“Someone is coming,” Jail said sharply and moved his chair back to the wall quickly. Silently he moved back to his cell and pulled the door almost shut. To the casual glance it would appear to be latched.
With a crash, the door to the cells slammed open and Neph strolled in with two Justicars trailing him and protesting loudly. Neph scanned the room quickly until his gaze fell on her and he crossed the room in two quick strides. “Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes locking on the Barllen manacles.
“I am okay physically. Mentally I think I’m fraying,” she replied quietly.
“Get these damn manacles off of her now!” Neph bellowed, turning to the two Justicars who still milled behind him.
“That is against regulations,” one protested and shook his head at Neph, quickly stepping back as the mage advanced.
“As long as Kadan is out of the city I am the acting Delvayon for Sanctuary. Are you telling me you are going to defy the word of a Delvay lord you little worm?” Neph asked, his tone filled with threat as he advanced on the Justicar. “I may not be able to get her released without the council present, but I can see that she is comfortable until they arrive. Do you want to hazard a guess as to how High Lord Arjuna will react when he sees his niece in Barllen chains?”
Paling in response the youngest of the Justicars flicked a gaze toward Jala. “She is Lord Arjuna’s niece?” he asked in a tremulous voice.
“Have you been living under a fucking rock?” Neph yelled, his voice echoing off the stone walls of the room. With a violent kick he sent one of the chairs skittering across the floor at the young man and nodded. “The whole damn city knows she married Finn Sovaesh, you fucking moron. Get those gods-be-damned chains off of her now!”
“Ahh. You would make an excellent high lord, Neph,” Jail said quietly with a low chuckle.
“You either help or shut your hole, Jail, you lazy bastard. Lounging in a damn cell while the rest of us work,” Neph snarled, pointing a finger accusingly at Jail. The mage didn’t seem the slightest bit surprised by Jail’s presence but Jala could tell by the Justicars reaction they hadn’t realized he was in the room.
“I could use my talents. They would likely be more effective than your crashing and stomping,” Jail offered.
“Then, fucking use them, you ass,” Neph snarled, whirling on Jail with a look of pure fury on his face.
“Temper, temper, Neph. I can’t do much when you have them scared witless,” Jail said in a soothing tone.
“Neph, please calm down. I don’t want you sharing a cell with us,” Jala said quietly.
Looking back over his shoulder at her, Neph smiled with a predatory light in his eyes. “They can’t arrest me, Jala. I’m the acting Delvay until Kadan is back. I have the authority of a high lord right now,” he assured her, his tone cool and dangerous. Turning slowly back to regard the Justicars, his smile darkened. “I could kill one of these little fucks for annoying me and they still couldn’t arrest me,” he added and his voice turned to ice with the words.
“Oh, that did volumes to help the fear. OK, Neph do it your way. Kill the one on the left though. That one by the wall is actually pretty nice,” Jail said with a sigh and waved a hand slightly toward the Justicars. Turning his attention to Jala he smiled faintly. “Have you ever seen a pissed off Delvay before Jala?” he asked in neutral tones.
Shaking her head slightly she glanced at Neph and then back to Jail. “No, I’ve seen Neph grumpy but never truly angry,” she replied.
“Well it takes a lot to piss one off, so it’s rare to see,” Jail said sagely and smiled at her. “However, once you do get one pissed it generally takes a lot of bloodshed and destruction to calm them back down. Honestly, I’d be surprised if he stopped at just one Justicar. I think I would be removing the manacles if I were them,” he continued his voice calm.
“I will remove them Lord Delvayon,” the Justicar by the wall spoke quietly and removed a set of keys from his belt. “Just please calm down. We have treated her fairly and we are only following regulations,” he added, his voice level.
“Don’t just stand there, then, remove the damn chains,” Neph ordered, pointing meaningfully at Jala. “Now!” he bellowed and the Justicar moved quickly to her cell.
“Just hold your hands up by the bars Lady Sovaesh,” he said as he reached through with the key and quickly unclasped the manacles. With a hand that was shaking only slightly he gathered the chains and backed away from the cell.
“Now get out! I want to speak with her privately,” Neph ordered, pointing at the door and glaring at both men.
“Sir we can’t leave you alone with the prisoner,” the Justicar holding the chains protested.
Jail let out a low sigh and shook his head at the man. “I really wouldn’t have objected there if I were you,” he said quietly.
Staring coldly, Neph began to slowly approach the Justicars. The muscles of his back rigid. “You have two choices and I really don’t care which one you choose.” He paused, eyes flicking from one to the other. “You can both leave this room and allow me privacy, or I can kill you both and achieve the same. I don’t mind killing you at all so if you don’t move in the next few seconds I’m going to assume that’s the choice you have made and slaughter you both like pigs.” He spoke each word clearly and paused a few feet from the men glowering.
Without further hesitation, both men left the room, closing the door behind them with a solid bang. Turning slowly Neph looked at Jail and let out a snort of laughter, then turned fully to Jala. “I leave you for one hour and you get arrested,” he said with a dramatic sigh.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” she said with a weak shrug.
“Wisp explained it all to me. You did what you had to,” Neph assured her, all trace of fury gone from him.