Now that Vindril and his companions had been taken out of the rocky room they had been confined into, after stretching his limbs for a couple of seconds, he realized how naïve he had been. Initially he had thought that they had been secluded inside an interrogation room; the rocky walls that had surrounded them nothing more than mere illusions to screw with their perception. Surely, the people who had bombed the lab would have left them to their fate, even if he had heard their leader, who he now knew as Arturyll, order them to be taken to their base. But now, that his mind had furtherly cleared, he realized that they really was underground. The dampness of the air was a clear indication as any. He also realized how much time had passed. The blue moon that was orbiting around Girunne was up in the sky. He knew that was the case by the giant opening that in the rocky ceiling.
Huh. So they were inside some sort of cave; or natural formation at least. Now that was curious…Perhaps it could be handy in pin pointing their exact location…
Shouts that came from the right attracted his attention. Apparently, a woman that looked like some sort of demon, with black horns sprouting over her head and a pair of black sclera eyes, was arguing animatedly with a bald-headed man, who was by no means lagging behind in terms of tone and conviction. Whatever it was that had gotten them in such a state, Vindril didn't know. But it was evident that they all were feeling like they were in the right. A thing that made Arturyll stop in his tracks.
Arturyll, who had one of the pointiest ears Vindril had ever seen in his life, was clearly a loravenian; or, as most people called them, light skinned elves. You see, while the mythological elves that were commonly depicted were nothing short but a work of fantasy, with their obsession with nature and whatnot, loravenians were the closest thing to them; at least physically speaking. The common misconceptions about elves were all bullshit of course. They didn't have all that nimbleness; well, not all of them at least. They weren't all beautiful, as the mythological ones. And they certainly didn't have any of the amazing hearing their mythological cousins seemed to have. In all honesty, they were like everybody else, with their strengths and their weaknesses. And Arturyll of course was no exception.
"Send someone to split them up before they end up destroying the base. I don't have the will to deal with it today." he said sighing to one of his entourages.
"Right away, Talas."
Talas…Talas…nope. That's not a term he had heard before. For all he knew, it could have even been a person name. Fortunately, Luzir quickly explained what it meant. As to why he knew exactly what that foreign word meant…that wasn't clear…to anyone.
"…Guide. It means guide." Luzir said. His eyes scanned around, perhaps trying to come up with a plan to escape.
"Guide? Talas means guide?" asked Vindril, even a little bit surprised "How do you know that". The way Luzir carried himself didn't exactly give off the aura of a scholar. Though…Vindril had to admit, at least to himself, that appearances weren't all that worth. He, above everyone else, knew it. Many in the past have discriminated against his poor upbringing; and the all had paid the price for it.
"(The one whose will shall guide us through the darkness.) if you really want it's deeper meaning."
"And that is?"
"…A dead language that has been mostly forgotten. I'm surprised with how comfortable they all seem in using it. It's remarkable, really."
Vindril paused. "…You still haven't answered me. Why do you know all of that?"
The giant seemed to ignore him, turning his head to the right. Then, when Vindril had almost given up in getting an answer out of him, Luzir answered. "…It's my hobby."
"A hobby? Learning dead languages is a hobby? Now, don't take offence, but I'll not believe it."
Sully smirked. "Oh, that guy is massive history nerd. Isn't that right, Luzir?" he said, looking Vindril in the eyes. "You won't believe the things he
Luzir remained silent, as if he was feeling embarrassed. Surely that couldn't be the case, right? As if a giant man like him, that had been trained in the fighting arts for many, many ears, could even feel that way just because his hobby had come to light…And yet the light redness, so barely perceptible though, that had just appeared on his cheeks seemed to point out in that direction.
Vindril smiled. Not in mockery, no. He just was happy that Luzir wasn't that stoic all the time.
In that moment, Arturyll turned around and ordered his men to remove the handcuffs. Another protest seemed to be hoovering above their heads. But, just like before, no one dared to voice their displeasure in front of him. It seemed that being referred to as Talas held some real power beyond it.
"I should apologize." he said. His orange eyes, that shone like the most beautiful and polished garnets, exuded a sort of presence and unshakable conviction that wasn't easily obtained. To be honest, Vindril found those eyes to be…utterly magnetic. "Kidnapping you wasn't part of my plans. But you must understand. There is much at stake here. Many lives are dependent on me, but more importantly on the success of what we're about to accomplish. I cannot take any chances now, when we're so close to the goal."
Vindril tried his very best to maintain the mask of stoicism and neutrality he was wearing on his face. But curiosity got the better of him. "…And what goal are you trying to achieve that it required bombing a lab?"
If he expected any adverse reaction to his sudden question, than Vindril was disappointed. The man in front of him fell silent for a brief moment, evidently pondering whatever he was going to answer or not.
"…I see you don't beat around the bush…"
Vindril sighed. "Not point in that."
This time Arturyll turned around to face him completely. "…Humour me. Why is that?"
"Well…let's say I did. Would you have answered me? From what I can see, you're a pretty busy man, with all the men and women that are running around in this place. There's no way you would have spared me any more time than you actually can. Also, you don't seem like the kind of guy who likes any of that. So…yeah…"
Perhaps wisely, Vindril made no mention of the couple of things he had noticed while they had stopped there. First, the crates that were currently being moved from one side of the cave to the other were marked with a strangle symbol; he wasn't completely sure, but the symbol that was printed on their metallic surfaces looked pretty similar to one he had saw in the past. But that couldn't possibly be it. Unless…
Feeling like he was about to get swallowed by such thoughts, he shook his head discretely. Fortunately no one seemed to have noticed that little moment of introspection he just had.
