Lamont was wounded badly, blood still oozing from his wounds. Some of the guards came around to check on him, shooting a glance towards Zain as they wanted to get a feel on the situation.

“The humans will cooperate. Lamont won’t be given medical attention until they are all within the dungeon. That’ll give them some incentive to hurry.” Zain declared while turning his attention towards his father.

Bram stared at his son with disgust. The boy he had raised how could he have grown up to become such a monster? Bram sighed before watching as the guards pointed spears towards him and his wife.

“Nothing is more important than my son’s life. If it means cooperating with this lunatic then we have no other choice.” Kiana said reluctantly, but seeing as her son’s health was declining she agreed to be detained.

Bram nodded and turned to face the guards, raising his hands into the air as they were soon led along to the throne room and passed the kitchen and soon they walked through the dining room. They came across two flights of stairs and the group took the one that led below.

They came across a door with a lock on it, but the guards had the key on them and placed it into the lock, unlocking it as they guided the prisoners through the cold and musty dungeon. There was a narrow pathway with gates on both sides. The Basilisks took them into the center and soon locked them inside.

“Do you think what my son wants is best for our region and our people? Going to war with humans… that will only cause more suffering for both of us.”

“You know our motto, Bram. We follow whoever is in power. We have nothing against you, but your son outsmarted you.”

The guards double-checked to make sure that the gates were locked before they left the two alone.

“He won’t… let Lamont die, right? We didn’t make the wrong choice, did we, Bram?”

“No, Zain is many things, but he wouldn’t kill family. At least I don’t think he will. I’d hoped he wasn’t that too far gone, but now I can’t tell.”

“I knew it was a mistake for an outsider to return. Things were a lot simpler when it was just the five of us.”

“I couldn’t turn him down.”

“You could… I’m sure things would have been better for all of us if he wasn’t involved.”

“I couldn’t turn him down. He is my son and that goes against my principles as a good man. Besides, I owed it to his mom. She was a good woman.”

“I highly doubt something like that would come out of a good woman.” Kianna scoffed.

. . .

Upstairs Noel was sitting up with his back against the wall of the bed as he looked around at everyone cooped up in the small room. They were all waiting around anxiously hoping that Bram would resolve the situation and that Jace and the others would return shortly. However, that didn’t seem like it’d be the case anytime soon.

“What the hell is taking them so long? I’m sick of this place.” Noel complained.

“Be patient, Noel. I’m sure the Captain and the others are doing their best to get here as quickly as possible.” Claire reassured.

The tension in the room was thick enough to be tasted. Castilla and Estelle were silent for the most part, but it was easy to see the worry in their eyes. Would their father be all right? And it wasn’t just Bram that everyone was worried about…

Isaac, Jace, and Yadon. They went out earlier and it shouldn’t take them this long to secure the supplies that were needed, right? Claire remained positive, but it was hard to keep everyone together like this.

Soon there was a knock on the door, everyone, within the room glancing at each other as they remained silent. Eventually, they heard a familiar voice and rushed to open the door. It was none other than Keianna who greeted them.

“Keianna, what’s going on out there?” Claire asked as she backed away from the door to let her comrade in.

“It looks like Zain is a traitorous snake. But, that wasn’t hard to figure out.”

“Huh? What do you mean? Is he the one behind all of this?” Claire pondered.

“It can’t be… our brother wouldn’t do this. He must be being controlled or blackmailed.” Callista added.

Keianna shook her head. “It didn’t seem like that to me. He seemed to be enjoying everything.”

“Wait… does that mean the others walked into a trap?” Claire’s eyes widened as she came upon this conclusion.

“What!? No! They better not be dead… how are we going to leave this hellhole?” Even in a time like this Noel could only think about himself and getting back home.

Soon another knock could be heard at the door…

“Open up… if you do not then there’s going to be some consequences and we know you wouldn’t want that.” A guard mentioned.

“What… what does he mean consequences?” Callista tilted her head. “Why would our guards… don’t tell me father lost…”

“That seems to be the most likely conclusion. It seems if we do not cooperate with them we’ll suffer terrible luck.” Estelle hissed.

“Or… and hear me out. We could wreck them and end this whole thing ourselves.” Keianna added.

“No! Absolutely not! Talk some sense into her Claire!” Noel cried.

“Noel does have a point… it’s too risky. Plus we don’t know what went on down there. They could have hostages or even the others.”

Another knock was heard against the wooden door. “If you don’t open up then Lamont won’t get his treatment. Besides… wouldn’t you want to know if the former king is safe?”

“Father’s hurt…? What about mother and Lamont?” Callista said with a worried expression.

The guards wouldn’t say anymore… not until they saw the door open from the other side. Once they saw this they gave off a smirk before letting them know of their situation.

“Right now Bram and Kiana are locked below in the dungeon. King Zain doesn’t want any interference from any of you.”

“Zain went through with something like this… but why…?” Callista was the first one out of the room as she demanded answers from the guards.

“We do not know. You’d have to ask him yourself, but for now, you guys are heading down below. You’re all fine with that, right?” The guard hissed.

“Over my dead body! There’s no way in hell you’re going to imprison us!” Keianna protested.

“I second that… a cold, damp and smelly dungeon is no place for someone of class like me!” Noel shouted.

“Please… let’s not make this any worse for Lamont and the others. If we go against his wishes it could be bad... For now, let’s just do what he says…” Callista pleaded.

“We wouldn’t want to cause trouble for you… I’m sure the others are still out there. We’ll have to trust them.” Claire mentioned.

“You better have a plan in case things don’t work out, Claire.” Keianna warned.

“Well, then, let’s go. To the dungeon with you.”