Shadow Slave

The three Lost seemed to be in a better shape than they had been the day before — their armor was cleaned, and their wounds were properly tended to. However, somehow, they looked worse to wear. Their faces were paler, their movements were full of tension, and there was a strange darkness hiding in their eyes.

Only the sentinel who had spoken to Sunny before was the same. If anything, his cold resolve seemed to have grown stronger… as did his silent hostility. Without saying a word, he threw the tubes of syntpaste into the cage, then pointed at the waterskin laying on the floor near Cassie.

Sunny tossed the empty waterskin out, and received a new one in return.

"Sir! Can you please tell us what is going on? Where is your, uh... fourth friend? Did something happen?"

The sentinel stared at him with a heavy, grim expression. When he answered, his voice was steady and even:

"Don't speak unless spoken to."

With that, the Lost left. The door of the cell locked with a loud click, the flame of the oil lamp trembled, and everything became silent once again.

Sunny sighed.

"...What an unfriendly fellow."

Just like that, their imprisonment started.

There were no windows in the stone chamber, so it was almost impossible to track the passage of time. Their only hint was the appearance of the three Lost, who brought them food and water once every day, and sometimes changed the oil in the lantern.

Sunny and Cassie spent the first few days in silence and tense, grim anticipation. They slept back to back, sharing the heat of their bodies to overcome the chilling cold of the prison cell, and suffered through the daytime without speaking to each other unless absolutely necessary. Both were waiting for something disastrous to happen.

However, nothing did.

had not shaken again, and nothing came through the heavy door to either set them free or destroy them. Neither Master Welthe nor Master Pierce had visited the enchanted

could still tell that something sinister and dire was going on outside. The evidence was in how the three

matter how much Sunny tried to get the sentinel to speak, the arrogant warrior

changed, too. If before all three used to look at Sunny and Cassie while delivering the food, now only

hands

had to reluctantly change his behavior. He shared everything he knew about Mordret with Cassie, and learned everything she remembered about the Night Temple in return. With

not even a good guess or two. It was simply a

For now…

The sentinel walked forward and threw the tubes of synthpaste into the cage, while the other two assumed defensive positions behind his back. Their eyes seemed dark

outside, a chilling scream suddenly resounded in the corridor outside the door. A

could a human throat produce

tensed and gripped their weapons, one of

snarled and pushed

yourself, cowards! Remember your

waterskin to Sunny and rushed outside, a slender sword appearing in his hand from a whirlpool of

flame of the oil lamp

the next day, when the door opened again, only

***

were no wounds on his body, but his eyes were dull and glassy. He glanced at Sunny and Cassie lifelessly, then turned around and raised his weapon, staring at the open door with tired

seemed a bit… diminished. His handsome face was still cold and resolute, but there was a slight weakness to how his

the tubes of synthpaste and the water inside the cage, not even waiting for Sunny to return the other two waterskins. Sunny wanted to try to get the Lost to speak to him again, as usual, but then thought better

that made the