"I didn't even get to say good bye." It was the thing that Rolando kept thinking as he was shuttled away from Ronerawth prime. The emperor was being moved to an undisclosed location and he was shackled and locked away being transported to potentially a prison. Rolando felt it unfair, but it wasn't like he could argue about it. He did literally drop a man to his death with a blink of his eyes.
The shuttle was packed with four members of the emperors guard, they were not ceremonial. They were dressed in combat vests with lots of extra ammunition and weaponry. Rolando thought maybe they were part of a strike team instead of guards, but he couldn't imagine they had him going anywhere to be part of a military strike, not in his uniform and shackled as he was. No one would talk to him though, it was unnerving sitting in the back of a shuttle on the way to somewhere with four people who didn't seem to want to discuss it. This went on for four days. by the time the shuttle opened on another populated planet with more guards Rolando was willing to do anything to be free, if only for a little bit.
"Welcome to Sanctuary Lieutenant." It was Brubaker, now a General welcoming him to his new prison. And Rolando knew it was a prison, Sanctuary was a gilded cage for magic users, a place that they were locked into to keep them safe/society safe. Rolando found himself longing for being placed back on the rim.
"Got a promotion did you Brubaker?" The Emperor's guards remained on the shuttle, Brubaker's sanctuary personnel took over the guarding duties, he noticed Therod was among them.
"I like to think I earned it Rolando, I can understand from your tone you don't believe I did."
"I made no such inference." Inside the facility was nice and clean, plenty of locks and anti-magical wards though, Rolando saw several methods he recognized from ones his father routinely used.
"Right you're just mentioning my promotion in comparison to yours despite all the things you've done and all things I haven't."
"Well when you put it like that Brubaker." Rolando was shown past groups of people who kind of had a sharp intake of breath as he walked past. In the coming days he'd come to know he had become a bit of a media sensation as the man who saved the Emperor. He'd also come to know the extremes of boredom. All his former stuff was present in his new room, and the planet this sanctuary was on was a lot nicer than the rim, but he also wasn't technically a Hound anymore, instead he was a member of Sanctuary Number 857 and thus was only responsible to make sure he didn't hurt anyone, which was a great way to say "Sit on your hands and do nothing."
Rolando remembered Trezlan warning him about this before he shipped out for Imperial space, he was sure the old man was laughing about it wherever he was at the moment.
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