The cell door creaked open, and a soldier stepped inside.
He was tall and lanky, with the pale, sickly complexion of someone who hadn't seen sunlight in weeks. His dark eyes swept across the room with visible disdain, his lips twitching into a half-sneer.
"Get up."
Noah flinched at the sharpness of the command, unlike me he wasn't used to this type of treatment from soldiers.
We weren't cuffed as we were led out.
Why would we be?
The brands on our foreheads were restraints enough. A fact I'd never let myself forget. We'd been prisoners long before they locked us in that cell.
The soldier marched us through the cold, dimly lit halls of the base. The air was damp and heavy, saturated with the scent of wet stone.
'This place must be newly constructed', I noted, eyeing the smooth, seamless curves of the walls.
'No bricks, no layering. I wonder if man-made buildings still exist in this part of the Empire…'
Passing through small double doors, we entered a vast room, walls lined with banners of two different colours.
One was unmistakable the gold lion of the Thoracen Empire, rising on its hind legs mid-roar.
The other was the one I'd seen before: a red lion, snarling as it guarded a grave. No doubt Thanason's own sigil.
The chamber was a stripped-down imitation of Duke Gravewalker's court. Not as grand, not as lavish, but the lack of embellishment didn't take away from the atmosphere—it enhanced it. The room exuded a hard, military sharpness that the Duke's court never had.
There was no nobility here. No throne. No ceremony.
Just cold, unyielding stone.
Rows of soldiers stood on either side, stiff and silent. I recognized some of them—Unit 7, for one. And others… the faces I'd saved during my nightly crusades.
'Why are they here?'
None of them met my gaze. Not that I expected them to. No, if I was going to get out of this, it would be by my own hands. Alone, as it always was.
The soldiers on the left wore standard army colors. But those on the right—red and white—stood out starkly.
'The colors of the rebellion?'
If so, this trial wasn't just about me, or Noah
We were more of a tasty after thought rather than the main course.
The soldier escorting us stopped, then motioned us to step forward into the centre of the chamber. The tension was thickest there, like a coiled wire stretched too tight. Noah swallowed hard beside me and muttered under his breath.
"Tough crowd."
Then the General entered. Thanason's boots clacked sharply on the stone floor as he ascended a raised platform, facing us and the assembled ranks.
"Today," he bellowed, "we begin the matter of the rebels' fate. By my authority as vassal of Duke Gravewalker and General of the Thoracen Empire."
'He's making us wait… petty. Not that I wouldn't do the same.'
"Is there a spokesperson among the rebels?" he asked, his tone clipped.
A man stepped forward from the rebel ranks. Young, but his bearing said he held the respect of his peers.
"What's your name, soldier?"
"Derrin, sir."
"Make your case."
Derrin nodded and took another step forward.
"I can only assume that by being allowed to speak, there is a chance—however small—for clemency. Otherwise, we'd be dead already."
'Smart opener.'
"So here's our case. There are two main reasons why the men beside me fought against you. First: the nobility failed us. The Thoracen Empire ignored our pleas for help. Letters went unanswered. Supplies never came. We didn't rebel because we wanted to—we rebelled because no other options remained."
"You're blaming the Thoracen Empire for your rebellion?" Thanason asked.
"Yes, sir," Derrin replied, unwavering. "If not for the Empire's negligence, there would've been no rebellion to begin with."
Thanason's face gave away nothing. "And the second reason?"
Derrin hesitated, then said, "Many here had no choice. Certain individuals… among the rebels… they blackmailed skilled men into joining them. Families were held hostage. Skills were exploited. Some of us were conscripted by threat, not conviction."
The rebels soldiers shifted as Derrin finished the second reason, shifting glancing at each other, eyes betraying no short measure of fear.
Thanason's gaze sharpened. "So even in captivity, some of you might pose a threat?"
Derrin was silent for a moment.
'Let's see how you spin that.'
"That's for you to decide, sir," he finally said, stepping back.
'The honest route, smart. Someone like Thanason would respect that.'
Sure enough, I saw a flicker of approval in Thanason's eyes.
"You've made a strong case," he said. "I will deliberate further. For now, submit a list of names and ranks."
Then, his eyes turned to me.
And I felt it. The weight. The judgment. It tripled.
To him, I was worse than a rebel.
