Nyx didn't know how long she'd been sitting there staring at the chains, and testing them when she heard footsteps approaching.
Kira entered without announcing herself. The guards didn't even question her.
"Well," Kira said, looking at her chains. "That was impressively stupid."
"If you're here to gloat, save it."
"I'm here because I've changed my mind. I need you gone now." Kira crouched. "Before you destroy him completely."
Nyx laughed.
"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm chained to a wall. My escaping days are over."
"Not necessarily." Kira pulled out a small leather pouch from her belt.
She tossed it toward Nyx. Inside the pouch were lockpicks of multiple sizes. Nyx stared at the pouch.
"Why?"
"Because I want you gone before you destroy him." Kira repeated. "Do you have any idea what he risked for you tonight? Half the Pride wants him dead. They say he's weak and you've corrupted him."
"I haven't done anything to him."
"Your existence is enough. Raziel has ruled for sixty years without question. Then you arrive, and suddenly he's chaining his own warriors, threatening civil war, questioning laws that have been there for centuries. All for you."
"I didn't ask him to…"
"It doesn't matter what you asked!" Kira's voice rose. "He's changing and change in a King gets everyone killed. So yes, I'm giving you lockpicks. I'll create a distraction at dawn because getting you gone is the only way to save him from himself."
Nyx picked up the pouch.
"What's the plan?"
"There will be dawn two hours from now." Kira stood up, and began pacing. "I'll start a fight in the training grounds. Every guard will involve himself, that'll give you five minutes."
"Five minutes to do what?"
"Pick the lock and run towards north. The Shadowlands border is two miles away the forest." Kira stopped pacing and looked at her. "There are dangerous things in the forest. Things even we don't hunt but they don't know about humans. You might survive."
"Might?"
"Better odds than you have here." Kira walked towards the exit and paused. "If you're caught, I was never here. Understood?"
"Why risk it? If you get caught helping me…"
"I won't get caught. And if I do, I'll say I wanted you dead in the Shadowlands." She looked back one last time. "Five minutes, Nyx. Don't waste them."
Then she was gone. Nyx sat in silence.
This is it. Real opportunity.
She opened the pouch,and examined the picks. The picks were in three different sizes with a tension wrench. She pulled the chain taut, examining where it connected to the wall ring. The lock was small but complex.
Nyx tested the picks against the lock. The mechanism was tight, and that would take time. Nyx hid the lockpicks under the furs, from where she could grab them quickly when needed. Then she lie down to pretend that she was resting.
Time passed. Her mind was planning, calculating, running through all scenarios. The sky outside began to change its color. Dawn was almost there.
Nyx sat up slowly. She pulled out the lockpicks, and started working. The first pin clicked into place. Then the second.
Then she heard heavy footsteps. She recognised them immediately.
Raziel.
Nyx shoved the lockpicks under the furs quickly. He entered carrying something wrapped in a cloth and stopped when he saw her awake.
"Couldn't sleep?" He asked.
"Hard to sleep chained like a dog."
"You brought that on yourself." He walked towards the fire, and added wood. "I brought food. You need to eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"I don't care. You're eating." He unwrapped the cloth. He had brought bread, meat, and a fruit she didn't recognize. "The Four Kings arrive today. You need strength."
Nyx wanted to refuse but he was right. She took the food. It tasted like ash. Raziel watched her as she ate.
"Darius will be here by sunset. The others later. They'll want to see you immediately."
"To judge me?"
"To evaluate you." He sat opposite her. "Each King has their own concerns, their own reasons for wanting you dead or alive."
"Which do you think they'll choose?"
"Honestly…" He paused. "Dead. All of them except maybe Zephyr, and that's only because you're scientifically interesting."
"Very comforting again."
"I'm being realistic. But they've agreed to trials instead of immediate execution."
"Trials I'll probably fail."
"Probably." He agreed. "But you've survived longer than anyone expected. Maybe you'll surprise us again."
Silence stretched between them.
"Why are you doing this?" Nyx asked. "Give me the real reason not the political one."
Raziel was quiet for so long that she thought he wouldn't answer.
"Because three hundred years ago, we made a choice. We decided humans were too dangerous to exist. We hunted and killed every one of them. And we told ourselves it was necessary for our survival."
"It was, wasn't it? If humans could control you…"
"Some could. Some did." He looked into her eyes. "But not all. Not the children who didn't know about magic, not the old ones who'd lost their power, not the ones who actually tried to help us." He looked away. "We killed them anyway and we called it justice."
Nyx put down her food.
"You think it was genocide?"
