THE HIGH LORD'S FAVORITE
Disclaimer: I own nothing, nothing at all. If you recognise something from somewhere else, don't own that either. This is just for fun.
Rating: M
- italic mental communication
italic flash backs
A SLAVE'S MEMORIES
Sonea found Takan in the kitchen, pouring over a cookbook. He seemed a little surprised to see her.
"Is there anything I can make you lady Sonea?"
"No thank you Takan, I can make it myself."
"If you tell me what it is, then I would be more than happy to make it for you."
"Do you know how to make Cholli?"
By the look on Takan's face she knew he didn't.
"Don't worry I won't make a mess of your kitchen, I promise."
"Maybe the lady would care to take the time to show me. Then next time she would not need to come down here."
"Thank you Takan, but I don't think Cholli would be to your... palette. Besides I enjoy making it. But you can help if you want."
Sonea had been stirring the pot for sometime now. She smiled when she saw Takan's expression at the texture and odour of what she was making, wondering how anyone could possibly want to put that into their body.
Sonea glanced over at Takan, focusing on sending her mind to his, and as he glanced back, quickly found herself in his mind. Staying on the fringes she concentrated on not 'being there'. But suddenly she felt a chill down her spine. There was a lingering presence in his mind. A presence she knew. She quickly focused on being like the barrier, and hoped that He had not noticed her presence. But there was something odd about his presence. Deciding to keep an eye on the presence, she continued as per plan. Ready she asked the question that had led her into Takan's kitchen.
"Takan?"
"Yes lady Sonea?"
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course lady Sonea."
"I mean a question about... Him?"
Takan said nothing at first.
- Master?
The presence in Takan's mind took a more definite shape.
- What is it Takan?
- Lady Sonea asks if she may ask a question about you. What shall I tell her.
- Really?
Akkarin's voice sounded intrigued and amused, and as though it came from within Takan's head, yet he was not in his head. The sensation was difficult to describe. Maybe he was using the same techniques she was? Sonea thought, but something told her this was different. It felt more like a mental communication than anything else, but it was much clearer. But how was he doing it?
- Tell her it depends on the question, for somethings are not up to you to tell.
"It depends on the question lady Sonea, somethings are not up to me to tell."
Sonea smiled at his answer.
"Of course. Besides this concerns you mostly."
She felt Akkarin's interest peak in Takan's mind. Was he even aware she was there?
"Me?"
"Yes. Um..."
Sonea looked around the kitchen to make sure they were alone. Then locked gazes with Takan once more.
"When he, emm, takes your energy. Does it hurt?"
Takan looked at her surprised. And she felt Akkarin's surprise as well, but then bemusement.
- Go ahead and tell her Takan, it may reassure her.
Sonea watched as a memory of Akkarin drawing his power popped in his mind. She took care to notice how he felt. It was a strange feeling, that of having your power drawn, one he could not stop. But Sonea also noted trust, that Akkarin would not take it all from him.
"No it does not hurt. He is quite gentle."
"Gentle? Seems to me there is nothing gentle about taking another's power."
And as she had expected, her comment prompted another memory. She saw Takan kneeling before his master. The man had the same features as Takan did, Sachakan. But this Takan looked different. Smaller, weaker, and there was something haunting in his eyes. Something she had seen on the faces of the poorest and helpless of the dwells. Despair, and resignation that this would be their fate until the day they died. And her heart went out to the servant. As the man cut his wrist and put a hand on his wound, this feeling was not gentle at all. It felt awful. Sonea kept Takan's gaze, hiding her reactions from him.
- Those days are over my friend. Do not think of those. She heard Akkarin comfort Takan.
- They may come again if you fail.
- Let me worry about that. You may want to reply to Sonea before she begins to get suspicious.
"If it is given willingly, there is no need for pain."
"I suppose... Still..."
She gave Takan a questioning look mixed with a disapprovement. And by the inner dialogue she heard and the strange scenes she saw, she knew she had hit the mark. By the look in his eyes, she knew Takan wanted to explain, but knew he couldn't. An instruction she knew had come from Akkarin. Waving a hand, Sonea implied that the conversation was over.
"Never mind. Thank you for being honest and open with me Takan."
"Of course."
"Would you like some Cholli? It actually does taste better than it looks and smells, I promise."
