Chapter 456
Iskatti POV
When that traitor returned from doing whatever it was that the keelish demanded of her, Iskatti couldn’t bear to look at her. She’d fallen so far, from one of their number to a dog bowing and scraping before their captors. Worse, their captors were the ancient prey, keelish. She was no Misti Hawar, not anymore. Regardless of how much less the others struggled against their captivity than he himself did, they’d all stopped counting Maksulah as one of their fellow prisoners. When she spoke, though, the other three stopped to listen.
“Finally, our time of deliverance is at hand.”
A brief silence settled over before until finally the silence had to be broken.
“What are you talking about?”
“The Nyust’taa has sent her representatives to save us. Right now, they are negotiating for our freedom.”
The others grew excited at this news. They heard “freedom“ and stopped thinking. Iskatti felt his blood run cold. He was going to be saved? He was incapable of saving himself? He would cost the Principality some benefit to be freed? Each thought that crossed his mind made his gorge rise. If he needed to be saved, then that meant he was weak, and Iskatti was not weak.
Then, a thought occurred to him.
“There’s no way that any negotiations that occur will be concluded quickly. The keelish will demand an exorbitant price, and negotiations will take place over time. That means, tonight, we need to escape. Even if only one of us, the rest of us should sacrifice ourselves so that the Principality suffers no further indignity at the hands of these beasts.”