Chapter 6

Courtin got what he requested regarding the furniture and a lot of other things. First, we got a chair and a footstool with a big fluffy cushion. Due to me, still being chained, I couldn't sit on a chair, but I was so happy about the footstool. It'd been so long since I sat on something other than the cold floor, that it was a joy to sit up properly and the cushion was fantastic for my poor behind. To my delight, the major didn't stop with the chair. I got a proper table to eat at, small, but it served its purpose, and the food also got better. Courtin told me that nowadays I got the same food as the soldiers and every meal tasted heavenly. The old me could never have imagined a day when I would have thought that simple meat and potatoes with a brown sauce could taste so divine.

After a few weeks, Courtin came carrying a thick bed mattress, with Rian and Ansel helping him. On the mattress were a wonderfully fluffy pillow and a thick blanket. When the first shock subsided, I began to cry like a small child. I stood up and wrapped my arms around Courtin's neck while tears ran down my cheeks. The three men were, of course, surprised. Ansel and Rian immediately let go of the mattress and drew their rifles while shouting at me to step away from the major.

But Courtin just laughed with the biggest smile and shook his head at the two soldiers as he ordered them to lower their weapons. Even if they were reluctant, the soldiers did what the major commanded. They continued putting the mattress next to the wall. With my arms still around his neck, Courtin explained to me that he would have come earlier with the bed. However, Lieutenant Poraz's had proven to be very difficult to convince that it was allowed and that Captain Colter wouldn't punish him when he got back.

I wasn't surprised at all that the lieutenant wasn't cooperating. Levi Poraz was a problematic person. He hated that he was on this mountain, and the lieutenant hated me with an intense passion. After all, it was because of me, Poraz was in this prison.

When Colter handed over the command to Poraz and took a large part of the company with him, the lieutenant started to speak to me for the first time. I was surprised, but if I had the slightest expectation that he would be anything like Colter or Courtin, I would have been greatly disappointed. Well, I hadn't, but Poraz's hatred towards me reminded me that I had a long way to go before people would see me as anything other than the one who killed Eliam Noar. The Empire's most beloved son and their enemy.

However, Poraz's dislike of me didn't come as a shock, but what did surprise me, was Lieutenant Levi Poraz' nearly fanatical religious beliefs. I had met strictly devout followers before, but no one with such passionate conviction as Poraz's, that the words of the Twin Gods were law. And given the god's obvious hatred for me, I was in the lieutenant's opinion, an instrument of Evil. Every time the lieutenant came to me with food, which happened at least every other day, he preached from the holy scriptures. He talked about the greatness of the Twin Gods and about the Evil's crusade to destroy the world. And every time he did, I just wanted to take his writings and stuff it into his big annoying mouth. I was the daughter of a dragon and Valerius Atticus Laelius. The gods of men were not my gods. I had no love or fear for them as they meant nothing to me.

When I complained to Courtin about Poraz's, the major explained that Poraz had in his youth been a novice at Evali's oldest monastery. At the age of eighteen, his father, one of the king's closest councillors, had taken Poraz from the abbey and forced him into the military. Well, knowing that made his sermons a little easier to put up with. I still didn't feel sorry for him because he annoyed me. Nevertheless, we were both stuck in this damned mountain against our will, and our common hatred towards this mountain made his attitude feel a little less irritating.

The first month with Courtin went by quickly, and for the first time in many years, I actually had some fun. And it was all thanks to my new friend. Courtin spent almost every waking moment with me, and when it was once again time for the full moon, he asked if he could stay with me. I was surprised because I couldn't understand why. During my time in this cell, there had been people who wanted to attend when Eliam came. Some had just been curious, and others that happily wished to see me suffer. But none had been able to remain in the room for more than a few minutes after Eliam arrived.

I asked Courtin why, and he answered that he wanted to know what I was going through, and he needed to document everything. Knowing how important his research was to him, I agreed to it. But I was sure that he wouldn't manage to stay for the whole time. And I wouldn't blame him. It was, after all, a horrible experience.

In the evening on the full moon, we had dinner together. Somehow Courtin managed to get the chef to make grilled salmon and boiled potatoes for us. A real feast for someone who had spent one hundred and thirty years with only soup and porridge. Almost moved to tears, I couldn't thank Courtin enough. The food was so delicious that I almost forgot what was waiting for me the following hours. But I couldn't help feeling anxious. This would be the first time in three years that Colter wouldn't be there when it all ended.

Its been almost a month since the captain and the eighty men he took with him, left the Worlds Hat. Courtin told me that there had been reports of fighting in Icaara, the vital trading post on the border between Kal Ro and O'tomen. The tribes of Kal Ro had only a few years ago allowed the Fae to disembark a massive force on their coast, and the tribes didn't put up any resistance at all. Reports came in that the Fae immediately began to construct a temple in the country's only city, Kal Murr also called the Bears Lair. Courtin said that Kal Ros' voluntary surrender had taken the whole Empire by surprise. Given that the tribes had fought so fiercely against the king's forces four hundred years ago that the king and his successors ended up leaving the unyielding people alone.

No one expected this, not even me, but I really shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, my former masters could get nearly anyone to obey their wishes. I had seen it countless times. Even the mighty chieftains of the tribes clearly weren't immune to the Faes charm.

