a good sign,” said Iziro.
As they passed halfway through the mine, the workers ahead blocked Reyna and Iziro’s path with a fairly large crowd.
“So, what are you all gathered here for?” Reyna asked loudly.
There was no response, only quiet whispers within the crowd and some laughter.
“Why are you silent?” Reyna shouted at them.
“I think shouting at them is not the best idea,” Iziro said quietly.
“Hey, I’m talking to you!” Reyna shouted again.
“Maybe they are contemplating why two raidarians ended up in the royal mine in the midst of the war between the last kingdoms and the raidarian empire?” a female voice said from the side of the crowd.
Reyna and Iziro began to look around, but it wasn’t clear who exactly said it behind the crowd.
“Get them!” the female voice said again.
Workers armed with spears started emerging from the crowd. There were so many of them that fighting against them would be pure madness, or rather suicide. Reyna immediately calmed down, as the spears poking at the horse frightened it, and it might throw Reyna off. Reyna drew his sword, while Iziro simply sat down, folding his arms and stopped doing anything.
“What are you doing? Don’t you want to help?” Reyna said, waving off the spear bearers. “I can’t handle them alone,” Reyna said, continuing to fend them off.
“Drop your weapons or it will get worse!” the female voice from the crowd said.
“Although, one could think, I can handle them alone,” Reyna thought. Then he plunged the tip of his sword into the ground and raised his hands. Reyna was seized by a slight panic attack from what was happening, but it quickly subsided when Reyna felt as if he had been hit with something heavy on the head.
Reyna woke up already shackled to a low wooden pole driven into the ground, soaked with cold water.
“What?” Reyna said softly.
Reyna was in the same mine, only at the very bottom of its large pit. And Iziro was shackled nearby.
“Well, what? Good morning!” the girl said.
That was a girl who could already be called a woman. She was approximately a little younger than Iziro. Dark hair and a masculine style of clothing suited her well. She was quite well-built, resembling a Raderian warrior to some extent.
“I know that in Raderia, female Raderians are prohibited from holding leadership positions, but I am the leader among these people, and I express their will,” she said.
“In Raderia, women are only prohibited from holding such positions in the military and government. If you have your own business, like mining, it is allowed,” replied Iziro.
“Well… I haven’t been in the empire for long or much. Please forgive me for that,” she said.
“May I ask why we are here and how long we are stuck to these wooden posts?” asked Rain, raising his voice, jerking and trying to break the chains of the shackles from the wooden post.
“You can jerk as much as you want – they are deeply embedded, and everything is securely done,” said the brute standing next to the girl.
“Let him jerk as much as he can,” the girl replied.
“Alright then… Let’s get down to business,” the girl said. “Why are you here? For reconnaissance or something else?”
“Why do we need this?” Rain asked her.
The onlookers literally surrounded them.
“Izi, how are you?” Rain asked. “Did they hit you hard?”
But Iziro remained silent.
“My people were concerned that you came here at this difficult time without any problems. You could conduct reconnaissance or something worse. My task is only to ensure the safety of my people, so I hope you understand me. And I hope you also understand my people. Not answering is your right. But these people chose me not for nothing. I am responsible for every person here. And I will do everything in my power to ensure their safety. And you are diminishing their safety in my eyes. At least until we know anything about you. If you have something to tell, you can tell it to one of those who will pass by you. We hide nothing from anyone. Everything said will be reported to me immediately. You can be sure of that,” she explained.
“And what to say if there’s nothing to say?” Rain said to the departing girl.
“Anything you want!” she shouted, disappearing into the crowd of onlookers.
“And why were you silent?” Rain asked Iziro.
“What could I say? It would hardly help us. You could tell her your story, and I could tell mine, but then they would take advantage of it, and we might never leave here. So the only thing left for us is to wait.”
“Excellent tactic,” sarcastically remarked Rain.
As evening approached, a laborer came and threw something vaguely resembling food in iron bowls. He also brought a trough of water, from which, it seemed, pigs could have drunk at some point.
“Yeah. We need to get out of here,” said Rain. “Do you have any ideas, Izi?”
“Don’t disturb my sleep,” Iziro replied.
Memories from Iziro’s childhood flooded back to him.
“Interesting,” Iziro said out of the blue. “The last time I was called that, I was almost like that kid who helped lift the cart.”
“What was his name?”
“Izi.”
“Well, that’s easier. If you want, I can stop.”
“No, it’s okay… It just brings back memories… This and everything around,” Iziro said, lying on the ground.
Rain leaned against a wooden post, exhaled, and closed his eyes. He woke up in the morning to a strange noise.
“What are these two Raderians doing here?” Rain heard.
Rain woke up and saw something that made his body wake up rapidly. It was a group of five knights from the royal order. The story was repeating itself, but these knights were different from the ones he had seen before.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” one of the knights asked.
At that moment, all of Rain’s doubts disappeared. These were definitely different knights if they didn’t recognize him.
“One exile, and the second… He doesn’t look much like a warrior. More like a monk from the southern mountains,” another knight said.
“Bring me your leader!” said
