Had Arthur not had any guidance he would have surely frozen. That would have been a dead giveaway he was hiding something.
He had already been leaning hard on his Acting skill, and he reacted as naturally as a improv artist given a line. Squarely meeting the inquisitor's gaze, he kept his own posture alert and interested, but not defensive.
Though no one else dared to move, every jot of the attention in the room was on him.
"My father believes my sister has shown promise, even at her young age," Arthur said evenly. "Meanwhile I was sent to the hive to gain some knowledge of the real world and link a dragon if I could. Linking a Rare or a Legendary would bring prestige to the barony."
The two men on the right and left jotted down notes as he spoke. The one in the middle kept his gaze on Arthur.
"And you feel it's appropriate for the mere disfavored son of a backwoods baron to place himself at the same level of a prince?"
That caught Arthur off guard. "I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Our reports indicated during the Legendary recruit introduction, you approached Prince Marion and dared to sit at the same table." The inquisitor's flinty gaze never left him. "And now you have set yourself up as an equal?"
That's what got their pants in a twist? Not the fact that 'Ernest Kane' wasn't the heir despite being older and male. Or that there was likely no official mention of him at all. Not even that someone — a fifty/fifty shot being himself — was running a Mental Resistance skill?
No, they wanted to know why he was friendly with a prince?
It was almost harder to keep the incredulity out of his voice than it had been his earlier shock. "I didn't know who Prince Marion was at the time." He couldn't help himself. "As you said, I'm from a backwoods barony. I'm certainly not his equal, sir."
The man didn't so much as crack a smile. He turned to Marion.
"I understand you didn't immediately alert the king of your survival due to security concerns?"
"That's correct." Marion didn't volunteer any further information. He looked utterly relaxed — even bored. Arthur tried to take that as a good sign.
"Any current injuries? Any reason why you are unable to answer questions?" the inquisitor asked to Marion. When he replied no, the inquisitor turned to Echo to repeat the same questions. Meanwhile the two men beside the inquisitor scribbled down notes as if trying to speed-write a novel.
Arthur glanced at their pages — his Reading skill was advanced enough that he could easily read upside down text without much effort. But the lines on the page looked blurred to his eyes.
One of the men was using a minor illusion card to obscure what they were writing. Neat trick. Arthur wasn't foolish enough to push to see past the illusion — he counted it lucky no one had asked who was blocking a thought-sensor to begin with.
As soon as Echo gave her short answers, affirming who she was and that she was not currently injured or impaired, the inquisitor turned to Penn.
"Pennrow Rowantree?"
"Yes, sir."
More marks on the page. Then, "Please describe the events surrounding the eruption, starting from the moment you arrived."
Penn looked mildly surprised to be asked — and by default be the speaker of their tale. Though on second thought the king's inquisitors would want to be deferential toward the Prince and Princess. As a duke's son and heir, Penn outranked a mere baron's unfavored son.
Penn began with a credible accounting of the events. He wasn't a great storyteller but his dry recital meant nothing was embellished.
The two inquisitors on either end kept writing at the same pace as before. The third in the middle merely laced his fingers and watched.
Meanwhile, Arthur's mana steadily trickled down.
Penn only hesitated at the end. He flicked a glance at Arthur, apology in his eyes, before finishing his story, "Kane offered to transport us in his space-storage card. Since we were facing limited mana resources, and we had seen the prince taken to safety within the storage, the Princess and I agreed."
The inquisitor's eyes fell on Arthur. "What happened after?"
Arthur focused on his own dry explanation of the events. He didn't want to paint himself as a hero — partially because he didn't feel like one and partially because he wanted to underplay his card's powers. He insinuated that his Legendary card has minor disillusion aspects.
No one interrupted to ask how a so-called craft-type card would have such a feature.
The inquisitor's expression remained bland up until the end.
"And would you say you received no support from the Wolf Hive leaders regarding this tragedy?”
That's his question? Arthur wondered. He had maybe a quarter of his mana left: Perhaps enough for five minutes.
"No, none," Marion answered.
"They put us in danger," Echo said though she didn't seem happy to say it.
Penn and Arthur remained silent, but the inquisitors didn't seem to care about their opinion.
"Would it be accurate to say you have lost faith in the Wolf Hive leaders?"
"Yes," Marion answered at once.
"Yes," Echo said.
The inquisitor turned to Penn and Arthur, eyebrows raised in expectation.
Penn hesitated, brows drawing together a moment in confusion. "Yes," he concluded.
"No." Arthur surprised himself with the answer.
For the first time there was a real interest from the inquisitors. The two writing to each side paused and looked at him. The third's gaze was piercing.
"Explain."
Three minutes of mana left, if he was lucky.
