If the darkness had been blinding, the light was moreso by contrast. A door-sized rectangle of bright white light formed, and several people stepped out of it. It dissipated behind them, and the darkness crept back in. This time, a lantern held by one of the people battled valiantly but fleetingly against the darkness.
The darkness was fighting back, licking at the light as if trying to douse it. Roland watched as the lantern swung closer and closer to him, bringing a narrow ring of light closer until he was enveloped in it.
"This is him," A gruff voice announced, "Wolves brought him back from the army." The voice wasn't a whisper, Roland realized with mild surprise.
Roland squinted into the darkness. His vision still had spots obscuring it after the blinding light of a few moments earlier.
"Ah, I see." A feminine voice responded in a normal volume. The lantern came closer, with a face on the other side of it, softly lit by the glow. The woman leaned close over Roland until the lantern was right by his face. It encompassed him in the ring of light as she moved it to look him over. He squirmed as his bare chest was examined by the strange woman.
"Interesting indeed." She leaned away a little, easing his discomfort to a miniscule degree, though the lantern still lit his face for her perusal. "What are you called?"
"Roland," He saw no reason to lie, but as he spoke the word he realized he was no longer practically mute, but could speak almost normally. He blinked in confusion. Did it have to do with the lamp? Were the darkness and silence connected?
An amused smile twisted the woman's face. She was hauntingly beautiful and ageless. Her hair, which was swept into a coronet, was ghostly white, but no wrinkles marred her face. Her eyes were mesmerizing and almost entirely black, as if the Darkness had taken root inside her soul and now peered out of it with sentience. She was tall, slender, and strangely foreboding, despite her beauty. "Welcome, Roland. Will you join our cause?"
"Welcome to where? And what cause, exactly?" Something told him to be cautious as he dealt with the mysterious woman. Gabe had said only the Rhone know how to get out of this place; he couldn't afford to be stranded here, so he should avoid upsetting them if he could.
Her smile grew wider, "The cause of Freedom, of course." He noticed she ignored his first question.
"You tie me up and ask me to fight for the cause of freedom?" Roland tilted his head as he posed the question.
"You were tied long before you came to us. Tell me how you came across this token of our people. Only Rhone wear such a symbol, and your face is strange to me, yet familiar." She squinted closely at him, as if looking for recognition.
"What?" He looked down at the necklace he wore, which she had gestured to as she spoke. The delicately carved leaf gave a soft glow in the darkness. He blinked at it. Had it been glowing this whole time, and he just didn't notice? Was that the reason he was able to see the bite mark on his shoulder?
The woman's face darkened in subdued anger as she looked at him. "Don't play as if you don't know. The wolves would not have brought you back if not for that charm around your neck. If you are meant to be a spy, you are a poor one indeed."
Roland closed his eyes. The words made no sense to his mind. "What is my necklace?" He tried again.
She scoffed, "What is it, indeed. You don't deserve such a trinket." She made as if to take it from his neck but suddenly froze when her fingers touched it and then drew back as if shocked.
"Don't you touch it! It was my mother's," He glared at her. Her eyes widened and she studied him again, looking closely at his face and the necklace, which now felt warm against him. He wasn't sure if she found what she was searching for, but soon she turned away.
"Fine, stay in the darkness until you are ready to speak to your kin. Your pretense is weak but I can feel your soul. You are strong, and you will join us."
"Or...?" He flinched slightly as he asked. Maybe it was a bad question.
"You will join us," She stated. Apparently there was no alternative. With that, the door of light opened again and she left, taking the lamp and the others with her.
Roland breathed steadily. There was always an alternative.
A rustling nearby told him Gabe was making his way back. How loudly was the boy moving that he could be heard at all? He was either quite clumsy in the darkness, which would be understandable, or was making noise on purpose.
"What was that all about?" The boy whispered. Or, probably whispered. For all Roland knew, the boy was screaming.
"I'm not sure." Roland responded, "That was... confusing."
"She talked about your necklace," Gabe said, "Why does it glow? I didn't ask before because I was so happy to talk to someone."
"I honestly hadn't noticed that it did until she said something. It never glowed before." Roland studied the charm. It wasn't the wood itself that glowed, nor was the light uniform. It was the delicately carved veins in the leaf that gave off the faint light. He was sure it hadn't done that before now. "Wait, does no one else here talk to you?"
"There's no noise in the dark. I yelled at you because you were close and I saw your glowy necklace. I thought you might be able to hear."
"Oh." Roland began to put the pieces together in his mind, "So you haven't talked to anyone since you've been in here?" Had the child, and the others for that matter, been isolated in complete darkness and silence for weeks??
"Just Rhone when they come to give us new waterskins and food... She said you're 'kin'," Gabe spoke again, "Doesn't that mean family?"
"You're very bright, Gabe," Roland responded, "Your questions are good, but I don't have good answers. This necklace was my mother's, but I know nothing about it beyond that. I don't even remember her; my aunt gave it to me when I was young. She died, and I never learned much about myself."
Roland was now truly regretting his lack of childhood curiosity. His survival, and his aunt's, was always more important to him than his past. This unexpected source of potential information about his origins was surprising and intriguing, despite the dire circumstance in which he currently found himself.
He knew almost nothing at all about where he was originally from. He had the childhood impression that they had come from far away, perhaps because his aunt did not have intuitive understanding of local customs and culture. He didn't actually have any memories of being outside Klain as a child. Was his mother Rhone? If so, how did he wind up in Klain with his aunt?
The mysterious woman hadn't seemed to recognize his name, so he doubted she knew anything about him personally; it seemed the necklace formed the basis for her assumptions about him.
"My mom died too," Gabe cut into his thoughts. Roland's heart ached for the child. He regretted the self-centered thoughts that had been running through his mind moments earlier. He needed to figure out how to get the people of Finn's village freed instead of focusing on figuring out his past.
"But you have a wonderful sister who loves you very, very much. She's working hard to try to save you." Roland offered by way of consolation.
"She is?" Gabe's whisper was tinged with hope now.
"Yes, she's researching and learning all she can, and Riley joined the army with me to try and fight to set you free." The man figured that, even if they were being listened to, which didn't seem to be the case, that would be little enough information not to help the enemy.
"He's... in the army? To fight the Rhone?" Gabe's voice trembled.
"Yes. Don't worry about him, he's very good," Roland comforted.
"My... Dad had to join the Rhone. Will Riley hurt him?" Gabe seemed on the verge of tears.
"I'm sure Riley won't ever hurt your father on purpose," The reassurance seemed to make the boy relax a little. "When did you last see him?"
"They separated the moms and kids from the men. I don't know how long ago that was. It's never day time here. It's been a bunch of sleeps."
Roland nodded, at the same time wondering if the glow of his necklace was even enough to let the child see it. What an unnerving place this was.
He imagined a person could quickly go mad in the silence and utter dark. He briefly wondered if any of them already had, but their screams were consumed in the void. He shuddered at the thought.