"Slaves in public must carry a visible form of identification approved by the Association of Slave Owners. Any violation of this law will result in severe physical punishment that will continue until the Slave gives up its owner's name and location, at which point the owner will be fined. If the Slave still refuses to reveal its owner's name and location, it will either be disposed of, sold in the next Slave Auction, or assigned to the following Annual Slave Arena."
The next day, on Malla 10, King Darren, Queen Ariana, Lady Lusi, Lord Polaris, as well as their many knights and body guards, left the palace to make their way to the Kingdom of Saíd, which happened to be as long of a journey as Drake had mentioned it to be: five weeks, which was twenty days. After settling some of her own affairs, Rein made her way southeast towards Artliss on Malla 17, the country outside of which she remembered Ravan to reside. It did not take him very long to earn a reputation as Ravan the Great, though the reputation wasn't entirely a good one. He traveled world-wide, made trade deals with very particular people, and was arguably not always fair about it. Of course, Rein didn't approve of his methods and felt it necessary to keep her distance from him. Unfortunately, it was now necessary to make contact again.
A little over a week into her journey, she came across a Saídan battalion that was almost completely packed in preparation to return home the next day. The soldiers had been sent to turn in for the night, but a few tents still encased the faint glow of a small lantern, perhaps by which to read. Rein's eye caught sight of a wood-sprite as he ran across the field and she watched him enter one of the tents. Naturally, Rein found this peculiar, so she perched in a tree above the tent and listened to what would happen next. When the sprite entered, all three heads of the shadows Rein could see turned towards him. Unfortunately, Rein couldn't make out the words exchanged, so she flew in closer to listen.
"Well what can you do about it?" one soldier asked the sprite.
"I come from an underground realm, an unknown place. We're building an army that is growing in size and strength daily, and we even have a tonic that will make you ageless. That's right: should you drink this tonic, you will never age. We're looking to build an army large enough to take down this empire that King Darren is building. Keep in mind he will get his empire, but by the time he does, we'll be able to destroy it and bring back individual kingdoms and peace. All we need are worthy soldiers such as yourselves to join the army."
Rein couldn't quite put her finger on it, but this talk of an underground realm sounded familiar. She remembered her month-and-a-half-long experience under Arcor with Empress Renée and Jaska Astig. But was this sprite even talking about the same place? The additional details didn't match her memory.
"Well count me in," came the voice of one soldier.
"I don't know," said another. "Something doesn't sound right."
"What doesn't sound right?" a third asked. "They have a bigger, better army that will take Darren down!"
"And we only recruit the very best," said the wood-sprite. "So we can guarantee victory."
"I don't know," the soldier said. "Something's wrong. You can join, but I'm not going to."
Rein watched the shadows of the sprite and three soldiers trade glances with each other. Then slowly, the sprite and two of the soldiers ganged up on the third. Rein slowly backed away from the tent as they muffled the screams of the third soldier and slit his throat.
"The secret of Almadian must be kept," said the wood-sprite once the job was finished.
Then they left the tent and quickly shuffled away into a nearby wood. Rein rocketed into the air and watched as the sprite looked up and spotted her. They made eye-contact and then she flew away.
YOU ARE READING
Silver Skeletons: Book 3 The Rose Tree Chronicles
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