Chapter 50

Tirr stepped out into the common room with a loud yawn, rubbing the grit from his eyes as he carried Garm over to the table where the morning's food had already been prepared. He grabbed a few chunks of meat for Garm, letting the wolf cub dig in happily before grabbing a few things off the tray for himself.

He reached for a second pastry, knowing Maria’s disapproving words would follow and his own retort already prepared as he grabbed the sweet. But was surprised when he was able to take it silently. He blinked, taking a quick look around the room for the first time, only to notice Maria wasn’t there.

Maria almost always woke up earlier than him and Tirr wondered if he had woken up so late, she had just eaten without him. He went to her door and knocked angrily, “Hey! If it’s that late you should just wake me up. And you should still greet your god in the morning.”

He waited at the door for a moment before wondering if she was really still asleep. He opened the door quietly, peering into the quiet bedroom. He crept towards the bed thinking to surprise her as punishment for not waking up, but found the bed empty.

A small panic set within Tirr’s chest that only grew as he looked around the room, noticing that the few items that they had brought with them to Capital were gone. “Maria?” He called out, quietly at first as his voice was unsteady. He went out into the common room, ignoring the still eating Garm and called out again, louder this time. “Maria!”

He started opening the other rooms, continuing to call out her name while pushing down the frightening thoughts that tried to bubble up. Finally, after searching their whole quarters he ran out, moving quickly through the castle halls as he stopped servants and guards, asking them if they had seen the young woman.

As he continued searching calling out her name a voice suddenly called out to him. He turned around to see King Torn heading towards him, a worried look on his face. “Why are you running around the castle like a crazed child?”

“Have you seen Maria? She wasn’t in our rooms this morning.”

“The girl? Some of my guards informed me that she left last night. You didn’t know?”

The words struck Tirr harshly and his expression grew visibly worse. “Left the Castle? To where?”

“I don’t know, I thought she would have told you… She hasn’t returned though.” The King leaned forward putting a hand on Tirr’s shoulder. “I did warn you about the loyalty of those beneath ones such as us. If she didn’t tell you about it, maybe she doesn’t plan on returning, now that she’s got what she wants from you…”

“Maria isn’t like that!” Tirr replied vehemently shaking off the King's hand. He shoved down the doubts in his mind and turned away, “I’ll go look for her.”

“You won’t find her by yourself in a city as large as the Capital,” Torn said soothingly. “I’ll have my guards start an investigation. If she’s in the city they’ll find her.”

Tirr couldn’t deny the sense of his words and stopped. Though part of him didn’t want to go out looking for her in the first place, scared of what he might find as he thought back to his nightmares…

“I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve heard anything. In the meantime, we should keep your mind off of it. I think its time to talk about going to the next step in our progress with the shard.”

The King let out a soft smile, guiding Tirr gently as they started moving back through the castle….

The first thing that Maria noticed was the hard stone floor beneath her. As she slowly came awake and tried to rise up off the uncomfortable floor, she realized her hands were pressed together behind her back, held by large and heavy iron manacles. She managed to sit up, fighting off the desperate fear she knew wouldn’t help her.

As she looked around the room, she found herself in a small cell, barred by an iron door with a small slot at the bottom. Besides that and a smaller barred window that looked to be for ventilation, there was nothing but stone walls.

Her mind still fuzzy, she tried to remember what had happened. She remembered the Marquess and the threat he had given her. Remembered going out to look for Doron after feeling like something was wrong in the castle. And remembered the hand that had grabbed her as she ran back to the castle after realizing why things had felt so wrong.

“Tirr…” She whispered, thinking back to the Marquess’s words. It had happened so slowly she hadn’t even realized it when they had been separated from him…

“I’m sure he’s safer than us for now…” A grizzled voice grunted in reply.

“Doron!” Maria scrambled, trying to get to her feet, before collapsing back down.

“Whoa there,” The Veteran let out another grunt in reply and Maria could hear the rattling of manacles shifting. “I’m sorry to say they realized the drug wasn’t as effective at normal doses for us Blessed after I broke someone’s jaw. I’m guessing they used enough on you to put down a horse, so focus on clearing that out of your system for now.”

Maria nodded to herself, focusing on channeling her Blessing as she cleared whatever it was they used to capture her.

“The food is drugged as well, same with the water… Glad you’re alright Maria.” Doron chuckled, “Nora would have killed me if I couldn’t bring you back.”

As Maria felt the last of the drug’s influence leave her body, she stood up quickly, trying to speak through the small vent. “Doron, we have to get out of here and help Tirr. It was never the Marquess who wanted Tirr’s power, it was…

“I know… Damnit, should have known from the start something was up, Monter’s always been a military man despite the fancy clothes. Wouldn’t shit without orders...”

She heard Doron let out an angry growl, “It was the King, right? From the very beginning, it was the King…”