"A pity sir."
The guard turned around again. He was intrigued, "What pity?"
"Guard Sir. I think you might be more suitable for a knight post. Than being a prison guard here. Not that I am undermining you in any manner sir. But with your charisma, and your toughness. You ought, you can do better among the elite forces."
Guard nodded at his response. "It is true. But being a peasant-born didn't give me many options."
"But sir if you handle the commotion outside. It might earn you some merit. Think about it. There might be some recursions but it will come with its own merit. I don't think what is happening outside is small in any manner." Sottic tried to butter up the guard some more.
"I like you. You seem to think like me. But I can't go outside."
"Why sir?"
"This time, we have specially received an order to be on guard for 24 hours. And the knights will come soon to handle the situation."
"Knights, Sir is it that much of an issue?"
"Yes, the undead army is on the move. They have already thwarted the city of the Quarterdom, and the Millican Kingdom. But we are different from those places. We have many highly trained guards. And our king, he has already faced the undead invasion once before. It wouldn't be a big deal this time either." The guard seemed pretty excited as he said that. Whereas, color drained from Sottic face. The guard mustn't have known about the terrors of the undead army, but he had seen it first hand.
The carnage they brought along in their wake. If they came again, there wouldn't be any kingdom left behind to even care about duty, power and greed.
The undead didn't differentiate between good or bad, evil or honest. They just saw humans as just another of the living creatures, that was their food. No relation, no judgment of any kind.
Watching the horror on Sottic's face, the guard cheered him up. "Don't worry. The knights of our kingdom of Carnar aren't just for show. Let those rotting-skin come into our kingdom. They wouldn't even realize their grave, when they will see one."
'It mightn't be their graves but ours.' Sottic thought grimly, his face didn't show a change in emotion. But he needed to do something. If they just happened to be in the prison when the dead came. They won't have anywhere to run anymore.
"Guard sir, can you come here." Sottic said with a hushed voice. The guard became suspicious for a moment, but still complied with him. Sottic continued, "I have some connections. It might be possible to even promote you directly from a guard to a city guard. But you need to do a small favor."
"Say it." The guard nodded.
"If you can somehow get us out during the commotion. Only when the dead come, they might not even doubt you. You just need to open our doors for a moment, and make it seem like the dead were responsible for it." Sottic had some reservations about his plan. But with the grimness of their situation he didn't have room for such thoughts. He decided to tell it to the guard and see how he would react to his proposition.
The guard's face didn't show a change as he said, "A pity." There was genuine pity on the guard's face, Sottic was perplexed at that. The assistants were listening intently to their conversation and hadn't tried interfering with them.
"Why?" Sottic, with his eyes perplexed, searched for answers.
"A pity that you are going to be hanged tomorrow." The guard continued his patrolling leaving both Sottic and his assistants rooted to the spot.
The light coming from the windows grew dimmer and dimmer until night came. The inside of the prison was lit with fuel and fire.
Illuminated in that low fire, the trio sat silent near each other. They hadn't spoken to each other after they got to know that the Scholar was going to be hanged tomorrow.
The guard came again. He hurled three plates inside the prison cell. Sunang's vision drew to the food. He had been hungry since the morning. The scholar had told not to be late. And thus, he had avoided breakfast. Looking at the piece of moldy bread on the plate along with the dirty water that was hurled inside a few minutes later. Despite his stomach rumbling he had some reservation looking at the moldy bread. He waited for Scholar to start eating and then he would after him.
But even as the food sat there for hours, scholar didn't take a glance at the food. From his expression Sunang could guess, he had been having difficulty deciding his next steps. But He had full confidence over Scholar, he had been able to make his and Herden's life easier. This time, it wouldn't be any different.
"Ah.." Scholar's voice was lost to his dry throat. He searched for the water. Herden passed him, the murky water and Scholar didn't hesitate as he finished it.
He waited for the water to rinse his throat and spoke again.
"I don't think I have any options left," Scholar said unconsciously, nodding his head.
"Sun--Sunang," Sottic's voice stopped mid-way as he called to the younger assistant.
"There is something I haven't told you before. It was my selfishness. After my wife's death I was disoriented. I didn't know what else to do without her. Even when I had a child, I wasn't in my right mind. Even now, I struggle with it."
'What is Scholar saying?' Sunang thought. His heart was beating fast.
"But this can't be an excuse for what I did to you." Scholar stopped looking at the green ring on his hands.
'What is the excuse Scholar is talking about?' Sunang knew it was Scholar's wedding ring. The one which had been gifted by his wife. But why was the Scholar talking to him while remembering his wife.
He took out the ring and looked at Sunang. His eyes were saddened and laden with grief.
"I-Iā" Scholar stopped himself. He had been hesitating even now. The scholar took a deep breath, and said it in one go.
"I am your father." Scholar said and with it the emotions he had been suppressing came to the surface of his eyes.
It was the worst joke in his life. Sunang with heavy emotions, denied any possibility of it. The scholar was lying to him. It couldn't be. For a few moments, he just stood there numb.
And just after that, a heavy stream of emotions assaulted Sunang's senses. An unabridged rage directed to the Scholar. The man who called himself father.
"You are lying to me." The voice came out even higher than what was intended, Scholar's body shook for a second.
"I am not lying to you." Sottic was ashamed of himself. "I don't have any liberty to call myself one. But it is true that I am your father."
"This ring belonged to your mother." Sottic extended the ring in his hands.
Sunang looked at the ring. Tears welled in his eyes as he took the ring from his father's hands. He had always thought about how his parents would have been like. His mother caring for him, and his father will always make new tricks to play with him. There wouldn't have been a need for the assistant life then.
But right now, he came to realize that all of it was a lie. There won't be a happy family for him ever, nor could have been. When his own father had avoided him in the worst possible manner.
"Why did you lie to me?" With the ring in his hands, Sunang asked his father in a low voice.