"I know it was genocide. I just don't know if we had a choice. And then you arrive, three centuries later. A human who's killed dozens of endangered species, who should be as monstrous as the legends say but you're not. You're just trying to survive like the rest of us."
"I'm not some symbol of human redemption. I'm a killer. I'm exactly as bad as the legends say."
"But you're also the proof that humans can exist here without enslaving us. That maybe we were wrong."
"But what if you're wrong about being wrong?What if I'm exactly what you fear?"
"Then the Kings will kill you, and I'll have my answer." He stood up. "Either way, today we find out."
He walked towards the door but paused and looked back.
"For what it's worth, Nyx Keller, I hope you survive. Not for political reasons and scientific curiosity. But because I'd like to believe we're capable of being better than our worst moments."
Then he left. Nyx sat in the dawn light, with her food forgotten, and mind pacing.
The sky outside brightened further. Dawn was approaching. Kira's distraction would happen soon. Nyx pulled out the lockpicks again, and resumed working. Third pin clicked. Then fourth.
One more, and she'd be free. Her hands shook slightly.
She could escape, run into the Shadowlands, risk death by unknown monsters rather than face five Kings who'd already decided she should die.
Or she could stay, face the trials and prove herself or die trying.
Running was smart. Staying was suicide.
But running meant proving Raziel right; that she was just trying to survive, willing to abandon everything else for that survival.
Staying meant proving something.
But to whom? Him? Them? Herself?
"Fuck." Nyx whispered.
Shouts erupted outside. Kira's distraction had begun. Nyx froze. This was it.
She could hear guards running. The fifth pin was right there. Her hands trembled.
Run or stay. Survive or prove yourself. Escape or face judgment.
"FUCK!"
She threw the lockpicks in the room and pulled her knees to her chest. She buried her face against them, and tried to understand what she'd just done.
She'd chosen to stay. Chosen to face five Kings who wanted her dead.
Why?
Because Raziel had looked at her like her survival or death meant something beyond politics and power.
Five minutes passed and then ten. Finally, the sounds died down. Guards came back.
"Put her in the cell. I'll deal with her later." Razeil shouted outside.
"My King, she attacked without provocation…"
"I said later."
Raziel then entered the den, and Nyx could smell blood on him. He looked around the room and saw lockpicks scattered in a corner.
Raziel walked over, and examined them as he picked them up.
"Kira gave you these?" He asked.
Nyx didn't reply.
"She created a distraction." Raziel continued. "Started a fight, drew every guard away from this den, giving you minutes, maybe more. Plenty of time to pick that lock and run."
Nyx still didn't say anything.
"But you didn't." He crouched. "You were almost free and you stopped?"
"So what?" Nyx finally said. "Are you going to execute me for not escaping?"
"I'm trying to understand why." He put the lockpicks in the space between them. "You tried to escape earlier risking your life. And now, when you had the real chance, you threw it away. Why?"
"Maybe I'm just stupid."
"You're many things but stupid isn't one of them." He tilted his head, looking at her like she was a puzzle he couldn't solve. "Tell me, Nyx. Help me understand."
"Why should I?"
"Because in twelve hours, Darius Bloodmaw arrives. And I need to know if you're going to face him, or if I'm going to wake up to find you gone."
Nyx laughed.
"I don't know why I stayed. I had the picks, I had the distraction, I had the time. I could be halfway to the Shadowlands by now."
"But you're not."
"Maybe because I'm tired of running, maybe I want to prove I can survive your trials, maybe I'm just done letting fear make my choices for me."
Raziel was silent for a moment. Then he did something unexpected. He unlocked the chain.
Nyx stared as the chain fell away from her ankle.
"What are you doing?"
"You just chose to stay when you could have run." He stood up and threw the chain aside. "That's trust, even if you don't realize it. Don't make me regret it."
"Wait…you're just… freeing me?"
"For now. Darius arrives at sunset. You'll be presented to him and the other Kings. If you're still here when that happens, it means you've agreed to face the trials. If you run, then I'll hunt you myself and I won't be merciful."
"Why not just keep me chained until then?"
"Because I need to know if you're a prisoner or a participant. So choose, Nyx Keller. Face judgment with dignity, or run like a prey. But make a choice and stick to it."
Then he left. Nyx sat in the morning light without chains. She examined her ankle, it was still sore, but the swelling had gone down. She stood up, walked to the exit, and looked down at the 50 feet cliff.
She could try again or she could stay. But this time she turned away and started preparing for the war.
SYSTEM STATUS:
MONITORING CHIP: OPERATIONAL
SUBJECT STATUS: ALIVE
TIME TO TRIAL: 11:44:13
SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 23%
RECOMMENDATION: CONTINUE OBSERVATION
END OF REPORT