Tales of Reaver 29

It had been almost a week since Lucious had been captured by Alastor and the bandits. The young pirate sat on the floor, staring blankly at the cell’s door.

The room was dark and filthy, a little candle being the only source of light. In one of the corners, there was a rotten wooden bed with a dirty and uncomfortable mattress on top. The cell had no windows, making it have a moldy stench all over.

- “How could I be so stupid?”- he said to himself- “How didn’t I see that it was a trap?”

Since the moment they had captured him, no one had come to his cell to tell him why he had been captured, no one had come to ask anything from him in exchange of his freedom. The only visits he got were from a short and fat bandit who would bring him a piece of bread and some water every day.  But no matter how many times he asked him, he wouldn’t answer any of his questions.

- “What do they want from me? What do they plan to do with me? Are they going to…kill me?”- the mere thought of his death terrified him- “I have to get out of here. I’m not going to die in this rotten cell! I can’t die!”

Lucious had been trying to find a way to escape since the very moment they had locked him inside this cell: he had checked every stone on the wall, every tile on the floor, every inch of the door…but everything seemed to be very sturdy and impossible to break.

- “I must have missed something…Every place has a weakness!”

Lucious got up, took the candle from a little metallic candlestick and approached it to the wall, examining the stones thoroughly and feeling every single inch of them. He examined every wall of the cell as well as the floor and the door, but the result was the same as the previous times: there was no weak point on them.

- “Damn!”- he said angrily, kicking the candlestick in frustration.

He sat down on the floor again and covered his face with his hands. He felt so hopeless, so helpless, so trapped…The bandits had even taken his pistol from him so he didn’t even have any weapon which he could defend himself with.

Suddenly, the little food opening of the door opened and a dirty tray with bread and water appeared before him.

- “Time to eat”- said the bandit harshly.

He ran towards the door and looked at the guard through the barred opening it had in the upper part.

- “Tell me why I’m here! Tell me anything you know! I demand to see Alastor! I demand an explanation!”

Generally, the bandit would just ignore him and leave. But this time, he looked at him gravely.

- “You have visitors”.

Lucious’ eyes were wide open.

- “Visitors?”

The bandit left and a few seconds later, the Duke of Shalefields appeared in front of him followed by Alastor and a big group of bandits.

Lucious scoffed.

- “I should have known it would be you behind all this”.

The Duke smirked.

- “Pity you realized so late…Honestly, I thought you were more cunning than this, I’m actually a bit disappointed”.

- “Then I guess that makes the two of us”- said Lucious looking at the Duke, his eyes filled with hate.

- “But I guess it was just way too tempting, wasn’t it? All this gold…the things you could do with it!”- said the Duke sarcastically.

- “Why did you capture me? What do you want from me?”- asked Lucious harshly.

The Duke looked at him and laughed.

- “Oh, by Avo! You sure are a funny man! Why did I capture you?”- he turned to his son- “Alastor, shall I tell him or would you like to do it yourself?”

Alastor looked at Lucious and his father briefly and then looked down.

- “I…I don’t feel like talking, Father”.

- “Very well”- the Duke looked at Lucious again- “Let’s see…you steal my son’s bride, humiliating both him and me publicly by convincing her to cancel the wedding and therefore making me lose my Duchy’s expansion plans…And you are still wondering why I captured you?”

- “Dainara is not in love with Alastor, she made her decision”- replied Lucious firmly.

- “Dainara is just a stupid bratty girl who knows nothing about power!”

- “Do not dare to insult her!”- said Lucious furiously- “She would have never been happy if she had married Alastor! I’m sure her father would have agreed to cancel the wedding if he was still alive”.

The Duke scoffed.

- “Her father was just as stupid as her. He gave up his power over Oakvale and gave it to the people…But thanks to this marriage I could have regained it, I would have made Oakvale part of my blooming Duchy”.

These words angered Lucious so much. He could hardly believe what he was hearing…

- “So you wanted to trick Dainara? You wanted to seize control over Oakvale! Did her father know about this?”

The Duke laughed.

- “Her father was a very weak man, not meant to be a leader. You know what? I’m going to share a little secret with you. It’s not like you can do anything from inside your cell anyway”- he approached the door and looked at Lucious with an evil grin on his face- “He cancelled the wedding agreement a few days before he died. He said that he wanted his lovely daughter to marry whoever she chose because he wanted her to be happy…”

Alastor, who had remained silent and looking down all this time, looked at his father and frowned.

