“See? I told you they wouldn’t kill us! We’ll be able to continue our work!” Oryn said with excitement once Lilana and Tomar had left the prison cell they were in.

Aelene threw him a sideways glance. “... how can you be so smart in some areas and so utterly stupid in others...?” she muttered.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t you listen?”

“Did you, Oryn!? You’re taking this way too easy...” she said with a sad expression. “Lilly wanted to become High Priestess, and now she’s essentially done it. She told the people that they wouldn’t kill anyone, so they can’t yet without it making them look bad, but she also doesn’t want anyone to know what we know! Not to mention that she hates both of us, and you’ve done bad things to the boy and the girl! They have no reason to let us live... That will only make things harder for her... We’re as good as... as d—... Why!? Why did I agree to all this!?”

As Aelene began to sob lightly, Oryn started feeling bad for her. He believed everything would work out in the end, but Aelene didn’t, and she hadn’t even chosen to be in this position. The only reason she was here was because the High Priest had pushed her into her role as divine messenger, and she didn’t have much of a choice but to accept. She found some purpose in it, as she did want to help the citizens, and she figured this would be the way to do it, after the gods had led her to this path, but she hadn’t truly been happy.

As Oryn thought it over, he realized that the gods had very little to do with what had happened to her, however. He was a researcher of the scripture sigils, and while he believed that the gods had a hand in their creation, he also strongly believed that he was the one developing his scripts, and that it was Aelene’s energy that let her use them. It was their abilities that let them do these amazing things, not the gods’. This also meant that the one responsible for Aelene’s situation weren’t them, however. The one who had given her her aura was at fault. It was Oryn himself. Worse yet, the reason she had been there in his room that day when the water source blew up, was that she had been worried about him.

“And there’s nothing we can do!” Aelene blurted out, yelling through her tears. “The people already love her! And even if someone tried to stand against them, what would they even do!? I know what your scripture sigils can do, and these three are way more dangerous! They’ll just leave us here... Until...”

Her rant stopped when she felt Oryn’s hand on her shoulder. “Aelene. I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I really think it’s going to be fine. Getting worked up about the worst case scenario won’t help anyone. Believe me, we’ll get out of here.”

She stared at the encouraging expression on his face for a moment before mumbling “You suck at cheering people up...” Despite her words, however, she at least stopped crying.

***

Berlotte listened at the door to her cell as more and more people were apparently brought somewhere and then returned to their rooms a few minutes later.

“How many?” Hertar asked her.

“I believe six so far...” she said. “Where do you think they’re being brought?”

“The people might think Lilly can protect them, but these kids don’t know anything about leading a town. They need to get our people onto their side. Or at the very least learn more about how things work.”

While Berlotte was focused on the door, King Hertar and the two other Rulers in the cell examined the walls, the floor, and the slits right below the ceiling, trying to find some way out of the cell. None of them had ever set foot in here, and to their knowledge there weren’t any hidden ways to get out, but they had to try.

“These kids...” Berlotte repeated. “Why was Berla with them, Hertar? You said she’s dead!”

Hertar abruptly stopped and glanced towards his sister with worry. When he had sent guards to search for Berla or her remains, they had come back empty handed. Eissen had told him about his theory that she was with the boy and the girl, but even if she was, he had not expected her to actually come back to Alarna. Especially because she had lost a leg. Even if she had survived for the time being, eventually, his soldiers would’ve found them, and they wouldn’t have let Berla come back in that state. Hertar just couldn’t put his own niece to rest, as he knew that it could very well mean a fate worse than a simple death for her. He couldn’t bear to tell his sister the details, but she had been in a bad place at the time, and he had tried to prepare her for the idea that Berla would not come back.

“Berlotte... I said she was most likely dead. We didn’t know for sure, but I believed it. The evidence supported that assumption.”

While the other inmates kept looking for a way out, they also glanced at the king and his sister uncomfortably. They knew Berlotte could have quite a temper, and if she felt like her brother had betrayed her, being in this cell would become even more uncomfortable.

She straightened up and looked pointedly at her brother. “Did you know about her leg? Were you... hoping she would die?”

