The Warden's Awakening

Chapter XX - A Gilded Chance

Lacen was brought to the same room he had interviewed in less than a month ago. Everything was the same as he remembered: the chair, the coffer, the desk, the blank paintings... it all brought back sad memories of rejection, and incarceration. Two jailers flanked him on either side of the cloth chair he was forced into, making sure he would not rend the entire place to dust. He could have. He began to feel the rise within him, but he suppressed it. He needed to hear what Skarn had to say, no matter how awful it may be.

On the Inquestor's desk was a reflective piece of metal. It almost looked like part of a shield. That had been new. Lacen leaned forward and heard the Inquestors put their hands on their swords. He could care less if they drew them, what did he have to lose in death? His family had no idea if he was alive anyway. Would they even care if they received a letter from him? His father would more than likely say "Well, that's not bad, but you could be doing better." and his mother would undoubtedly respond with "That's great." Sitra would be upset, though. Damn it to Sann, he could not afford to die after all.

In the reflection of the shield piece he saw a man he could scarcely recognize. His hair had grown longer, now curling at the ends, and his light patchy beard looked awful. Like someone spotted his chin and jaw with light-colored paint. There were spots on his face as well, and he desperately needed a real bath. The dripping of the water had not been near enough. He rubbed his face, and tried to find the man he knew before. It was hard to see, but his eyes remained the same. Colorless.

Skarn entered the room a moment later and the two flanking inquestors saluted their commander. Lacen watched as the unarmored man took his seat behind the desk, just as he had done the last time Lacen was here. He was still in his inquestor regalia, and this time, he carried a sword at his side. Lacen had always liked the design of the Inquestor blades. They were all hand and half swords, with a straight cross-guard that tapered into points toward the blade at the ends. The pommel was a distorted square shape, longer toward the handle than at the top, and in the center of the pommel was the inquestor insignia. But Lacen was not there to admire the craftsmanship of their blades.

"Should I pay my fee first?" Lacen asked coldly. The inquestor on his right smacked Lacen in the head with a leather gloved hand.

"What you should do is thank me," Skarn said. Lacen looked up sharply at the balding man. Thank him?? For branding him and throwing him into prison?

"And why in Sann would I thank you?"

"You saw some of the others who are branded, right? The ones with the face brands?" he asked. Quilla and Iren. They had names. "They can't go out in public. They're skellund and can't hide that. You on the other hand- you are only branded here," he said, pointing to the spot on his neck where Lacen was branded as though Lacen didn't know, "Where that can be covered up. You still have chances to walk among the rest of us. You weren't branded because I thought you were Skellund. If I thought that, you'd be branded elsewhere. No, I branded you there because I saw something in you. Something that I think can help the Inquestors."

He had to be joking.

Lacen had been branded, thrown in prison, beaten, poorly fed, and left to rot by this man, and now he expected him to help them? Where was whatever it was he saw in Lacen when he first had the interview? Where was that when he screamed a pleaded for them not to brand him? All of a sudden they needed his help, was that it? Lacen was skeptical. And he was not going to make it easy for them.

"Excuse me?"

"Listen, I'll get straight to the point. There wasn't a lot about you that stuck out to me when we first met. You were a young man from a nowhere village, with nothing to show for your skills," Yes, please continue telling me how worthless I am. That'll get me to help you. "But then, when I saw what you did to the city... that was impressive. That was something I could use. And now, I need you."