CRISINGR

How long had I been in this damned cell now? A month? Two? Less? More? I had lost all track or notion of time. I spent my days within that walled prison counting down the seconds as time ticked by. I wondered if my wife and daughter were okay,if these savages had even captured Fort Gwem yet. I wondered about the news of the world. Had it changed at all in my abscence? What had I missed in the world? During my time as a POW I sorely missed the boring daily routine as an elf.

Waking up at the crack of dawn to hunt for elk and deer in the forests of Loian,teaching my daughter the ways of the hunt and the everlasting beauty of nature and the importance of preserving it.

I hoped my Alisha was okay. Every night I prayed to Aela to protect her. I wondered if she had recieved my letter. If she knew that I had been captured. I had a gnawing fear that if my daughter did indeed know that I was a prisoner of the enemy,she would return here in a feeble attempt to free me.

That Commander however,would be her undoing.

I could not quite put my finger on it,but there was something about that child that made me uneasy. He was hiding something...I was curious as to what it was he was hiding.

The door to my cell suddenly scraped open as the bottom of the cell scraped across the floor,sending shivers up my spine from that high pitched screeching sound. My sensitive ears were put under torture as light flooded my eyes for the first time in what had to be days. Perhaps more. Again,I had lost track of time a long time ago.

Once my eye's had adjusted to the light,I spied the young boy again. The infamous Commander Nova. The Emperor's Grim Reaper.

"Unbind him." He ordered.

A guard approached,his armour clinking as he walked toward me. I could hear it being slightly loose. He hadn't put it on securely enough.

The shackles were removed, and as soon as they were,my arms clicked in relief as I felt them fall to the floor. My legs were numb from sitting on them for so long a time.

"Get him up and bring him to the mess hall."

I was brought up to my feet and dragged to a large room which smelled of cooked food and fresh,delicate aroma's. I admired the buildings architectural design as I sat down.

There were three other's,Nova not included,who sat with me,yet did not eat. The five of us sat at the table while I gourged myself on pork,wine,freshly baked bread,beans,curry and many other delights. One of the girls was an elf like myself,yet she was much younger than I.

"This is Crisingr. He was a POW."

"So why is he here?"

"He's to be our new team member."

I almost choked on my pork as I swallowed.

"Excuse me?" I demanded.

"With Nomad being exiled,we need a new person to fill his place. That is to be you Crisingr. You'll be coming with us on our second assignment tomorrow,which will also be your first. But a fair warning."

Nova leaned closer,his hazel eye's seeming as if they saw into my soul. "You try anything. Try to escape,slit our throats in our sleep,kill us,backstab us, and you'll be dead before you hit the floor. You understand me?"

I gave the boy a slow nod. He backed away and began leaving the room.

"Leave Crisingr to eat. Rest of us,Auditorium,combat training lets go."

Nova left the room without another words,with an opera of groans and lazy yawns following close behind him.

I didn't care what these savages wished for. I needed to escape. And in their abscence,I began to plan out my big escape from the clutches of these barbarians.