Moonlight's Deception (Eclipse of Hiestora, Book 1)

Chapter 28 | Worst Formula

"The master wishes to see you, princess!" a voice boomed out of nowhere, severing her train of thought.

Clara leaped in surprise, the top of her head smacking the protruding metal pipe in the wall. It was only then she heard someone's footsteps coming her way.

The cell door clanged as the guard haughtily entered. He was a brawny man with a broken nose and a scar bisecting his left eyebrow—the classic image of a man who was unmoved by things of a scarier and more disturbing nature. It was probably how he'd gotten his job. Despite all this, he flinched when Clara, a girl no older than eighteen, calmly stepped out of the shadows of the dark cell.

Clara raised her eyebrows and looked at the man with defiance. "Since when Fyrians planned this and what do you need from me?"

The soldier huffed. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of her prison. "The master arranged a dinner and hereby requested your presence. Save your questions for him. I ain't talking."

Without a word, she let the guard lead her from the cell as his colleague brought up the rear. They made their way upstairs, past a number of the lower-level cells, almost completely ignoring the chants coming from the prisoners within. Almost. "Help us" was the primary cry coming from behind the iron doors and bars.

The only one she didn't bother to ignore was a prisoner who called for her name. "Princess Anneliese?"

At that, she stopped still, so statue-like that the guard made it impossible to move her. She turned to one of the cell doors where a man (who seemed to be much younger but the time he spent in prison made him look older) had his blood-caked face pressed against the bars.

"Princess," the prisoner said in a voice as rough as sandpaper. "My brother. Please, help my brother. T-The Dread has kept him locked somewhere."

"She's a princess? A royalty?" the other prisoners murmured.

Finally, the other guard snatched her arm and roughly pulled her up the stone stairs. The princess was suddenly not very concerned for her fate. The only thing in her mind was the look of hope and fear on the prisoner's face, and the Erinian insignia tattooed on his bare and scarred chest. She swept a look at the other prisoners and all of them bore the insignias of the Hiestoran empires—Eirinia, Terralis, Nivalon, and Frostalia. Not a single Fyrian was among them.

Clara had never held a grudge over an entire empire like this before. She had a strong feeling that these people were wrongly imprisoned and that their families must have been suffering from loss. She thought of so many things to make them pay by tearing their lands. And then what? Make the innocent Fyrians pay as well? No, she would never stoop that low. She would not be evil like them.

As they got out of the dungeon, all Clara could see was an endless hallway lighted by wall-mounted torches. Large tree roots had branched out from the ceiling and had crawled into the walls and floor. Even here, there were puddles of water everywhere and it was dripping down from the cracks in the ceiling overhead.

They passed by identical rustic wooden doors and took many turns in different passageways before stopping by a doorless chamber with only a black-and-gold silk curtain to keep the room's privacy.

"What are we— ah!" Clara yelped as the guard pushed her through the curtain. She stumbled and fell down smack on a synthetic carpet.

Without bothering to get up first, she looked over her shoulder and yelled, "You brute!"

"Oooh," someone crooned from Clara's front and the hairs at the back of her neck stood up. "You're here ssso early. The massster hasssn't arrived yet."

Looking straight ahead, there were two legs with a skin color somewhere between gray and green. Then looking up, the person's body boasted a wide hip, a small waist, and supple breasts. Clara then concluded it belonged to a woman. Her body was almost exposed with only what seemed to be undergarments made of leaves covering her private parts.