After the second tunnel broke through our defenses unimpeded, Jack really amped up the effort. Guards had to patrol day and night, the entire wall, all lower floors. He even ordered the evacuation of Roots, fearing a situation where the Ibasan would simply circumvent the Fort entirely with their tunnel. All citizens were instructed to seek shelter within Fort Rosedorn.
There was enough space to host several thousand men in the Fort, so the citizens found shelter with little trouble. However, Rosalia insisted on bringing all of her dresses along as well. Her room was filled to the brim with all of her “Babies”. And all the villagers’ farm animals and pets littered the Courtyards. It stunk of wet fur and feces. The number of patients increased rapidly. Dysentery spread as more and more people were confined inside. But Jack had little other choice in the matter.
The Last Tunnel the Ibasan attempted had taken Years to dig through the stony Crater soil and was discovered halfway through due to their prolonged digging. One might ask why there had been no attempt to tunnel beneath the mountains far away from Rosedorn. The answer would be that the entire Mountain range is teaming with earth dragons who do not take kindly to such attempts. And the only one who had been successful in negotiations with them had been the dwarves, who had promised processed materials and trinkets as payment in exchange for mining rights and a non-aggression pact. Attempts from other parties to get in on the deal had proven futile due to the unmatched quality of dwarven craftsmanship, as well as the dwarves not appreciating anyone butting in on their monopoly.
That left Fort Rosedorn as the only viable location for a tunnel. Because only here was the Mountain range breached, and not guarded by a multitude of fierce dwarven warriors clad in the finest armor and weapons money could buy, nor was there any draconic presence ready to slaughter them for intruding on their domain.
For the next two weeks, their siege continued. More and more men died. More and more siege equipment was destroyed, and THAT FUCKING CANNON still would not stop from robbing me of a good night’s sleep. The Battlefield had turned into an absolute no-man’s land filled with broken siege weapons, mud, and dead bodies, with swarms of crows picking them clean of any flesh, only leaving bones in their wake.
Next year, all this would repeat again and again. I was already growing tired of it, and this was only my first siege. If I had chosen to stay, would I grow as apathetic towards it as everyone else? I’m not even sure whether I want to or should.
Felicia was able to sense the third tunnel in advance this time, and together with the other earth mages, she collapsed it. Burying anyone who remained in it alive.
Then, on the twenty-sixth day, I received a summons. Jack wanted to see me in the Forts dungeon. I believed that the prisoner had simply fallen ill, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Guarding the dungeon was a man even paler than I, but fat as a pig with the foulest morning breath I had ever encountered.
The man stood up, completely filling the doorframe he was guarding, and began to search for his keys in his stained pants while shamelessly oogling me. This was the first time a male gaze or really any gaze had given me so much discomfort, and my attempts at covering myself from his lustful view only resulted in hideous laughter filling the damp, dark room.
He finally found his keys and opened the door, beckoning me to follow him while licking his lips. I got goosebumps all over my body, but still followed. As much as this pale pig disgusted me, I had a job to do.
As we went deeper and deeper into the dungeon, the big holding cells for minor misdemeanors and drunken fools got smaller and smaller. Until it completely changes into crooked, man-sized holes in the ground with just a thin metal mesh covering the top. Most were empty and only a few ever had any occupants, but I couldn’t help but shiver at the mere thought of being stuck in a hole so small one couldn’t even sit down while starving to death.
Finally, at the end of the corridor was a small door. My creepy guide picked another key from his chain with pure glee and anticipation in his eyes. The door opened, and he pushed himself through the door frame, letting pieces of dust fall from the short ceiling.
Inside the room were Jack and William, who had been waiting for me. And...
“Ah, Ruby, good that you are here. You see, we need your help with our newest prisoner.”
I stared at the prisoner, or what was left of him. He was sitting in a wooden chair in the middle of the cell. He was stark naked, not even a thin piece of cloth covering his privates, but that wasn’t why I hesitated to enter. The man’s toenails had been ripped out. His body was covered in thin slashes, his face was beaten beyond recognition, and each of his fingers was crushed. A few of them had already become necrotic, almost falling off.
“We haven’t been able to get anything useful…”
“Shut up.”
I didn’t want to hear any of his reasoning. I approached the prisoner and quickly ensured that he was unconscious.
“I’m only gonna do this once, and I can guarantee that even Benjamin won’t help you with this.”
There was no room for negotiation regarding this matter for me.
“But Ruby, we…”
I wouldn’t budge.
“If you make it clear to him that he will be tortured again and again for decades if he doesn’t talk, and he still doesn’t talk, then you have your answer. And if he truly knows nothing or is just that brave, then please just kill him or let him go. Or I won’t ever help you again.”
“Ruby, you can’t just…”
“No, I can, and one more thing, if you try to force me, I will tell Janus. I know that they are your enemies, but this is simply too cruel.”
William threw a meaningful look at his brother before shaking his head and sitting them both down on two chairs.
I removed the still fastened torture devices that had crushed the young man’s fingers and did my magic. The damp and cold prison cell was illuminated by a warm, green light, erasing any physical injury the poor man had received.
Jack and William looked on, their eyes filled with wonder, unlike the pale pig whose face contorted in disgust, and its eyes, which had been filled with longing, now regarded me as something rotten and foul.
The man slowly woke up, fearfully looking towards his hands, only to realize that they were as good as new. He cried tears of joy before trying to get up, only to notice that he was still chackeled. As he looked around in confusion, his eyes went past me, Jack, and William, only to land on the pig. He reeled back in panic, trying his best to get away from him. But the bolted-down chair didn’t even move an inch.
Jack stood up again, talking to the man in Ibasan, first pointing to the pig and then to me. I still wasn’t too proficient with Ibasan, so I didn’t understand Jack’s question. Still, I for sure understood the man’s panicked answer.
“ELF!”