Without another word, she burst in. Shaking his head, Lorum followed with Arorox and Mithranda.
Inside the tent, they saw the king and the centurion standing across from each other, both in white armor. Between them stood a large oval table, covered with piles of papers. Their helmets rested on the only clear spots.
At first, the centurion had his back to them, so Arorox could only see his short black hair. But a moment later, he turned around, revealing a young face, brown eyes filled with anger and a hint of worry. A black tattoo, made up of squares and triangles, which were intertwined with each other, ran from his right temple upward, ending near the middle of his forehead, just where his hairline began.
The king, on the other hand, wore a thoughtful expression, his dark brown eyes calm and distant. As if he were trying to remember something. Now that Arorox was up close, he could see that the king's lips were heavily scarred. He wore no gauntlets, and so his hands were visible as well, equally scarred. While the backs of his hands bore only a few marks, his palms were more scar tissue than skin.
The King was the first to speak, his voice carrying a threatening tone: "In case you haven't noticed, it is a really bad time to bother me! So, what are you all doing here?"
Kaffrine said pleadingly, while tucking her helmet between her arm and torso so that the face of the helmet faced the king, "I am sorry for the inconvenience, but this is of the utmost importance." Then she added in a more serious tone, "I know what is happening here. The lack of animals, the scouts getting attacked even though the Tiremates weren't supposed to be there yet."
Kaffrine paused for a moment, before saying, "It's a guardian."
'Nah, it can't be. I would have rememb-… could it be… curse you, dementia!'
In an instant the room shifted. Lorum and Mithranda showed a hint of fear, while the centurion looked concerned, thoughtful. But the King. The King was strangely excited. With a cheerful grin he asked, "And how did you come to that conclusion?"
Kaffrine froze for a second before answering, "We… We were attacked by a panther and a bird of prey." She turned her head to Lorum who was standing behind the two inmates and called his name. He immediately understood and came to her holding up the head and paw of the creature.
Then Kaffrine proceeded to explain, "Those animals fought like they were poisoned from the Tiremates, but there were no Tiremates corpses. Piercing the bird with an arrow caused no reaction to pain. Same with the panther he had a loose eye that he didn't care about. Before the fight even began, a dead bird of the same species fell from the sky. This suggests they kill each other even when they are the same species. Furthermore, that could explain why we see no wildlife. They all killed each other."
The eyes of the centurion suddenly went wide as if he just realized something and exclaimed, "The oracle!"
"And where are the bodies of the dead animals?" the king asked, ignoring the centurion.
"My assumption is that the guardian consumed them," Kaffrine answered, "For whatever reason."
She made a short pause before adding, "And another thing, do you truly believe the other scout teams had to retreat because of mere animals? What animal could be powerful enough to force them into retreat?" Her jaw tightened. "When we fell back, we heard a strange clicking, which came from the direction where the scouts were attacked. For a time, it followed us, then just as suddenly it stopped and disappeared. There are no records of anything like that."
A silence settled over the room. The King was the one to break it, his fingers running slowly through his beard. Still grinning he murmured, "Interesting, that is very interesting."
After a moment he took a blank sheet of paper and began writing, while saying, "As a thanks for finding out such valuable information, I will give each of you a reward. As for the soldiers, you will be paid handsomely and for the convicts, each of you will have to fight two times less as a prisoner."
"That…" The Centurion wanted to say something but was cut off by the threatening glare of the king.
"Nice two less, eighteen to go. I surely will not die. I mean what is the record for how often someone fought as a prisoner, twelve?", Mithranda said with a laugh.
The room fell into silence. Everyone wore a surprised expression.
'What did she do? Kill somebody? Why would she joke about something like that?'
"Anyways. I need your names, unless you don't want the reward."
"Kaffrine Folly"
"Lorum Folly"
"Mithranda Haystorm and that is Arorox… emm," Mithranda said.
"Dacrete. His Name is Arorox Dacrete," Kaffrine cut in.
"Can't he speak for himself?" the king asked.
"You see he has this teeny tiny problem," Mithranda said, while holding her hand up to with her thumb and index finger pinched close together.
'Infront of the king! I'm not putting up with that anymore. That is downright bullying.'
While Kaffrine and Lorum were trying to hold their laughs, the king replied with nothing but silence. Shortly after he finished the paper and gave it to Kaffrine.
"Now go and don't be afraid to tell others that you were rewarded," the king added.
'That's an efficient way to get everyone motivated to die'
"You have our sincere thanks." Kaffrine thanked the king while bowing. The others followed Kaffrine's example and bowed with Arorox thinking long about if a bow already counted as communication. Only to be pushed down by Mithranda.
After a few seconds they made their way out of the big tent. Lorum remarked a bit perplexed: "That went surprisingly well"
"Yeah," muttered Mithranda.
