Dreamwalker

29- Mercenaries

To Bell's delight, Devon showed her to the prison after breakfast. Devon's home, where Bell stayed the night, was one suite in an elongated building that must house other witches as well. Bell couldn't find any signs of life other than multiple doors around the main hall with numbers labelling them. She asked Devon about this as they walked. "Where are the other witches? I thought Laurier employed all the witches in the country," she remarked.

"He does but many of us are kept busy. Some stay in the palace and some are-- well, some stay in the prison."

"What? Why?"

"Misdemeanor. We are not prisoners here, Bell. We are free citizens who abide by a set of rules. Those who break the rules are punished. Soutine must have taught you that."

"Guess he did."

Devon patted her on the shoulder with a reassuring smile before ushering her outside. Bell followed her through a mostly deserted town. The few civilians who passed them by always looked down and hurried past without a word, as if Bell were a leper. Devon didn't seem concerned by this so Bell tried to seem unconcerned as well. The prison wasn't far away. The exterior of the building, Bell couldn't help but notice, was rather similar to the building where Devon lived, but she didn't say this aloud. Devon lead her down a long hallway from the main entrance. The doors had tiny barred windows that Bell scrutinized as they passed. Most of the prisoners didn't even have beds. Bell wondered if Soutine was locked up in here and her stomach wrenched from guilt at attacking him.

"This is it," Devon said. They stopped in front of one of the doors. Bell stood on her toes to get a better look through the window. Sure enough, she could see her friends huddled together in a circle, looking a bit bruised and burned.

"May I speak to them alone?"

"I'm afraid I can't let you in. I don't have the keys. But I can wait outside if you'd like."

"Yes, thanks, mother."

Devon left her. Once Bell saw the door at the end of the hall close she shouted, "hey! Are you alright?"

She saw Aysal, who was sitting closest to her, whirl around with a huge grin. "Bell! You're alive! I thought I heard your voice!"

"Where have you been? We've been so worried!" Li demanded, but she was smiling just as wide as Aysal. Even Genevieve looked around and sighed with relief at the sight of Bell's friendly face.

"I'm sorry. I got into a fight with Soutine after I tried to speak to Laurier and my mother brought me to her home. It's a long story. How did you get locked up? And-- wait, where is Nathan?" Her eyes scanned every corner of the room for a sight of Nathan's serious face and found nothing.

"He isn't here," Emeric said dully. He was sitting against the wall with his knees pulled up to his chest. A sullen frown stuck to his face, so uncharacteristic of his normal chipper demeanor.

"Why is that?"

Nobody seemed to want to say anything. The three girls in the cell cast each other dark glances. "Nathan is... dead, Bell," Li replied at last.

"What? No-- what happened?"

"We were fighting and he took a blow for Emeric," Aysal explained in a hushed whisper, as if she didn't want Emeric to hear from the other side of the cell.

"Didn't you find Soutine? He helped you, right? Why didn't he save Nathan?"

"Of course Soutine tried to help. But he was wounded when we found him and he was too late to save Nathan," Aysal continued. "I'm sure we would have suffered much worse if he weren't there with us. His presence gave us hope. He offered to fight despite his injuries. Bell, believe me, he did everything in his power to help us, and there wasn't anything to be done."