The towering, giant of a man moved with lumbering steps as he approached our wagon. He looked down at us with a grin and spoke in a deep, booming voice.

“Renald! Tia… Now this is a nice surprise! General Arthur’s silver blades so far from Novus territory and all alone. What could you possibly be doing all the way out here?”

“Orias!” I heard my mother gasp.

My father grimaced as he looked up at the giant. “You seem to be doing well Orias. Last time I saw you, you had over a dozen arrows in your back as you fled the battlefield like a coward.”

“You know him?” I asked curiously.

“Orias Hatalmas, traitor to the Novus Kingdom,” My father replied tersely.

“The Novus Kingdom betrayed me!” Orias roared, his face flushing red.

My father held up his blade, ready to be attacked at a moments notice. “And now you are here, pretending to be a loyal soldier while spilling mud on the kingdom’s name.”

Orias looked down at my father, and spoke, “Lay down your weapon Renald. You and Tia cannot fight three hundred fifty soldiers all by yourself.” Orias paused as he looked over at Donte, Charly, and me. “Especially not while protecting children. If you surrender, I can assure you will be treated in accordance of the code of chivalry.”

My father frowned, hesitating for a moment, before nodding. He sheathed his weapon and placed it on the wagon. The rest of us followed suit.

Orias smiled and motioned to his soldiers. He began to shrink, returning to his normal size. Even then, he still towered over my dad. “Bind their arms and search the wagon. Take everything of value, but leave their weapons to me.”

The soldier began to move and within moments thick metal shackles were clamped around my wrists. Under Orias’s command we were escorted towards the encampment at sword point.

“What happens to us now?” Charly asked, his voice shaking slightly.

“Do not worry, so long as he stays true to the code of chivalry nothing bad will happen to us,” my mother replied with a weak smile, “The code states that captured knights are to be ransomed back to their country of origin. We will lose a lot of money and honor, but not our lives.”

“And what if he does not honor the code of chivalry? Can you trust a traitor?” Charly continued, as he looked at Orias marching in front of us.

“Then, we will either be executed or sold to a foreign slave ship,” My father replied.

Charly’s face went pale, and I could hear him start to hyperventilate. The chains on his wrists began to shake as he uselessly pulled at the bindings.

“Do you really have so little respect for me Renald?” Orias spoke as soldiers ushered us into a tent at blade point.

“You lost any possibility of respect when you killed your commander in cold blood,” My father replied.

“He left me no choice,” Orias said, glaring at my father, “Do not test the limits of my patience. You are my prisoner now, and the only reason I am keeping you alive is because of Tia.”

I looked over at my mother. She was looking at the ground, not meeting Orias’s gaze. She did not look angry like my father, more like she was disappointed and sad.

Orias walked over to my mother and reached out to touch her head. My mother flinched away, stumbling backwards. Orias sighed with a dejected look.

“You have grown up little spark. I wish I could have been there to see it happen.”

My mother did not say a word. She just continued to stare at the ground silently.

Orias shook his head. He turned to a nearby soldier and the emotions disappeared. “Keep them restrained, and two guards on duty at all times. Do not do anything unnecessary. Even unarmed the silver blades are more dangerous than you sorry lot. I will take them back to base in the morning.”

The soldier saluted and Orias left the tent. The moment Orias was out of sight, the soldier’s attitude changed. A malicious grin stretched across his face. He grabbed the chains binding my wrists and pulled me to the ground. I hissed in pain. My knee bled as a sharp stone tore through my pants.

“Listen up! I do not care what kind of relationship you have with the captain, and I do not care for some ridiculous knight’s code. From this point on you are my prisoners and you will do what I say. If you do not obey or try anything stupid…” The soldier paused as he looked down at me. “This kid will suffer for it. If you do not want to see her get hurt, then you better obey like good little sheep. Understand?”

“Let her go!” Donte shouted.

“If you want to hurt someone hit me instead.” Charly pleaded.

The soldier shook his head and untied the thick leather strap that held his sword to his waist. Without saying a word, his arm moved and the leather strap turned into a blur. With a loud snap, the leather connected with my shoulder. I bit my tongue, resisting the urge to cry out

My family yelled in protest but was quickly silenced as the soldier raised his arm, prepared to strike me again.

“Understand?” he repeated.

My family nodded silently; afraid he would hit me again if they said anything.

I glared at the soldier, debating whether or not it would be worth the risk to kill him. One little flame, and in a few hours he would be dead. Unfortunately, we were surrounded by hundreds of soldiers. If I killed our guard, we might lose whatever safety the code of chivalry offered. I could not risk that for vengeance. Not yet.

