by Tony Johnson
“We’re still trying to figure out how he and the Hooded Phantom have control over the elements,” Grizz explained. “If they were given to them by Zebulon, we aren’t sure why the dark god wouldn’t give anyone who serves him an elemental spirit. The phantom and Silas certainly aren’t the only two of Alazar’s creations that have forsaken him and chosen to serve Zebulon.”
“Why is it Silas leading them?” Shana asked, then, thinking of her newly-revealed father, said, “If you say Malorek is so strong, why wouldn’t he lead his own army? Or why wouldn’t both of them?”
Ty explained his thoughts, “I’ve wondered that myself, but I assume that the Hooded Phantom wanted to stay with half the army to defend Celestial in case it was attacked, which allowed the other half to go out and take over more cities. But then,” Ty thought of another reasoning based on the information Rylan had just shared, “if you say he has the element of fire now, and we know he receives more elements the more he serves Zebulon’s cause, it’s understandable that he be the one that goes out and fight in Zebulon’s name. The Hooded Phantom already has the five elements, so having him lead the armies would be needlessly risking his life.”
Thinking of additional reasoning, Steve added to Ty’s theory. “I think Silas is trying to copy King Zoran. Zoran campaigned throughout Element, defeating any monster that stood in his way as he sought revenge on Draviakhan. If there's one thing we know, Silas is obsessed with being the center of attention. He wants what Zoran had: to be admired, respected, and have everyone always talking about him. Zoran earned all of that from the people in the world by bringing peace to the kingdom. Silas wants to do the same, only for the monsters. He wants to create his own legend to be remembered by.”
He even has been trying to establish the moniker of the White-Armored Prince. That’s why it’s so ironic people refer to him as the Shadow Prince instead.
“Did any of the eleven warriors with Silas have elemental powers?” Shana asked Rylan, still trying to make sense of everything.
“Not from what we saw.”
“And you’re sure there were only eleven?” Steve wanted clarification.
“Yes, we counted multiple times,” Rylan was sure of it.
Hmm, Steve thought, if Silas is trying to be like King Zoran, he would have twelve men, comparable to King Zoran’s twelve Guardian Knights. Maybe one of them was killed in the siege. Or perhaps one of them is still out there.
“Did you see a large python?” Grizz asked. “Were there any goblins in the army?”
“Yes, there was a huge python,” Rylan confessed, “and hundreds of goblins.”
So now we can confirm the group who attacked Serendale joined up with Silas’s forces that marched from Celestial to Almiria, Grizz thought, anticipating the moment he would be able to kill them all and avenge his family.
“There is one more thing I should tell you,” Rylan said, gaining the group’s attention. “We captured a monster from their army and brought it back with us.”
“Seriously?” Steve, Ty, Shana, and Grizz all said, nearly in unison.
“He’s chained up in a dungeon under the naval warriors’ barracks. We can tell he’s moderately fluent in language, but no one's been able to get any information out of him yet. All he does is swear and complain.”
“Would you be able to head there, and I’ll meet up with you in a couple minutes?” Steve asked.
“Sure. It was nice to meet you all,” Rylan said to the group before leaving. “I believe, no matter what happens, we should get as many people to stay here and help fight.”
“So you’re finally up and about?” Ty noticed Steve was out of the infirmary. “What’s with the sudden change in attitude?”
“I have some great news,” Steve smiled, and then proceeded to explain the lineage of Wexley Wheeler as King Zoran's great-grandson. “He's the heir to the throne, and I think in the next vision we'll see it officially confirmed. This new baby would be your nephew, Shana.”
“That’s incredible. The odds of this being a mere coincidence are impossible,” Shana couldn’t believe the connections Steve had made.
“That’s what I thought,” said Steve. “It’s only through Alazar who has divinely orchestrated all of these events that any of this could’ve happened.”
“So what? We defeat Silas here, then the Hooded Phantom in Celestial and this newborn baby rules over the kingdom from his highchair?” Grizz was not impressed.
“No, there would be an interim king until Wexley comes of age on his sixteenth nameday. The kingship would go to one of the twelve mayors of the Primary Cities. It's based on an election.”
“Or,” Ty proposed another legal option, “Any one of the Guardian Knights can run for the position. It happened in the year 635. The Supreme Commander, the leader of the Guardian Knights, was elected to serve as the king because people liked him more than any of the mayors. Maybe that will be you, Steve. You’re the only remaining Guardian Knight.”
“That was only a temporary appointment,” Steve recalled Sir Lambert knighting him in Celestial during the attack.
“No one has told you it ended,” Ty elbowed him, half-joking, but also half-seriously believing that Steve would be an exceptional leader. I could see people rallying behind him to serve as either the temporary king. If someone was elected instead of him, he’d make an excellent Supreme Commander since the kingdom needs a new one now. He’s already beloved in Celestial for being the capital’s jouster.
“The day any of that happens is the day women don’t give you a second glance when you walk in a room,” Steve told his brother.
Tilting his head with a playful smile and batting his eyes, Ty pretended he was accepting the adoration of an imaginary flock of women.