Courtin also told me there been reports of casualties among Colter's men. But Colter was most likely unharmed. Otherwise, they would surely know about it already. When I heard that the men from Company Draconis had been in battle, it was as if my entire body solidified. I immediately feared the worst, that something could have happened to Colter. And that reaction took me by surprise. I hadn't felt like that for someone in years. Not since my father. Because I never had any reason to worry about Aislins or her sibling's safety. After all, they were more powerful than anyone—even me.

Once again, I became reminded of how much Colter had come to mean to me. And that scared me.

When Eliam came that evening, Courtin and I were playing poker, like we always did. What amazed me was that I didn't panic as I usually did. I was determined not to make my companion more scared than necessary. So trying to appear composed, I calmly asked Courtin to stand by the door, which he did right away. I was amazed by how much his presence strengthened me. I wasn't as frightened as I used to be.

Eliam looked surprised to see another man there, and he stared confused at Courtin.

"What just happened?" Courtin asked in a loud, trembling voice.

He looked scared, and his brown eyes were wide.

"So you felt something when he came?"

I looked curiously at Courtin, and he nodded before he glanced around in the room. Without the major noticing it, only a few steps from him stood Eliam Noar and suspiciously gawked at him.

"I suddenly became cold, like someone opened a window. It's so strange, Iunius, but I feel miserable. Its as if my heart is breaking."

I glanced at Eliam with a grim smile on my face.

"Just a few steps from you stands Eliam Noar, the legendary Commander-in-Chief of the Empire. Eliam, this is Major Didier Courtin. He will be writing down what I experience during this full moon."

Eliam came up to me and gently put his hand on my shoulder. His gaze was on the major.

"Will he managed?"

Without any doubt, I shook my head.

"I doubt it. But he's a good man so he will try."

Eliam's black eyes turned to me, and it was as if they were analyzing me.

"You feel different, somehow. Stronger, like you are not afraid anymore."

I was still afraid. So much, that I barely had the strength to stand, but Eliam was right. I had changed.

"I can see an end to this," was all I said.

Eliam continued to look at me, the sadness evident in his eyes, and it told me that he didn't hold the same expectations. But he didn't say anything. He didn't have to.

When my hell started, and the room got crowded with the dead, Courtin sat down by the door as I'd told him to. He wrote like obsessed, his hand trembling and sweat glistening on his forehead. He was terrified, and it made me toughen up. Not once did I scream. I cried without a single sound leaving my lips, and my gaze never left Courtin. As long as I could see him, I could manage.

When I woke up from the last death, I found myself in Eliam's safe embrace again, and Courtin was sitting in front of me. Sorrow filled his tearstained eyes, and his head hung heavy.

When he saw that I was awake, he seemed to sigh with relief.

"I thought you would never wake up."

"I'm not that lucky," I said bitterly and sat up.

It was not until I could sit up without screaming in pain that I realized that my jaw was fine, and my eye was still there. It was obvious that my injuries weren't as serious as usual. Quickly, I turned to Eliam, and my heart was racing away with anticipation.

"How many didn't come?"

Eliam smiled, but his eyes were still full of sadness.

"More than half."

My eyes widened. That many! I had indeed noticed that there weren't as many dead there as usual, but I could never have imagined that it would be that many.

I wrapped my arms around Eliam, and he held me tight.

"It will be fine," I whispered, my lips close to his cheek.

He said nothing. Instead, he held me a little harder for a short while before he disappeared and left me standing there in my cell with a big smile on my face.

I spent the next hour explaining to Courtin what had happened. The otherwise calm major was in shock, shaken by the terrible thing he just had witnessed. I asked him to describe what he had seen. Because all I saw were the vengeful dead around me, and the only thing I felt was the pain.

Courtin picked up the thick stack of papers from the floor and began to read out loud.

"What happens to Iunius every month is hard to understand. I see with my own eyes that something is hurting her, I feel that there is something unnatural in this cell with us. But still, I have a hard time accepting what is happening in front of me. Is it me who is too logical in my own thinking or can most humans not accept the things we can not see. The hair on my body stands up, and I tremble. I'm terrified without knowing why. Iunius, this strong woman has her eyes fixed on me. She is also scared, the panic in her eyes is obvious, but she is trying to be strong in front of me. Then the chains that have held her imprisoned simply disappears, and it is as if a giant lifts her because suddenly Iunius starts hovering a meter above the floor. That is when she starts getting tortured. I can not see what's hurting her. It's only us two in the cell, but someone hits her. She is in pain, I can see that she is suffering, but still, she says nothing. She is so incredibly strong. Her body shakes from the blows, and I can hear bones breaking. Bleeding wounds appears that covers her pale skin."

Courtin stopped reading and looked up at me. Tears were running down his cheeks.

"I can't read anymore, Iunius. I'm sorry, but I have to get some fresh air."

I forced a smile.

"I understand."

Courtin quickly got up and just before he knocked on the big door to be released, the major turned around.

"I'm will help you. You will never have to go through that again."

The door opened, and Courtin went out quickly before I could reply. The door closed behind him, and still feeling a bit tired, I lay down on my mattress and wrapped myself in my blanket. I knew Courtin would try, and I wished with all my heart that he would succeed.