Blood of the Merciless

Chapter Thirty-Two

32.

It had been their third day staying with the Drucker family and Ashe still could not get herself to sleep. The family had been very welcoming towards them. Fed them and gave them each their own large room. There had been a few reasons why she couldn't sleep. First and foremost it had been Alaric. She was worried out of her mind. To have no control over your own body must be terrible but to have no control and watch someone else commit atrocities using your body must be even worse. The second was their plan to free Alaric from his father's clutches or their lack of plan. Planning had never been their strong suit, they left that up to Alaric. Now they had to blindly place their trust in a commander who for all they know could have them killed. And said commander hasn't even shown up to meet them yet. Well, that was not true, Savia did mention she had met him. And the last thing that plagued her mind was Everard. While she was not close to the boy, the fact that he had been missing for three days is alarming. He did not seem to be someone who acted rashly...not true since he helped us. Ashe sighed into her pillow. Too much had happened for her to truly process everything. A rapid knock on her door had her scrambling out of her bed. She desperately wished it would be Alaric and that he would be back to normal. On the other side of the door had been Florian.

"We have been summoned," Florian said.

"By whom?"

"Great Lord Ivo."

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go." She hastily said as she pushed past Florian.

"Hold on a moment." Florian grabbed her forearm. "We should be careful, we do not know what he wants from us. He may be working for Jerial."

Ashe wriggled her way out of his grasp. "All the more reason to not keep him waiting." "Go on, lead the way."

Florian led her through the building to a large room that seemed to be a dining area. There was one large table with chairs all around it. There had already been five people sitting around the table. Savia had already been seated, she sat close to the exit far away from the other guests. The man sitting at the end of the table intrigued her the most, his eyes seemed to be burnt shut but that did not stop the feeling she got from him. He knew her every movement. Next to the man with the burnt eyes sat a woman who seemed to be furious. She had short blond hair not too dissimilar to Ashe's. She had a hard-edge to her look that Ashe could not pinpoint. On the other side to the seemingly blind man sat a man that was probably the oldest in the room. He had been bald and had a few wrinkles on his face. Closer to Ashe and Florian sat a young-looking man, he had looked somewhat familiar. All the new faces dressed the same way, they each had silver armour with green accents.

"Y'know you finally arrived, thought I had to search for you y'know," Ballack said as he walked up behind them. He closed the door behind the two leaving himself on the outside. The room was silent. Florian motioned for them to take a seat. They hadn't sat next to Savia choosing rather to sit closer to the armoured individuals.

"Now that everyone is present, we shall begin to introduce ourselves." The blind man started. "As you probably assumed, I am Great Lord Ivo. Well, it seems I have been dethroned." He went further to introduce his comrades. Once he was done, Florian spoke up. "My name is Florian, this is my sister, Ashe and that is Savia." Ashe attempted to keep a smile on her face. She noticed that the Great Lord had been smiling softly at them.

"Commander Orvyn had informed me that you three arrived in Adhu Aqua alongside Alaric. First, I would like to apologise for the truly terrible first impression of the city. And secondly, I would like to know how you all came to know Alaric." Ivo stated.

Before Florian could explain, she spoke. "He is my older brother. Please save him!" She knew it was a long shot but she had to try. Florian's hand found hers underneath the table.