I asked the fireling to put me down and hurried my step. I started running and forcing all of them to come along with me. I didn't know the way but I kept moving, only to hear some left or right indication when I reached crossroads. I needed to see Ansgar, needed to hold him and tell him everything would be alright. That I would do anything to get him out.
“It’s just here on the left,” the commander said and I rushed towards the corridor where an entire army stood waiting, swords in hand, their gazes pinned to a metal door.
Iron, I realised. They were keeping him hostage with iron.
I passed them all, forcing them to move out of the way, and banged on the door, screaming Ansgar’s name.
“Open the god's damned door,” I demanded while shouting at the soldiers, kicking the door with my feet as hard as I could.
“Open it,” Marreth’s voice came from behind, making all the soldiers stand abruptly and turn to him, some wearing shocked faces. “King’s orders,” he added when no soldier made a gesture to move.
Some of them nodded and braced themselves, adopting an attack stance, as though an entire army would come rushing through those doors.
“Human,” the commander called me to him. “I don't have orders to risk any of the soldiers, so you are on your own. No one who walked through those doors came out alive,” he said with a pitying tone, understanding that no matter what he told me, I would go in.
“Open the doors,” I confirmed and started walking to the heavy iron gate-like opening.
“Stop right there,” a voice I had come to loathe shattered the already darkened walls, leaving small dust vibrations in its wake. Before I had a chance to turn, Rhylan had already caught me by the arm, an unclenching decision preventing me from taking that final step. The doors came to an immediate close and with it, my chance to return to Ansgar.
I became enraged, forgetting everything I was, everything I wanted, and all the times he had recently made me smile, made me feel protected and safe. It was all a ruse, all some mischievous plan of his. I should have known better.
“You do not get to touch me,” I roared, withdrawing my skin from his grip as if a venomous bite possessed it. “You do not get to speak to me,” I echoed, so decidedly that tiny particles of spit landed on my chin. “You do not get to lie to me again.”
“Anwen, please,” desperation crumbled in Rhylan’s eyes while the soldiers shivered at the words. At their general, begging, pleading in front of a mortal. I did not care, did not have another fragment of patience or understanding towards this man.
“What have you done to him, you bastard?” I accused, watching Rhylan’s gaze averting from mine and scanning the soldiers who remained shaking in front of the massive doors.
“He’s been tortured for information,” I heard the voice of the commander who brought me in and before Rhylan had a chance to interrupt, I shifted to him, placing my hands on his shoulders. Even though I barely reached him, the man being as tall as the nearby columns, I did my best to hold him in a threatening stance, using the remainder of my strength to shake him.
“What else? Why is he locked away like this? Why are these men pissing themselves at the thought of opening those doors?”
The guy who carried me looked at Rhylan first, fearing how he would be made to pay for this information, but decided against it and took pity on me.
“When torture did not work, the king commanded to turn him.” Reading my frown, he explained. “A serum is forcefully applied to the body over a duration of time, to make one forget. By the end of the treatment course, the skills remain but the mind vanishes. The final dose drives a primordial feeling, which will overpower the rest and remain for the future. The sentiment created needs to be loyalty, towards the kingdom. So one becomes a soldier.”
“You—you want to use Ansgar as a soldier? For the firelings?” My hands started shaking uncontrollably, forcing me to release the man’s garments and unpin him from the column he had been situated against. “You want to make Ansgar kill people?” I continued shaking, the muscles in my cheeks forming a vortex of tears and trembling.
“It is done only with the strongest males, they become the best soldiers. They know their army’s tactics and can strike with the force of an entire legion if trained properly,” the commander explained.
“Something went wrong,” it came Rhylan’s turn to speak. When I took you to Evigt, I received notification of the events. Which is why I brought you here sooner than arranged.” He looked at me as though I would perfectly understand his reasons and even give him a hug for it. What he received was the opposite.
A garland of swearing and filthy words gathered at my mouth, along with fists splaying in his direction. He docked and spared his face from each one, yet the heaviness of the words found their mark. His face said that, at least.
“What went wrong?” I murmured to no one in particular.
“The final dose,” Rhylan said. “We don't know why, the commander who administered it had done so hundreds of times.”
My stomach jerked. They took away hundreds of men from their homes, doing gods know what to them and then making them crazy, returning them to fight against their kingdoms, their families. Whatever compassion I had felt for these people living underground turned into a loathing puddle and I knew I would never find it in me to understand their reasoning. They were monsters.
“After the final dose, Ansgar came overpowered by revenge. What is clear is that he killed two commanders and over a hundred and fifty soldiers, in the most gruesome ways. He is taking pleasure in it, playing with his prey, like a wounded beast. That’s the reason why he is in there, Anwen,” Rhylan made a gesture to step closer to me but I immediately backed away, rejecting his closeness. He understood and respected my space.
“The reason why he is in there is because no one managed to kill him yet. Every single soldier or troop dispatched inside did not come back. He is somehow keeping his strength even though he has lived in an iron cage since he was changed. It took a day to capture him but the king made a misjudgement in thinking the error can be amended with iron, thinking that a soldier like this cannot be put to waste. He reconsidered shortly,” Rhylan sighed.
“What you are telling me is that Ansgar is trapped in there and someone is going to kill him?” my voice trembled, my body finding more resources to summon shaking.
“He cannot be redeemed, Anwen. And he cannot be let loose either. The king allowed you here because he knew you would not survive, he knew how much you mean—” he stopped, not allowing the words. And I did not want to think about what he was going to say.
“Unless provided with proper stimuli, there have been cases,” the commander intervened with a tone that announced he clearly knew what he was talking about.
