Tales of Fire and Ruin

In Chains

"With all due respect—" Ariane shook her head. "No, with no respect, Laurence, are you out of your mind? This elf is dangerous. He deceived you from the start, threatened countless of lives, and he almost killed master Dagon! This man only still draws breath by the grace of queen Idonia for you. He needs to be executed to stop him from escaping and endangering anyone else in this city."

I glanced around the dimly lit room. Gisela, Ariane and Endris all looked at me like I had lost my marbles. Every one of them, each from a vastly different walk of life, was against what I had asked of the queen: to speak with Oleander one last time.

Them all agreeing with each other was a sign I was truly going mad and yet, I couldn't let this go.

I settled my gaze on the two burning torched flanking a fortified iron door I knew led down into the dungeon where Oleander was being kept. If I ever made it there. Especially Gisela looked ready to smack me and drag me away, the same way she used to do during our archery training when she felt I didn't pay enough attention to her lessons. I was no longer a child playing with a bow on the beach, however. Ever since I had entered through the gates of Wildewall, I'd been playing with the future of the Montbow house.

I breathed in and out deeply. "Oleander didn't kill anyone," I stated. "He wounded the guards and incapacitated them with poison. But they're not dead, are they? Neither is master Dagon. Oleander clearly didn't want to hurt anyone, and he must have had a good reason for doing what he did. I need to know what he has to say."

Gisela rolled her eyes. "He's an elven man, Laurence. You can't reason with him."

Endris tensed ever so slightly, but he didn't say anything.

"I can reason with him," I said. "He's an elf, not a monster. Elves aren't monsters. They're just like humans."

"There are monsters among humans too," Ariane snapped. "You see what he did. Even if what you say is true and elves aren't monsters, Oleander is."

"He's not—" I faltered. "What happened at the palace is not what he is like, alright? He has a good reason for all of this, I'm sure. I know him."

Gisela scoffed. "You don't know him, Laurence. You found him at the foot of mount Serpentine's Lake a few weeks ago, naked and uncons..." Gisela trailed off. Her eyes hardened. "He was naked. You knew what he was all along, didn't you?"

I cringed and averted my gaze to the stone ground.

"Laurence." Gisela turned away with a hand pressed to her forehead. "Why, in the thunder god's name, would you protect him all this time? Because he's pretty?"

"No!" I protested. "Because Oleander did nothing to me, and he helped me. He helped our family by giving us his Bleeding Ivy cure. How is it fair to kill someone when they do nothing to you just because they're elven?"

Gisela just shook her head. Wordlessly, she turned and marched across the room to the door leading outside. She stepped outside and then slammed the door shut behind her.

Ariane glanced at the closed door, then turned to me. "Let me ask it this way then," she said. "What good will this conversation do you? What do you expect to hear except things that will hurt you? Oleander wanted the artefact on the staff. He's obviously not going to tell us why now. The guards have already tried. What more do you hope to find here?"

"I just want to..." I faltered. I couldn't describe what I wanted. I briefly paused to steady my voice. "I'm going down there to see Oleander. Afterward, I promise won't do anything that would reflect poorly on our family or you. Will that do?"

"Lord Montbow..." Endris started, his tone uncharacteristically kind. I didn't want his pity. I'd rather have Endris be harsh with me because if even he was being soft, that meant everyone could see in how much discomposure I was right now.