Dawn of a Thousand Suns, Book I: Arch De Angels

Chapter XV

"Lucius!" someone was shouting his name from far away. "Lucius, wake up!" he heard the voice closer and opened his eyes. He felt strange after waking up. "Lucius!" Uriel was calling him and shaking him.

He squinted his eyes, looked around, and saw someone else in the room, apart from his people - a soldier in the uniform.

"What is going on?" he asked, half asleep.

"Lord Felix wants to talk to you," answered the officer politely.

"Who?" Lucius asked, surprised, and before the officer answered, Uriel said that Lord Felix was the commander of the city.

"Now?" he asked with the hope he would not have to leave instantly, but the face of the officer told him otherwise. He got up carefully, so that he would not wake Laili up, put his coat under Laili's head, and followed the officer.

They strolled along the hall. Lucius tried not to look down, but sometimes he could not help and, looking down, saw the wounded soldiers on the first floor. He could hear their moans, which made him wish he could close his eyes and cover his ears with his hands to stop hearing them, but he could not do that in front of the soldier.

They walked along a luxurious corridor and finally approached a huge wooden door, which must have been Lord Felix's room.

The commander's room was splendid. In the corner of the luxurious room was standing a marble statue of a severe man, on the wall one could see a stuffed wild bird, and on the other one, there was an enormous portrait that depicted a man who did not seem familiar to Lucius. His attention was drawn to the commander sitting behind a large desk who looked up they both looked into each other's eyes.

He could not say whether this was his typical look for those whom he invited to his office, or only it was Lucius' privilege. As soon as the commander beckoned him to go closer, Lucious stepped towards him.

When he walked to the desk, he was asked to sit on a sofa.

"I prefer to stand, my lord," Lucious answered, questioning himself if that was the form of address.

"As you wish," answered the commander, looking surprised at his boldness.

"I need to talk to you about Lord Marcus," he moved straight onto the business.

"Who?" asked Lucius, surprised again.

"Oh, you don't know the name of the wizard?" replied the commander, no less surprised.

"Is his name Marcus?" the boy answered with a question.

"As I understand, you do not know his name!?" Lord Felix asked again.

"That's exactly what I mean," agreed Lucious.

"So you want to tell me that after all this, you haven't even asked his name?" said the commander.

"That's right, answered Lucious simply. "What do you mean by, after all this?" he asked again.

"You were together in that damned tavern!" the annoyed commander raised his voice.

"I was not there, only my friends."

"Even so, he accompanied you to your friends' room," replied Lord Felix, emphasizing the word "friends".

"Yes, he asked me to take him there, and I helped him," Lucius answered in a calm voice again.

"And while you were in the room with him, you never wanted of getting to know him?" the Lord asked.

"I haven't even thought about that."

"Okay, that does not really matter," the commander gave up. "What did you talk about yesterday?"