My head swam, feeling myself being carried. I know I had passed out a few times and groaned when I was poked.

  “Demon poison.” I heard a voice communicate, in alliance of all things, “We got him under a stasis spell for transport so it hasn’t progressed.”

  “Hmm, looks like the one Kel’ses described. How interesting. Put him in a cell away from the infected for now. We can interrogate him first before we decide what he should be used for.”

  I groaned again upon hearing that but couldn’t make any words or even open my eyes. There was another prod then a warm sensation filled my body, causing me to pass out again.

  When I woke up I was laying on straw. My lungs ached but I no longer felt like I was on death’s door so I took it as an improvement. What I last heard filtered back through my brain. People talking in Alliance Standard. But they were the hillsec. As far as I knew there wasn’t a race among the compatibles. I had scanned through the list at one time or another and while the hillsec had some similarities to a few races on it they didn’t match any. Of course they could have descended from hybrids or those who chose to edited their genetics radically from the rest of their kind. Those didn’t get outright listed.

  Still pondering this I forced my eyes open. They were gummy from being out for so long, but there wasn’t much to see. It was dark, with only one active light I could see near a winding ramp. I could make out cold metal bars around me, giving me less space than the room I rented. The floor was stone with piles of hay strewn over it. A bucket sat nearby and I found a trickle of water running from the ceiling down to a shall sloped hole, too small for anything bigger than my arm to fit through. It didn’t take me long to understand what it was there for given the smell that wafted from it.

  I wasn’t alone in this dungeon. I could hear faint moans across from me, too far to see anything in the dark. I picked up on the faint scent of human and terrisian mixed with the stronger odor of the hillsec themselves. There was also something else that made me think of grass and the stems of flowers.

  Shivering from the terror my now awake brain shot through me, I curled around my legs. I wasn’t underground but I was just as trapped in a dark place. This time though there was no comforting hand to still me. I was trapped and alone, and now that I was thinking about it, hungry.

  There was no food waiting for me that I could see but there was water so I wasn’t going to die of thirst any time soon. I’d dealt with hunger before, not too long ago, I knew I could survive it. I wasn’t sure I could survive what these hillsec intended for me.

  —————————

  It felt like hours before anyone came. Two hillsec, dressed in black robes, scales gleaming gold in the light, came sliding down the ramp, chattering in alliance to each other. “So yea, this one looks like the thing that appeared in front of Kel’ses a few months ago. Nearly scared him half to death.”

  “So not a known species? No wonder Astaril is waiting.. Ah he looks to be awake. We need to give him food and get his name. At least he looks like he eats meat so we don’t have to fetch anything weird like we did for the terrisian.”

  One was carrying a tray while the other had a pole in his hands. I hadn’t really noticed before but the bars didn’t go all the way down in places. There was a gap where shorter bars were attached to a horizontal one, giving space for a tray and some nearly flat content.

  “Prisoner!” The one with the pole said in clear common, “Get back from the slot and you will be fed.”

  I did as I was told as the food tray was pushed through, the two hillsec watching me with cold reptilian eyes. I just stared up at them from where I was, crouched on the straw. I pulled the tray close, seeing several slabs of burnt meat. Edible but I doubt it would taste good.

  “What is your name prisoner?” The one who had been holding the tray asked as the other pulled a notebook from a pocket, holding it and a writing implement in their lower hands while holding tight to the poll with the upper.

  “Ramjack.” I answered, not bothering with my full name.

  “How did you appear here several months ago?”

  “No idea. Just found myself in a hall and ran out.”

  The one with the notebook wrote a few notes then switched to alliance to talk to his companion. “Think we got everything Astaril will need for now?”

  “One more question…” The other said, switching from alliance back to common when he addressed me with “And why were you in the woods where you were found?”

  “I was hunting. A demon attacked me.” Demon, they said it was demon poison so it had to have been one.

  He nodded as the other wrote and turned around. “Alright. Let’s tell Astaril the information. He can deal with this one.”

