I Am The Truth II

Chapter VI: Necromancers

"Hands up!"

Lucan and Eddie both suddenly found themselves at the mercy of more than a dozen white laser pointers, no doubt coming from the sentry guns posted on the ramparts before them.

"On the ground, now!"

Lucan went down without hesitation, but Eddie stood there, confused.

"Dude, get down!" Lucan hissed, but Eddie only looked at him.

"On the ground!" The person with the megaphone repeated, and Eddie immediately went down, realizing what was happening.

In the dark, it was hard to see who exactly was shouting, but Lucan didn't bother thinking about it. All he did was watch as numerous Ardoni soldiers with various shades of white markings approached the two, immediately handcuffing them and tying thick black hoods over their faces.

"Hey, it's already nighttime," Lucan protested. "Why do we need these?"

"Because nighttime isn't enough," The Ardoni answered gruffly. "Now shut up."

Lucan had to comply with these people. He couldn't see at all where he was going now.

He had gotten this far simply by scaling the mountain, using the various trails he found that led up. He had been very skeptical considering the great rumors of Ataraxia's impenetrability. Well, now it made sense. They didn't control the mountain, only the top of it.

Lucan was led along blindly along some path, making numerous twists and turns. Sometimes, he swore they went in a full circle, but he couldn't tell. It went on for nearly ten minutes before he somehow was forced downwards.

"No, don't throw me-"

Instead, his butt made contact with the seat of a chair, and the hood was yanked off his face. Within seconds, he was bound to the metal chair. Eddie was bound next to him on another one.

The two of them had been brought to the mouth of a cave. Somehow, it had been converted into an outpost of sorts. There were electric circuits installed along the walls of the cave, most likely for the lighting. Lucan saw with a jolt that a giant sentry gun sat off to the side of the cave's entrance, its software piloting the gun as it scanned the terrain outside.

"This is Ataraxia?" Lucan asked skeptically.

"Nope," One of the Ardoni answered, though Lucan couldn't tell which one.

"I've never seen so many Clanless Ardoni in my life."

"We're not Clanless," The same one replied, now showing himself from the rest as he sat down in front of Lucan and Eddie. "But I think we're just as curious as you are. What are you two doing, wandering right into our line of sight?"

Lucan squinted from the brightness of the Ardoni's markings, at least the ones that weren't covered by their thick clothing. These Ataraxian Ardonia had some of the most luminescent markings he had ever seen, ridiculously brighter than most other Ardoni. Heck, they were flooding the room with light even when the installed tube lights were off.

"You want me to convince you-?"

"I would like you to try," The Ardoni interrupted, his gaze even.

"Isn't this kind of inefficient though?" Eddie suddenly piped up. "What happened to guarding that post where the two of us found you-?"

"There's only five of us who came here out of twenty," The Ardoni said before turning back to Lucan. "Now answer the damn question."

"Well, uh, we were sent here," Lucan began. "I have a note to prove it. A Felina journalist visited Felora a few days ago."