“Do you want help in interrogating this orc?” Grizz asked, the only one of the group who didn’t care to play make-believe about the future and wanted to shift the conversation to practical steps they could take about defending themselves against the approaching army.
“I need to go and start talking to a lot of the committees and some of the influential people I know around the city and see if I can’t convince them to stay,” Shana excused herself. “The more civilians that are seen leaving, the more others will think ‘that's one less person that's here to stay and help fight.’ Then they’ll consider leaving and people will follow them as well. It's like a snowball rolling down the hill, getting larger and larger. We need to nip it in the bud as soon as possible. I’ll stay up all night if I have to.”
“I’ll go with you if that’s alright,” Ty offered.
“Yes,” Shana smiled, happy to have him along. “Being that you’re one of the ones that was in Celestial when it was attacked, it might be beneficial to have you explain what we’re up against.”
“I guess it’s you and me,” Steve said to Grizz. Having barely eaten or slept for two days, Steve was hungry and exhausted, but he knew he had to go and interrogate the monster prisoner because any piece of helpful knowledge they could attain could be the difference between winning and losing against Silas and his army.
Chapter 94
In an underground dungeon in the east side of the city, Steve and Grizz met up with Rylan, who led them to the captured monster’s cell. Behind bars, in manacles, was a gray, male orc. It had large gray eyes and long, pointy ears that stuck out from the side of its head.
“We know he doesn’t have any elemental powers, so we were able to bind him without a problem,” Rylan explained. “He was one of their army's sentries. We found him searching ahead with another orc. In our attempts to restrain them, they fought back. The other one was killed, but this one we were able to subdue. His name is Krater. And although he loves to talk, he hasn’t helped us one bit.
“We've withheld food and drink from him and whenever he tries to sleep we poke and prod him with a stick to keep him awake. Sooner or later he’ll reveal something.”
“Sooner or later?”
Grizz questioned. “We don't have time to wait around until he feels chatty when his army will be at our doorstep in the coming days. If he has information, we need to get it out of him now. We're already outmanned and out-powered. We need any advantage we can get.”
“Open the door for me,” Steve ordered a nearby warrior who had a ring of keys on his belt. As the man obliged and the creaking, metal-barred door was opened, Steve removed Brightflame from its sheath and placed it against the wall outside the cell. “Now, give me the key for his manacles and chains,” Steve held out his hand.
“You know orcs have sharp, pointy teeth. One bite to your neck could be enough to kill you,” the jailer warned.
“I'm aware of the physical attributes of an orc,” Steve entered the cell and closed the door behind him, then proceeded to free the orc of the metal manacles.
Krater immediately backed into the dank corner of the cell, cowering and covering his body with his lanky arms, whimpering, “Don’t hurt! Don’t hurt!”
“I won’t hurt you. I just want to ask you some questions. Will you speak to me?”
Wringing his chaffed wrists, the orc timidly came towards the center of the cell, but in an aggressive maneuver, lunged at Steve, attempting to attack him. Grizz and the other warriors jumped in surprise, but Steve calmly stepped aside and pushed the Anthropomorphic Monster off balance, sending him crashing into the limestone wall.
“Pretending you're scared or injured to lower the guard of your enemy is a typical trick of an orc, one I won’t fall victim to,” Steve said, remembering his training. “I freed you of your binds to see how you would react when given power, and now I know you're untrustworthy. Wrong move on your part. I was going to give you food and water and let you sleep in exchange for answers to my questions, but you've squandered your opportunity. If you haven't starved to death by the morning, we will try this again.” With his expectations made clear, Steve pretended like he was walking out of the cell.
“Wait! Wait!” Krater called, then used his simplified understanding of the four races’ language to communicate. “You let me go, I tell everything.”
“Let you go?” Steve turned to face the monster. “That’s not going to happen. You're in no position to bargain. You're staying locked in here until the army arrives. Your only hope of getting out is if they achieve victory over us, in which case they would free you. The best I can do for you is help you stay alive until then.”
“You want me to help you win battle?” the gray orc saw the conundrum he faced. “More I help, more chance there is of me staying in cage. Why do that?”
“It all depends on how confident you are in your army against ours.”
Happy the conversation had gotten to the point he hoped it would get to, Steve thought about the ramifications of the monster's answer. If he says ‘yes’ to accepting the food, that means he thinks his army is strong enough so that even if he told us something helpful, he knows they’ll still win and he'll be freed. But if he doesn’t reveal anything, it’s because he believes the slightest bit of aid might give us the victory and prevent the monsters from ever freeing him.
“Can I have time to think?” the orc asked.
Now he's just trying to buy time so he can think of a lie to tell us so he can get both things he wants – food and drink, but at the same time not giving us any advantages in his battle.
“This is a one time offer that expires the moment I walk out of this cell,” Steve clarified, forcing the orc to decide immediately so that he could get the most accurate answer.
“I can go without food till army gets here and kill everyone,” Krater growled.
“Okay then,” Steve said to himself, before exiting the cell.
“Why are you smiling?” Grizz asked, seeing a grin form over Steve’s face. “You haven’t found anything out!”
“But I did,” Steve argued. “His response gives me more confidence than ever that what we're doing might work and that we can make a stand here.”
