He didn't like to be chained down like that; it was almost like slavery to himself, although there were no chains and no ropes binding him to the Empress. He was allowed to go where he wanted, although at a call from her he would turn sails and do as he was told. He was in her debt, she had refrained from culling him although she had had every right to do so after the things he had done. He was obliged to do as she wished at all times, regardless of his own plans. This was, to put it simple, more than a small hindrance to him- more than one time, he had bee forced to pull back in the middle of taking over a ship, just to sail forth in some asinine quest in her name.

Dualscar had traded his life for his freedom, and sometimes, he would think back and wish he had just denied the offer brought before him- he would be dead, yes, but that would have been better than being tied up by his own words like that.

He was currently out on deck, gazing over the still waters of the ocean. The ship was returning from a quest he had received not even a week ago- find and capture a certain lowblood so he could be put into her services upon the ship's return. Dulascar had taken up on the offer gleefully, thinking it to be something easy, something he would be able to get done in no time at all. But the lowblood was not any lowblood- he had been captured and brought to the ship with not a word of protest from him at all; the chains and ties clinked around his wrists without as much as a twitch from his side, his empty white eyes fixed on the guards holding him down the entire time.

The azureblood gave the sea a last glare, as if he blamed it  for the situation he was currently in, before passing through the crowds of workers tending to the ship, constantly changing course and correcting the sails, headed out to the spot in the sea that marked the place her underwater castle was hidden at. Dualscar furrowed his brow, heading downstairs, passing workers and slaves on his way to the bowels of his ship where he kept his prey locked up. He inserted the key into the lock, pushing the door open slowly- stumbling back.

The troll before him was leaning against the wall of his small room, hands folded in his lap, very neatly, his eyes looking straight at the highblood in front of him. He didn't move when Dualscar finally took a stride over to him, nor when he was pulled up roughly, standing slightly shorter than his captor, his horns barely reaching over Dualscar's head, not counting his horns, shaped lile two bolts of lightning. Dualscar was holding him by the collar of his suit; he had worn it when they came to pick him up, and it seemed as though he had been wearing it all his lifetime- it was matted, dusted, and full of holes, the lace on the sleeves bleached yellow, the box tie flat and moth-eaten. It was as though he had spent all his life up there, patiently waiting to be picked up by Dualscar's ship.

"Do you knoww wwhy you are here...?" Dualscar hissed at his face, his one remaining eye narrowing; it wasn't even a mockup question, he really did not know why the Empress was so keen of putting this ragged troll into her services. His lips drawn back, sharp teeth exposed, he waited for a reply from the other troll.

"Ii don't know." He said after a pause, eyes narrowing, the only show of emotion in his otherwise deadly still face. Dualscar growled, shoulders tensing. This whole business was ... fishy. Somethign was wrong; this lowblood seemed to be powerless, nothing of importance, best left alone to rot away like he had been doing all these years, yet here the Empress was, ordering him, Dualscar, to fetch him for her, urgently even, leaving him in utter confusion. Why did she need him, what was the purpose of all this?

Of course, he was in no position to know what the Empress did, or why, yet.... His free hand grabbed the lowblood's chin, holding his head in place as he hissed into his face.

"Tell me wwhat the Empress desires of you, you filthy rag. I order you to."

"You'll thee." The other said, the slightest smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. "You'll thee when iit'th tiime to."