Interrogations

Elizabeth walks out of the interrogation room in a huff and is stopped by one of Alkadabuki's soldiers, "how did it go?" he asks and Elizabeth growls in response and continues walking, the soldier following after her as they spoke.

"Useless... Either they really don't know anything about Olivia's whereabouts or they're just so determined to lie about it we'll never get it out of them," she explains sourly.

"Olivia? Weren't you supposed to be asking about Doom?" the soldier spoke and Elizabeth cocks her head and stops for a moment.

"Of course that's what I said..." she responds, feigning confusion before continuing to walk. The soldier hesitates, before wisely deciding not to press the issue.

"The spy seems to have escaped the city after killing two guards," the soldier reports and Elizabeth nods.

"A shame, but hardly a major concern..." she notes, "if the spy was any sort of threat on her own she wouldn't be a spy she'd be a soldier," Elizabeth adds and the soldier nods.

"Ginny Haversom and Mira Cosmir also appear to have disappeared from the hospital. We're... Still not entirely sure what happened there. The assumption at this point is that Mira escaped and took Ginny with her as a hostage, but no one saw them leave so we have nothing to really go on," he continues and Elizabeth stops.

"Sorry... I don't think I was informed of this previously... Mira Cosmir was here? That's the... lost heir of The Cosmir family right?" she says clearly sounding confused, "so... we found the heir to the Cosmir family who has been missing for years and not only did she disappear under our watch, but... and I want to be sure I have this straight... You think that a noble scion of the light kidnapped a world famous Archaeologist as a hostage and then escaped into the desert?" she asks and the soldier nods. She stares at him looking for any sign that there's a joke here she's missing and sees none, "Okay... We'll put a pin in that for now. Has Alkadabuki been informed?" she asks.

"Queen Alkadabuki is out in the desert with a small party searching for Doom. It's unlikely any messenger sent will be able to find them, but they will be back triumphant or otherwise when night falls so we will inform her then," he explains and Elizabeth nods.

"Anything else?" she asks as the two of them reach the door to Elizabeth's temporary room.

"We sent a missive to the Cosmir family when we learned we had their daughter in our custody. They responded that they'd send someone to pick her up and deliver us a reward for her return. She escaped shortly afterward and this morning we sent a message informing them of what happened, but we don't know if they've already sent someone so... a representative of Lord Cosmir might arrive expecting us to still have her... If Alkadabuki isn't back by then you'll have to deal with that," the soldier explains and Elizabeth looks annoyed, but nods.

"Inform me when and if they arrive and I'll deal with it, if that is all, you may go," she says and the soldier gives her a polite nod and hurries off. Elizabeth scowls and enters her temporary room. She knew barbarians didn't really bow to anyone, but it still irked her that no one bowed or curtsied to her anymore. Of course more irking was the fact she was now clearly pregnant beyond any ability to deny. Her stomach had expanded to a point her previous outfits no longer fit and she was instead now wearing a simple and expansive robe that covered her completely from the neck down. She still wore her hat, but otherwise she barely looked like herself anymore. She looked at herself in the mirror in her room. The robe did an ample job of smoothing out the bulge in her stomach, she didn't look pregnant while wearing it she just looked like she was wearing very loose robes, but even so, by now most everyone knew. She took her hat off and placed it down on the dresser beside her bed and then slid the robe off over her head. Underneath the robe she was only wearing a pair of black panties and a soft white bra.

Her breasts were quite engorged by her pregnancy and none of her previous bras fit, besides she'd begun to lactate uncontrollably now and this new bra was made to be absorbent. She moved her hands to her stomach, the skin felt thin and stretched and her mind flashed to the nightmares she'd been having about some horrible monster tearing its way out of her stomach. She shivered, the child inside of her she had been assured was in fact a normal human and would be born normally, but that didn't stop the nightmares or her fears in general about what was coming. Nevertheless she hadn't been willing to even consider killing it and she wasn't quite sure why.

She stared at herself in the mirror and didn't even notice as her hands gently, lovingly rubbed her belly.

Inside the interrogation room the women are in agony. Each of them is naked, their skin blistered and burned, breathing is difficult. They know a healer will be in shortly simply to ensure none of them die, but it will offer no succor for their injuries. "Please... Tell me one of you has an idea of how to escape?" Belleza whimpers and the others all weakly shake their heads. Vox and Belleza can't use their magic, they aren't sure what is restricting their magical abilities, Elizabeth having not been dumb enough to tell them. The first day of **** had been in the throne room, but now the throne room is being used for something else and the four of them have been moved to another room which now serves exclusively as the interrogation room.