  They were ignoring me, not realizing I could understand. I felt a burst of anger, of frustration, and yelled as they were headed for the ramp. “Why are you keeping me here? Who is Astaril?!” It had been months since I’d spoken in Alliance but it came back to me with ease.

  Both Hillsec froze, the one dropping his pole to the ground. Their bodies contorted so that their heads and first set of arms were more in my direction, eyes both wide in shock. “How did you…” The one started in common.

  “You can understand us?!” The other hissed in alliance, his golden scales seeming to green for just a comment.

  “What I don’t understand…” I said, taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, “Is how you know this language.”

  “The master’s tongue… this outsider speaks it…” The first guy, the one who had been questing me, turning back to the ramp and slithered out of sight. The other turned his body completely to face me, his arms drooped and pole forgotten.

  “You know the sacred language of the master?” He asked, almost reverentially.

  “I do not know this master you speak of, but yes.” Maybe I shouldn’t have said that but I didn’t feel like I could lie. “How is it you know it?”

  “I… we are all taught to speak it here. To speak only in the master’s tongue to each other in these sacred halls. We are his chosen men and must speak as he taught us long ago.”

  Chosen men? That made this interaction even stranger to me. Just who were these people? “Look, I meant no trespass in this… temple. I got pulled from my world and ended up here.”

  “And behold, he came from beyond bringing with him such wisdom, words, and powers! He taught us how to build, shared with us the words.” The hillsec’s eyes unfocused as he continued “He called us his special men, making the hillsec men special. He unlocked the path and took down an empire so that we could rise one up. But we failed at our task and had to suffer, to gather power in secret. Only now shall we rise again with the heart.”

  Even though he was speaking in alliance I barely understood him. He sounded like he was talking about a religion, about a god or holy warrior. And as I listened to him recite I remembered the conversations had in the magical repository recordings. About the outsider who fought demons and showed them how to build magic robots. Had these hillsec somehow turned that into a religion?

  I didn’t hear everything he said as I was lost in my own thoughts, processing it all. He still seemed to be lost in his religious recitation as the hillsec who had questioned me came back with another, this one with black scales streaked with the occasional orange. “What is the meaning of this? Halithess! What are you doing? Get away from the prisoner at once!”

  The nearly reverential hillsec slithered back from me. I hadn’t noticed just how close he had been getting till the others came down. The new one held a light in one hand. His black robe had some intricate designs on it trimmed in red. Likely a sign of his station and authority. “Are you in charge?” I asked him, keeping to the alliance tongue.

  He straightened, and looked at the other two before keeping his eyes on me. “Well Ssalark, seems you were not overstating. It seems this Ramjack understands us. I am in charge of the prisoners and research here. It seems we are left with a conundrum. You are not a random interloper or someone who would have died without interference and thus a perfect test subject. You understand the tongue of the ‘Master’.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I caught something in the man’s tone that made me think that while Halithess was a true believer that Astaril here was not. That he was here for research and that the cult was a means to an end with him. I wasn’t sure if that would help me or make it much worse. I swallowed, glancing at the other two myself for a clue as to my fate under this man’s gaze.

  “It is a language used frequently where I come from. I learned it when I was young in school.”

  That made Astaril tilt his head, showing off the patch of orange scales at his throat. “Are you perhaps a scholar then? Perhaps I have better uses for you then to become the next trial run of the infection. We are trying to understand it better and to see what use it can be, but the records talk so little of it.”

  I shivered at that. A horrible feeling started creeping into my belly. I’d heard of infections recently. I don’t know why I thought it would connect with this but my mind went to the scroll from the jar, how I’d first encountered Raven. About how the adventurers from Terath had gone missing because they went to the mines where an infection was contained. How this could possibly connect I did not know but maybe I had a writer’s sense of timing about it.

  “I.. I’m a level 5 [Chronicler]. I work at the Dacathus library.” I told him, trying to keep it together.

  “And can you read as well as speak the tongue of the master?”

  “Yes.” While I hadn’t written in it in months back when I was learning common I took a few notes in alliance just to keep it sharp in my mind in case I started to forget. I’d written it all in that first notebook.

