Chapter 325: The Voice of Purple
Rindiri slowly walked through the room and saw that many of the captive smiths were looking at them, faces hollow and covered in gruesome wounds. She had expected screams and shouts to let them free, but none of them let out as much as a groan. Somehow, their quiet suffering made it worse.
The crying became louder as they reached the door, and as they looked inside, Rindiri swallowed back some bile. Beside some empty cages, a single smith was strung up on the far end while a Ganvil was bound on a pole in front of him. Fist-sized, there were no wings to be seen, but the sobbing came from it, and as Rindiri walked inside, she saw his mouth was open in a snarl.
She shared a worried look with Youritz, and then the two of them moved closer to the Ganvil.
"Here to do more? It won't help!" the Ganvil suddenly roared, causing both of them to jump back. "You already killed him, and there's nothing left to threaten me with! Besides, I can't tell you what I don't know!"
Rindiri hesitated, then swallowed.
"I don't know who did this to you, but we are not with them. We were sent here to free the smiths…"
The sobbing and growling stopped instantly.
"Who are you?" the Ganvil hissed. "How did you get past that demon upstairs? No, never mind! Let me loose! I… I will…"
The angry, growling voice broke into a sob.
"I want to kill it, but I can't. Nobody can… You are too late. Too late for Kester and too late for me," the Ganvil muttered.
Rindiri reached the side of the Ganil, noticing that the pole he was attached to was made of the same soulcard-dampening metal as the runes.
"There's still fighting going on above," she said. "We need to get out, but we are stuck. I'll free you and the others, but we need a way to get out of here that doesn't involve going back up."