A Fool's Call {Discontinued}

three

"This is it," Hendrick said, gesturing upwards with one hand. 

"The Chaos Tower?" Balthazar asked. "It's quite imposing."

"As it should be. It sits upon the wall keeping the monsters out of the human empire," Hendrick said. "Naturally, we, the noble house inhabiting this tower, pride ourselves for being the ones who help the army in keeping humans safe."

"I suppose you would," Balthazar said.

Hendrick smiled faintly as the guards of the great gates approached them. "Indeed. And with that being said-"

"Hey! What is this?" Balthazar yelled as Jarah grappled him from behind. "What are you doing?" he said, as the guards pulled a coil of rope from their belt. 

"Standard procedures," Jarah said gruffly. "For your safety, it would be better if you submit yourself calmly."

"We aren't doing much, really," Hendrick said. "We just need to take you into custody for a bit. You see, we can't be sure of whether you really are a human or a monster. And it would be bad if we set a monster, especially one that can disguise as a human, free in the human empire." 

Hendrick turned to look at Balthazar, who had been tied up by the guards. His face was twisted into a vehement glare, eyes boring into Hendrick.

"You tricked me into coming here," the other man hissed. "Why, if I could be a monster?"

"Enough already," Jarah interrupted, "Submit yourself to the guards. If you are a human, nothing bad will happen to you."

"Wait a moment," Hendrick said. 

He walked over to Balthazar and stared down at him, a bemused look in his eyes, as he tried to figure Balthazar out. It seemed like the man was genuinely confused, but that in itself was confusing him. How could a normal human with few memories act so aggressively? It was like there was a great darkness in his heart. Maybe, then...

Then the hint of a smile crept on to Hendrick's face. It didn't matter what he told this man, whether the man was human or actually a monster. If there was a threat, it would be dealt with by his father and older brother. Though, his father had recently left for the capital...

"Why, you ask?" Hendrick said, "Why we bring you here if you could be a monster?"

Balthazar hissed, "Exactly. Why?"

Hendrick said, "If you were a monster, then bringing you here ultimately still has a purpose."

"A purpose?"

Hendrick's smile widened by just a bit. "Extermination," he said.

Balthazar's eyes widened. "You-"

"Take him away," Jarah said to the guards. 

"You-you can't-I shouldn't have trusted you!" Balthazar shouted as he was practically dragged away by two guards.

"He's oddly...aggressive, isn't he?" Hendrick said as he watched Balthazar curse and spit in his direction.

"Indeed," Jarah said. "He does not trust in his safety, that is for certain."

"A human that doesn't trust the human empire... Well, he's probably some monster or other," Hendrick said with a shrug. "I already came to that conclusion a few moments ago."

Jarah looked at Hendrick sternly, saying, "You know you shouldn't say that until judgement has been passed."

"I hold my argument," Hendrick said with another shrug. 

Jarah shook his head and sighed. "That's a prince for you. No sense of inhibition when it comes to rules. Or to anything, for that matter." 

"Hey! It's not an important rule anyway!"