Sand & Stone

Chapter 21: Epilogue Anna

"There is great wealth in the desert for those vile enough to seize it."

-Excerpt from Merchant King Ulgar's Memoires 

All is lost, I have betrayed him.

I sit here in this cold, dark cell, surrounded by strangers. The air is damp and musty, the only light coming from a flickering torch down the hallway. The sound of rattling chains and quiet sobs fills the air, reminding me of the dire situation, all is lost, I have betrayed him.

I can feel the cold stone floor beneath me, sending shivers up my spine. It's been days since I've seen daylight and I figure it's likely I may never see it again. This dungeon is a prison, a place where hope goes to die. There will be no one coming to save me, all is lost, I have betrayed him.

I look around at my fellow prisoners, new additions all of them. Leaders of the City guilds, it appeared she was cleaning house. Each one was broken, resigned to their fate of being trapped in this hellish place, if not by the situation then by the torturer. I too have given up. No torturer came for me, she knew that wouldn't work and so I expected either I would rot down here for eternity making Brute's Brew or she would come to kill me soon. The thought of my experiment made my gut clench, it was all I had left, it was strong, stronger than anything that existed but it was incomplete. Riddled with flaws and half measures. The cripple had won, that much was obvious by the lack of Reji coming to see me, the fool probably fell into one of her traps without me, but Empire troops were nothing to scoff at, no matter how green.

Any victory would have been hard fought and steep in cost. What if Brutus had died? The vines would die with the host and they had taken me years to find and collect. The foundation itself was a rarity as well, a mass of muscle and health honed by years of conflict. Such conditions wouldn't align easily anytime soon.

The thought made my head hurt. If only I had access to my lab at the Academy, tools a thousand times more precise and compounds these sand folks could only dream of accessing. I was spearheading research that would create literal gods and they expelled me? A group of soggy old bastards had the audacity to say my work was unethical? Radical? Dangerous?

SO WHAT?

I was getting results, results no one had ever seen before, who cared if a beggar or two went missing? With my results we could destroy anyone, we could be better! I had to take a deep breath and unclench my fist, my nails had dug into my skin leaving deep painful indentations that I only now felt through my fury.

At least he had seen use in my work but now all is lost, I have betrayed him. I sighed as I rubbed my hands, now I was stuck in a cell, in some backwater country with my holy grail playing good dog with the local leadership. All I could do was wait, wait for my inevitable fate to come crashing down upon me. My mind raced with thoughts and regrets. I should have just let Brutus die, she couldn't have won without him. The fact that she had seen through my bluff before it even began made me chuckle. This was a corpse of a country but she at least had some skill, the ugly bitch.

My mind was still racing with thoughts and regrets when I heard the sound of heavy footsteps echoing down the dungeon hallway. My heart began to race, thinking that it was finally time for my execution. As the footsteps came closer, a figure came into view, crippled and slightly hunched but imposing.