Chapter 400

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Hello Guys...

You know guys, I'm not the author and I don't earn absolutely nothing with this, I just distribute the content... I always leave the author's discord in the thoughts...

Author

springpoweredtoaster

Discord

https://discord.gg/UvhdGv7p2V

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"So who will it be?" The voice of Skana came through the door. "My mistress wants four of you, and one of you will be going with Nua to see your Captain. Whoever isn't going, be seated. You have one minute to decide."

"I'll go." Alain said impulsively, "I lead us out here, I should take a chance on… whatever." He sighed, his shoulders slumped and he lacked the strength of will to square them as a hero might have. 'I thought I knew him so well… how could we have ended up like this?' He wondered.

"Me too!" Tenjho Tenge shouted at once, though he intended it to be fiercer… to his ears, his voice was a girly squeal. 'I can't let them see I'm afraid… I can't! Gods of the dead you're such a fool… but it can't be worse than here… right? Right?!' The notion of facing the Captain made his heart skip a beat, and those vicious slit eyes from the Queen of Frost seemed to look through him to see his coward's heart, at least elsewhere, he wouldn't risk seeing those again.

"I'll go…" One Man Army said and closed his fist. "I owe it to you all." He mouthed the words and closed his eyes, nobody heard him. 'If only I'd stopped her, so much wouldn't have gone wrong… maybe this is my chance to make it right finally…'

"As if you should go into the unknown without the Strongest Human." The Tenth Seat chuckled, "I'll go too." The behemoth said, grimly closed his lips tight and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "If anyone else tries to volunteer, I'll punch them." He said in a low growl that was utterly ruined by his cocksure smirk on his aging, leathery face.

It was enough to make the remainder chuckle at his gallows humor, save for Heaven and Earth, who could only close his eyes to hide the fact that he was looking down. 'Such courage… and here I am volunteering out of fear.'

"Then I volunteer to go see the Captain." The Sixth Seat said, his lips closing into a long thin line. His eyes darted around the room and the others gave slow nods.

"Time is up." They heard the far less sing-song voice of the taller elven woman and the door opened. "I don't relish this, so whoever is coming with me, let's get moving."

The Sixth Seat stepped forward, his stride shortened by the chains snapping taut again and again, he barely made it out the door without falling over.

"This way, human." Nua said to him and stood in front while they descended the dimly lit curving stairs.

"I have a name." He said to her when he left his comrades behind.

"So what?" She asked with a shrug. "I don't care to hear it."

"Could you slow down? It's hard to walk in these chains." He said and kept his hand on the wall, he turned his body sideways and began to put one foot down on the stairs at a time, the rattle and scrape of metal on stone rubbed him even worse than the grating feeling of the chain on his ankles.

She said only, "You get used to it. You can trust me on that, human." And refused to look back at him.

He closed his mouth again, though she did slow her steps a little, he'd felt more warmth from a mountain snowstorm.

The silence stretched out like an endless horizon of ice in all directions, each step more uncomfortable than the last as he inched his way down, regretting having burned out his martial arts before, he sought something to fill that silent void.

"What am I going to see the Captain for?" He asked, holding back his sigh of relief at having something to say.

"Your fitting. For the wedding. Like I'm sure you were told." She said with a venomous tongue. "You don't have to talk to me, human. It's fine. You can talk plenty with your friend when you see him."

He ignored her offer of silence, "Why are you really doing this?" He pressed, 'Who knows what information might lead us the hell out of here… maybe… maybe she'll let something slip.' He filed away her claim about the fitting as a mere mockery of his circumstances, and though it grated, he kept his eyes fixed alternatingly on the stairs going down, and the back of her head.

"It's a favor, to make sure you're not harmed. It seems useless to me, no one here is going to hurt you, but he's an anxious man about the future of his sons and daughters." Nua revealed and the Sixth Seat gasped.

"Raymond… he-" It felt like the world opened up beneath his feet, he stopped in midstep, the shock causing him to miss the landing, he began to fall forward.

Nua spun, planted her foot behind her and held up her left hand, catching him at the throat. Her body bent a hair at the knee, but from locked arm to braced leg, she moved not at all otherwise. "Be careful. I told you, you'll get used to walking in chains, but until then, walk with care."

His eyes widened at the unexpected strength of the elven woman who, despite her height, didn't appear to be strong enough for what she'd just done. She gradually rotated at the hip and tilted him so that his misplaced foot could find stable footing again.

She released her hold on his throat and resumed the walk down the steps. "And for your information, no. He had nothing to do with it, but when he found out, I was his only possible contact. It appears he and the Frost Queen have history and he was worried she might try to make him suffer by hurting you. Blah, blah, blah, a few diplomatic contacts later, here I am as an independent observer, minding people I wouldn't spit on if you were dying of thirst for fear it might give you the strength to crawl to water."

The viciousness of her open hatred was so plain and naked that it left him unable to speak for several minutes, even to thank her for catching him.

With her eyes somewhat larger than those of the average elf, she poured out far more hatred over him with a look than he was used to, even in the thick of battle from a monster he'd wounded and was ready to kill.

It wasn't hard to figure out why. 'My own family's estate had elven slaves, but even if we treated ours pretty well… I've seen that others didn't. And she's a pretty one, and probably trained as a bodyguard too, it's not hard to figure it out, but it's better to have her sympathetic to us if she's not connected to this place…'

Though he hadn't admitted it, he too had read Raymond's work, including her biography.

"I wouldn't have done those things. I'm not a monster." He protested the unspoken accusations that he felt sure hung in her mind. She reached for the oaken door and swung it open before she answered him.

"If you did nothing, that's monster enough, human. Now shut up and follow me." She answered, leaving him silently puzzled by the cryptic accusation.