LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 35 “A bit of darkness”
Chapter 35
“A bit of darkness”
Special cells. Northern area of the royal palace prison.
The damp, cold air of the prison seeped under the warm fabric of her robe and a faint stale smell hit the delicate nose of the priestess Darla.
“How dare they lock me up in a filthy prison, like some common criminal?” She growled as she hugged herself, not daring to touch the thick blanket folded over the comfortable bed she was sitting on.
Despite how clean everything seemed to be, Darla couldn’t shake the feeling of filthiness that was weighing her down. In fact, her legs and the soles of her feet ached after standing for the last half hour before finally giving up and sitting on the bed.
“I don’t think the high priestess should say something like that, the guards might hear you and bring your words to the king’s ears” whispered Ivhana, the other priestess with her tanned complexion due to all the years she worked in the fields, helping her father with the crops.
“Shut up, Ivhana! Whose side are you on?” she growled at her.
“Yours, of course, high priestess. You know you have my loyalty since you cured my father two years ago. The only reason I agreed to work in the temple is to repay you for the favor I received," the twenty-three-year-old replied softly from the other bed inside the cell they shared.
Darla lifted her chin haughtily, feeling a little vindicated that at least someone still respected what she represented.
Ivhana, however, glanced sideways at the guard who was finishing his rounds and waited patiently for his figure to be lost after the entrance to the corridor, while she paid close attention to the sound of his footsteps. And when she was sure that he had moved away and that they were completely alone in that corridor, she rose from her cot and approached Darla. Unfolding the thick woolen blanket that was on the other bed and placing it on the shoulders of the high priestess.
“Don’t worry about the dirt, my lady. I have heard that these cells are well maintained because this is where they lock up the aristocrats whom the king wants to give a chastisement. I have heard that the real criminals are given dirty cells on the south side and they don’t even have real beds in their cells, just a dirty mattress made of straw, placed on a rock.”
“But...”
“The fact that you have been put here and not somewhere else means that, although the king is upset, he has not yet forgotten you. How could he want to make an enemy of the only Saintess the kingdom has had in the last three hundred years?”
“But that stupid Tathiana...!” Darla snarled, rage heating her blood.
“The queen has the backing of the duchy of Brincy who have full control of the north and have begun to spread their alliances throughout the kingdom, and that is something the king cannot dare to ignore,” as soon as Ivhana saw Darla begin to calm down, she lowered her voice, barely a whisper against the high priestess’s delicate ears. “But there is something even more important I must inform you of.” Her attitude caught Darla’s attention. “It is about the girl you ordered me to investigate.”
“What is it? What did you find?”
“I think you were right to suspect her. Not only does her mind work in a strange way. But she was able to detect my presence inside her mind and expel me.”
“What’s so strange about that? I’ve heard of some people who can do that. Court magicians, for example.”
“That’s exactly my point. A powerful magician might have noticed me right away. But for someone who just got a system, that’s a complete impossible thing to do.”
Darla blinked several times, watching her silently before answering.
“Are you telling me she’s powerful?”
“I’m warning you that there’s something about her that’s not right. Besides, I think her father was summoned.”
Darla’s eyes widened, surprise etched on her pale face.
“That’s impossible! There hasn’t been a hero summoning in over a hundred years!” She assured her.
“...Not that we know of...”Silence reigned in the cell after Ivhana’s words. Until Darla, with a scowl, dared to break it.
“...But if it wasn’t us ... Who did it?”
“...I don’t know. And I don’t think it’s going to be easy to find out” Darla nodded her head, trying to think of a solution to this new problem. An unreported hero could become an enemy of the kingdom at any moment. Not to mention what that young woman could do as soon as she found out.
”..... And that’s not all... when I was in her mind..." she added in a whisper so low that even Darla had to struggle to hear it, “there was a voice... a voice that did not belong to that girl, but to another presence... one filled with darkness...” then she looked her in the eyes as she hugged herself. I believe she is one of the people the first prophecy spoke of.
Three hours earlier. The forest of Los lamentos, on the outskirts of Tenulhys, capital of the kingdom of Balsac.
Gal’oth was worried. Several of the subordinates assigned to him for this mission had run after the human prey that had ambushed them when they arrived in the world with two moons.
And none of them had returned.
And while they themselves had barely managed to escape alive from the powerful mages that had cornered them just after he had reencountered that little human and slain more than half of their enemies, they had gotten too far away. Gal’oth had no idea where the hell they were, or how far they had strayed from the initial location.
“We must go find the rest. We don’t know these lands and the others have no way of finding us,” he commented, while Ereshkigal finished healing the eye that the little archer woman had injured with an arrow.
“This is all I can do for now young orc, I’m afraid you’ll have to get used to seeing with only one eye,” he replied after he finished applying a dark green paste on the eyebrow and bandaged part of his head, covering the wounded eye. “This will leave a scar,” he added, although scars for an orc were a sign of honor in a warrior who had survived a battle.
And they were both surprised that that little human could cause such damage. Even with all the amulets of protection they were wearing.
“And don’t worry about the dead. Most of them died at the hands of the little huntress, the rest at the hands of the human mages” the easiness with which he told him that surprised Gal’oth, who despite having participated in some small hunting missions for his tribe before, it was the first time he participated in something of such magnitude. Ereshkigal, on the other hand, had worked for the Lord before, despite being a mere hobgoblin.
And that only increased the admiration the young orc felt for him.
“However, among the few survivors, there is one of them that in the future will be very useful for our mission” that caught Gal’oth’s attention, who immediately stood up and took his axe. “But I am afraid that little Arkhas is not ready yet. There is too much confusion, fear and insecurities in his heart at the moment.”
“Shouldn’t we help him?” he worried. If he remembered correctly, that was the name of the little goblin, whose shaky legs barely let him take a step without falling or stumbling.
But Ereshkigal shook his head.
“The spirits say we must wait. It will take a while for little Arkhas to be ready, but when he is, we will find him,” smiled the old man with a wicked gleam in his eyes that the orc, busy staring at the trail of bodies around them, failed to notice.
“And how? We don’t even know where we are or what this new world is called. How could a small goblin do such a feat?”
“Elinor is the name of this place,” answered the old man. And about Arkhas. He himself will show us the way,” seeing the confusion on Gal’oth’s face, the hobgoblin added, “a sea of fire, death and ashes will lead us to him.”