Takan frowned. She felt Akkarin's presence return to the state she had first encountered in Takan's mind. And with that she chose her cue to withdraw as well. So many questions ran through her mind. But the one that was foremost in her mind, was whether or not Akkarin had realised she was in Takan's mind, and what the implications of whether he did or not were.
She watched Takan as he took a taste of the Cholli, and smiled when she saw the pleasantly surprised look on his face. Not bad, he had said. Taking another taste, he began to throw ideas on how it could be improved. Sonea just smiled as she put some in a plate, leaving the rest for Takan to experiment with. As she finished her plate, she began to make for the door. Before exiting she turned to Takan.
"Takan? I would appreciate it if you didn't tell him I asked you about... you know."
"Of course lady Sonea." Takan gave her a smile. Their little secret, so to speak.
She continued out of the kitchen, she needed to get back to classes.
When she saw Akkarin next, that night, he didn't even make allusions to the conversation with Takan, or if he had noticed her in his mind. Slightly relieved, she headed to her room. Another benefit of her new skill was that she could tell when he was scanning her surface thoughts and how to hide her secrets from him. And she knew that he was still following her, which meant she needed to be careful. But what Sonea worried about the most, was if he knew it all and was just leading her to believe he didn't. But the only way to find that out would be to look into His mind. And Sonea wasn't sure she was ready to do that. After all, the knowledge of black magic was locked up somewhere in there, and to learn such magic was a crime.
She didn't know what to do. But the decision had made for her the night she saw him kill. That night Sonea had been to shocked and scarred to even think of entering his mind, or Takan's for that matter, to see if He was telling the truth about the 'assassin'. All she had wanted to do was escape the nightmare. She hadn't stop to think until she had reached her room. Closing the door behind her, she had slid to the ground. Tears threatening. She would have no choice now, she had to look into his mind and find out how much he knew about her. And since then, she had learned things from Takan that made her question Akkarin's intention.
Firstday came too quickly. And Sonea found herself hesitating as she reached the High Lord's Residence. But she gathered her courage and walked in. Ever since that night, she had toned down her 'rebelliousness', hopefully making him believe he had reigned her in. But today she would need to appear to be waking from her 'slumber', and begin 'testing' him again. As she sat down at the dining room table, she noticed that Akkarin was already seated, and Takan entered with the first platters.
"How were your classes today?"
"Well enough." She said meeting his eyes squarely.
Not wasting anytime, she gently brushed through his barrier, stayed there an instant then backed out.
Takan poured a little wine in her glass, and she smiled at him.
"Thank you."
"Is Regin causing you anymore problems?"
"Would you care if he was? You were oh so helpful the first time around." Sonea pointed out.
Again Sonea met his gaze squarely and defiantly, and again entered his mind. He did not seem to notice she was there at all. Good, now lets just watch and see what happens.
"You handled yourself quite well as I recall. Twenty against one, and you still managed to evade them. Impressive."
Sonea looked at him with a mix of surprise and suspicion, it was not like him to compliment her. But what surprised her the most was what she was feeling coming from him. He had stood by as she got ambushed, and there was some guilt at having done nothing, and also pride as she bested twenty novices. This made no sense.
"You look surprise."
"How much wine have you had?"
Although on the outwards he fell into his signature half-smile, in his head he was laughing.
- Good, didn't expect that one. Very good.
Came the thought. This was not the Akkarin she knew. Well the outside yes, but his inner dialogue did not match what he projected to the world. No, this was not what she had expected to find in his mind.
"Can't the High Lord compliment his 'favorite'?"
Again with the pride. What was going on? Had she grossely misjudged him? No, He had killed using black magic, He was blackmailing her, Rothen and Lorlen into silence.
"Well if you want to call it a compliment. Besides what is the point of having the High Lord's 'protection', if I cannot benefit from it?" She looked at him squarely.
"All you needed was to ask."
"That's all. And just out of curiosity, would you have helped, High Lord?" Sonea replied, letting him know that the irony was not lost on her.
"No. But if you must know, I did not and would not have interfered because I was confident that you would eventually best them."
"Of course."
Again with the contradictory feelings and projections. Why had it been so hard for him to watch and do nothing? Surely he did not have her best interest at heart.
