Quoted By:
<span class="mu-r">“If none of you can agree on what the Regent said, how am I supposed to know which one of you to trust? The only solution is for us to go to the Lord Regent and hear it straight from her mouth.”</span> you proposed.
The knights exchanged cautious, and slightly confused glances with one another. It looks like they’re gonna need another push.
<span class="mu-r">“Unless you’d like to take your chances disobeying her orders.”</span> you added.
<span class="mu-i">That</span> got them all rattling and shaking as they murmured amongst one another. Finally, after about a minute, they turned back to you and lowered their weapons.
<span class="mu-b">“What you’ve said is sensible. Very well! We shall bring you before our Lord Regent so that she might decide your fate in person!”</span> the first knight declared. <span class="mu-b">“Please, do not resist.”</span>
On his command, the knights behind you formed into a line and raised their spears to point at your back. Everyone just shrugged and marched along with the other knights. Everyone except Anastasia, that is. She seemed to bristle at being ordered around, and you were certain that her grip around her spear had tightened considerably. But thankfully, she remained civil the entire time.
Cat had that same easygoing smile on her face that she usually did, and Prowler was likewise scowling like he usually did. Callisto and Glass were muttering to one another, but you could only pick up a few words here and there. Anastasia was glancing around warily, and trying her very best to ignore Peter Pan’s chattering as he floated next to her ear.
As you went deeper into the Black Kingdom’s domain, you started to notice just how decrepit their society had become. Most buildings were either in complete ruin or had fallen prey to overgrowth. The kingdom subjects that milled about and watched you from afar seemed…strange somehow. Like the knights, their movements were unnatural. They were too jerky and sudden.
And that’s when you noticed the hands of a peasant woman who was trying, and struggling to wash her clothes. She didn’t have fingers. Just cloth-like mittens in place of her hands. The more she soaked her clothes, the more water-logged her hands got. The sight was so pathetic that you were almost tempted to help her, but you had more important things to deal with right now.
—-----
It was no mystery to you what the “Black Castle” might be. There was no doubt that it was the insanely massive, unfinished obsidian structure that towered over everything else in the village. Given the state of every other structure here, you were just surprised that they’d managed to build it this tall. The village’s walls weren’t even finished!
Or maybe they had been at some point, and they were just destroyed as a result of the Redskins’ raids or the constant infighting. You didn’t know, and you didn’t much care. As long as you could pull this kid out and get her back to the tree fort, that was enough for you.
(Cont.)