"Why does she keep asking about Olivia?" Gitta asks and the others all look thoughtful.

"It seems Olivia is missing, do you think she's still with Doom?" Kasi suggests.

"No... I don't know if any of you saw her after she was injured in battle. Those aren't injuries that can be healed. There's no way Doom is still making her do anything, If I had to guess she's dead but where I couldn't say. I'd tell The Regent that, but I don't know if she'd even believe it and who knows what she'd do to us if she did believe it," Vox explains.

"Oh great Dragon... Please... Help us," Kasi mumbles, lowering her head.

"Are you praying?" Vox asks and Kasi glances back up.

"No... You don't pray to spirits... They're not gods. You just ask them for help," Kasi answers.

"Where is this dragon of yours anyway?" Vox questions and Kasi sighs.

"What remains of the Dragon tribe reside still in Grimaire. The dragon totem and it's guardian spirit reside there as well," Kasi explains and then continues, "you are a priestess, Vox, why don't you pray to Melanoche to get us out of here?" she asks.

"I... I can't. I haven't tried praying to Melanoche since Doom arrived. With everything that's happened I have... trouble wanting to seek her guidance," she admits and the other three all look surprised at this admission.

"Uh... Won't you... lose your powers if you stop worshiping her?" Belleza asks and Vox hesitantly nods.

"Not ideal..." Gitta mumbles and then grunts in pain as she squirms a bit in her chair, "God it's like a really bad sunburn over my entire body..." she groans.

"Do you think... She'll eventually stop torturing us... They won't kill us until they get their hands on Doom seemingly, but... By now it has to be obvious we really don't have answers to their questions, right?" Belleza asks and Vox sighs.

"I don't know. She might **** us anyway... If for no other reason than because she can't currently **** Doom," Vox answers and the other three recognize the truth in that statement, all four women hanging their heads in resignation to their future as the healer arrives.

Espia walks through the town of Kia Marun, her hand is in a glove to hide its sickly grey colour and her arm is in a sling. She'd stolen the glove and the materials for the sling from a house on the outskirts of the town. As she wandered through the town on her way to her destination she bumped into an elderly man, "ah my apologies!" she cries as she staggers back.

"No it was my fault," the elderly man says and she freezes staring at him.

"You seem familiar? Have we met?" Malcolm Archer asks as he stares intently at her face.

"I don't believe so..." she answers and desperately tries to remember if he had ever seen her. She'd seen him once or twice, specifically when he was being transferred from Kia Marun to Saluma, she can't understand why he’s back here, but she’s pretty sure he hadn't seen her, at least not for long.

"Ah well... I suppose you just have one of those faces..." he shrugs, "my name is Malcolm Archer. You wouldn't happen to be a resident of this city would you. I was looking for a shop around here, but I seem to have gotten lost," he explains.

"Ah well no... I'm just passing through," she says, "but perhaps I can still help you?" she asks, "what's the name of the shop?"

"It's called Fals' Sights And Sounds," he answers and Espia freezes.

"I... coincidentally happen to be going to the same place..." she admits, a little nervously. Fals was a contact of hers. She was heading there to get help escaping from Alms Amour, she couldn't imagine what Malcolm would want with Fals.

"Ah! What fortune. Would you mind accompanying me then?" he asks and Espia nods and he smiles at her, "Great, I didn't catch your name, by the way," he states and without thinking she answers.

"Ida Murray," and she winces as she sees for a split second his eyebrow rise before it settles quickly again, his face becoming neutral.

"I see... Then I do know you," he says and Espia glances around, there were a lot of people around the two of them, it was clear he somehow knew the name and that didn't bode well for her. She definitely couldn't kill him here without being spotted, was he going to out her immediately, "though we might not have met directly, I have definitely heard of Ida Murray... from a friend in Lar Imara," he clarifies and she swallows. It made sense that the strongholds might have contact with each other and if it happened after the conquest of the western Stronghold or Saluma itself then they might have told of her betrayal. She hesitates as her mind races. Malcolm was imprisoned until Saluma was retaken; the only times he could have heard of her was before his stronghold was taken or after Saluma was retaken by the light.

"I... I..." she tries to calm down as she speaks, "what did he say about me?" she asks quietly and Malcolm leans in towards her.

"That you made the most wonderful treats for him and the other stronghold guards," he answers and she blinks, "shame he died along with many of the other guards when the stronghold there was taken," he continues and then smiles, "Anyway enough reminiscing, perhaps I can try your muffins at a later date, but for now let's go to our destination," he states and turns as if ready to head out, but then stops, "er... Lead the way," he says and Espia nods and begins to head off in the direction of Fals' shop.