Suddenly Akkarin looked as though he was deep in thought. Sonea noticed that something in his mind had caught his attention. Her heart skipped a beat, but relaxed when she realised he was going to a different part of his mind and opening a door. Carefully Sonea followed him in, careful to stay invisible. She saw threedifferent points of view. One she recognised immediately as being Takan's, all his thoughts and sights were here. The two others she could not begin to guess from who they were from. One seemed to be somewhere in the Slums, while the other seemed to be in a morgue of sorts. Akkarin focused on the personality in the morgue. Sonea quickly recognise it to be Lorlen. Her heart sank, was he aware? Lorlen was speaking with the captain of the Guard, and when the topic fell on a red gemed ring, Lorlen's eyes and thoughts quickly went to the ring on his finger.
- Stop looking at your ring Lorlen.
Well that answered that question. She also felt the betrayal in Lorlen, and her heart sank even further. But what she had not expected, was the wave of guilt that washed over Akkarin. She listened as the captain and Lorlen discussed the body on the table. Once they were finished, Akkarin withdrew from that part of his mind, and returned his attention to Sonea.
"Yes definitely too much wine." Sonea said frowning, making him painfully aware that he had been silent for a very long time without having bothered to finish the previous conversation.
"One can never have too much good wine."
"Yes they can, especially when they stop mid conversation and grow silent with no clear winner or understanding that it is a draw, High Lord."
"Not when it concerns matters that do not concern you." Akkarin replied, a finality in his tone.
But Sonea was not about to stop looking at him now, it was getting far to interesting in his mind. And Akkarin didn't seem to know she was there at all.
She felt Akkarin return to the door in his mind, this time he focused on Takan, who by now was in the kitchen again.
- Another slave has entered the city. He has already killed.
- So soon since the last? They are coming more frequently.
- Or in pairs.
This thought seemed to disturb Akkarin greatly. Through out all of this Akkarin had not looked away from Sonea. A battle of wills had begun. Who would look away first?
- I don't have time for this right now.
He was annoyed, but he was not about to break eye contact first. That would damage his standing in this power struggle.
- Takan, get in here with something to distract Sonea. I don't have time for her mind games right now.
- Yes master.
And sure enough, a few moments later, Takan arrived with a platter of delicious sweets. Sonea conceded, if she didn't take the distraction it would look suspicious. Slipping out of his mind, she turned to Takan and the platter. Sonea chose a few sweets and placed them in her plate. Akkarin had already risen and was leaving the room. Takan didn't seem the least bothered about this. When Takan had left the room as well, she smiled to herself. It had worked. But none of this made any sense. She needed a walk, but it was almost time for her classes. She would have to sort through all this later.
Sonea laid in her bed, starring at the ceiling. What did she know? She knew that Akkarin did not fit the profile of evil-genius bent on world domination. She knew that what he felt and what he projected were two completely different things. But she couldn't begin to make heads or tails of it. She knew that at least some of the murders in the Slums had not been committed by Akkarin. These 'slaves' or Sachakan black magicians were responsible for some of them. And they also seemed to want to kill him. Well at least one had, that she knew of. She also knew that somehow Takan, Lorlen, and a third person were constantly mentally connected to Akkarin, presumably by those red gemed rings. She knew that Akkarin was proud of her, but what that meant for her in his big master plan, that she did not know. But she did know that he felt guilty for what he was doing to Lorlen and herself. And that he wished he could tell Lorlen. That much she had gathered by how he felt. And what about Takan's memories? Was Takan's old master a Sachakan black magician? Had Akkarin saved Takan from a black magician? Was that why these 'assassins' were after him? Because he took a slave from them? Somehow this seemed like a poor reason for everything he was doing to her and Lorlen. Besides, Takan's reaction when she had suggested such a thing made her think otherwise. No there was something more to this.
But what was really keeping her awake, was the nagging feeling in her gut that told her that deep down, Akkarin wasn't evil. Then why was he doing all of this to them? She could confront him. But Sonea had a feeling that would not go over very well, that she would learn nothing more, and would only reveal her only advantage over him. She would need to know more before she did. She needed to shake away any doubt that he would harm her if she did. And how was she going to do that? Sonea realised that she needed to enter his mind again. But the next time it would have to be different. If she couldn't ensure that on his own devices he would not harm her when she confronted him, she could not risk it. She needed to find a way to control him as she was sifting through his memories for answers. But that would mean using magic that was way ahead of her. Maybe she could find an answer in what she knew of how black magic worked, particularly the part where the victims could not stop the process. If she could understand why one could not move when their power was drained, then maybe she could replicate it without crossing the line of drawing another's power. But one thing she knew for sure, whatever her plan would be, she would need to be touching him.
tbc...