“What are you talking about?” Rylan asked.
“I can tell he knows something, but he’s not giving it up yet. And right now he’s valuing it more than food and water. I think he knows something that could potentially compromise their entire army.”
“If he knows something that important, go back in there and figure it out,” Grizz urged.
“I’ve already gotten off to a good start with him. I’ll try to press him more in the morning. We’ll see what he says when he’s even more tired and hungry. Don’t worry. I think he’ll break soon enough.”
“We can’t afford to wait on this,” Grizz pushed past Steve and heading to enter the cell. “There are other ways to get information than withholding food, drink, and sleep.”
Holding the Dwarf back, Steve stated, “If you’re referring to torture, that is out of the question.”
“No, it’s not,” Grizz began to get angry and pointed through the cage at the captured orc. “He may have information that could save the lives of many. We already know that because of the odds we’re against there’ll be massive casualties in this battle. Every little advantage we can get is going to help. It's one monster we're hurting that could save hundreds from being hurt. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” Grizz reasoned.
“Torture is ineffective,” Steve looked to Rylan, hoping a fellow warrior would corroborate the research. “Throughout history, there are more cases of it not working than actually working. It’s inhumane, and we’re above it.”
“Inhumane?! He's not Human! He's not an Elf, a Dwarf, or a Giant either!” Grizz shouted. “He's a monster. You know, the ones who killed our friends and family! This monster was in Celestial for the attack. He was a part of it! He deserves to be punished. He deserves pain, just like he caused.”
“We cannot stoop to their levels of cruelty,” Steve stated matter-of-factly. “That's one of the things that separate monsters from man. I know what it’s like to be tortured by monsters,” he thought back to Silas’s order to have Ironmaul beat him in Celestial’s dungeon. “Being tortured when you have no way of defending yourself or fighting back does something to you mentally. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, even a monster. We have to be patient. I know we’ll get what we need out of him.”
Grizz, punching the wall in frustration, didn’t know what to say to change Steve’s mind. “We're cycling back to the beginning of the argument. We don’t have time to debate this all day. You’ve got to come to realize that you can’t always be the goodie-two-shoes warrior all the time. Sometimes doing the right thing, means you have to do the wrong thing. I’m going in myself.”
“You’re not,” Steve prevented Grizz by standing between the Dwarf and the door, then subtly threatened him by grabbing Brightflame.
“We’re not doing this again,” Grizz muttered, looking like he was going to hit the warrior in front of him.
“Steve is right,” Rylan finally spoke up. “Let’s table this for the morning. It might be good to get some rest and come at this with a fresh mind.”
“Fine,” Grizz angrily yielded, stomping off towards the dungeon entrance by himself.
“Are you good to stay down here and guard him the rest of the night?” Rylan asked the jailer. After the warrior responded in the affirmative, the Casanovian sentry said, “Good, we’ll be back in the morning. Don’t feed him and don’t let him sleep.”
“I’ll see you here back bright and early,” Rylan told Steve as they exited together, coming out under a pitch-black night sky with a bitter chill. “I’m going to spend the night talking with some warrior friends I’ve made here and see what they’re thinking concerning staying versus leaving.”
“Good luck,” Steve wished him, and then added, “I know it must’ve been hard to see all the other sentries go off with Nereus, but you stayed with us because you believed defending Casanovia is the best course of action. Thank you for being so courageous. It’s what we need for what’s to come.�
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“If we convince enough people to stay, everything will happen how it’s supposed to,” Rylan smiled. “Goodnight Brightflame. Don’t sleep in tomorrow. We’ve got a long day.”
Walking alone back to the infirmary, Steve shook his head. I can see in Krater’s eyes that he knows something, and we need to find it out as soon as possible. Grizz is right about that, but it needs to be done in an ethically-appropriate way. Now we know how badly the orc desires freedom, perhaps if we guarantee we’ll let him go, he’ll tell us what we want. If nothing else works tomorrow morning, I’ll offer him that.
As Steve thought about Krater, Silas, Wexley, Malorek, Kari, and everything else weighing on his mind, a dark-cloaked figure jumped out from an alleyway on a quiet street, grabbed Steve and violently pulled him into the shadows.
Winning the scuffle, the man threw Steve up against the wall, pinned him with a forearm, and pressed a sword against Steve’s throat.
“How dare you help that girl in interrupting me when I'm addressing my city,” Commander Nereus removed his hood and revealed himself.
“The people deserve to have a say in what they want,” Steve acted calmly, and knew it was wisest to refuse to reach for his sword or fight back in anyway. “You and your friends can't be in charge of deciding that for the entire city.”
“I can be because I know what's best for them!” Nereus argued, visibly shaking, he was so angry. “You’re going to get thousands killed!”
“And by you not staying and helping fight, we can lose this battle, which leads to the deaths of hundreds of thousands! If we don't hold Casanovia, we’ll lose the kingdom!”
“We can make a stand in Misengard. We'll have more time to prepare an attack and gather forces. You have to listen to me!” Nereus pleaded, now lowering his sword, but keeping it drawn, as he gave Steve room to breathe. “I'm trying to save your life here. Staying in this city is suicide.”
