Day 92 - Early Morning - Part Four:
He kept screaming.
"
My eyes!" he shrieked. He kept shrieking.
"Sectum," Selim was saying, tugging at my shirt. I turned to him.
All the Elvaans were pointing their bows at us. Tables had turned while I was out of the loop.
But being me had advantages. Like knowing that I could regenerate minor wounds.
At a cost.
The voice in the back of my head reminded me that.
Yes, at a cost.
How many days would I not be able to walk this time?
The arrows were ready.
Someone was going to shoot, and quickly at that. But then I realized I may not have to go fullway.
Instead, no, I did things a tad differently.
I collapsed my knees and fell to the floor, my hand on Trion's hair to pull him down, and spit fire at them.
It worked with smashing success due to the close proximity. Selim got hit by a stray arrow.
It's really not his day. I grabbed Selim as I lunged back to my feet.
I dragged Trion with me, kicking and screaming. So much for the nobleness of the Elvaans. I dragged the two of them with me to the nearest wall and set Selim down as he tried to take yet another arrow out of him.
I grabbed him by the throat and held him up against the stone walls of Garlaige's basement.
"You better start talking now, or I will make sure that you die a slow and painful death," I said.
I licked my lips.
He looked like an awfully tasty victim right there; an Elvaan prince, naked, beaten. It would be a vengeful kill. And then I could take whatever information he had by force.
I wiped my lips with my hand.
He sputtered for a moment, and began.
"The Undead Filth had infiltrated our City as refugees. We fought them off. Many of our people were lost to them. Demons came, we fought them off too, and Orcs. We lost the city. We ran. Demons followed us. I... don't..."
He clutched at his head. "I don't... remember... We took Garlaige, the humans attacked us, we suppressed the opposition," he finished. He clutched his head harder. "
MY HEAD!" he suddenly screamed this time.
And then the voice in the back of my head said,
let me speak.
I began speaking in tongues. Joyous.
But Trion stopped and stared at me with eyeless sockets.
And then I stopped speaking.
"Possessed?" Trion simply said.
"You won't lose all blame that easily," I snarled. "They can taint you, but they can't take all of you. What you did... that was still you."
He requested I kill him, and I almost did.
But no.
For all that I witnessed there, I had to admit that he was not fully in his own state of mind.
But seeing what I did... the children dead...
He deserved everything he got. He's lucky we put clothes back on him. He called off the guards and told them that we were all heading to Delkfutt for refuge, after some "convincing."
We wrapped his eye sockets with a cloth. At least he looks better, now.
But we've attached him to strings all the same so he can't wander off. The last thing I want is to have to search for him. I guess I spent too much time with a certain Puppetmaster.
He has uses, still. He is now a tragic hero. His people will listen to him all the more if he can keep his composure, and I told him this, and that seemed to quell him for now.
There were a few survivors from the Elvaan torture camp. What shocked me more had been the group of at least fifteen Elvaans that were also shackled up for trying to rebel against what Trion was doing.
At least there's some hope left for that arrogant species. Meanwhile, we need to get back to our team and soon; Selim has seen enough action for quite a while, and I could do with not doubling up on the night shift for a few nights.
I just want to know they're all alive. Right now, that would be enough for me.
Well, actually, there's one other person I'd like to see, but let's not get too spoiled here...