The Purple Jade Palace: The Hummingbird's Plan

Interrogation

Teal woke with a start and panicked.

He was sitting in a chair, and he was thoroughly chained to it. In fact, it was a chair designed for this very purpose, to bind and hold a prisoner without any prospect of escape.

Its wood was strong, sturdy and most likely reinforced with metal bolts in the joints from the way his immediate attempts to shake free failed. A strong, thick piece of metal rested over his neck, preventing him from moving his body forward. His arms, lying on the armrests of the chair, were secured in three different places, as was his legs, each limb bound to the front legs of the chair as well. Another thick piece of metal covered his lower body.

He couldn't move. Someone had gone to great lengths to ensure that he wouldn't be able to escape.

Teal closed his eyes against the sun streaming through the long windows to his left and breathed deeply trying to regain some calm. His heart pounded in his ears. He was trapped and a prisoner. He possessed superior strength that much was true, but even he had limits, and he doubted if he tried to tip the chair over, it would break.

He breathed two long steady breaths and hoped that the stories of the Emperor and his men were true, and that he was indeed a reasonable and understanding man who would appreciate what Teal had done for him.

The previous night came to him in flashes, and he recalled he had not been handled roughly but had been taken care of. His upper body had been washed and his shoulder was now free of darts. It was bandaged and, at present, was only a dull throb.

He took stock of the room. It was simple yet comfortable with a bed in the corner, a chair and table near the twin doors at the entrance. Large windows on the opposite side of the room looked out into the center of the estate.

The windows, he noted, had bars, but this wasn't a dungeon room or a cell, and while they weren't at an official palace, such a residence would surely still have the means to hold prisoners in less than comfortable accommodations. It was Teal's only reassurance that maybe his situation wasn't as dire as he first believed.

The sun's rays shifted a good distance on the stone floor before three men entered, two of which were heavily armored. He nervously watched their every move.

One, Teal recognized, as the man he had spoken to when he had first arrived. The second, bulky but with striking good looks and a foot taller than the other two, was there just to exert a domineering and frightening presence. That was until the three men were followed by an additional twelve soldiers who lined the walls of the room.

Teal blinked.

It was not that surprising really. It was in the human nature to fear what they didn't know.

The man at the front narrowed his eyes and ignored the additional chair placed directly before Teal for him to use. "Please excuse the precautions," he said, waving at Teal and the chair that held him. "I think you can appreciate the necessity."

Teal's eyes fell to the metal that trapped him and when he spoke, his voice shook. "I can assure you, they're not necessary."

"I'll decide that," the man intoned in a non-fuss manner.

Regally dressed in dark green slacks and a short sleeved fitted vest that came down to his thighs, the man addressing him was tall and well-muscled. In contrast to his clothing, he sported a soldier's history. His arm bore a soldier tattoo that began on the inside of his left palm and travelled up the inside of his arm. He had intelligent brown eyes, chestnut hair and a day's shadow on his jaw. He was certainly the kind of man that if Teal saw in the street, he would do a double-take. In second thoughts, Teal wouldn't need to do a double-take because he was sure he would never let a man like this out of his sights in the first place.