  “Well, I will be putting it to the test then. If I find you are lying about this I will ensure that you are in a more in depth infection group. Now eat, I will prepare a work space and a way to secure you for transport. Fight or try to escape and you will also meet that fate. Do you understand?”

  I wasn’t much of a fighter, but I had been thinking of escape. Every good prisoner did. I just had to get out of here and run out into the woods. Find my old camp sights and use them to find my way back to Dacathus. But now I had every reason to put that on hold, to be cautious, not just look for an opportunity. “Yes.” I told him quietly, which he seemed to respect.

  “Good.” He turned, using one hand to strike the back of the one who had been nearly prostrate before me, and all three headed back up the ramp. Once more I was in darkness, but I had food and at least some idea of what was going on.

  ———————————

  The meat was burnt and very dry, but I ate every bite of it. Between the demon fight and the subsequent poisoning I needed all the fuel I could get. I didn’t know how much time I had left before I was, transported. It was a terrifying prospect of being used for infection. It only occurred to me after the researcher left that the writing might not be in alliance, but some other system. If that was the case I was doomed. I only knew three writing systems at this point, Vazack, Alliance and Common. If it did turn out to be a fourth kind I needed to be ready to run. Getting killed would be better than whatever this infection was.

  While I could not see the infected because of how dark it was I had a feeling that was who was in the cells across from me. They didn’t talk when I called out to them, only groaned in a way that wasn’t simply pain. I didn’t know anything about the people across from me, only sure that there was at least a human and a terrisian by smell. That they did not seem able to talk scared me more than anything.

  It felt like several hours before my jailers came back. I had even started to doze a bit, letting my energy collect itself for whatever trial was ahead of me. It looked like the same two as before, along with the researcher. The one, Halithess, was holding his pole again but his eyes shown as he looked at me. The other seemed more wary as the researcher looked on.

  “On your feet prisoner.” The black and orange hillsec commanded. “Approach the bars and put both hands through one space.”

  I did as instructed, letting the less reverential of the two golden hillsec secure metal around my wrists, keeping them together with a chain.

  “Back.” The researcher told me. Once more I did as I was told, observing only as they unlocked the cell. They ushered me out and herded me up the ramp. I kept to their pace, not wanting to give them a reason to think I would run.

  After reaching another floor we wound around well lit corridors for a while before coming to a set of wooden double doors. I had a feeling it was closer to the prison ramp than they were letting on, that most of the travel time was there to confuse me. The doors opened into a wide room with a tall ceiling. There were even several vent holes up there arranged in a way to let fumes escape without letting anything but air down through.

  There were several tables in the room along with shelves and several desks against the wall. The desks mostly had paper on them, probably research notes of various kinds, while the tables mostly held instruments that I could not identify. Horrifyingly on one side of the room where there was a bit of a dip where a metal table with grooves sat. Even from the door I could see stains of various colors upon it.

  “First, we will start with a blood test, as you are an unknown species and it is needed for sampling purposes.” The researcher stated, directing me to stand near one of the tables. I was worried he had a knife for that but instead he reached into a leather case and retrieved a needle with a glass tube attached. Very old but I’d heard of such devices described in books. I just hoped his skills included some kind of sterilization as he searched my arm and plunged. It stung but I saw my blood fill the tub.

  “Huh, black in color. That’s a first.” The hillsec muttered, writing everything down. He capped the tube and coiled a bit of leather with a slip of paper around it before putting it into a small stasis cube on his desk. They must have been well funded to have such enchanted equipment, especially since I remembered him saying I had been in a stasis bag as well. I didn’t know they could be enchanted so big.

  “Alright. What is your species called? You are new and must be cataloged. If you refuse to provide me I will assign one and count it against your cooperation.”

  “My people are called Zagarieans.” I told him bluntly, still feeling an ache in my arm.

  “Zagariean. Hmm, a natural species?”

  “As far as I know.”

  “So it is mere happenstance that you have a wolf-like head and ears and back legs more in common with a rabbit than any other people I have seen?”

