the villages."
Duncan grimaced, ashamed, "They have already been brought out of the Darkness. I will specify in my missive that they are to be fully freed."
"Thank you," She replied simply. While she was capable of holding a lot of spite in her thin frame, the relief over the release of her family was enough to make her let it go... at least, until this was all over.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Come!" The General ordered.
"Sir," A soldier saluted, a bit out of breath, "The sun has risen,"
"And?" This was not worth interrupting a meeting.
"There is a message, Sir."