ROLEPLAY

                
Time also seemed to be hanging. Regularly, like a clock that came ostensibly to remind her of the passing of time, a drop of sweat detached itself from her forehead to come to crash a few centimeters lower in the sawdust. The half-light of the place could almost have made the atmosphere bearable, but in addition to the heat that reigned there, the sawdust dust forced the homina to keep her breathing as light and as slow as possible.

So far, they hadn't hit her. At Sentinel, they had left her for several days in a room, deprived of everything but a bowl of water and a kind of unspiced bread that made her bitterly miss Eolinius'. A homin (was he always the same one?) would come and ask her questions. She usually didn't answer, except with a yes or no. She had asked to speak to the leader of the Horizon Surveyors. Sometimes he spoke to her in Marund, a language she didn't know at all, to test her reactions, without much success. "Where does this crystal come from? What Clan are you from?". She had lost track of time. But no matter.

So Azazor had done nothing to help her case. He must have said that Eeri had stolen the crystal, that she was working for some clan… He must have said that she had lied to him. That was enough to make the Marauders suspicious of her.

Then they'd made her walk from Sentinel to The Citadel, tied behind a mektoub, hands and feet chained, not far from a free-handed Azazor who didn't even deny her a glance. It was a much crueler torment. Two days of walking in silence. One of the Marauders had made it clear: "You try to talk to your Fyros, I'll feed you to the varinxes."
She was taken there, in that cell, and they tied her by the feet. The head downwards. To test her nerves, one of the guards had said with a sneer. Eeri let them do it, without struggling. They left her there, in the heat and dust, for several hours, or days, which seemed like an eternity. Everything was already so confused in her mind, and hanging upside down did not help her to think. She now doubted why she was there. Where she came from. Who she was fighting for. The Federation? The Empire? The Trytonists? The Rangers? The Marauders? Or a little of everything? Or just for herself? She didn't know what to answer.

***

"She must be ready."
"If she has not sniff it yet…"

Two guards arrived, and cut the tie that bound her feet. She fell limply on the ground, head first. Then the two homins grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her out of the cell. They were clad in heavy Maraudeur armor relatively similar to that of the New Lands, except for a few details.

"She's still alive."
"Bring her to me," said a third.

Then, approaching Eeri's ear, he whispered with a thick accent:

"And you'd better answer the questions we're going to ask you, if you don't want to end your trip here… Definitely. Be reasonable."