"…I guess you're smarter than I gave you credit for." calmly said Arturyll. "Let' get going then. You have to see something."
He furrowed his brows, confused. A single, important question was hanging on his lips. "…Why?"
"Because you have to understand."
As the conversation came to a halt, the orange-eyed man turned around and walked towards a small recess that was heavily guarded. Vindril and his two companions were also made to follow. What the hell was in there? Well…it seemed he was about to find out, whatever he liked it or not.
//////
Vindril was literally pushed inside the small room that had been carved out from the rocky walls by the man that had his rifle pointed right at his shoulders. While he felt his blood boiling, and wanted nothing more than to turn around and punch that fucking asshole right in his damned mouth, he opted out of it. First, even if he had succeeded, the men around him would have beaten him at best; ridden him with bullet holes at worst. In any way he put it, he only had something to lose.
He took a short breath, gazing around his surroundings. A table, beaten up and made of some metallic materials that obviously didn't like being in contact with so much humidity, was placed right in the center of the room. On it, placed beside a series of map, that for whatever reason had been lasered on some kind of tablets, a projection of some building was currently being observed by some people who were too busy to even spare them a glance.
Arturyll sat down at the head of the table, sighing weakly. His eyelids also closed down for quite some time, as he massaged his own shoulder. Vindril didn't know if it was just pure coincidence, but he realized that Arturyll was massaging the one were his prosthetic hand was. Could the man be suffering from some kind of ghost pain? That seemed unlikely with the many treatments that medicine had come up.
Suddenly, the same woman he had seen arguing come rushing inside; ignoring everyone, the demon like lady went straight at Arturyll side with clear intentions. "Why the fuck have let that asshole take over my team, Art? You might be the one I look up the most to, but don't try a thing like that in the future. Those are my guys. I will not leave them in the hands of that fool!"
"…I see you've been informed. Good. That will simplify matt-"
"I don't care about any of that shit! They're not going anywhere. You'll have to pass over my dead carcass to take them away."
"Must we really fight?" asked Arturyll as he reopened his eyes. Now that Vindril could take a really good look at him, an aura of exhaustion that wasn't there before, or if there was he had not noticed it, now hoovered over him like some sort of cloud.
"I was not the one who started it! If didn't want to have a fight with me, you should have considered the implications of your actions before ordering all that nonsense. Besides, why the hell have you done any of that?"
A man that was seated nearby chose to intervene. "Nimore, Talas had a long day. Let him rest. There will be many opp-
The woman, whom Vindril now knew to be called Nimore, turned her head, almost glaring at him. Her delicate face, which contrasted profoundly with her strength of character, was perfectly adorned by the long, but mostly wavy, black hair that flowed down her back.
"You shut up. I know better than you how tired Art really is. Don't try to lecture me."
"…I-I…it wasn't m-my intentio-"
"Shut up."
The man lowered his gaze, immediately falling silent.
A few seconds later, her attention turned back to Arturyll. Vindril decided he had enough of being treated like he wasn't even there, so he stepped forward with a new sprint in his legs that wasn't there before. His head was already hurting so much. The last thing he needed was all that bickering.
"Care to tell me why exactly have you taken us here?" he asked.
Nimore realised for the first time that there were strangers inside, in addition to the people she was obviously used to. "…Who in the bloody hell are you?"
Arturyll raised his right hand before Vindril had the chance to verbally lash out at the woman. "…I can answer that." With some reluctance, he slowly got up, tiredness emanating from his every pore.
"He's one of our former prisoners. They-" Arturyll indicated Sully and Luzir, who had remained silent since leaving the cells for whatever reason. Maybe they were trying to come up with "They are the ones we have captured all the way back at the lab.
"Why is he here then? He should be inside his cell with hi-"
"I have reached the conclusion that they were in the lab for reasons that are completely unrelated to us or our plans. You can relax. They don't pose a threat."
"So what are you going to do?" she asked sceptical. Underneath it all, she also seemed a little bit angry.
"…I do admit I had not foreseen any of that. I had thought them to be agents sent to disrupt us. However, now we are blocked into a puzzle with a difficult solution. I know you're not involved with my enemies; by now that is abundantly clear. However, I cannot simply let you go free. What comes next must not be interfered with."
Curiosity got the better of Vindril. "And what exactly is coming next?"
Nimore turned around and looked at him straight in the eyes, almost snarling at him. "That's not something you should know. Know your place, outsider."
Outsider. Ah! Strange that an Indorian like her, from the planet Indor Kari, who was certainly not part of Girunne's native population, could call him an outsider when she herself was one.
Before things could spiral out of control, Arturyll stepped in. "They have to know, Nim. They're going to help us out, after all."
Shock, pure and uncontrolled, made everyone turn their heads in his direction. As far as Vindril could tell, even the most focused of the people inside that room felt some kind of apprehension towards that sudden decision. A thing that, when he turned his eyes, was also evidently shared by Sully, who stood there with a mix of anger and disbelief painted on his face. Luzir instead looked pretty calmed about it somehow.
"We don't get a say in this…right?" asked Vindril. He already knew the answer; but he still asked anyway, hoping to be mistaken.
A brief, but absolutely sharp nod from Arturyll instantly dispelled any hope of avoiding what was about to happen. It seemed that whatever those people were planning to carry out, he and his companions would also be involved. He sighed as chaos erupted in that rocky space.
Great. Just…fucking great.