Act II - Episode 46 Zopot opens the gate to the girls' quarters and beckons them out. "It's time," he says. "General Riglak wants us to get moving." He is pleased to see them awake and packed, just as he had requested of them ten minutes earlier. Though he has taken good care of them over the months, curing their illnesses, keeping them company, and even bringing them extra food and clothes whenever he was able, Lisa, the eldest of Simone's two sisters, has never allowed herself to fully trust him. "Where are you taking us?" she asks now, wrapping her arms protectively around her younger sister. "There's a secret passage under the barracks," he explains. "It will bring us out on the cliffs behind the fortress. We have to be careful: there is a ledge along the cliff face, but it is quite narrow and not well lit. Stay close to me and we'll be fine." Lisa's face tenses with fear. A cliff. She has been afraid of heights ever since falling out of a tree on her parents' farm when she was five. "Don't worry, little one," Zopot says, trying to calm her. "I'll take good care of you." Instantly, the fear falls out of Lisa's face and is replaced by anger. "Right. Just like you took care of our parents?" Zopot stiffens. "I wasn't involved in that." "Maybe not," Lisa snorts. "But Savuk was. I watched him stab our father!" Her voice rises, almost screaming now. "I watched him stab him and stab him until he was dead! Is that what's going to happen to us now? Is Savuk waiting behind the fortress? Waiting to throw us off that cliff?" "No!" Zopot says, squatting down to the same height as the girls. "He's not going to hurt you. None of us are. We're not animals, Lisa. We do not harm the harmless." "Ha!" Lisa spits. "Didn't stop you from killing my parents!" "Your parents were not harmless! Your father was..." Zopot catches himself about to tell the children the truth about their parents. But they are not ready. And this is not the time or place for such a conversation. "Listen," he says, calming himself down and putting a gentle hand on each girl's shoulder. "We have to get going. The undead are coming. And if we don't leave now, we won't get out alive." He climbs to his feet and ushers the girls carefully down the corridor. "But this I promise you: when we're safe, and when you're ready, I'll tell you all about your parents. You won't like what I have to say, but you both need to hear it." "And who knows," he says, throwing the girls a mysterious sidelong glance. "If Savuk's idea goes as planned, you may both very well be free before the night is over. Goddesses give him strength." "What do you mean?" Eve asks. "What is Savuk doing?" "He's waiting out in the valley, behind the undead army. Waiting for that cowardly bitch Kiana to show herself. Kiana, the Goddess of Cruelty. She loves battles. It's the pain, you see. The suffering. It gives her a thrill. She won't let this chance slip without putting in a personal appearance. "And when she shows up, Savuk's going to kill her." Zopot takes a deep, awe-filled breath. "He's going to kill a Goddess." Credits: Grace by Thorne Britani by angielyn Legends by .mada Mystic Moon Hair by hmann Orc by Ghostofmacbeth Carrara props Room and custom textures by me