  “As odd as it is, yes.”

  “Well, I suppose if a Velkamir can have a head like an aulterun and still be natural anything is possible.”

  I had no idea what that was but agreed with the researcher anyway.

  “Your diet, from your teeth and build I would say predatory but omnivorous, would this be correct?”

  “Yes.” I was reminded of being up in front of students at professor Thanolin’s class. Even if it was just a few hillsec this felt so much more invasive. The difference was quickly obvious though, the aulterun actually liked me. This guy saw me as nothing more than a specimen. One that he might want to dissect.

  “Hmmm. Alright. Enough of that. Now we move to find out if I will be using you as a test subject or grant you the right to be a guarded lab assistant.”

  I swallowed as he lead me to one of the desks, the only one not covered in paper. This one also had a stasis box and from it he extracted a large black leather book and placed it carefully on the desk. “I will turn to a page and you will read the words.” The rest was left unsaid. I actually thought the prospect of being infected was the worst that would happen, or death, but having seen the table in the corner more awful possibilities came to mind.

  Keeping myself from shaking I looked down at the page I was instructed to read. A wave of relief came across me as I knew the words I was looking at. Swallowing just so I could speak well I began to recite.

  ——————

  When I was moved back to my cell, this time without Astaril, I found that the cells next to mine were now both occupied. One held a human woman, shivering on a pile of straw while the other had a brown aulterun, puffed up and staring at us. My guards did not uncuff me until I was in the cell and they left right after.

  The human woman looked up when I sat down, shaking as I pulled my arms around myself. “Where am I?” I heard her ask in common.

  “Not sure exactly.” I answered in the same, “I would say north east of Dacathus past the forest though.”

  “What? I… there were demons and I had to run. Part of the wall broke so I went into the woods trying to find safety but I ran into a few hillsec. Next thing I knew I was here.”

  “Same thing happened to me.” The aulterun piped up. “I was out on a shopping run. Saw demons fly in over the walls and I just ran for it. Out the east gate and into the woods. Didn’t think the city would be safe. But now I’m here.”

  “I was out hunting,” I added, “Same story otherwise. But the bad news is I was in stasis for however long it took them to bring us here. Days at least. Guessing it was the same for both of you.”

  “Days…” the woman choked back a sob, “My kids… they were at school. I was heading to work…”

  “We have to hope that the guards and adventurers took care of things for the city.” I told her, trying to believe it myself. I had seen them come together quickly when the hostile was burning outside the south gate. “I bet your family is worried about you. If the demons got over the walls on the east side of town I’m guessing only that area got affected. Were your kids in the scholar ward?”

  “Yes. They were at the East Gate public, it’s on the eastern edge of the ward, meant for kids in our area.”

  I hadn’t actually seen any of the public schools even though I worked in that district so I had no idea just how close it could be to the eastern gate of the city. “Alright. What’s your name? I’m Ramjack and I work at the library.”

  “Mildred, Mildred Fennel” She told me, “I work at a tailoring shop in the trade district.”

  “I’m Camphus.” The aulterun told us, I turned to them to show I was listening now that Mildred seemed calmer. “I… we’ve met before. I recognize you from coming into my shop.”

  As I tried to peer through the darkness I realized I did know her, I just never got her name before. “You own the Inky Quill. Sold me my first notebook.”

  “And several others since then. Only saw you once more and one of my clerks handled other sales but said you’d been buy. You talk a lot better than the first time.”

  The situation might have been bad but I couldn’t stop a small laugh from coming up anyway. “You helped me a lot with just having the store where you did. It helped me to be able to copy down letters and learn to read. Helped me to speak better.”

  “How does this help us?” Mildred asked.

  “I’m sorry, it doesn’t. Things are bad here but I have on advantage that if I can I will use to help you as well.” I also knew that if I used it badly it might mean worse for them. “I can understand them. I don’t know how yet but I promise you both that I will do whatever is in my power to help. And if escape becomes possible to find a way, alright?”

  Camphus hooted while Mildred just nodded. I hoped I would not be letting them down.