“Each of you stand with a back to a post,” The soldier commanded.

I looked where he motioned and saw the logs holding up the tent. Three of them were buried in the ground and looked very sturdy. He had both my parents stand with their backs to one log and Donte and Charly stand with their backs to another log. I was told to stand by myself with my back to the log in the center of the three.

“Raise your hands.” The soldier commanded again.

We obeyed, knowing he would find any excuse to get violent again. I felt my stomach sink as I realized what was going to happen. Sure enough, the soldier gave a few commands to those around him, and within a few moments had a hammer and large metal spikes.

The soldier stepped in front of me first. He gave me a twisted smile. Grabbing hold of the chains binding my wrists, the soldier pulled me up until I was on my tiptoes. Once he was satisfied, he lined the metal spike up with a loop in the chain and began hammering it into place. The wooden log shook with each hammer blow, but remained firm.

The soldier stepped back with a satisfied grin. I tried to pull on my shackles, but they were firmly nailed in place over my head. The rough metal cut into my wrists as I was forced to continue standing on my tiptoes without rest.

The soldier then moved on to the rest of my family. He repeated the process with each of them. I saw my father eyeing the guards when it was his turn. I knew he was internally debating the same thing I had been, but in the end, he decided not to attack the soldier and let himself be nailed to the post.

Once the soldier was done, he stepped back and looked at his work proudly. He then began to run his fingers slowly across the heavy leather strap. “To think, I have the famous silver blades at my mercy. I am going to enjoy this.”

The soldier prowled back and forth across the tent, waiting for a single slip up. He wanted any excuse to cause pain. My parents eyed him cautiously, afraid to even speak in case he used that as provocation. A few times, he did not even need an excuse. He simply walked up to my dad and hit him with the heavy leather strap. He smiled the entire time.

His cruelty was nothing new to me. It was the same way the Collector used to treat his prisoners. He enjoyed causing pain and flaunting his power over others. Only this time, I was not afraid, and we were not truly trapped. The soldiers never took the bracers from my dad and brother. They had probably never seen true ninth division weapons before and did not know how big of an oversight such a small object was. Between the bracers and Donte’s innate talent, freeing ourselves was the easy part. What came next was the problem.

I closed my eyes ignoring the metal digging into my wrists and slight burning in my calves. I connected with Sylvie flying overhead. Three hundred fifty soldiers all moved about their duties with mechanical efficiency. This was a well-trained army, too well-trained to be bandits or deserters.

I shifted my view to the stallions. They had been disconnected from the wagon and placed in a makeshift stable. The arrows had been removed and large bandages wrapped their sides. Whoever treated them must have been uninterested in their injury because they did not notice the lack of blood, nor take any special precautions to contain the powerful stallions.

I tried connecting with Nox, but the flow of energy faded as fast as it appeared. All I was able to see was a single image. The small kitten had found its way into the army’s food storage and was currently gorging itself on all the food it could find. While my family and I were suffering under a sadistic torturer, he was having the time of his life.

Not able to do anything with Nox, I took control of Sylvie again and guided her down to the camp. The small bird went completely unnoticed by the soldiers as she perched herself on a wooden post near the captain’s tent.

Through the wide-open tent flaps, I could see the man dressed in baggy clothing sitting in a chair. Orias was hunched over and coving his face with his hands. He sat there like that, unmoving for a long time until finally he was interrupted by a soldier.

The soldier saluted as Orias moved, sitting up strait with a sigh. He did not return the salute but motioned for the soldier to speak.

“We searched the wagon sir. We found a great many books, but only one that matches your description.” The soldier reported before handing Orias a red leather-bound book.

Orias opened it, revealing a great many runes and glyphs scribbled across each page. “Good. so long as Renald does not have this, the silver blades are only a name.”

“Should we do something about the three Innate talents sir?” The soldier asked.

“No! Tia… and the others are not to be harmed,” Orias commanded quickly, “They know they are out numbered and cannot escape for now. Knowing those two, they will likely make their move tomorrow when we try to transport them. Make sure both Istvan and Ferenc are part of the escort tomorrow. I will need their innate talents if there is an escape attempt. Have the rest of the escort unit armed with crossbows, loaded at all times. We cannot afford any mistakes.”

The soldier saluted and hurried out of the tent to relay the commands. Alone again, Orias slumped back in to the chair with a sigh and stared blankly at the ceiling.

“Renald, Tia… If only things had been different.”