"I hope you trust your wife from now on more" remarked Kaffrine, "Darling, you are the best," Lorum replied, sealing it with a kiss.
"Aww This is making me sad. I miss my husband," sighed Mithranda with humor and sadness in her voice.
"Let's go redeem this paper" Kaffrine said cheerfully while waving the piece of paper. Both Mithranda and Lorum gave her a slight nod.
'Wait, how long am I even sentenced? In how many wars do I have to participate as a prisoner? Hmm I attacked a high-ranked official in what seemed like an important meeting. Hmm I might be done for. The only good thing is that I was unarmed and didn'treally do lasting damage'
While Arorox was trying to assess his penalty, the group made their way towards another huge tent. Once there, they heard a lot of different voices from inside, but not clearly enough to make them out. Through a brief exchange, they agreed that Kaffrine would go inside while the others waited outside.
'I am definitely done for.'
After some time, Mithranda asked, "What did he do?". Lorum thought for a few seconds, before answering, "He attacked Akash during a conference. Report says he acted like he was on drugs, but apparently there were no drugs involved. Some worry there is new stuff on the market, which doesn't leave any traces," he made a short pause before asking: "What about you? Why are you in prison?"
Mithranda took a deep breath, her face showing anger that she tried to suppress with little success. "Got wrongfully accused. Plaintiff had better connections," she spat out in a low voice.
Lorum just stared at her. It was written all over his face that he didn't believe a word she said.
Mithranda just sighed. After that no one spoke. People went in and out of the tent, but there was no sign of Kaffrine. At some point Arorox looked around and noticed the sun had started to disappear behind the horizon and the walls were finished. The whole wall was lit up by white light and around him, people began to set up the same light.
'There is weirdly no attack. Probably because the Tiremates fear the guardian too.'
After some time, the boredom got the best of him. He let go of the rag he had been pressing against his wound and reached for his ocarina. Tracing his fingers over its surface, Arorox noticed it was no longer covered in scratches and dents, a few remained, but few enough to count. Satisfied with his inspection, he brought the ocarina to his mouth and began to blow, shifting his fingers across the holes, each combination coaxing out a different sound. The first thing he played was not a song, but an ordered sequence of notes, beginning with a high one and ending with a low.
After getting slowly used to the instrument, Arorox closed his eyes. He began to play rather slow and low notes, giving off a sad mood. He didn't know why he played something sad. For all he knows, he surely wasn't sad. After a few seconds, he felt as though something was missing. The notes were played correctly, the force with which he was blowing was also correct, but something was missing. Something precious.
Then out of nowhere he heard a female voice, singing perfectly to his music. It was so sweet, so soothing, so saddening. And yet not real. It was just another memory that fell victim to his tyrannical dementia. As soon as the song ended, the fantastical voice vanished. The only thing that remained were tears.
'How am I supposed to not feel anything, knowing that I forgot so much of my life. Kill yourself, Death.'
"Hey Arorox, I might have something that will cheer you up," Kaffrine said cheerfully.
He opened his eyes, to see that a few people were standing and sitting around him. Some ate, some just hung around. His group was standing right in front of him.
Arorox gave Kaffrine a questioning look and an almost inaudible "hmm?".
Kaffrine answered, "You are not a prisoner anymore. Apparently, you were only sentenced for two wars," she paused for a moment to let the information sink in.
'I am not done for?'
Then she added," Since it doesn't happen very often for a prisoner to be released during a war, they still have to figure out what to do with you. I would suggest, you go to one of the infirmaries and have your shoulder checked out, while you wait."
He gave her a slight nod.
"Lorum and I have to bring Mithranda to the prisoner section, so you'll have to go on your own." Then she proceeded to explain the way to the infirmary.
When she was finished, Mithranda said, "Before we part ways. I gotta say, that music you were playing is pretty good. I hope you find someone who accepts you and your dysfunction," throwing up air quotes at the last part. Apparently, the joke won't ever get old, because the three were laughing their asses off. Arorox just walked away thinking to himself.
'She just had to do it. Oh, that will be one of the most satisfying revenges I'll ever get.'
When he arrived at the medical tent, it was weirdly empty.There were two rows of beds with a small table between each, bearing one glowing rectangle. At the far end, stood a second room. Only a young man who called himself the doctor's apprentice and one patient, who looked like he might throw up or lose consciousness at any moment, were present. The trainee was surprisingly professional. While treating the wound, he asked all the right questions: Arorox's name, age and so on, but Arorox reluctantly gave him only his name. The only unprofessional thing he did was placing him next to the other patient.
'If he vomits, I really wouldn't want to sit next to him'
Once the apprentice had finished, he recommended a bit of rest and went to the back room.