"The original idea to give Legendary recruits a taste of what a scourge eruption is like was a sound one. When it went south, any of the hive leaders could have stepped in. Instead, they sent their riders with mind-mage abilities. But the white dragons were helpless against scourgelings with traditional, Legendary level magical attacks." Arthur heard heat enter his voice. "Someone should have guessed that could have happened with so many people with Legendary cards out in the field. Finally, when the hive leaders arrived to fight the demi-scourgeling, Wolf Moon was among them. Valentina is elderly but she fought with the rest."
"Interesting," the inquisitor said. "So, it is your position that the Wolf Moon hive leadership attempted to avoid the pending danger, despite ordering Legendary recruits to the point of a scourge eruption? That they only arrived when the demi-scourgeling erupted?”
Under the table, Marion pressed the toe of his boot hard against Arthur's ankle.
It was obvious what the inquisitors wanted to hear. That was a warning to play it smart, not heroic. Even little Echo had understood.
Arthur swallowed his bile, and a lump he felt might be a sliver of his own honor. "Yes."
Immediately, the two inquisitors to the side bent their heads and resumed scribbling.
Castigating the Wolf Hive leaders had been the point of this interview. Not catching Arthur out. Not even discovering the truth. They didn't care who was blocking their thought-sensor. Judging by their non-reactions, such a blocking skill might be expected. It didn't matter: This outcome had already been decided.
The middle inquisitor addressed them all. "Thank you for your time. Prince Marion, Princess Echo, we will of course refer the joyous news to your father." He could not have sounded more bored or less joyous. "You should expect proper security shortly. Now, I assume you all still wish to attempt to link the Legendary egg?"
Everyone nodded, though Marion's motion was slight.
"Which hive will receive the egg is currently being discussed by the current Leaders. Your testimony here will, of course help." Another thin smile.
Arthur felt a mix of muted anger and exasperation. This was all politicking for the excuse to move the new Legendary hatchling to another hive.
Perhaps to Harvest Moon hive which had been providing the king with Legendary-rank cards from demi-scourgelings.
"For now, you will consider yourself recruits of this hive. Carry these chips as verification."
The man pulled out four square silver pieces and pushed them across the table. Arthur took his piece and examined it. One side held the image of a six-pointed stag against a circle that represented the full moon. The other side stamped with the image of a magnificent dragon: Likely the senior hive leader.
As he touched the chip, a jot of his rapidly dwindling mana flowed within it and the lines glowed briefly before dimming out again.
"You should expect to be presented to the egg in three days," the inquisitor said. "Do you have any questions?"
No one spoke. Arthur's mana was a bare trickle.
"Very well then." The man flicked his hand in clear dismissal.
He hadn't even give them his name.
Arthur rose, stuffing the chip in his pocket. No one spoke.
The moment the door closed behind them, he broke into a jog. The mana in his new vault was down to the drags. Any moment, his Mental Resistance - Area of Effect skill would start eating into his life force.
Penn snapped at Arthur to slow down. Running wasn't dignified and they had to stay around him to continue to be shielded.
Arthur only stopped when he was a level down and several corridors away. He would have run further but the last of the mana drained away. Arthur's chest tightened and it felt like he sucked down his next breath through a pin-hole. He let go of his grip on the Mental Resistance - Area of Effect and turned to the others.
They were all puffing and out of breath. Arthur felt like he'd been going at a reasonable jog, but the glares he received said otherwise.
"That was close," Arthur said and made a show of resting his hands on his knees as if he were winded.
Marion shook his head. "Something to remember..." he said between breaths, "when a disaster happens... don't be the person everyone else can blame."
"That's not very fair," Arthur said.
"That's politics."
Echo looked down at the chip in her hand. "Three days until we see the egg."
They all fell silent. Arthur's stomach twisted with a mix of emotion: Lingering dissatisfaction and relief about the inquisitor's interview and escaping relatively unscathed. Anticipation and a bit of fear over finally being presented in front of the egg... and, most surprisingly, wistful sadness.
He, Marion, Echo, and Penn had stuck together to survive. But they weren't a true team. They were competitors all reaching for a goal only one of them could have.
Three days. He had three days to prepare himself the best he could for the dragon egg. He still had a scourgeling in his storage space to harvest and the depths of his Master of Body Enhancement card to be explored.
The others must have had their own plans. Marion gave Arthur a grimace that was meant as a smile. "Echo and I should meet our new minders. We'll see you later, yeah?"
"Yeah," Arthur agreed.
He turned to say his goodbyes to Penn only to find his cousin already walking down the hall in the other direction. He didn't look back.
Arthur tried not to let himself be hurt by that. He didn't have time for it. He only had three more days to make himself the best possible prospect for the new Legendary dragon.
