Instead of bothering with my clothes I forced myself back into my draconic form, feeling dizzy and weak, but ultimately like I was starting to get used to it, though… I certainly wasn't in fighting shape.
By the time I arrived at the prison, Rune was still anxiously focusing as hard as she could to regulate Hara's mana. When I touched her, all of her fur stood up on end. "Good job." I signed. "Let her wake up now," I muttered.
She groaned slightly before nodding and relaxing. I sent a little manna into the prisoner, and although she was more than a little groggy, her eyes opened, staying out of focus. "Mo, what do the Runes in these shackles do?"
"Magic suppression. Powerful mages can still work through them though… So we put on two sets."
'We have those? That's awesome. But then I didn't even need Rune… Wait, but if Rune was able to manipulate her manna through these… Time for that later.' "Ok… Please watch after Rune. Don't let anyone inside until I'm done…"
Her eyes suddenly narrowed to blades as she patted Rune on the back, "Go find Vive and wait for us. Good kid."
She slowly nodded as she left, but Mo stayed in the room, closing the door. "You're in a mood…"
"I just didn't want Rune to see this…"
Hara finally began to blink, coming to her senses, lifting her head before dropping it again almost right away. "Ok… Ok… What do you want…"
"Maybe I just want to torture you… One of my brothers died in that battle last week, you know?"
"L-last week?" She started shaking.
'Well it was a few hours ago, but you don't know that…' "I've been keeping you unconscious by syphoning off your manna."
She suddenly shuddered, tensing up. "T-torture? You don't mean like… Like Torture, do you?"
"You're not that stupid are you."
She tightly shut her eyes. "PLEASE NO! DON'T SKIN ME ALIVE!"
I turned to Mo. 'That's… Not something we do, is it?' She just shrugged. 'Well… At this rate I don't think I need to torture her… But for a commander… And one of the more feared empire soldiers… I was expecting… more?' "Why did the empire march on us without a proper declaration of war? What are you after and why?"
"If I tell you…"
"Then we won't hurt you. Maybe we'll even feed you."
She let out a heavy sigh. "Why did we invade? Well… Uhm… I don't know how much of this is actually true… But I can give you the reasons the empire is giving the citizens… Just… Don't take it as me accusing you of things, ok?"
'She's terrified… And still she is this careful with her words?' "Sure, sure…"
"The first reason is because the nation is cursed. Undead spawn with little to no effort, monsters spawn from nothing and roam the sea, the air, even underground. You summon demons, and to keep the powerless weak you don't allow magic… That aside… In the last war we took over the northern region above the black gate… But it's haunted with ghosts and undead that keep coming back no matter how many times we get rid of them… It's cursed. We can't use it, and that defeats the whole purpose of us taking it. The emperor wants to liberate the oppressed people, but he also wants wood for a stronger navy so we can continue fighting our war to the west, land for our population to spread, and another dungeon for military training… There are a lot of good things in it for the empire, ok… A-at least… That's what I've heard…"
'Well… That was easy…' "So you just didn't think we were good enough to warrant a formal declaration of war?"
"Well… We sent a messenger… But your king cut his head off… So…"
I groaned, letting my head roll back as I closed my eyes. "Ok… That's fair… That's on us then… How large is the total invading army? They haven't been attacking, would they really just leave you here?"
She suddenly started crying. "W-would they? I-I don't know? They might… They wouldn't, right?"
"How would I know…"
She slowly swallowed as I wiped her tears with a rag so she'd stop twitching. "Th-the army right… It's just me and Rokai. But if that wasn't enough, then they'll send in the Third star and sage Maria… If things get really bad, maybe even the fifth star, or the twin stars…
'How big is their army…' "Is Maria stronger than you?"
"No…"
My voice dropped. "Are you lying…" I growled.
"D-d-don't eat me! I'm sorry! She's a little stronger…"
"A little?"
"A lot…" She started crying again. "She's a lot stronger. She doesn't have to borrow manna from other people to cast big spells. The third star is weaker than Rokai though."
"And what if they come and they fail too? You mentioned others?"
"I Don't know!"
I sighed, pausing a moment for a moment and giving her some time to calm down. "Ok… Ulf. The general at the black gate. Is he dead?"
She stared at me, the tears stopping as the only thing on her face became confusion. "I… I'm really not sure how to answer that…"
I turned back to Mo who just shrugged again. "Well… Like… Did you kill him?"
"No… Oh! Oh that's what you meant. He's a hostage."
'Does she even realize her voice changes pitch when she lies?' "You're lying again…"
She bit her lip. "H-he's… Probably still fighting… He carved his way through our army, killing hundreds while fighting for days as he made his way towards the north… The haunted area I told you about. He's probably hiding there."
'I guess the undying was right…' "Ok… Last question then. Why did it take you so long to get here?"
She suddenly growled. "YOUR FREAKING ARMY AT THE BLACK GATE TURNED INTO ZOMBIES AND ATTACKED US FROM BEHIND!"
I slowly turned and rested my head against the wall. 'How strong was their army before… Still…' "That's kind of awesome honestly."
She shuddered and shrank back again. "Sorry…"
"It's fine, you answered the question. One more thing. How many people do you think we have to kill before you give up and go home?"
She tried to shrink back further but the chains wouldn't let her. "Th-that's… Well… I'm here… And if Rokai didn't come for me… Then… That's going to be up Marian…"
'And she's crying again…' "How old are you?"
"I THOUGHT YOU SAID THAT WAS THE LAST ONE?!?" She screamed, tears flowing down her face and splashing in the small puddle that had now formed.
"Uh… Right… Sorry…" I stepped up and unlatched the chains from the wall, keeping the shackles on to prevent her from using magic. "Mo, can you get her some food… I need to meet with the other commanders…"
"You're actually feeding her?"
We both paused. 'Did she think I was lying?' "Uh… Well… I wasn't ever going to skin her alive or anything either… Undead don't gross me out… But seeing living things suffer still twists my stomach a bit."
We both paused again. "But, you're brother."
'Oh… That's why she stayed behind isn't it…' "Nah, I didn't care about… About him anyway… And… She wasn't the one that killed him… The poor girl is terrified. And technically speaking, she didn't actually kill anyone in that fight… The only thing she really did at all was knock you out."
She grimaced. "I'll get her some food."
I chuckled. "On second thought. I'll have Rune and Vive take care of her. I need you and your family to go looking for Tabernath. He still hasn't reported back…"
She sighed, crossing her arms as she sifted her weight slightly. "Fine…"