บท 5: Prisoner's Test
Arianna woke to the sound of boots on the hard floor of her cell. She bolted upright, heart pounding, and the face of the woman from before resolved itself in front of her bleary eyes.
"Good, you wake without prompt," she said. "Stand. The trial takes time so we must prepare you early."
Once she stood, a guard handed the interrogator a strange cylindrical device, which she held out in front of Arianna. "Put your hands in."
Arianna tilted her head to the side, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do, until the woman sighed with impatience and grabbed her wrists, putting them in each end of the muffler. It locked down on her hands, making them completely immobile.
"Come."
Arianna nodded and followed them out of the cell, glancing at her friends as she stepped down. Chandra was still asleep, tangled in blanket, but Simon watched with dark-circled eyes from his bed.
The smooth stone floor was ice-cold on her bare feet. And though the air was still as a cave, it bit through her thin linen shift with the chill of old stone deep in the earth. Despite the cold, Arianna stumbled along, still only half-awake. She hadn't slept well either.
They led her to a ponderous door set into the cut stone. Its decorations were austere, with just enough gold on the runes to make them visible on the storm-grey granite. The woman stepped forward with something in her hand to open the door, but guards stepped in front of Arianna to block her view. After a soft click, the door slid open, grinding slightly where the edges met the walls.
The circular room lit up with blue-tinted light as soon as they stepped in. It was hardly dusty, but the floor was rougher, not as gleamingly polished as the hall outside. Arianna suspected it hadn't been used in a long time. Perhaps even eons.
As she was led to the center of the room, she noticed the dull gold inlays of runes set into the stonework, and her heart began to thump harder as the apprehension overwhelmed her sleepiness.
Guards positioned themselves around the room as another, unarmored man entered. His hair was silky grey and he carried a gold goblet with both hands. He smiled guilelessly at the woman as she approached, lifting the cup gently in greeting.
"Oh, Syn, I cannot express how overjoyed I was to hear you had called for the Trial of True Self. It has been so long since I-" He stopped at her stern expression. "Right you are, it is only for 'interrogative purposes', not like the old days…"
Syn interrupted his rambling with her clear voice. "Kvasir, where is the circlet?"
"Ah, yes-" he began, but was interrupted by a new voice.
"I've brought it." A man clad in green and gold strode into the room, a gold circlet dangling carelessly from one hand. His entrance was followed by a chorus of "Your Highness"'s and bows from the guards.
Syn was clearly taken aback, but responded with a smooth bow. "Your Highness. May I ask why you have graced us with your presence today?" Her voice was perfectly cordial, but Arianna could see a hint of annoyance on her bowed face.
"Well, I had to see the Trial of True Self for myself," he responded airily. "It's a grand piece of our history after all," he added.
"What about the robe, your Highness?" asked Kvasir.
"She doesn't need it," he replied, glancing Arianna's way. "She's only a prisoner."
"That's right." Syn nodded and took the circlet. Kvasir followed her to the center of the room, where she placed it on Arianna's head. It pressed into her temples slightly and began to hum.
"Do not touch it," she warned. "You are not even fit to look upon it, but, what needs be done." Kvasir, the goblet."
She held out one hand for the goblet, but Kvasir only looked pointedly at the cuffs on Arianna's hands.
She sighed. "Very well." After she had handed the cuff to another guard, she held the goblet with one hand and gripped Arianna's chin with the other. "Drink." It was bitter, and warm, but no worse than any other medicinal brew she had ever made. But was soon as she swallowed the last drop, she began to feel strange. The last thing she saw before her eyes filled with visions was the grin on the prince's face.
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