Crescent Past

Chapter 7 Conspiring Devils

Lux awoke, dirty and in pain... again. But this time, it wasn't in the middle of a circle of trees, surrounded by soldiers' bodies. In fact, their was no life to be seen around her. Instead she awoke to a grubby stone floor, surrounded by three grubby stone walls, and one wall made of crossing iron bars. The cell smelled of mold and dust, as if it hadn't been used in a while, and was uncomfortably small. She could probably touch both walls of the cell if she laid out flat on her back. Lux, hands bound by rope, sat up, putting her hand to her throbbing head. The motion tugged painfully at the wound on her back. Strangely cold, she noticed that she had also been stripped of her cloak and satchel.

Back to square one... she thought.

Lux peered through the rusting iron. The hallway beyond her cell was dimly lit by two oil lamps hanging from the ceiling, and was every bit of grungy and damp as the cell. At the left end of the hallway stood a think oak door. Probably with a guard stationed just outside, Lux thought. She could see another row of four cells lining the hallway, all were empty except for one at the very end of the row. In it, Lux could barely make out the shape of a girl slumped against the wall with her knees tucked up to her chest. Lux tried to scoot closer to the bars to get a better look, but was stopped short by a chain around her ankle, that Lux had failed to notice before, and was attached to the far cell wall. The rattle of the chains stirred the girl in the other cell. Now that she was looking towards Lux, she could see that the girl was gagged, and somewhat familiar. It was the waitress from the inn she had stayed at the night before. Strange, Lux thought.

Thinking back to before she'd woken up incarcerated, a sudden rage welled up inside Lux. Eather... that scummy pe- But before Lux had time to properly curse the elf man, she heard keys jangling softly, just outside the oak door. Lux stiffened slightly, and sat up straight in her cell. The girl in the other cell jumped and began to visibly shake.

The heavy door swung open with a creak, and two guards walked in, one holding a torch, the other holding a rolled up piece of paper, both with one hand gripping hilt of their swords that hung stiffly at their hips. They walked slowly up to Lux's cell, with no real sense of urgency or authority about them. They seemed more tense than anything. The guard with the paper stood closest to the cell, while the other stood behind him. Now that they stood closer, Lux could see both of their eyes fidget and flicker toward the other girl at the end of the hall, as if they were worried she would jump out of her cell and chase after them at any moment. In fact, they seemed to more scared of her than she was of them. The torch guard's free hand was even twitching nervously, ready to unsheathe his sword at anytime. Paper guard cleared his throat, bringing Lux's attention back to him.

"State your name." He demanded, some what un-demandingly.

Lux stared at him with cold silence.

"I-I'll only say it once again!" Paper guard said, a bit of shakiness in his voice, "State your name!"

If not for her curious situation, Lux would have stayed ominously silent. However, she was unfortunately in an unfamiliar place for an unknown reason with little chance of finding her own way out. She needed some sort of information.

Lux, if possible, straightened up even more, putting authority into her voice. "Why am I here?"

Blinking, the guards looked at each other, as if they'd never interrogated a prisoner before.

"Now I'll be askin' the questions here, Raeshan. And if you don't-" the guard was cut short by the sound of chains rattling as Lux stood, slowly and ominously, drawing herself to her full height; at eye level with the torch holding guard and almost a whole head taller than the paper holding guard.

Radiating intimidation and authority now, Lux spoke harshly and kept a threatening look in her eye.

"If you don't tell me what I want to hear, you, your homes, and your families will be the first things I come for when I get out of here. And I assure you, there will be nothing but dirt and ash once I'm through."

Lux didn't really expect her threat to work. She was the one bound in rope and chain behind iron bars after all. However, the guards were now visibly sweating. Obviously, they had never been in an inch of danger ever before in their lives. They believed her.

"And just h-how are you goin' to manage that?" The guard asked shakily, trying to gain any amount of authority back that he could. "We've got your beast friend locked up just down there, she can't help you none in escaping." The guard said, glancing over to the girl in the far cell. It sounded as if he was saying it more to reassure himself than anything else."

"Who says we're friends?" Lux demanded.

The guard scratched his beard, seeming as if the possibility that the two 'criminals' weren't somehow allied hadn't occurred to him. Turning back to the other guard, he asked in a whisper, "How was it that these two are connected again?"

"That one's a Raeshan. That one's an incari. Two devils caught in one day? How could they not be conspiring together?" answered the second guard, replying as if that was the obvious answer.

"What if it'd been just coincidence?" asked the first guard.

"Couldn't be. All criminals are linked somehow, especially the devil kind."

"Well, I mean, it's possible, in' it?"

Lux rolled her eyes. You've got to be kidding me.

"Why do you call us devils?" Lux asked. Both guards looked at her direction in disbelief.

"What do you mean?Your a Raeshan. A kinjor at that. She's an incari," the second guard answered as if this was also obvious.

"Yes. I've got that part," Lux replied, getting increasingly annoyed at the incompetence of the 'trained guards' in front of her, "Now do you mind telling me what those are?"