Levtirest Book 1: Intrus

Chapter 7: The Weak Link

Kunesuch and Adafwyne led the girls to the dungeons. Unlike a typical dungeon the girls had imagined, the prison of Reichlregni rose high above the city. There was light from the outside, and it was warm. Had the girls not known otherwise, it would have seemed like a normal place, potentially a home or workplace, and not a dungeon. Emily noted that, at first glance, it appeared incredibly humane. Kunesuch led them to one of the cells. They entered to find a young man inside. He was just as Kunesuch had described. He was much younger than the others that Victoria and Emily had seen, and his features were much darker. His eyes were a dark brown. His hair was a darker shade of brown, and his skin was so much darker than the others Emily initially thought he could be multiracial.

At first, he looked over to them, but he then looked away. He was seated in the windowsill in his cell that overlooked the city. Adafwyne asked, "Who are you?" He didn't reply.

Emily, who had been doing a lot of thinking, asked, "May I ask him something?" Adafwyne nodded her head, and Emily asked, "Why the Western Plains?"

The man looked over at her again with a confused look on his face. "What are you talking about?"

"You obviously have bases all over Levtirest, but why did you only stop the image going to the Western Plains? There has to be something special about it."

The man seemed to get flustered. "We needed to send a message to Adafwyne, and that is what we did. I do not see the point in your question."

Emily exhaled, trying to think of how to reword the question to make her point clearer. Finally, she said, "I get that, but... the execution is what bothers me, not the motive. If you wanted to send a message, you could have attacked all of the messengers. If one messenger delivering something goes missing and returns having been attacked, it's odd but not an emergency, especially in our world. However, if a group of messengers, all delivering the same thing all across Levtirest disappeared and returned having been attacked, that would send a message. That would scare people and get the queen's attention, and yet, you only attacked the messenger going to the Western Plains. So, what gives?"

Adafwyne admitted, "You have a point, as you almost always do, Emily. Why the Western Plains?"

The man seemed to be giving himself a mental pep talk before saying, "I am not going to tell you people anything."

Victoria remarked, "You don't sound so confident. Are you telling that to us or yourself?" The man hesitated.

Emily then stated, "We're not bad people. We're just trying to figure out why you and your friends attacked us, and we're asking nicely! This could be considered an interrogation by some, but we're not beating you or anything to get you to talk. There's no point in using that firstly when you can just ask."

The man asked, "You... are not interrogating me?"

Adafwyne explained, "We are currently asking nicely."

The man shook his head and stated, "Well, you came to the wrong man. Sure, you may think of me as a weak link of sorts, but... I do not know as much as the others. They do not trust me."

"Is it because you look different?" Emily asked. "Is it because they all have light hair, eyes, and skin, while yours are all darker?" The man hesitated before nodding his head. Emily sat across from him and stated, "I hear you. We have issues like that in our own world. Heck, some people judge me just because of my hair. We're all different, but your friends are just being jerks for judging you based on your looks, if you ask me." The man looked back out the window. Emily then asked, "What's your name?"

The man replied, "Nalicir... a form of nalicire."

Emily asked, "Different?" Nalicir nodded his head, and Emily stated, "Wow. That's... rough." Nalicir didn't respond. Emily then asked, "Who are you people?"