Chapter 9: To Protect

Conrad woke up from delirium to find great difficulty in breathing. The dried mud he felt on his body soothed the pain slightly, but not very much.

'At least, I'm not upside down any more,' he thought to himself. The room was almost boiling, and the stench of death made his stomach lurch until Conrad had to force his body to turn over so he would not choke on his own vomit.

Though his stomach was at ease, the puddle of vomit added the stench of the room until it was so overwhelming it triggered another vomit attack. Conrad could not move. The pain on his wrists told him that the bracelets have yet to be removed. These were no rose thorns. They were long and sharp able to pierce the skin at the slightest move.

If he had ever felt this weak, it was likely when he was an infant. Not even the arrows that punctured him while protecting Yuri could be compared to this. He could only imagine that this was how Gwendal and Wolfram felt whenever they encounter powerful Houjutsu or Horyoku. This was likely worse though.

It was one thing after another. Anything from whips to stones to branding irons to pulling of the phallus, from boiling water to acid burns. It was not the first time he screamed. Forbidden Majutsu were preformed on him as well. Illusions of his family leaving him and Yuri and Greta yelling with voices of hatred. His mother telling him that he was worthy to be her son as he was so weak. It took Conrad a long time to tell himself, that the real Lady Celi was not like that, neither was the real Yuri and Greta. Despite what the illusions say, they cherished him. When Olbaid found that he did not manage to break the man with false illusions he brought Conrad's worse nightmare: childhood loneliness and Luttenberg. This vision broke him, as he saw Yosak die. He was alone.

Conrad did not dare to open his eyes to see how badly damaged his body was. Above all that he could hardly move. There were more cuts and bruises accounted for that covered him. He tried to lift his arm to wipe the vomit from his chin and found a new smell that had added to the stench: gangrene. Gangrene from the puss that formed from repeatedly opened cuts that bled over the dried blood.

It was worse because they were only weakened by the Houseki, bleeding wounds and gangrene were not included. Though he could hardly remember the torture he went through, he felt the pain from them. And voices...

"You shall be cleansed with the filth of others," Olbaid had proclaimed. The filth he mentioned turned out to be ashes and ground up bones of the deceased that have died there.

Conrad could not understand why he could not move, he could only lie on the ground. Images of the Luttenberg illusion entered his mind. The thought of Yosak dying... No, he shook his head violently, though it had hurt, Yosak was alive. He was alive yesterday... Pain erupted through his body.

Conrad grunted.

He had endured strikes from spiked whips, chains and knotted rope could only give so much pain. Conrad berated himself on how he had allowed himself to be so weak when there were people who needed him.

He wanted to cry, but he had to stay strong. He tried to imagine those hands again. Tried to imagine the happy days, the smiles, the flowers. Kind voices. Kind black eyes. No nonsense lavender ones. Two pairs of green eyes, one pair stubborn the other kind. A pair of large brown ones. Deep blue ones...

The door opened. Conrad could just make out the silhouettes of two guards standing before him through the cracks of his eyelids. Their faces were distorted. Possibly, sneering or leering. It did not matter now. His thoughts trailed to the soft colours of flowers – blue, white, pink and yellow.... Conrad let out stifled moan as the two guards lifted him roughly and dragged him out of the room. His legs and knees in agony with every scrape of the stone.

He vaguely noticed Olbaid standing in front of him, leering, "Any last words, filth?"

Conrad said nothing. "Soon we shall find that precious little human of yours," Olbaid sneered, "And she would not leave this world whole." At the mention of the words 'precious little human' anger overcame his senses.

"Never!" he yelled.

Weak and battered as his body was, Conrad leapt from the ground and punched Olbaid in the face, unsheathed the rapier as the monster fell to the ground. He rounded the two guards with a blast of angry energy and cut their throats simultaneously. He blinked as their blood spattered against his face before he rounded towards Olbaid.

Nobody shall hurt Greta! Nobody! Least of all this sick...

Conrad could not finish the thought of killing Olbaid as the Black-Fold kicked him in the stomach and slashed his spiked whip against his pained chest. Unable suppress the pain any longer, Conrad gave out a yell as he dropped the blood covered rapier and fell to the stone just as his body did. His vision blurred.

He felt his head forcefully moved. Someone grabbed a fistful of his hair. Conrad found himself looking eye to eye with Olbaid who looked at him with pure hatred.

Conrad spat. If he was to die here, that would be the least he could do to defend Greta.

A sharp pain passed through his abdomen. Conrad twitched and gasped, the last thing he saw was a blurry vision of Olbaid's sneer before he fell to the ground. A tear crept from his blurred eyes and flew into the air.

'I'm sorry, Yuri...' he thought to himself as he fell, 'I failed you. Take care of Greta...' He no longer felt pain, or the heat. He felt nothing as he fell face down on the stone floor.

In the garden of Covenant Castle, Yuri felt something cold crawl up his spine. Not saying anything he went back to his gardening with Greta. The little princess was sadly looking at the wilted blue flower. She seemed to hope it would brighten up soon enough. Yosak came back with findings over two hour ago and Gwendal was already on his way, but somehow...

Somehow, Yuri felt something foreboding ahead. He hoped he was wrong, but he knew he was just lying to himself if he began to convince himself otherwise. He wiped the tear that ran down his cheek, hoping... at least, to see Conrad... one last time...

Yuri!

Yuri jerked. A vision opened before his left eye. It was then he knew that he was needed at the Shrine. He dropped the gardening utensils; before Wolfram could ask anything, he explained that he was needed elsewhere. He then hurried to the treasury to retrieve Morgif and ran to the stables to prepare Ao for a ride. He knew he would have to explain to Wolfram later... but now, heading to the Shrine was top priority.

He hoped he was not too late.