Hertar’s eyes met hers and he thought his response over for a moment, though he quickly came to the conclusion that he had lied enough. If Berla had never returned, everything would’ve worked out. As it stood, however, Berlotte would try to figure out what exactly had happened, and things would only get worse from there.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “If she had just never come back here...”

Even though Berlotte should understand the situation, he prepared for the worst. When it came to her daughter, she was rarely able to act rationally, but in a surprising twist, she just looked at him with a sad expression and became quiet. All she said as she returned to listening at the door was “I see...”

Hertar was about to say something to her, when he was interrupted by one of the other Rulers in the cell. “Hertar. It’s no use, there is no way out of here. We have to consider it.”

“You know as well as I do that that plan is doomed to fail, Janyr.”

“Why? There’s only two guards, right, Berlotte?” Janyr asked.

“As far as I can tell, yes,” she said curtly.

“It’s four Rulers against two young Fighters then, we can take them!”

“Have you thought about what happens after that?” Hertar asked. “If we go out the front door, all eyes will be on us. It doesn’t matter how many Fighters there are in the hallway, we have to find guards who are loyal to us before anyone realizes what’s going on!”

“Surely they will already be waiting for us!” Janyr said. “I’ll acknowledge that they didn’t have much of a choice, surrounded by the entire town, but they know who the leaders of this town are. My man Grym is undoubtedly trying to free us as we speak.”

“Don’t be so naive, Janyr,” the last prisoner said. “Do you really think only the citizens and the young guards are fed up with being killed by beasts? Have you truly not seen the relieved faces when that girl spoke of a world without them? There aren’t many guards left in town, and very few of them will follow us over them.”

“Of course you would say that, Hayla. You always blabber about the people rising up. Such nonsense.”

Hayla looked at Janyr with unbelieving eyes, gesturing at their surroundings. “Are you a fool or just blind? They have put us in cells! Some priestess is taking over the town! The people have risen up!”

“Come now,” Janyr said, “they will see the error in their decision soon enough. If we had more time, we would just have to wait a little bit.”

“You really are a fool,” Hayla said. “What do you—”

“We can’t afford to bicker among ourselves in this situation!” Hertar admonished. “What the citizens want doesn’t matter, only that we get out of here and either take back control or get as far away from here as possible. If only we could tell someone...”

“I think they’re bringing the High Priest somewhere...” Berlotte said, still listening at the door. “If they’re questioning him, it’s only a matter of time until they also come for—”

At that moment, someone stopped in front of their cell’s door in the hallway, unlocking it, and Berlotte stepped away. When it opened, they saw two guards who hadn’t been among the ones to bring the king and the others here.

“Hertar Alarna,” a young, male guard said, “follow us, please.”

“That’s King Hertar, you imbecile!” Janyr yelled. “You will let all of us out right now!”

“Just shut up...” Hayla muttered.

“We don’t recognize your authority anymore, ‘Ruler,’” the female guard said, “nor your former titles. Call yourself what you want, it doesn’t matter to us. Now, please, Mr. Alarna.”

Janyr was ready to explode at being belittled and his head snapped first in Hayla’s direction and then in Berlotte’s. Even if Hertar was against the idea of going through a few guards, he was hoping that these two would help him, and at that point, the king wouldn’t have much of a choice but to join in as well. Janyr believed that the others must’ve been just as affronted as he was at the guards’ attitudes, and assuming that they were ready to help him, he launched himself straight at the guards.

While Rulers were not usually able to best Fighters in a one-on-one battle, with enough practice they would be able to at least hold their own against weaker guards, and multiple Rulers were able to overpower one or two of them. However, Janyr didn’t realize that he was not only alone, but that the guards he was attacking were by no means weak, despite their young age.

The male guard stepped up and got into position, seemingly without a care in the world. The female guard seemed similarly unconcerned, as Janyr reached them and tried to punch the young man. His fist didn’t connect though. When asked about the incident at a later time, he wasn’t able to recall what exactly had happened after this point, with the only things he remembered being a sharp pain in his arm and his vision becoming dark a moment after that.

“That fool didn’t even recognize Grym’s boy...” Hayla muttered.