Chapter 85: Is This The Man?
Chapter 85: Is This The Man?
Alpha Hemming's POV:
Suddenly, I couldn't help it as I jumped slightly at the sound of the cell door opening roughly as if it caught on the metal frame itself. I then heard various voices from the cell, a short distance from our current location, start to speak up. I guess whoever they were, the individuals with the lights that were coming this way, just so happened to stop by the next cell over or one down the corridor first. It made me wonder what they were doing. Could they be looking for anyone specific? They were still not in view, so I couldn't tell who they were.
"Do you know or recognize any of them?" I heard one of the voices ask in the darkness of the cell I was located in, ask openly.
Their voice was a bit scratchy, sounding as if they were coming from further away from the door, in my very cell. I immediately started to look around in that moment to see if I could tell where that voice came from. It was apparently one of the Warriors I traveled with here earlier, whichever day it was. He was chained up with me in here as well, but he was positioned on the opposite wall. This was a first. Never before has this individual spoken to me in the past, so why would he be the one to speak to me now after we were all captured?
I had no idea who this particular Warrior was. I didn't care, as he belonged to the rival nation, the one who held me captive for all these years. Despite his attempt to ask me a question. Why would he feel it necessary to choose now, of all times, to attempt to strike up a conversation? We were chained in a cell. Did this make for a good conversation starter?
No one else had yet to speak up, so I didn't feel the need to answer him verbally. Instead, I decided to shake my head from side to side in my response as I knew he could partly see me at least. That way, he could still tell that I responded to him without being rude and ignoring him.
At that moment, I wasn't paying attention to the door of our cell, since my attention was on the Warrior who asked me the question. I wished I had paid better attention to the fact that someone was standing right outside our cell door, looking in without speaking. That is, not until I heard our cell door open suddenly as we all turned our heads to look in that direction.
There were three men, each holding a lantern at a low level so they could look at each of our faces, only once they walked into our cell. I guess they didn't find what they were looking for in the other cell. I didn't hear any other commotion, so I didn't realize they had moved on. Then it made me wonder exactly what it was that they could be looking for. After all, it was very hard to see our faces from a distance, even when we were a few feet from the other person.
The faces of the people entering our cell were not very visible as each of them didn't appear in the light. You could only see bits and pieces from some of the shadowed flickering lights they held in their hands. That's when two of them started to walk down the sides of the cell, shining the light in each of the men's faces, chained up against the wall. They were going down, looking at each one of them.
Who were they looking for exactly? Was there an informant they were looking for? Or could it be one of their men was in here as well? Or was it something else entirely? I didn't know what it was, so I just stayed quiet, continuing to watch them as they moved from face to face. They got to the end of the wall on the opposite side of this cell, then started walking around and up this side. As they made their way, everyone got to see exactly how big this one cell actually was.
When they got close to me, they shone the light on my face and did not say anything when they all passed me by. Well, I am guessing we were in some other rival land if no one recognized me by now. I looked down, turning my gaze to my lap, somehow thinking I would never be able to return home to my own Grand Nation. However, that one Warrior who spoke earlier seemed to think he knew where we were since he asked me if I knew them. I'm guessing this was going to be another situation where I would never be able to make it back home.
Just then, one of the men who walked by all of us stopped walking. For a moment, he just stood there, facing the door. I wasn't sure what he was doing, as he had yet to take any other steps forward or back. That's when he slowly spun on his heels and took the several steps it took to come back towards me. He again shone the light on my face. He even seemed to lean over a bit so that he could take a closer look at me.
I still couldn't see his face, as it was still shadowed by the top of the lantern, and the darkness of the room had nothing but this lantern right in my eyes, so that made it hard to see much of anything at that point. That was when the other two men who were walking with him stopped what they were doing. Each of them came to stand on either side of the guy who held the lantern, each shining their own light for a different angle.
Did they happen to see something? Did they know something I didn't know? Up to this point, none of them bothered to say anything to any of the members here in the cell. Since I didn't have contact with my Wolf, could it be that they were having a private conversation among themselves?
How else could it be that they were able to privately communicate among themselves, or even with their Wolves, and yet I was not able to? I didn't understand what could hinder me from reaching out to Hash. Even when I was taken by the rival nation, I could still communicate with my Wolf. Nothing was making any sense about what was going on at that moment, nor why any of this was happening in the first place.
I tried to squint my eyes so I might be able to see at least one of their faces, but it was no use. However, while trying to study their faces, I did see one of them nod his head in the shadow of the light toward the others. I'm guessing that was the answer they were looking for. Not one of them spoke during the entire time they were walking around this cell.