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Tarnished lowered his hand and threw away the arrow he caught to save her, and looked back. She was out of breath, and he threw away the arrow and said, "Instead of standing here and being shocked, finish what you have started here". She sighed and walked towards the knight captain with steady steps. The knight captain begged for his life as he said, "Nepheli, oh brave warrior of the Round Table, spare my life. You have already won, you won't get any benefit by taking my life". Nepheli let out a mocking laugh, "spare? Didn't I already have done that? You dare show audacity after trying to backstab after the mercy I had shown you??", and she kicked his face, covered by a helmet, horizontally.
The kick was hard, which made his helmet fly off his head. Tarnished was watching from afar as the situation unfolded. Nepheli said, "Well, that was it, prepare to die, any last words?? Captain?", and she lifted her axe up to kill him. Just then, Captain said in a desperate voice, "No!! Please.. Spare me..", Nepheli swung her axe down toward his head, he said, "They will kill my wife!!". That single sentence was enough to make time stop for two moments. Nepheli stopped just before his head, as her eyes widened for a second and said in confused shock, "Oi, captain, stop telling lies to save your neck, why would a captain's wife be in danger as he is fighting? You think I will fall for such a made-up excuse?".
Tarnished walks forward in slow and steady steps. Nepheli was about to strike him down again as Tarnished walked past her, which made her body freeze. Even if Tarnished was friendly toward his allies and helped everyone he could, he was still the most respected warrior of the roundtable, and squatted down in front of him and said with a serious face, "120 seconds... that is all the time you have to explain in short".
Nepheli lowered her axe and said, "Tarnished, come on, he is bluffing, don't fall for his tactics". Tarnished said Turn his head toward her and said while looking straight in her eyes, "We are warriors who talk of justice, not an ego-soothing tyrant.". Nepheli's blood slowed as she noticed 2 major things about Tarnished at the particular movement. First, that he had abandoned his helmet; earlier, he never ever even removed it. Now, he doesn't seem to wear it anymore. The second thing was the look he had in his eyes. The eyes that were always radiating the reflection of the sun are now as deep as the void; one can not tell if it's the void that made his eyes hollow or if it's the hollow nature that bred the void in his eyes.
Nepheli didn't ask any questions and, for now, just said with a bit of a serious face, "If you think so... I was being hasty, it's my fault". Tarnished turned back to Captain and said, "Now, whatever you say will decide your fate, so speak the truth". The captain was panicking in desperation, but those eyes of the being in front of him were making him uneasy; the demeanor of the man was soothing, ironically. Captain said, "Of course, I won't lie.. my.. My wife is being held as a captive as a way to make sure I complete all my missions. The moment I fail or die, she will most likely be killed or have an even worse fate than that.... that is why I have to attack from behind.. spare me please.. for her".
Tarnished said, "Captive... by whom?". Captain said while looking at the ground and said in an unsure tone, "I.. I do not know.. they just took her". Tarnished asked next question with deep tone, "Who... are... 'they'". Captain said as his tears started to roll down from his face, "Nobles of LimeGrave... they... they take the army's loved one as hostage to push us into doing stuff what they want in name of giving our family members security. Neither she nor any hostage really knows they are a hostage, but we know, once we fail, they will be either turned into slaves, or fed to hounds, or.. Or.." and he started crying. Tarnished got up on his legs and walked past Nepheli, saying, "Give him the Crimson Flask, get him fixed up, then get him inside. I am going to salvage the weapons from corpses.".
Nepheli was shocked as he heard Captain's complaint, but what's more shocking is that Tarnished never helped for the sake of helping; mostly, he helped to get something in return. He is changed, as his eyes have changed. His aura is dark and gloomy, but ironically warmer than ever. The most weird thing was that she hadn't caught his smile yet, but she focused, she got his chopped leg and placed it in the correct angle, and gave the captain a sip from her flask. Captain sips the liquid, and as the liquid washes down his throat, his leg healed and got reattached in no time whatsoever, but what remained was the phantom pain.
Tarnished was gathering the usable weapons from the heap of weapons scattered throughout the courtyard. Nepheli is sitting on the rock beside the captain as he catches his breath. Some 50 minutes later, Tarnished returned with a straight sword and bow strapped on him and a battle-axe in his left hand and a halberd on his right. Tarnished extended the beautiful battle axe toward Nepheli and said, "Here... it's not bad to always keep an extra". Nepheli grabbed the axe, and it surprisingly fit her hands like a glove. She asks him in excitement, "WOAAh... it's a beauty, where did you find it?".
Tarnished paused for some seconds and said in a straight voice, "Found it in a Carriage outside". She said, "A carriage?? its a 1 in million stroke of treasure, what a luck. Thanks for the weapon", Tarnished said in a low voice, "it was... 1 in million stroke of treasure indeed.....", his thought drift back to the events of the caravan, but he jerks them away and gave the halberd to the captain and said, "you.... captain... where is the place with the we can talk in this castle?".
Captain now in somewhat better condition from before said, "It's.. Ruox... sir, please call me Ruox, and please follow me". Ruox led them through the castle as if he remembered every corner of the castle on the very back of his hand. They cross hallways and corridors and finally arrive at the barracks of the castle. It was empty as he led them into the barracks' last door. Inside was the room with a huge table in the middle of it and all sorts of rolled-up maps of multiple regions.
Ruox said, "This is the Strategy room of the castle, sir. No one will disturb us here." Nepheli said, "Wait, why have I not seen it before?". Ruox said, "Neph.. Lady Nepheli, that is because there are many secret rooms in the castle, only someone with a map can open.". Nepheli said, "That is why I was not able to find 'that'". Tarnished asked, "What is it?". She said, "I will surely tell you, but that is a story for later," and turned toward Ruox and said, "So, where is that map of the castle?". Ruox said, "That will be inside the throne room, it is also hidden, but it's surely in there.". Tarnished said in a serious voice, "Ruox... now start from the beginning, tell me this hostage system in detail.". Ruox's face got serious, tension rose in the room, and Ruox nodded and said,
"This all started when...
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