486: Scheming
As Flavna watched Samira leave, she asked her fellow Captain, “What do you think?”
“She was all over the place,” Gamesh said. “I’m sorry to say but I’m still trying to figure out what here intentions were.”
“Do you believe that she knows nothing about the demon attack?”
“No chance! I’m also supposed to believe that she just came here for a few words and then went away with nothing but a ‘thank you’? We need to scrutinize every living being that she talked to.”
“Agreed,” Flavna nodded. “The princess, Remi, and those in the third pit. To think she actually left her sister here—Ah!”
“You think she would?” Gamesh asked.
“Is there anyone close to her cell?” Flavna asked, agitated.
Gamesh closed his eyes and stood still and silent for a couple of seconds, before opening them again and said, “No.”
“Shit!” Flavna rushed back to the Mary’s cell, followed by Gamesh. “She killed the witnesses when she talked to Felicia. She was about to kill Remi. Fuck!”
“The royal family managed to last this long without killing each other,” Gamesh said as he ran behind Flavna. “Why would they start now?”
“Why would Samira leave her sister with us? ‘Cool off’ my ass! Stupid!”
The distance that they walked away from Mary’s cell, Flavna sprinted back within seconds. The young captain swung open the door to the guard room and saw the twelve Samira’s skeletal soldiers falling apart in the same spots they were left. The bones of their limbs fell off one by one, several skulls already rolled off their gory shoulders, their weapons turned to ash.
“Back already?” Mary asked, sitting up on her bed.
“Huh?” Flavna stood in place, taken aback. “Why are you still alive?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Mary asked, but quickly caught on to the meaning behind the question. “Wait. What are you saying?”
Quickly regaining her composure, Flavna swiftly walked to Mary’s barred door, past the skeletal warriors as they crumbled and decomposed turning to fine dust.
“Do you want everyone in this city to die?” Flavna asked.
“… No,” Mary answered.
“Then talk to me!” Flavna demanded.
“I don’t know nothing about the demons!” Mary said angrily. “I was assaulted by that big-tit bimbo and her skinny fucktoy! The next thing I knew, I had tentacles all over me! Find that bimbo! She’s the one with all that weird magic!”
Flavna clenched one of the metal bars tightly and asked, “What did Samira want? What did you talk about?”
“Nothing! Berating me for having some fun while nobody ever seems to care that her murders are beyond the counting. Oh, and my sister’s birthday is coming up. Whooptidoo!”
“Urgh!” Flavna turned around and stormed out of the room.
“Hey!” Mary called out but was ignored and left alone.
Only after the door was closed, Flavna said to Gamesh, “I ought to break every bone in that spoiled child’s body until she stops wasting my time!”
“Are you sure you’re not projecting your feelings concerning a certain other little ‘princess’?” Gamesh asked.
Flavna took a deep breath and said, “But now Samira’s actions make even less sense. Even if Mary is somewhat unpredictable, it’s not like Samira wouldn’t be able to handle her herself. Could she really not know anything after all? And that’s why she came here to find out? No, then she would not have walked away with empty hands.”
“She also did not even mention the so-called Savior,” Gamesh pointed out. “That would suggest that our ‘tip’ did not come from her.”
“And instead of focusing on apprehending the possible culprit of the demon attack, Samira spent more time worrying about Mary’s whereabouts. Why does she want Mary to remain here? Just so that she doesn’t cause more chaos? But all the Seven Sisters were free to do as they please before… Something else is coming.”
“Samira also didn’t seem too concerned when you said that you would send Remi straight to Samuel,” Gamesh said. “Though that could make for an interesting experiment. To see in what other ways the Taint could spread.
“Yes, all the more reason to start the interrogation with Remi. Then everyone in the Third Pit. I don’t buy that Samira killed our men during her ‘visit’ there just on a whim. No more playing nice. If Felicia and her remaining goons don’t cooperate, I don’t care if they can’t walk or function ever again. They will talk. Same goes for Remi and every other Purple Cape, no matter the level of their ‘Taint’. We were careless with the survivors.”
“Remi showed no signs that the others had,” Gamesh reminded.
“Maybe there’s a delay depending on the exposure. Lock up every single one that was in the mines that night. Even those that came after the Abomination was driven away.”
“Wouldn’t that include us as well?” Gamesh chuckled.
“You will drive a blade through my heart before I succumb to the Taint.”