"Arthur and Noah," he said, voice sharp. "You stand accused of cowardice. Refusing to fight. Infiltrating camp. Assaulting a superior. To your left stand those in your defence. Do you have anything to add?"
I blinked, caught off guard. Turning, I scanned the soldiers again with fresh eyes. Still none of them looked at me. Every face staring straight ahead, rigid and silent in perfect attention.
'So that's how it is.'
Noah opened his mouth, but I silenced him with a glare.
"We're not guilty," I said. "At least… not of everything."
"Speak," Thanason ordered.
'I could escape', I thought absently as I deliberated my words. 'Break out, head west. Into rebel territory. I'd have to live in hiding, but I could live.
But before I start planning that, let's at least get him out of this.'
"Noah took down an assassin," I said. "One targeting your body double. He defended him alone, risking his life to ensure your plan succeeded. That contributed more to the battle than any soldier on the field."
Thanason's interest sharpened, his gaze growing brighter.
"And how did you know an assassin was coming? How did you know of my plan at all?"
Raising his hand, he snapped his fingers once.
The brand on my forehead flared, writhing on my forehead.
"If you lie, I'll know."
'Ahh shit, I forgot about the brand.'
Forcing a smile I nodded, trying to ignore the pain.
'Time to make Noah a hero.'
"Noah received intel that an assassin would strike the body double. If that happened, your ruse would be exposed, and the battle lost."
The soldiers murmured behind us. Clearly, they hadn't expected my trial to hold such weight.
"He fought to protect your double. At great personal risk."
The pain spiked. I nearly bit my tongue.
Noah stepped in, his voice similarly strained. "I tried to hold the assassin off. But I couldn't finish him. Arthur did."
"Only because you held him off for so long," I snapped, deflecting credit. I couldn't afford to take credit. Not with Thanason presiding over my life. Anything attributed to me would no doubt be forgotten, discarded and ignored.
"And because of that," I continued, "your opponent lost his mana. The trap was dismantled. You lived."
Thanason's expression didn't change. Not even a flicker of surprise.
'He already knows' I realised a moment too late. 'He doesn't wanna know what happened. It's how I knew he cares about.'
And sure enough…
"How did you know any of this?" Thanason asked, tone like the final bang of a gavel.
I opened my mouth—and nearly collapsed as the brand flared hotter than ever.
I couldn't tell the truth.
'I had read it in a novel… how the hell do I explain that?'
"Well?" Thanason snapped.
Holding back a groan, I fought to say upright, delaying for seconds I didn't have.
"I spoke to a deity."
The chamber froze.
"You what?"
"I spoke to a deity," I repeated, voice calm. The agony on my forehead lessened.
After all, I
" How?"
"It happened during my battlefield trial."
Thanason paused. His expression shifted—curiosity, this time. "You completed your trial on the battlefield?"
"Yes… sir?"
"I see." He stepped closer, eyes growing more intense. "Who was the deity?"
Merlin had once told me a good lie had three ingredients, a sprinkle of truth to ground it. The lie you were planning to spin, and something unbelievably bold to draw attention.
"Who?" I repeated slowly.
Pausing for a moment longer, I allowed the tension to crescendo further within the hall.
"Hades."
Gasps and murmurs exploded across the hall, small conversations breaking out like chicken pox amongst the soldiers. Even Noah let out a heavy exhalation in surprise.
Thanason's voice dropped into a near-whisper. "Hades spoke to you?"
"Yes."
"And gave you… his blessing?"
"Yes."
Thanason stared at me, eyes narrowed to slits.
Then, without warning, he laughed. Cold, sharp laughter that echoed across the chamber.
"How convenient. All this supposed knowledge you have that can't be verified."
I smiled thinly back at him. "I can't lie."
While Thanason deliberated,I couldn't help but overhear some of the conversations that had broken out.
"Hades? Isn't he evil?"
"Isn't he worshipped by vampires?"
"Do you think he speaks to the dead?"
"Red eyes…all I'm saying is who the hell has red eyes."
"He's a Gravewalker idiot."
"Maybe they're all vampires."
"I heard he doesn't sleep. Ever."
"I heard he disappears every night…"
I heard a soft growl as Thanason turned his back to me. His voice sounded faint as he walked away despite how easily it carried across the hall.
"Remove their brands...And let them go."