The heavy iron door groaned on its hinges as the queen crossed the threshold of the cell, while two knights of the Green Order stood frozen in the doorway, gripping the shafts of their halberds.
The light of an oil lamp pulled Magister Kyle's figure out of the darkness, sitting on a narrow wooden bench, his back against the cold white stone wall. His dark robes were stained with dried blood, and his fingers trembled finely, indicating that the overload of his central nervous system had not fully passed after his recent use of his magical ability.
The queen stopped two paces from him, hands folded behind her back, looking down at the prisoner. Not a trace of sympathy on her face, only rigid resolve. Edith tilted her head slightly, while the flickering light played across her hair, dressed into a massive crown of braids.
"Your assistant, Aris... despite all the strength you poured into her, has still not regained consciousness."
She held a brief pause, having received no reaction from the Magister, after which she turned her gaze to the small window barred with a steel grate, walking toward it in slow steps.
"The Archiater said that only through her will to live and the strength of her Pandorum did she manage to survive by some miracle, reaching the southern gates with wounds like those. And though you were able to restore the critical damage to her body... she will still need more than one week to recover sufficiently" — said Edith, looking through the window beyond which a clear moonlit sky illuminated the entire city.
"I will have just a couple of questions, and one of them is... what in the damn hell were your people doing on the sacred and, moreover, forbidden territory of my kingdom?"
The Magister exhaled, closing his eyes and tilting his head slightly, considering his answer.
"A week ago I sent a group of three researchers to the borders of the Great Forest to study the condition of the Unified Field in that area. They were to return before the start of the Sacred Hunt in order to deliver the results of their small expedition" — answered Kyle, looking straight ahead and tracing the brick pattern of the walls.
"You decided to break our laws for the sake of some expedition, sacrificing your own people for data about the Unified Field?" — the queen said indignantly.
The Magister tore his glazed gaze from the brick pattern of the walls, while his pupils slowly focused on the queen's silhouette.
"You call them laws, while I call them blindness. We watch as the Unified Field loses its stability, turning into an unpredictable force under the pressure of the reckless actions of the major powers"
Kyle's voice was hoarse, but notes of fanatical conviction were surfacing in it.
He slowly straightened his back, overcoming his physical weakness.
"Aisengard, Valkar, Hardun, the Trade League, and even Aeris-Lund... they draw energy from the space in volumes that humanity has not yet learned to comprehend, which is leading to the degradation of the world's energy field."
The Magister's gaze was serious, and his conviction was clearly reflected in his eyes.
"Do you want to know why my people ended up in the Great Forest?... Our instruments registered an anomalous growth in energy concentration, drawing toward Waldruhm as if toward a vortex. We could not ignore this fact, for it was here, on your lands, that we were prepared to discover a region where the density of this energy likely reaches its peak values"
Kyle drew a short breath, after which a pained smile surfaced on his pale face.
Queen Edith did not stir, continuing to look at the night city while the moonlight sharpened the clean lines of her profile. She clenched her fists behind her back, pulling the fabric of her dress taut across her shoulders.
"I sent these people not for glory or forbidden riches, but in search of answers to the question of how to stop an inevitable collapse. We see how the flora and fauna across all of Prime are beginning to change, producing grotesque mutations and aggressive life forms. Chimeras created in the laboratories of certain states are slipping out of control, spreading like a plague through forests and plains. If we do not understand the nature of this surge in Waldruhm, there is no small risk that your 'sacred forest' will soon become a cradle for creatures against which the steel of your knights will be useless. And on this subject, I think you understand better than I do what I mean... do you not?... Veteran of the battle at the Cursed Forest... great warrior and goddess of lightning, and now queen, Edith Valdrich" — said the Magister, letting his emotions surface for a moment.
Edith turned slowly to face him, while her eyes flashed with cold fire in the dimness of the cell. She stepped forward, closing the distance to the prisoner until the shadow of her figure fell entirely over him.
"Twenty-three people, not counting your two, were in all likelihood brutally killed in the forest by an unknown predator that YOU in all likelihood disturbed. Perhaps in these lands people are accustomed to giving their lives with honor in battle or in the hunt... but the interference of outsiders, which led to the deaths of my people, in a sacred festival... that is an entirely different matter" — the queen replied.
"And so, one way or another, a trial awaits you, as soon as my people learn the truth." — Edith added, moving toward the exit of the cell.
"You already know, don't you?" — Kyle said suddenly, to the departing queen, who froze in the doorway.
"You know, or at the very least suspect, what could have attacked them..." — Kyle continued.
Edith slowly looked at him over her shoulder. Kyle smiled quietly and leaned his back against the cold stone wall, fixing his gaze on the window.
"Better that way... for if the threat is known, it will be easier to deal with than something you have never faced before..." — Kyle finished, after which the queen left the cell in silence, and the door shut behind her with a hollow thud.
Edith was extremely tense, but despite this, she was careful not to show any sign of such feelings.
Having taken fewer than ten steps from the door, one of the sentries came running up to her.
"My queen" — said the armored man with a short bow.
"Sir Aurey has returned with news and awaits you together with the rest of the council."
Edith exhaled, held a brief pause, then nodded silently and made her way toward the council awaiting her.