Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) by Grayson Sinclair (poetry books to read TXT) 📗

trust that she would be safe at least until she was bought. Of course, if Magnus was at the auction house, then all bets were off. I didn’t have much time to waste, if any at all.

“Fine, I’ll go with you.”

As the guards moved to arrest me, I hastily unequipped my armor and weapons, stowing them in my inventory. Can’t afford to have them confiscated. I’ll never get them back. I didn’t relish standing there in my simple pants and tunic, but it beat losing my gear.

“Why do you always have to be so complicated, Durandal?” Lonny asked.

“Why’d you have to go and destroy our guild, Ascalon?” I countered.

Lonny sighed deeply and shook his head. I knew he held some regret over what he’d done, but it didn’t change the fact that he’d ruined everything. Over petty jealousy and grief, though it wasn’t solely his fault. Most of the blame falls on me. I’m to blame for what happened, but Lonny was the one who drew his sword first.

The bitterness of that day still lingered in his eyes, still haunted him all these years later. I’m sorry for my part in your pain, Lonny, but I lost someone that day too. You just never saw past your own grief to notice.

“You know why I did what I did, but our past doesn't change anything. It doesn’t change what has to happen right now.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Things could have gone so differently for us, but we both responded to our grief with anger, at ourselves and each other. It didn’t matter that we destroyed everything we’d built in the process.

We lost Sophia, so we took everything from each other.

I held up my hands and let the guards bind them with chains. Lonny was too rough with me as he escorted me out of the alley and to a nearby jail. Jails were like the markets in Central; there was one on nearly every corner.

Lonny walked through the prison like he owned the place and threw me in the furthest cell, removing the manacles around my wrists and shutting the door.

“Court is in two days, and King Elias will set your bounty then.”

The cell was a damp gray affair. A lone metal cot bolted to the wall and wet straw for a bed. There were myriad tiny cracks in the stone walls that made up the room. Gray stone walls, gray stone floors, and a gray stone ceiling.

Water dripped through one of the larger cracks in the wall to pool onto the stone floor, bringing a moldy chill to the room. The only window was three feet above my head and had bars through it, letting only a small amount of light into the cramped room.

Either I’d be forced to pay the bounty or serve a year in jail. Though Elias likes using prisoners to pad the ranks of the Alliance. Ten to one odds, that’s what he tries with me.

Quite a few of the poor who found themselves shanghaied into service never left. It beat begging at any rate. Pay, serve, or die. Since it was nearly impossible to jail players for long periods of time, it was always one of the three. The most drastic option was execution; sent back to level one was a harsh punishment, though.

I’ve got plenty of gold, and I need to get out of here now. I don't have the time to waste.

Before Ascalon could leave, I ran to the bars as he turned to walk away. “Lonny, wait! I can’t afford to spend two days in here. Whatever price Elias sets won’t exceed a thousand gold. Not for something like this.”

I pulled out a heavy bag of gold from my inventory, fifteen hundred gold, most of the money I had on me. “This is well over a thousand gold! Take it and release me. It’ll more than cover my bounty.”

Lonny looked surprised at my outburst. “What’s gotten into you, D? I’ve never seen you balk at a few days in jail.”

I held up my hand to show him my ring. The one sign of proof I could leverage to convince Lonny I was speaking the truth.

“The man I killed was a slaver. His thugs kidnapped my wife and nearly killed me. Please, I need to save her!”

Lonny peered at my hand through the bars. The glint of gold was unmistakable, but his face darkened, his jaw clenched tight. I knew what he was thinking. Pure hatred crossed his face, and I’d just damned myself.

His voice cracked, harsh and bitter. “So, someone managed to get you to say yes after all this time. Good for you. Too bad Sophia isn’t around to share in the good news.”

I slammed my fist against the bars. “Godsdamn it, man. I loved her too!”

He got right up in my face and roared at me, spittle flying out of his mouth. “Loved her! You fucking killed her!”

He turned and stormed out of the room, fury and pain clouding him, just like they had all those years ago. “Rot in here for all I care.”

Then he was gone, and I was left alone. Alone with my thoughts. He’s not wrong; she died because of me, because I didn’t see what was right in front of me.

The Screaming Cliffs were Sophia’s favorite place on Nexus, though I never understood why. We stepped out of the teleportation gate, and the wind immediately swept up around us, constant gusts that sounded like the wailing of the dead.

The muted brown and gray cliffs were high above the sea, and it always felt like the wind was trying to push us off and into the dark, turbulent waters below.

Sophia took my hand in hers and pulled me toward the cliffs. She’d dressed up, forgoing her usual leather armor and shortsword in favor of a cerulean