At least they gave me a bench, Alex thinks as she shuffles across the room, her manacles clanking and chafing her ankles and wrists as she moves and settles on the bench.
At first, she sits quietly, thinking. As she sits, her drying clothes start itching. The sensation is overwhelming, so she gets up and moves around a bit to give her skin a break, only to find the chafing on her ankles is worse.
Alex continues pacing in the small cell for several more minutes, the rattle of her chains punctuated by other prisoners yelling things. She paces to the door and shouts, "HEY! I’M PRETTY SURE THE GUTTERCORGS HAVE BETTER MANNERS THAN YOU LOT!" To which she hears five others shouting for her to shut up among other crude suggestions.
Eventually, she settles back onto the bench, ending up lying on it. She needs to curl her legs up just to fit. It’s in this position that she realizes the bench is likely intended to be a bed.
I’m pretty sure my mom would be disappointed in me for getting arrested but also not surprised. Alex laughs at the thought and then feels a twinge of sadness thinking of her family and home.
My little brother would probably love this shit. Alex curls up tighter, thinking about her family and her station. I wonder what they think happened to me. Disappearing how I did, my parents probably got the knock.
Alex hugs herself, remembering the few times she knew families who had gotten the knock and how the fire station had shown up for them. She still took a few kids of passed-on firefighters for ice cream around their birthdays.
Mom probably isn't doing great. I'm sure my older sister is telling Mom it was only a matter of time. Maybe that's helping. Did they find a body or am I just assumed dead? I'm not sure which is worse.
Alex’s thoughts continue to spiral for long minutes before she drifts off to sleep, years of mastering the skill of sleeping anywhere giving her the ability to pass out on the uncomfortable bench.
She wakes up an indeterminate amount of time later to the door of the cell being opened. She sees a few guards with dark blue cloth on top of their chest armor, blocking out the light from the hall as they look in through the open door. A grey-haired man in robes, holding a staff loosely in his hands, moves into the doorway. For a moment, Alex thinks his face registers disgust in the dim light, but in the next instance, he is all smiles.
"Ah, remove the chains from the young miss," he motions for the guards to enter the cell. His voice somehow sounds slimy.
Alex feels tense but also knows no chains mean easier to run. The grey-haired man continues, "Apologies for the treatment, Miss. We will take you off to get cleaned up and reunited with your gear."
Looking over the man, Alex is pretty sure there is something going on but isn't sure what. "So this is all just a misunderstanding?"
The grey-haired man nods. "You can definitely say that. My name is Chancellor Baron. We will be taking you to let you clean up and reunite with your gear and such. I assure you there is no trap in the offer of removing your chains and a bath," his nose crinkles as though the smell is bad.
I can't imagine how terrible I must smell. Between the fire, the work yesterday, and the sewer today. Alex gags and shudders thinking about the pungent mix and her brain deciding to let her smell it instead of tune it out.
"It seems like you aren’t telling me something. But a bath would be good."
The man just motions for her to follow as he starts to walk down the hall, the guards following behind her. "I assure you, Miss, I'm not hiding anything about where we are heading."
Chancellor Baron leads her through the stone building and down into a set of tunnels. I really hope chancellor isn't a family title. Can you imagine cursing a kid with a name that is just a title next to a title? Alex bites her lip to keep from smiling at the thought.
Alex surveys the tunnels as she walks. Her skill only faintly highlighting stones here and there.
"You boys need to walk through here much? Just wondering what the odds are we end up lost down here."
One of the guards behind her grunts, "Just keep walking."
Alex looks over her shoulder at the guard but keeps walking, the silence eating away at her. The tunnel has several branching corridors, each as devoid of light and life as the last.
After several long, tense moments, they end up in a circular room with a spiraling set of stairs heading up. Alex looks around, seeing tunnels running out of the room like spokes of a wheel. "Do these just run to prisons?"
"No, these are passages for the use of the king’s guards," Chancellor Baron says.
Alex decides to just think of him as Titles. Chancellor Baron is just becoming too much.
Titles leads her up the stairs and into a small room with several more guards sitting at a table. The room is well lit, letting Alex get her first good look at the uniforms on top of their armor. Each guard is wearing a deep blue uniform over their armor, with a silver web and a golden helmet in the middle of the armor.
Titles quickly leads her through several immaculate hallways. Large granite tiles cause a staccato rhythm to her guards' footsteps to echo. The hall is well lit, and to Alex's surprise, she doesn’t see fire but instead a soft orb floating in decorative sconces on the walls.
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Barely taking all of this in, Titles stops and opens a door, gesturing for Alex to enter. Alex looks at the guards who seem to be waiting for her to enter and then peers into the room, a soft floral scent wafting into the hallway. Inside, she sees a large tub and several people meekly standing around with their gaze cast to the ground. Alex can’t see the whole room from her position, but it looks large.
Deciding she has no options, Alex enters the room cautiously. Titles moves into the doorway, saying, "The servants are mutes sworn to his majesty’s service. They will follow orders from you but are commanded to clean you and help you prepare."
"Prepare for what?" Alex asks, looking over the room, feeling a bit unnerved.
"Oh, right; to meet with his majesty. Just need to publicly handle the charges. Merely a formality, of course. We will get you your gear back, a full belly, and send you on your way."
Titles’ smile makes Alex feel uneasy, but she nods, moving toward the servants. Titles turns and leaves, closing the door behind him. Alex doesn’t miss the four guards standing in the hall, stationing themselves around the door.
