News From Back Home

After many hours of waiting, someone finally came into the room.

A new face joins us, or rather, helmet as this knight has not removed his headwear even in this place.

In his hands is a tray of food. I guess Captain Lipton doesn’t want us to starve. Color me surprised.

He slides the tray in a narrow opening beneath the metal bar. Weirdly enough, after doing so, he doesn’t leave. Instead, he just stands there, as if he wants us to show him we eat the food.

It’s not poisoned or laced with drugs, is it?

He’s staring at us like he really wants us to eat the food in front of him. Unfortunately, Rhia fell asleep resting her head on my shoulder. Moving even just a bit could wake her up, and I really just want her to rest up right now.

I flash a thumbs-up to the knight, trying to communicate to him that I got it and that I’ll feed Rhia as soon as she wakes up but the knight didn’t seem to get it.

He bangs on the metal bars, making an ear-deafening sound echo inside the prison cell. It made Rhia jump in surprise. That’s just great.

The knight, still silent, extends his hand. He really wants us to eat the food now.

I took the tray to Rhia and showed it to her. Bread, soup, and some kind of meat pie.

“Princess? They gave us food. You have to eat to regain your energy.”

She looks at it with a slight hint of disgust on her face. I guess she’s not used to eating this kind of food.

But she needs to fill her belly or she might grow weak. I might have to feed her, but first, I have to take a bite to test for poison or drugs.

There’s a good chance that it’s just sleep-inducing drugs and not poison since the princess is seen as a commodity for these people.

Nevertheless, I took a bite for each food item and didn’t find a trace of drugs in it. I mean, I’m no expert but I don’t feel anything different apart from having food in my stomach.

The knight is visibly getting antsy, as he stomps his foot on the ground over and over.

Is he waiting for us to finish so he can take the tray and bowls to wash it? It would be kind of funny if he did.

I offered the food to Rhia and at first, she’s still hesitant to eat it but after reassuring her that it’s safe to eat, she starts to take small bites.

“It’s good, right? You have to eat a lot to regain your energy.”

“What about you? Don’t you need to eat as well?” Rhia retorted.

I do but I wanted to focus on her first. I can still go for a while without much food, though, I am starting to feel sluggish from the lack of food.

Rhia notices it and without a second thought, she takes a piece of the bread and feeds it to me.

I would’ve refused it had she only offer it to me but directly feeding it to me is a nice feeling to have.

In the end, we shared the food amongst ourselves and surprisingly enough, there were even some leftovers.

We didn’t know if we should eat it or just have it be brought back by the knight but we opted to eat the remaining meat pie.

As Rhia feeds me the last bite of the pie, a new texture gets thrown in the mix. Is it poison after all?

I spit it out immediately, trying to not get the “poison” in my mouth but as I look at the thing that I spitted, it looked more like paper than poison.

I reach for it and notice that it’s folded up dozens of times. The knight is still unresponsive despite all this. Does he wants us to see this?

As I unfurled the folded-up piece of paper, it instantly made Rhia jump from her seat and look at it over me.

It seems she recognizes whatever’s written on the piece of paper. I look at it for myself and see an insignia of some kind printed on it.

An insignia of some kind of deer with large antlers, and tall trees in the background. It seems familiar.

“Hollowspire is here.” Rhia whispered under her breath.

They’re here? How? Does that mean Arin and the other’s…

Rhia darted to the knight standing by.

“Reveal yourself.”

The knight removes his helmet, revealing a familiar face that made all my anxiety disappear.

It’s Felaris.

He’s alive! And he’s here!

I got too excited, so much so that I end up yelling his name in excitement.

“Felaris!”

Rhia and Felaris shushes me. Killjoys, the both of them.

“Felaris, give me a report.” Princess Rhiannon demanded; her voice shook from anticipation.

I look at Rhia’s face and I can tell that she’s putting up a front. She’s definitely dreading the possibility that his father is dead and that Glimmerholm has fallen. I really hope that isn’t the case.

“Yes, your highness. First and foremost, I am glad to see you are alive and-”

“There’s no need for formalities. I am not a princess right now.” Princess, or rather, Rhiannon interjected.

“As you wish. Glimmerholm burns under the rule of Elzara. Many of the surrounding elven cities are threatened to be destroyed unless they join Elzara’s faction. King Eryndor’s sudden disappearance led many of our brethren to rally behind Elzara’s cause in the guise that Arin abducted the king during the Knights of the Sacred Flame’s invasion.”

“Well, did he? Did Arin found my father, I mean.”

“Forgive me but I do not know. I got separated from Arin and Elvina during the battle with the knight captain. I haven’t seen them since.”

“So, my father and Arin could be dead for all we know and that Elzara is just concocting a lie to rally all the elves for his plan?”

“I am not certain but I have heard talks amongst the remaining elves that they’ve seen a certain Lord venturing out of Glimmerholm with King Eryndor. Unfortunately, I couldn’t extract more information in the matter as I do not know who is in Elzara’s payroll.”

“I understand. Continue your report.”

“Elzara quickly made contact with the other Lords of Eldergrove and got their support instantaneously leading me to believe that his ascension to the throne had been planned for a long time. That’s about all the information I could relay from the capital.”

“How did you manage to get here?” I asked this time. It has made me curious as to how he could be here in the first place.

“As the battle with the humans and elves subsided, a strange portal opened up, with both Elzara and the knight captain coming out of it. Elzara left them while the knight captain and his remaining knights plundered the city for its resources. Princess Rhiannon. Naoki. You two aren’t the only prisoners here.”

That is a shock to hear. I had thought that Princess Rhiannon was the only one that they needed. To think that they’d abduct more, probably for more profit. It’s despicable to think of.

Felaris continues.

“I ended up overhearing a conversation about the princess being held captive in a place called Sunspire Tower. Supposedly, it used to be an abandoned fortress from a different time, and it was recently refurbished by the Knights as their base of operations in these parts. I stole the armor of a dead human knight and wore it for myself. I snuck in their ranks and left Glimmerholm through the portal. I’m surprised to find Naoki here. I had thought they’d killed you already.”

Well… Elzara did try but thankfully, I was left alive because of Captain Lipton’s mysterious whims.

“Have you conceived of a plan yet, Felaris?” Princess Rhiannon inquired. She seems confident that he had already figure things out.

“Yes, but it won’t be that simple. Your prison cell is locked with ancient magic. From what I found; it could only be opened by a specific person. I’m guessing that would be the knight captain. This means that sneaking you out is virtually impossible. We have to wait for a moment until they take you out of the cell themselves and I could swoop in to rescue you later.

Thankfully, I have heard of murmurs that “goods” will be transported back to the humans’ homeland in a few days. I believe that to be the time for us to conduct our plan. It will be a long journey, I consulted a map and the navigator, and they said the journey from here to their home will take about a month and a half on horseback. In the meantime, save your strength. We’ll definitely need it. Naoki. Hand me that tray.”

I handed back the tray to him. We’ve finished all the food.

Felaris wears his helmet again and leaves the room. I guess we have a plan now!

It’s official. In a couple of days, we will be let out of this prison to be transported back to Blackwood.

In that moment, the plan would lean heavily on Felaris’s capabilities to let us out while also fighting the knights. It’s a sound plan.

I look at Rhia and put my hand on her shoulder.

“It’ll all be ok. Trust me.”

“Yes, you are right. Everything will be ok.”