Heirs to a Nothing Throne

Chapter 3

The dank air crept into my skin, only adding to my miserable mood. Andrey sat next to me, curled up and looking in the opposite direction. We were both chained to the wall, shackles bruising our wrists. One of the armored things stood just outside, watching us carefully. The cell was empty besides the two of us.

Over the past few hours, we had been dragged to an odd stone building, a ways into the forest, with little to no resistance. I was thankful Angelique was able to keep her cool despite the way the soldiers handled us. The building was small, only a single room, and made of an obsidian-like stone that had menacing curves carved into it. An unknown source of light kept the interior evenly lit. The only thing inside was a lone staircase leading straight down into the earth. As soon as we were forced in, I felt instantly uncomfortable, a feeling that mixed together with the dread already enveloping me to form an unsure pit of hopelessness.

We were taken down the stairs into a labyrinth of huge hallways with the same design: weaving, rounded carvings that got more complex the deeper we went. There were doors on both sides, plated with a metal akin to copper. They had no visible handles or any other opening mechanism. Various stairwells also populated the halls, most of which lead deeper. We were marched down several more of these, which only lead to more hallways.

Finally, we were prodded into a disgusting prison area and separated by gender. Our clothes and belongings were confiscated. Victor was taken away after this, likely to a different cell, and Andrey and I were locked up in one closest to the entrance. As far as I could tell, we were the only prisoners present.

We thankfully weren't kept too long, for as far as I could tell, our cell lacked any sort of lavatory. Another person (if the inhabitants of this place could be called that) appeared and nodded to the soldier guarding us. This one was shorter and wearing ragged, hooded clothing that covered every part of their body. Their face was covered with a mask, or rather, a plain white piece of wood with no facial features, not even eyeholes.

The door opened for him on its own, and he spoke softly, "Get out of the cell. You'll both be questioned, together, right now, before you are allowed an audience before Timore."

"Timore?" Andrey asked lazily. The man turned to face him but said nothing. We did stand up, although not hurriedly. He patiently guided us out and back into the maze of halls, which seemed slightly busier than before. Figures of both the armored and the new hooded type entered in and out of doors, up and down stairs, stood still and hardly moved, or made quiet conversation in groups or pairs. The idea that they had anything to talk about was unusual to me, and I wondered more about the nature of this place.

The room we were finally ushered into was small and dim, and the air stank. There were two chairs in the middle of the room, carved from stone and attached to the floor. Andrey and I nervously took our seats. They were stingingly cold, chilling my naked skin. The figure paced back and forth in front of us, looking down, his long clothes dragging on the floor noiselessly. Andrey interrupted his thoughts.

"Who are you?" The blank mask turned to us, seemingly focused on Andrey.

"If you have to call me something, call me Rnlme." My first thought was a consideration on how that would be spelled. "Now shut up. I'll be the one to interrogate you two." The rash hatred in his voice made my stomach twist with fear. He didn't seem quite sane. "What are your names? Full names."

"Andrey Esh Devloski."

"Stephan Darryl Descant."

"Stupid names. You arrived here with Verwarr?"

"Yes."

"...Who?"

Rnlme whirled to face me, angered at my answer. "Your friend understands—don't lie, scum." He raised his hand, the glove gone, and ran it over the armrest of my seat. His fingers were thin, disturbingly thin, wrinkled, and a sickly green color. My chair grew cold, like I was sitting on ice. I began to tremble and instinctively stood. Rnlme hit me, and while it wasn't all that hard, it was enough to knock me back down on the chair. He touched it again, barely, and I suddenly couldn't move from it at all. My breathing grew rapid, and I wanted desperately to pull myself from the chair. I was panicking, muttering painfully about how my skin was freezing.

"Shut up, shut up!" Rnlme continued, and I had to suffer quietly while Andrey tossed me sympathetic glances. "It's not that cold! Next question, are you an enemy of Timore, or are you affiliated with any of his enemies?"

I shook my head, while Andrey uttered the same message quietly. Rnlme watched us carefully. "None? Are you aware of the sufferings you'll avoid if you tell me now?" Andrey and I held our silence together. "Are you affiliated or acquainted with Theta?" I almost asked who or what that was again, but caught myself, biting my tongue and shaking my head.

This was how the interrogation ran for about ten minutes. All the while, I could feel frostbite creeping into my entire back side. Rnlme asked about people, places, and organizations that I had never heard of, and then moved on to simpler questions about our history. He continued to bring up Verwarr, but I didn't dare ask for clarification again.

The event came to a close with a man identical to Rnlme opening the door and sharing whispered words with our interrogator. Rnlme spat on the ground in anger, but followed his instructions by freeing Andrey and I. I was happy to stand, slapping open palms against my back to try and warm it. It was a vain effort, but I continued as we were lead once again out into the hall. It hurt to walk.

To my surprise, we were shown to a small room, still something of a cell but one in unbelievably better condition than anything we'd been kept in so far. The far wall was curved, and five beds, more like large cots, were lined against it. Clothes were folded on two of them. Andrey and I were left with no words from the guide, and we both assumed the clothes were for us.

I was just stepping into the pants when the girls who'd been separated from us were marched in as well, as equally covered as we were. "Hey, Stephan and—"

"Wait! Wait! Eva shielded her eyes and I turned away from them, embarrassed.

"Please! Just... wait a moment..." I blushed, my brief glance at Jasmine burned into my mind. I hastily threw on my clothes and faced the wall. "You can... go ahead now." They did, wordlessly. The clothes were a relief to my hurt back. I thought about what irreversible damage could have been done if the torture went on longer.

"Did they interrogate you guys also?" I finally spoke up, shutting down the moment of awkward silence.

Jasmine threw herself at me. "They did! They asked us about a ton of stuff we'd never even heard of and yelled a lot, but... never did much more than yell." She smiled, and I wondered if she'd been frightened at all. "But we did all make it out, except Raven, who was led off somewhere else. And hey, from the looks of it, we've got beds now, too. Better than the cells."

"Go back to the more important part of what you said," Andrey interrupted. "They took Victor, too. He wasn't even interrogated with us. Where did they take them? Why?"

"Are they connected to... what happened earlier?" I spoke my thoughts aloud. The group's eyes turned to me, prompting explanation. "Victor had been feeling anxious since we'd arrived here, and that was just before I saw the creepy guy and the knights showed up."

"That's a bit of a stretch," Angelique said, blowing off my input. "We all felt like crap, after everything that happened."

"It is far-fetched... if you ask me," Eva chimed in for the first time, still unable to clear her flushed face.

"We'll just ask those people where Victor and Raven are when they come back." Jasmine smiled at everyone.

Right then, Eva fell back on her cot, over the sparse coverings. "It's... about eleven o'clock now."

I blinked. "What?"

"It's... uh, about eleven o'clock. Meaning it's getting kind of late. Sleepiness..." She was a little embarrassed. "It always hits me at about this time. I'm just used to it." Jasmine nodded knowingly, and I took it in stride.

"Well, I mean, a little sleep couldn't hurt. We all need it."

Eva sat back up, scratching her head. "I don't know that I'll be able to fall asleep in a place like this, though..."

Jasmine put an arm on her. "Things are moving quickly, but there's not much we can do. If we stick together and take things as they come, we'll be alright. Everything'll turn out fine!"

We silently agreed and prepared for bed.