"The master wants to see you..." The demon's dark, melodic voice startled Soraya and she opened her eyes quickly. In comparison to Nira's kiss, it was a rather rough awakening, interrupting her already forgotten dreams. She lifted a hand to rub the sleep out of her eyes and was stopped by the ropes that still tied her hands to the bed.
The light falling into the room through the windows was rather gray, so Soraya suspected that it was quite early in the morning. After he left her yesterday, full of yearning, she tossed and turned for quite some time before calming down enough to sleep and finding a position in which sleeping was comfortable. His intention, she figured, had been to prevent her from touching herself. As to why, she had no idea.
"Untie me, then" Soraya simply replied in a dry tone, shooting him a sleepy, annoyed look. She was slightly disappointed that all feeling in his eyes was gone again. No hint of his personality remained. Now at least she knew it was there and she only needed to find it again, unless a possibility of escape opened up. In that case, she had -- sadly -- more important things to do.
Like a prisoner kept for ransom, she was treated exceptionally well, but the midwife had hinted that gold might not be the master's purpose. To her knowledge, there were not too many possibilities left. For all her and Nira's claims to be 'just servants', they either knew their lord quite well or had more information that they let on.
With a flick of his wrist, the demon removed the ropes magically. Under the sheets, Soraya covered her naked chest out of modesty, as was expected at home. It was pointless, of course, since the demon had seen and touched her before, but she wasn't about to give in. She folded back her blanket and sat up. Nira hurried to her side to help her up and escort her to the bathroom.
Steam rose out of the tub, indicating that the servant had already filled it with deliciously warm water. Soraya allowed Nira to undress her and stepped down into the water. Sitting down, the water reached her chin.
"Nira... What does the master want with me?" Soraya asked the talkative servant, turning her head to see the woman standing at the shelf, choosing a flask.
"No idea..." Nira replied, apparently focused on her task, as she didn't turn until after choosing a flask with a blue liquid.
"You do know a lot, I am certain..." the princess insisted.
"Yes, but I won't risk drawing the master's wrath. Especially not today. He was very displeased -- before you ask, I really have no clue -- and I hope for your sake that he has calmed down before you reach him. Not that bathing and dressing take long..." Nira said while shampooing the princess's hair. For the moment, the young woman gave up, as she did not want to put the servant at any risk. She could have been given a much worse maidservant.
Not an hour later, after a hurried bath, Soraya followed the demon through the castle. She wore a marvelous dress made up of several layers of dark blue fabric, everyone a different shade. The train of every layer, even the ones not visible to the eye, was masterfully embroidered with different landscapes and the heavy belt of silver brocade complemented it. While those embellishments on the dress could have been prepared, the tailor surely worked all night to have the garment fitting by morning, which left her wondering how hard the demon's whip drove him. At least, the demon had labeled her 'presentable', which hopefully meant he liked the garment.
The castle itself wasn't dark or moldy, as she would have imagined a demon master's lair to be, but brightly lit and comfortable. There were rugs and curtains everywhere, huge glass windows and tasteful décor, whereas the stories told of dingy, dank dungeons, skulls and dried blood everywhere. Either the stories of those lairs were just stories or this demon liked to live comfortably.
The demon led her into a room that, while with a high ceiling and rather spacious, was no throne room. More a mixture between audience room, library and work room that smelled of dust, books and some alchemical ingredients she couldn't identify. With his back to them, a man stood in front of a high desk over a strange hole in the floor. It wasn't structural failure, as the edges were finished. Coming closer, Soraya also spotted stairs going down into the hole.
The master looked like an average size man with dark brown hair. When he turned, the princess could see that he'd made an effort to show his demonic nature, as the parts of his eyes that should have been white were a dark red. This made a chill run down her spine. Almost as if picking up upon her mood, then he blinked and the red retreated. His irises were still disturbingly red; but now at least there was the normal, human looking white in his eyes.
"Soraya Liane Norell of Dawmer... A pleasure..." the master greeted her, extending his hand. "My name is Nerach and as you surely have guessed I reign over the beautiful land of Noorveld. I am pleased to greet you as my guest."
The princess bit her lip to prevent herself from giving him a withering reply. Instead, she just tilted her head in barely existing acknowledgement, ignoring the outstretched hand.
The master did not seem to expect a reply nor was he offended by her rejection. "I do realize that my invitation did not exactly follow protocol. However, I require your presence and your assistance. Please, come closer..."
Still silent, Soraya approached the hole as instructed and sucked in a sharp breath. On the floor beneath her -- or more likely, in the cavern -- stood hundreds of soldiers. All were transparent, as if made of glass. Infantry with spear and sword, arbalesters, cavalry and chariots, unmoving, as if frozen. With the exception of their officers, they all had the same faces, the same armor and weapons.
