That and mentioning the fact that Catherine would have to take over her class again.
But Eva was confident in her domain’s ability to fend off any new intruders. Through an intense bout of trial and error attempts over the course of three days, Shalise wound up with a multitude of traps and weapons.
Weapons were easy. She had seen swords before. Spears, maces, and other medieval equipment as well. Bows and arrows were easy to create. Crossbows, not so much.
Her attempt at a gun had failed right out. Eva still wasn’t sure why. She could create potions out of nothing, but a gun failed?
Traps weren’t half as easy as straight up weapons.
There were plenty of trap doors in the ground and floor around the alternate women’s ward. All lever activated, based off the real prison’s execution chamber. It was fairly easy to get rid of the noose and fill the pit of the trap door with swords.
Automating the trap doors or even swapping out the rather large levers with smaller buttons had all failed. Probably because of how it was set up in the real world. Luckily, Eva had been able to move the levers separately from the trap doors.
She was fairly certain that the levers didn’t actually connect to the doors in a similar manner to the drainage pipes in the showers.
But the rows of levers allowed Shalise to operate trap doors set up in the small outside courtyard from behind the women’s ward windows–all of which had been reinforced.
Then there was the safe room. Basically, it was a recreation of the solitary confinement building in the real prison. There was a small hallway that had been filled with trap doors before the final prison cell. Eva had dragged a cupboard from the kitchen over to it and confirmed that it was always full of food before leaving.
Even with all that, Eva still wanted to get Sister Cross into her domain as soon as possible.
Eva passed from the throne room into the prison. It didn’t take long to come across Arachne seated outside one of the cells. As she had been doing almost constantly for the last few months, she was once again weaving a tapestry.
Or… Eva blinked as she got closer. Maybe not. She certainly had some cloth in her hands. But it wasn’t the square of a tapestry. She also lacked all of her spare arms holding up the vertical mesh.
It almost looked like a dress.
Shaking her head, Eva decided to ask later. For the time being, she gave Arachne a nod of her head before stepping right up to the bars.
Sister Cross looked about as bad as she had just the other day. Bad enough that Eva wondered if Arachne got her message about potions, or if she had decided to ignore that message.
Or if Sister Cross had refused any treatment. Eva couldn’t fault Arachne for that.
And with the glare she leveled at Eva, there was a good chance she had refused treatment.
At least she was awake this time.
Sister Cross’ mouth twisted into a snarl.
Eva preempted whatever vile insults she was about to spew.
“Shalise needs your help.”
The nun’s partially opened mouth snapped shut. She fixed a piercing glare for several minutes before opening it again. “What do you mean?” Her first words of the day. Potentially several days, if the slight rasp was any indication.
“Shalise has been attacked. Only once so far, but the possibility exists for more. I’ve kept her safe, but will not be able to constantly be around her. You can.”
Sister Cross’ glower was only growing. Eva once again interjected before she could start any outbursts.
“In fact, you will. You’re not being given a choice in the matter.”
Eva reached for the locking mechanism of the cell. Despite being barred, Ylva’s domain prevented any occupant from affecting the outside. That included reaching through the bars and unlatching the cell themselves.
“One wrong move and either I or Arachne will kill you,” Eva said with a nod back to her companion. Arachne had already stood up and draped her weaving project over the back of the chair. “And, in the absurdly tiny chance that we should fail, Ylva won’t. If you’re dead then no one can protect Shalise.
“So attack us if you must, but know that it would spell doom for your daughter.”
Speech delivered, Eva clicked the lock and slid open the door. “Arachne,” she said, nodding towards Sister Cross.
Arachne immediately moved to carry the nun, only to be shoved back.
“I can handle myself,” Sister Cross bit out.
Responding to Arachne’s questioning glance with a shrug had the spider-demon performing a shrug of her own. She stepped out of the cell and waited.
And was it ever a wait.
Sister Cross, while still missing large portions of her skin, used a bar along the back wall to help her to her feet.
The action made Eva wince in a short moment of misplaced empathy. She had skinned her knee before–back before she had Arachne’s knees. The experience was hardly pleasant. Even after learning blood magic and dampening her sensation of pain in order to use her magic unaffected, scraping large portions of skin off hurt like something else.
And the nun before her was missing far more than a skinned knee brought to the table. She had no gloves and no shoes. While the rest of Ylva’s domain was constructed out of smooth marble, the prison floor was rough. The material resembled something along the lines of cement or asphalt. In a word: unpleasant.
Despite the glacial pace at which she moved, Sister Cross allowed no emotion to cross her face. Not the slightest flicker of pain.
By the time she had finally taken her first few steps out of the room, Eva had managed to school any hint of emotion from her face. She knew Arachne wouldn’t have any emotion showing either.
At least, the old Arachne wouldn’t have any. Maybe a grin, if anything.
Eva shot a quick glance to her side just to confirm that yes, Arachne was as impassive as ever.
“Where is Shalise?”
“Follow me,” Eva said as she turned and started moving towards the exit of the prison.
She realized her mistake almost immediately. By the time she reached the threshold, Sister Cross had only taken five steps.
This was going to take time. It would have been so much simpler had Sister Cross just let Arachne carry her.
As it was, Arachne stuck to Sister Cross’ side. Apart from the occasional maniacal twitch of her fingers, the spider-demon never once appeared hostile.
When they finally reached the chamber directly adjacent to the prison, Eva took note of the definite shock plastered over Sister Cross’ face. That had been expected for the most part. She would expect nothing else from a prisoner being led to the torture chamber.
But it was the only room that Ylva had allowed her to use.
Sister Cross’ eyes started to glow with white power. That glow subsided and died off as Arachne snapped her hand over the eyeball inset into Sister Cross’ chest.
“You’re not in danger,” Eva said. She would have explained what room they had been heading towards had she thought it might have helped. Sadly, she doubted that cheerily stating their destination to be the torture chamber would have endeared her to Sister Cross.
Sister Cross, predictably, sneered and scoffed.
With a sigh and a slight rolling of her eyes, Eva said, “I’m not going to hurt you. Just the opposite. You’re not in any shape to protect Shalise. It took half an hour for you to move one room. A walker-wielding great-grandmother would be able to get the best of you.”
Eva pointed towards a circle drawn out on the floor. “Sit,” she said. “Seiza style.” Harsh? Maybe. Required? Not in the slightest. Vindictive? Eva’s middle name.
With Arachne just barely not having to force her, Sister Cross knelt down in the center of the circle. She leaned in, staring at the floor. “Is this blood?”