13. The Cell

> “We know space to be curved, so why do we believe time to be linear?” - Elthenian Astrophysicist

“I knew there was something about you, Greysky,” Aguel said, seemingly amused by the situation.

“Who told you?” she asked Leonix. Apart from Ostri only Vegdar knew her identity, but he had promised not to reveal it. Had he changed his mind?

“The Orques,” Leonix replied, “The soldiers we sent to chase them down captured one.”

“The Orques? How do they know who I am?”

“We discovered why they had risked coming so close to the gates of Kaz’um to attack the caravan. It seems that Lucathar still has an interest in you, Athena.”

She wondered how Lucathar could even know where she was in the vastness of the Wastelands.

“You should have told me you were a wanted woman, Greysky,” Aguel said, persisting in using her alias.

“I didn’t know I was,” she said quietly, still trying to fathom how Lucathar was able to find her in the Wasteland, and also wondering why. A faint smile shaped her lips for a second: if Lucathar was looking for her then he must believe she was still a threat; she still mattered, even here.

“Well, here we are anyway,” Aguel said somewhat ruefully, “You placed the caravan in danger, and especially Sekardi. The Orques were sent to capture an Aeseri woman but tried to take the wrong one. My best tracker nearly paid a high price for your presence. On the plus side, the legendary Athena should fetch a fine price at the Market.”

“You can’t do that!” she protested.

“It’s not up to you,” Leonix told her, “And at the moment it’s not up to Aguel either.” He turned to the guards that flanked the door. “Take her to a cell.”

It crossed her mind to fight back, but she swallowed the humiliation of being ordered around by a D’varshan and made it clear with a nod of her head that she would follow the guards without protest.

“And you,” Leonix said to Ostri and Throna, “I need to work out what to do about you two.”

Athena was shepherded towards the door. She decided against trying to intervene on their behalf, judging that she may worsen their trouble the more they appeared to be her accomplices.

“We had good reason,” Ostri said, “We have learned something too important to ignore. About aeserium, about Lucathar, and what he is trying to do.”

Athena was ushered into the corridor before she heard the rest of the conversation. It was only when the doors of the elevator to take them back to the upper levels closed that she noticed Aguel had followed her and the guards.

“You caused quite some trouble when they found out who you were,” he said, still amused, “And then even more trouble when they couldn’t find you at all. Quite impressive for someone who’s only been in the Wastelands a few days.”

“I thought their portal might be able to get me back,” Athena explained, “Back to the mortal world.”

“So you can continue your futile war against Lucathar? There’s no way back, Greysky, and even if there were: what are you going to do? You’ve no power, and he has trillions of followers by now. He’d crush you in a moment.”

She bit on her lip.

“I’d find a way.”

Aguel was about to laugh but a glance at her expression made him realise she was serious.

“You know, Greysky, you almost have me convinced that you would. Almost.”

The elevator rattled as it came to a halt at the upper levels.

“What are they going to do with me?” she asked him.

“I don’t know. They’re convening a council meeting to discuss you. My guess? It’ll be too dangerous to keep you here. They might try to send you off with me, as long as I promise never to bring you back. Which means I’ll have to work out what to do with you. Or they might just bury you in the mines and deny they’ve ever seen you.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“What!”

“I’m joking about the last one. Or I think I am. I won’t suggest it, in case it’s a solution they haven’t considered.”

One of the D’varsha guards chuckled from beneath his helmet. He said something in D’varshan to another who joined him in laughter. Athena glared at Aguel.

The doors opened and she followed the two leading guards out of the small building that housed the elevator.

“I’ll leave you now,” Aguel said, “And wait to hear what the D’varshan Council decides for you. Hopefully we’ll meet again, Greysky.”

Athena nodded and followed her escorts out onto the street. She looked up at the dimly lit underside of the mountain high above them. Compared to the tunnels far below it felt like outdoors, and compared to the Wasteland outside of Kaz’um it felt like safety. Perhaps there was wisdom to Sekardi’s advice to keep her head down and concentrate on self-preservation. What if the D’varsha decided to throw her out of the gates through which the caravan had entered? How long would it be before Orques took her? I’d make them pay a heavy price, she thought as she gritted her teeth, but she knew, deep down, that they would overcome her through sheer weight of numbers.

