The Golden Amulet (PJO, Sequel to The Silver Ring)

Chapter 26

When I usually think of an interrogation, I think about concrete walls, a metal table with the person to be interrogated handcuffed to it. The floor may have a few puddles of blood on it, which would help intimidate the prisoner.

But that seemed to only be a TV thing. 

Turns out, given the blood and a whole lot more variables, the interrogator would also be uncomfortable too. And when the interrogator was the leader of one's unit, the problem turned into a lack of luxury.

Which was why I was surprised when the soldiers dragged me into the luxurious central house, and not a separate house to be tortured in (It wouldn't be surprising if that truly was the case). I felt a bit better when they lead me—at sword point—into the basement, but I was sorely mistaken.

It was a luxurious and sprawling space, heavily furnished and full of premium carpets, tapestries, and chandeliers. It appeared that turning a room the size of a city block into just one specialized room would be a horrible use of the space, which was why the room seemed to be split into four sections, which were easy to identify with their distinct furnishings: the north part was the bedroom, given the bed, the lambs, and the nightstands; to the east was a library with tall, long shelves that seemed to be almost buckling under the weight of hundreds of books; to the south, behind me (the stairs leading to the basement had put us squat in the center) there was a dining space, with enough table space and chairs to fit a whole kingdom's people; and, finally, to the west laid a sofa room. 

There was no other way to describe it; it was full of sofas. One seaters, two seaters, three seaters . . . it went on. I even saw a fifty-three seater—but it might've been a bit lower. Or my eyes were just fooling me.

Chief Katuni was in the bedroom section, sitting comfortably on the bed. Instead of the armor he was wearing when we had first saw him, which had exposed his muscular build, he now was dressed in a long-sleeved tunic and pants as dark as the night sky outside. He had a pair of bronze-rimmed reading glasses on the tip of his nose, making him look older. A book with yellowed pages was in his hands, which appeared to be the source of why he was frowning. 

The soldiers shoved me towards him, but Chief Katuni seemed to be stubbornly enraptured in his book. "And they say that Lady Void wrote this nonsense," he muttered to himself. "Just because it's old. Has no one even checked the contents of this book. This is such a headache . . ." He finally looked up and noticed us, reacting with surprise. "Yes, Adan?" he asked the biggest soldier.

Adan gulped. It seemed as though he was a new recruit, and didn't quite yet grasp the ropes of what to do when a superior called on him. Still, he tried his best. "We found this Chaos soldier outside our map hut, sir," he said, shoving me a few steps forward as if Chief Katuni hadn't seen me already.

Despite this news, Chief Katuni remained impassive. "And?" he asked. "He's my guest."

Adan looked shocked; apparently, he thought that much of an explanation would do. "Sir, it's a restricted area. We saw some people inside the hut, so we attempted to apprehend them by making a perimeter. We found this Chaos soldier soon afterwards."

"Where did you find him?" Chief Katuni asked him.

"Outside the hut."

"And you saw multiple people inside?"

"That's correct, sir."

"Did you apprehend them?" 

All the soldiers looked like they wanted to be anywhere but here. "No, sir," another soldier replied, this one having eyebrows so bushy they looked like dead caterpillars glued on his face. "They somehow escaped."

Chief Katuni gave the soldiers a scorching look. "So you're telling me, you captured this Chaos soldier"—he pointed at me—"because you heard people inside the hut, but instead of capturing them, you saw this guy nearby, captured him, and called it a day?!"

"In . . . a nutshell, yes," Adan said, not able to look him in the eye.

Chief Katuni turned towards me. "Why were you next to my map hut?" he asked me.

I figured the only way to leave alive was to feign innocence. So I answered him in the most panicked voice I could muster. "I heard some sounds from the hut, so went to investigate. It didn't seem like a restricted area; there were no guards around, no barriers, no nothing."

"Did you see anything?" Chief Katuni asked me.

"No! The moment I was going to peer through a window, an arrow was shot at me! That's why your soldiers saw me huddled on the ground—I was afraid of getting hurt."

Chief Katuni turned to Adan. "Does that match up?"

Adan nodded his head sheepishly. "He tried to run, sir. That's why we captured him. And we might've seen another person run in the same direction he was going, so we thought he was with them."

Chief Katuni glanced at me, struck by a thought. "Where are you companions? And why were you not sleeping this late?"

"Back at our camp," I said. "Oh, they're probably worried sick about me. And . . . I don't sleep. Well, I usually take naps, but I'm an insomniac. I tried for a few hours, but I couldn't sleep. I thought walk int he night would clear my head."

I was full on out lying at this point; I loved sleep, and wherever I put my head down with the intention of resting, I would immediately sleep.

Chief Katuni believed me. "Well, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. My soldiers meant no harm to you, but you were int he wrong place at the wrong time . . ."

"I understand," I said diplomatically. "It was my fault."

Chief Katuni turned back to his ashamed soldiers. However, instead of yelling at them, like I had seen countless of times by different commanders, he made this a teaching moment. "Adan, I like your enthusiasm, but don't be so quick to judge. The more times you capture someone, the less times you can be actively guarding. The only way you'll fly through the ranks is if you give every suspicious person a right to explain themselves. If they can't, then bring them to me. Or if they can, and you're not sure, just bring them to an officer. However, I'm always open as a resource if you have questions."

Adan nodded. "Thank you for the advice sir. I'll try."

Chief Katuni gave him a smile field with gratitude, then turned towards me. "As for you, you're free to go. Try not to get into any more trouble before you leave."

"It'll be hard, but thank you," I said gratefully. 

Looks like I'm going to have to face an angry Rosaline soon.