484: Cabin in the Woods

“What will you do with that lover girl?” Samira asked Captain Flavna.

“Cabin in the Woods,” Flavna said flatly.

“Oh, what a pity,” Samira frowned disingenuously. “You’ll leave Mary will be absolutely heartbroken, isn’t that right, sis?”

“Flavna has more of those upstairs,” Mary shrugged and sat down on her so-called bed under the watchful gaze of the eyeless skeleton.

“I think I’ll keep my two friends here for the time being,” Samira said. “At least, until the nice captain finds suitable replacements.”

“How very thoughtful of you,” Flavna said.

“The cooperation between the Crown and the Purple Capes is what has kept this city standing, is it not?” Samira asked but did not wait for an answer. “But now that I’ve confirmed that my little sister is unharmed and in good health, I’d like to have a word with you. Since you’ve so kindly saved me the trip to that gloomy fortress of yours.”

“It may be ‘gloomy’ to some, but at least it hasn’t been ransacked under the nose of its master,” Flavna said.

“It was funny to watch fools show their true loyalties for trinkets and décor that now hold less value than a loaf of bread,” Samira replied with a smile.

“This way,” Flavna gestured to the door out of the room and Samira walked away from the cell.

“Wait, you can’t be seriously thinking of leaving me here!” Mary called out to her sister when it became clear she was leaving her behind.

“I won’t have the same conversation twice,” Samira said. “Reflect on your behavior while I talk to the nice captain.”

As Samira walked out of the room, more dark mist spread down her waist and legs, and spread across the floor. From that mist ten more skeletal warriors rose up to a height of six feet. With see-through ribcages and barely any tissue or muscles on their bodies, just enough to connect some of their joints, but not nearly enough to prevent their collapse had they not been propped up by magic.

Some of these warriors were armed with bows and arrows instead of bladed weapons. They nocked their arrows as soon as they took full shape and aimed straight at Mary. After that not one of the skeletal warriors moved so much as single bone. All their attention was focused solely on the imprisoned princess even as the two captains walked past them. Once the door closed, Mary was left in the cell under the guard of twelve soulless warriors with a dying torch as the only source of light.

“Why did you have just that one girl guarding my sister?” Samira asked as she and the two captains walked through a damp, wet, dark halls with no furniture or windows in sight. The fires in the spaced-out torches danced to the tune of a strong draft that came and went through tiny but numerous pitch-black holes in the walls.

“She was a capable warrior, enough to make her a lieutenant one day,” Gamesh said. “And if the princess did seriously consider forcing her way out of here, she’d have to kill dozens of men and women before finding her way out of here.

“More importantly, Remi’s loyalty never came into question,” Flavna said. “Not once. Your sister is nothing more than a spoiled child. I do not see how she could have turned anyone that fast.”

“Perhaps a deeper questioning would be in order, before the butchering?” Samira asked.

“I do not need advice on dealing with my soldiers,” Flavna said. “What did you want from me?”

“I see,” Samira said. “Well, first of all, on behalf of the Crown and myself personally, I would like to thank you for saving my sister during that sudden and most horrible demon invasion in the mines.”

“Yes, yes,” Flavna all but yawned listening to the empty words. “I’m sure you didn’t come all this way just for that.”

“Indeed,” Samira nodded. “Have you found out how the demons got into the city?”

“The investigation is still ongoing,” Flavna said.

“I see,” Samira frowned. “How unsettling it is that our bellowed people are no longer safe from the demon threat even in this city! I seem to recall somebody assuring us that no demon could simply sneak into the city.”

“I still stand by those words,” Flavna said.

“And yet the demons were within the city walls. How did they get past your watch? Did they burrow underground?”

“Perhaps. Or they didn’t get past my watch.”

“Oh? Wouldn’t that mean that you knowingly let them into the city?” Samira asked.

“That or they were always here,” Flavna said.