They walked down still-empty streets for a few minutes before they entered a stone building that stood alone at the far side of a courtyard. Oversized doors and sculpted columns had been created deliberately to invoke a sense of inferiority on those who entered. Well, Athena thought, they haven’t reckoned with me, and it takes more than a grandiose display of authority to scare the Goddess of War.

The building appeared to serve as a prison and sounds that she recognised as Orques could be heard from the end of a corridor. She was taken in a different direction and the sounds receded but did not disappear completely as the guards directed her into a featureless, windowless stone room. It was perfectly cubic, every wall smooth as glass and emitting a faint glow that provided enough light to see, and as the door closed behind her it left no sign of a seam and she struggled to remember which wall she had entered from. She recalled that the gates to the fortress were invisible in the rockface, and here again was a doorway that was invisible until it was opened. The D’varshan reputation for their stonework was well-deserved.

There was nothing she could do while she was in the cell than to sit and think. She presumed that was the point of the place, to give prisoners time to think, to wonder what might come next, and to work themselves into a panic so that, when the door was opened, they were willing to confess, or divulge information, or implicate others in whatever crime they were supposedly put here for.

None of these tactics were new to Athena, but she knew they could be effective, and inevitably her mind began to wander towards what might lay ahead of her.

The D’varsha knew who she was, and they would know her place in history. They would know that she was ready to fight for what was right, but such determination might not be to her advantage. Since the Great War the D’varsha had withdrawn from matters that involved other species, especially where the Aeseri were involved. Outwardly they might take no side between Athena and Lucathar, although she knew that internally she had more friends than enemies. Yet their councils made decisions based on their best interests, not necessarily the best interests of others. Hence they rarely became involved at all lest they be seen to have chosen a side.

If that process was repeated here then the most likely outcome was that she would be banished by the D’varsha, and they would ensure word got to Lucathar that she was no longer in Kaz’um. She would be free, but she would be out in the Wasteland, alone and with no idea how to make her way in this place, and with Lucathar coming for her. If he had Orques doing his bidding, then what else might he have?

She wouldn’t last long out there by herself. Yet even if she could convince the D’varsha to let her stay in Kaz’um, to hide herself away, that was a prison sentence of a kind. To accept such a fate was as good as surrender, and the old woman had told her she must find Igrisil. Therefore she had no choice but to leave.

To leave, she would need protection, and Aguel and the caravan was the best protection she had seen so far. So her only plan was to convince the D’varsha to let her leave with him, and she must also convince Aguel that he wanted her with him. He believed her to be a danger, a belief founded in experience following the raid in the canyon. She must convince him of the importance of her task, of finding Igrisil, and that the danger could be managed until such time as she had alternative protection.

It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it was something, and with that in mind she sat, cross-legged, in the centre of the cell, letting her mind drift. The D’varsha might think the time they had given her by herself would only heighten her sense of peril, but it gave her time to consider every option. She ran every scenario through her mind, not knowing how long passed as she sat motionless on the floor. She had lived for millenia so had no doubt of her ability to outlast the D’varsha, but she didn’t know how long she might have before Lucathar caught up with her. Hours or even days might not be a problem, as surely it would take even Lucathar time to mount another raid across the Wastelands, but what if she were here for weeks? Lucathar was able to execute his plans uncontested every minute that she spent in here.

Her mind turned to Lucathar’s reasons. Why was he pursuing her? It must be more than just a grudge. He had won, and she was in the Wastelands, the place where Aeseri disappeared never to return. Except she did plan to return, and if Lucathar sent Orques after her then he must fear that she would return. Either he knew that it was possible or he feared it was so, and Igrisil held the key. The Elemental had conducted her experiments at his behest, and his pursuit of Athena could mean three connected things.

One: he did not know where Igrisil was.

Two: he believed Igrisil had been successful in her transformation of aeserium to carbon, and possibly vice-versa.

And three: he feared that Athena would find Igrisil before he did.

Her confidence began to grow. From the dim light of her cell, far from being lost and in despair, all lines of thought gave her hope; hope that she would be out of this place, one way or another; hope that she would be out of this cell, out of Kaz’um, and out of the Wastelands.

She was so lost in thought, legs crossed and eyes closed, that she failed to notice the door open.

“Athena,” a voice said. She opened her eyes and saw Ostri standing in front of her. “The Council wants to see you.”