- “But I just couldn’t let it happen…I couldn’t let this poor excuse of a noble ruin my plans”- continued the Duke- “So I told him that we would cancel it officially after our glorious battle in Southcliff, in hopes that he wouldn’t survive it”.

- “And apparently you got your wish”- said Lucious, trying to control all the fury he felt inside- “Or maybe you helped…”

- “Actually, I helped a lot! Sigmund was an excellent warrior, no enemy could even approach him. So one day, when we were supposed to attack an important enemy base, I asked my men to retreat…he and his men didn’t stand a chance”- said the Duke smiling proudly.

- “You damn bastard! You’ll pay for what you did, I swear you will!”- said Lucious hitting the door furiously.

The Duke laughed while Alastor looked at his father with a mixture of surprise and fear.

- “I’m going back to the palace, Father. I don’t feel well”.

The Duke saw his son leave and looked back at Lucious, smiling defiantly.

- “I’m afraid your revenge will have to wait…Because you are never leaving from this cell”.

- “Dainara will get worried sooner or later. She’ll send someone to look for me”- said Lucious firmly.

- “Not if we inform her of your tragic death at the hands of the bandits when you were trying to rescue my son so bravely”- said the Duke mockingly.

This comment made Lucious’ blood freeze. Was he planning on killing him? No, it couldn’t be, he couldn’t die…And Dainara…what would she do without him? She would suffer so much.
Despite his fear, he made a big effort to sound as defiant as possible.

- “So are you going to kill me? That’s your brilliant plan? Why don’t you act as a man for once and let me duel you instead?”

- “No, I’m not going to kill you”- replied the Duke- “I want you to suffer, that’s why I’m going to leave you here locked up in this cell until you rot while your dearest fiancée marries my son”.

- “She’ll never marry your son, she doesn’t love him”.

- “She will…She will not have any other option”- the Duke turned around and made his way towards the exit- “Goodbye, young pirate. I hope you enjoy your stay in Shalefields!”

- “Don’t you dare to approach Dainara! I will kill you if you harm her in any way! I swear I will!”- shouted Lucious, hitting the door violently.

As soon as the Duke left, some bandits approached him and pointed at him with their pistols.

- “The Duke wants your medallion. Give it to us”.

Lucious touched the golden medallion that Dainara had given him.

- “I’ll never give it to you”.

- “The Duke needs it, so you’ll give it to us”.

Why would the Duke need his medallion? Suddenly, a thought came to his mind: if the Duke wanted to convince Dainara that he was dead, he would probably have to give her his most valuable possession as proof.
He took the medallion out of his pocket and stuck some crumbs of bread on it. Maybe if she noticed them…It was a slim possibility, but he could do nothing else.

When the guards left, he leaned against the wall and let his back slide slowly until he fell to the floor. The Duke was a cruel and evil person and he couldn’t let him hurt Dainara, but there seemed to be no way out of this cell. Would someone ever find and free him? Would he just die there…?

Lucious stared at the sturdy door blocking his way to freedom…

- “I must get out of here…I cannot die, I cannot die, I cannot die, I cannot die…”


The Duke of Shalefields arrived at his palace and went directly to his parlour, where Ralph Le Saux was waiting for him.

- “Welcome back, Your Grace”- said Le Saux bowing at him- “Did everything go as planned?”

The Duke sat down behind his ornamented desk and sighed.

- “Yes, it indeed went as I had planned. This annoying pirate is finally out of the picture for good”- the Duke took a piece of parchment and a beautiful quill and placed them on top of the desk- “But I still don’t trust him…The guard says that he examines every inch of the cell every single day, and I know he’s a resourceful man. We should be careful”.

- “Of course, Your Grace”.

The Duke opened a little flask of ink and started writing in the parchment.

- “Is there anything I can do for you, Your Grace?”

- “No, you may leave”.

Suddenly, the door of the parlour opened and Alastor appeared in front of the two men.

- “Please, Alastor, how many times must I tell you that you should…”

- “I need to talk to you, Father”- said Alastor, interrupting him.

The Duke looked at Alastor grievously and stopped writing.

- “Of course, my son. Le Saux, can you leave us, please?”

Le Saux left the room and closed the door behind him.

- “Are you feeling better now? I understand that this disgusting cell can make anyone sick…”

- “Is it true?”- said Alastor ignoring his comment- “Is it true that Dainara’s father wanted to cancel the agreement?”

The Duke got up and approached his son.

- “Alastor, what does it matter now? The agreement was never officially cancelled and that’s what matters”.