This is shady, but I'm not sure what to do.
One of the servants touches her shoulder, and Alex jumps. The tension of the last few days causes her to immediately prepare for a fight only to relax when the servant steps back, motioning toward the bath. Okay, Alex. Worst case they bathe you and execute you. That would suck but you wouldn’t smell like half the shit in the city.
"Do I just strip and climb in?" Alex asks, looking around at the four servants, all of whom look to be human women.
The one who touched her nods and gestures to the bath.
Alex slowly moves over, taking off her clothes to climb into the bath. The water is warm; perfectly warm. She feels the knots in her muscles relaxing as she settles into the water and foam.
Two of the servants take her discarded clothing, moving over to basins to start washing them. Alex sees the women make quick gestures and realizes they may not talk but do have a language. She watches the handful of gestures from the tub and can’t figure out a single word of it.
The other two eventually move forward, pinning their robe sleeves up and moving closer with brushes. "Oh, thank you. I can do that," Alex says as one of them moves closer, attempting to pull her arm out to scrub.
The two women just shake their heads. "No really, it's okay."
They bow and step back, standing to the side waiting. Alex takes the brush and slowly starts scrubbing. She ends up with two baths just to get clean.
A set of clothes is set out for her. To her surprise, it looks like yoga pants and a tee shirt from back home. Next to it is her turnout gear and a new set of boots.
She dries off as the servants start to dry and braid her hair almost immediately. "Am I supposed to wear this to see the king?" Alex asks one of the servants, who nods.
"Are they going to kill me?" Alex asks quietly.
One of the servants shakes her head only to be punched by another servant before staring at the ground, continuing her work. "Are you all safe? Are you okay?" Alex asks, the continued behavior of these women raising alarm bells.
One of them just nods.
Alex isn’t sure what to do. "If you’re being hurt, tell me I will do what I can," Alex says lamely.
The same woman just shakes her head, pulling Alex’s braid up and pinning it in place. They motion for her to get dressed and move to the walls of the room, standing stationary with heads downcast.
"Fuck this king is creepy," Alex mutters as she pulls on the clothes.
Alex starts rolling her turnout gear to take with her. A knock comes at the door, and one of the servants moves to open it. Titles is on the other side.
"Ah, good you're partially dressed. Please finish putting on your gear so we can present you to his majesty."
"Oh, it's okay I'll just carry this gear. It's pretty warm," Alex says, smiling as she keeps rolling it.
"I'm afraid there has been a misunderstanding. Please don your armor to appear before the king," Titles says.
Alex grits her teeth. "Can you level with me on what’s happening?"
Titles nods. "You’re receiving the rare opportunity to appear before the king, his council, and the current court. The request is for you to appear in your full regalia. Now please hurry."
Alex slowly pulls on her turnout gear. Her body heats under the layers and weight almost instantly.
Titles nods. "Good, good. Follow me."
He leads Alex through more halls and upstairs. The path is a bit of a blur as Alex moves after him, sweat prickling on her skin and running down her back.
Eventually, Titles opens a set of grand doors, revealing a cavernous room. A long blue carpet runs to what looks like a table and beyond it up stairs to a throne.
Alex glances around the room as Titles moves forward into the cavernous room. People stand in what look like theater boxes all around the room. Some whispering, others just staring.
"Your majesty, I present the accused to you," Titles says, moving to the side and gesturing for Alex to move forward before bowing to the king.
Alex starts toward the table and sees her Halligan, SCBA, Helmet, all of it across from her.
The king sits in shadows, a subtle glint reflecting from the shadows. Alex moves up to the table. "I'm not entirely sure what I’m accused of here," Alex tries addressing the room.
She hears a different set of words echo around the chamber in her voice. "You all follow a false system!"
"What the fuck," Alex says before hearing words echo out again. "You will all die!"
The figure on the throne stands, and the echo dies immediately. He moves into the light, and Alex feels like someone threw three hundred pounds on her shoulders.
The figure moves forward, intricate golden armor leading to a helmet revealing nothing of the figure’s features. "World Walker," the voice is deep and resonant, filling the room and silencing everyone.
"You pose a threat to our peace even by your own words."
Alex opens her mouth, and the king raises a hand. No words come out, and Alex sees a notification.
Status Effect: Word of the King
You may not speak unless the king allows it. This status effect lasts for 1 minute per level difference between you and the king to a maximum of 500.
500 minutes remaining
Alex’s eyes widen when she sees it. She looks at the king, taking in his stance and posture, the screen she usually swipes away appearing.
Identified: King of the Nodes
Condition: Adult
Level: ????
The deep and resonant voice continues, "You will be exiled from our walls and our peace. Your destruction will be taken with you to the wilds. I am merciful and am not sentencing you to death, merely protecting my people from the gods."
He pauses, the crowd of people eating up his words.
Alex sees the minute that had ticked down on the status renew as he seems to stand for a moment before all the people.
"You are hereby banished from the safety of our walls and your ability to harm these good people."
He turns, the sound of his armor making virtually no sound as he walks back to the throne. He stops at the top stairs and sits on his throne.
Alex forces herself to move to the table, putting her hands on its edge and opening her mouth, attempting to force noise out but not managing anything.
A set of guards walks forward, grabbing her under her shoulders. The weight seems to not be impacting them. Alex tries to struggle as a third guard collects her things, and they drag her from the throne room.
Is the king evil?