- “I want to know…I need to know”- he said defiantly.

The Duke sighed deeply.

- “Yes, it is true that he wanted to cancel it. But fortunately I convinced him to wait until the battle was over”.

Alastor got pale and walked backwards.

- “Then is it true…that you killed him?”

- “I didn’t kill him, son. I just…made it more difficult for him to survive”.

Alastor looked at his father, horrified.

- “How could you do such a thing? He was your friend! You are a murderer!”

- “I’m not a murderer! It was not my blade that killed him!”- he then approached his son and placed his hand on his shoulder- “Alastor, I’m a very powerful man, and as such I have many responsabilities. Every noble on Albion is expanding his lands in every way they can and we must do the same. If we don’t, we’ll become weak and one day they’ll come to conquer us. Can you imagine the consequences of such action? Not only would we die, but everyone on Shalefields…I need to make our Duchy strong to protect our people”.

Alastor remained silent, looking down.

- “The Lord of Oakvale was a weak person…He said that Oakvale belonged to everyone from the village and he gave its people control over it. And what did he achieve by that? He made Oakvale an unsafe place where bandits roamed free, pillaging and killing everyone on their way…I had to do it, Alastor, I wanted to protect these people, I wanted to protect Dainara. Her father wouldn’t listen to reason”.

Alastor looked at his father, unsure of what to think. Maybe his father was right, maybe Sigmund of Oakvale needed to be stopped…

- “You should have told me the truth, Father”.

- “I didn’t want to upset you, Alastor”.

Alastor turned around and looked through a nearby window.

- “What about our plan? Is there anything you are hiding from me?”

- “Of course not, son”.

- “Then you’ll free him as soon as I marry Dainara?”

- “I will. I promise I will”.

Alastor looked at his father firmly.

- “I don’t want you to hurt him. I deeply dislike him, but I don’t wish him any bad”.

- “You can rest assured that he’ll never be harmed”.

- “I certainly hope so”.

Alastor made his way towards the door and left his father’s parlour while the Duke smiled fakely. As soon as Alastor left, Le Saux entered the room.

- “May I ask what the young Duke wanted, Your Grace?”

- “Oh, nothing important”.

- “I see. Well, I’ll be in my quarters if you need me”.

- “Wait, Le Saux. There’s something you must do for me…From now on my son is not allowed to approach the bandits’ fort, make sure it never happens”.

- “Of course, Your Grace. Is there anything else?”

- “Yes. Tell the leader of the bandits that if the prisoner causes a lot of trouble…they have my permission to kill him”.

He went back to his desk and sat down.

- “Oh, and when I finish writing this letter, don’t send it right away. Wait a month and then send it to Oakvale along with an item I’ll give you”.


Time passed and hours turned into days, days into weeks and weeks into months.

It had already been almost two months since Lucious had been captured. The young pirate sat on a dark corner, staring blankly at the moldy wall in front of him.
He had lost his hopes that someone would come to rescue him, he had given up trying to find a way out of there…He was going to die, helplessly, just like his parents, just like his friends…

He would never see Dainara again, he would never feel her sweet lips against his, he would never hear her lovely laughter, he would never feel the warmth of her hugs…
He was going to die there, and he wished with all his heart that he had gone to the Shadow Court earlier. Now he would have nothing to be afraid of, he would be fine and he would laugh at everyone else around him and their breakable lives…he would be immortal.

- “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I cannot die, I can’t…I wish to be immortal, I want my life to have no end…I cannot die here, I just can’t…I would do anything to get my wish, I would pay any price, no matter how high…”

He closed his eyes tightly and wished that he was back in Oakvale with Dainara, sitting by the lake and enjoying each other’s company. He wished that time would forget about them and that they could live together forever.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in his cell, but something was different: in the opposite corner, he could see something shining.

Lucious got up and slowly made his way towards the object. He took the candle and approached it to the strange item to examine it better: it seemed to be a round wooden object decorated with bizarre markings.

Lucious took it from the floor. It was heavier than he had expected, and as soon as he held it he felt a profound sense of dread, just like he had felt being around the Shadow Court.

He smiled.

- “This must be the seal…It found me”.

But he was still locked up in this cell and there was no way to escape from there.

He looked at the seal.

- “I need to get out of here, I need to reach the Shadow Court”.

He hid it below the filthy mattress of his bed and sighed.

- “Please, Dainara. You know I’m still alive, our souls are connected…Can’t you feel me?”